Prairie View Christian Church Norway, Iowa PastorTeacher Bill Wenstrom www'prairieviewchristian'org

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Prairie View Christian ChurchNorway,
IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.prairievie
wchristian.org
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Thursday March 20, 2008Special Matthew
2745-50-The Spiritual and Physical Deaths of
Jesus Christ on the Cross
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Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 2745.
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This evening we will study the unique spiritual
and physical deaths of Christ on the Cross.
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Our Lord died two unique deaths on the Cross of
His own volition (1) Spiritual (2) Physical.
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Our Lord in His perfect, sinless humanity died
twice on the cross so that we could be born twice
(John 31-7).
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He died spiritually so that we could be born
again spiritually.
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As we will note His spiritual death took place
before His physical death.
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Matthew 2745-46, Now from the sixth hour
darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth
hour. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a
loud voice, saying, ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?
that is, MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN
ME?
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This statement was a fulfillment of the prophecy
in Psalm 221.
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Psalm 221, My God, my God, why have You
forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the
words of my groaning.
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Matthew 2746 also records the unique voluntary
substitutionary spiritual death of our Lord,
which was the payment for our sins.
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Spiritual death means that our Lord in His
perfect human nature was separated from God the
Father during those last three hours on the
Cross.
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His spiritual death was unique in that He
suffered spiritual death as a sinless human
being whereas every member of the human race
suffers spiritual death the moment they are born
into the world.
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Our Lords spiritual death was voluntary in
that our Lord in His impeccable humanity chose
to be separated from His Father during those last
three hours of darkness upon the Cross because He
loved the entire world.
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His spiritual death was substitutionary in that
He died in the place of all men in order to bring
all men to God.
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1 Peter 318, For Christ also died for sins once
for all, the just for the unjust, so that He
might bring us to God, having been put to death
in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
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Our Lords physical death was not the payment
for our sins but rather it was His spiritual
death, even though it was for our justification
and that He might receive His resurrection body
and be the first fruits in resurrection.
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Romans 425, He who was delivered over because
of our transgressions, and was raised because of
our justification.
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The reason why our Lords spiritual death was the
payment for our sins is that spiritual death is
the root of the problem with members of the human
race.
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The penalty of sin is spiritual death, which
means the inability to experience fellowship with
God in time.
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Romans 623, For the wages of sin is death, but
the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
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Spiritual death originated with Adam in the
Garden of Eden when he chose to disobey the
command of the Lord not to eat from the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 216-17),
which resulted in Adam and his wife losing
fellowship with God (see Genesis 36-8).  
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Adam did not die immediately physically but
rather they died immediately spiritually when he
disobeyed and this is demonstrated by his actions
after his disobedience when he hid himself from
the Lord.
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Since then, every human being past, present and
future receives the imputation of Adams sin in
the garden, which makes every human being
physically alive but spiritually dead.
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Romans 512, Therefore, just as through one man
sin entered into the world, and death through
sin, and so death spread to all men, because all
sinned when Adam sinned.
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The reason why God did this is found in two
passages.
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Galatians 322, But the Scripture has shut up
everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith
in Jesus Christ might be given to those who
believe.
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Romans 1132, For God has shut up all in
(Adams) disobedience so that He may show mercy
to all.
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Physical death is not the penalty for sin since
Adam died nine hundred thirty years later (Gen.
55) and so therefore, the physical death of
Christ was not the payment for our sins.
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Physical death is the result of spiritual death
and since the penalty of sin was spiritual death,
Christ must pay the penalty with His spiritual
death.
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His spiritual death was the judgment for our sins
and this is illustrated in Isaiah 53.
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Isaiah 5311 records that the Father was
satisfied by the anguish of the soul of the
sinless human nature of Christ on the Cross
caused by His spiritual death as the payment for
the sins of the entire world.
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Isaiah 5311, As a result of the anguish of His
soul, He will see it and be satisfied By His
knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will
justify the many, as He will bear their
iniquities.
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Anguish of His soul refers to the intense
suffering of our Lords human soul as a result of
being separated from the Father on the Cross and
which suffering no angel or man will ever be able
to identify with since no angel or man has kept
themselves experientially sinless.
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In John 1930, the Lord triumphantly said It is
finished while He was still alive and which
statement refers to the payment of our sins.
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John 1930, Therefore when Jesus had received
the sour wine, He said, It is finished! And He
bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
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Therefore, it was His spiritual death that was
the payment for our sins and not His physical
death.
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The greatest suffering the humanity of Christ
endured on the cross was not the physical and
mental torture of the cross but rather when He
experienced separation from His Father during
those last three hours on the Cross as a result
of receiving the imputation of the sins of the
entire world by the justice of God the Father.
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Our Lords loss of fellowship with His Father in
His humanity during those last three hours in
darkness on the Cross was infinitely more painful
to our Lord than the physical suffering He had
endured and was enduring.
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Our Lords loss of fellowship with His Father in
His humanity during those last three hours in
darkness on the Cross was valued infinitely more
by the Father than the shedding of His literal
blood or His physical suffering.
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This is not to say that the Father did not value
the physical suffering of His Son, or His literal
blood, which was sinless, He did, but literal
blood though sinless cannot resolve mans problem
of separation from God under real spiritual
death.
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The separation from God of a perfect human being
whose soul was never contaminated by sin was the
penalty that had to be paid in order to redeem
human souls from the curse of Adam sin of
disobedience and real spiritual death.
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The anguish of the Sons soul was valued much
more than His blood since blood is inanimate but
the human soul is created in the image of God.
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During the last 3 hours on the cross, God the
Father credited to the impeccable humanity of
Christ something, which did not belong to Him,
namely the sins of the entire world-past, present
and future!
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When the sins of mankind were imputed to the
impeccable humanity of Christ, the justice of God
took action and pronounced a guilty verdict.
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Therefore, when Christ was receiving the
imputation of the sins of the world, God was not
projecting into the soul of the human nature of
Christ the sins of the world, nor does imputation
put Him into contact with sin.
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This imputation made the Lord a curse for us and
set Him up to receive the penalty for our sins,
which is spiritual death.
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Galatians 313, Christ redeemed us from the
curse of the Law, having become a curse for us --
for it is written, CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS
ON A TREE.
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Matthew 2745, Now from the sixth hour darkness
fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
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Matthew 2746, About the ninth hour Jesus cried
out with a loud voice, saying, ELI, ELI, LAMA
SABACHTHANI? that is, MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE
YOU FORSAKEN ME?
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When Christ cried My God, My God, why have you
forsaken Me? He was suffering the consequences
for our sins, which was separation from the
Father and was not coming into contact with our
sins, nor was He becoming literal sin.
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Christ could not experience or come into contact
with sin unless He Himself chose to sin.
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Therefore, there is no way possible that the Lord
could come into contact with our sins or
experience them.
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Furthermore, the imputation of every sin in
history to Christ does not mean that Christ
became literal sin, which is a heretical
statement.
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2 Corinthians 521, He (Christ) who never knew
sin experientially (Christ was impeccable), on
behalf of us (as our Substitute), was made (the
representative of) sin in order that we might
become the very righteousness of God in Him.
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If the Lord did become literal sin then He would
no longer be qualified to be our perfect
Substitute.
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1 Peter 118-19, knowing that you were not
redeemed with perishable things like silver or
gold from your futile way of life inherited from
your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of
a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of
Christ.
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When our Lord says in Matthew 2746, My God, My
God, why have you forsaken Me He is calling
special attention to the solemn moment when He
was experiencing separation from God the Father.
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Hebrews 914 tells us that Christ offered Himself
up through the eternal Spirit.
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Our Lords substitutionary spiritual death on the
cross defeated Satan in the angelic conflict by
disproving Satans claims that God lacks
integrity and does not love His creatures (see
Hebrews 214-15 1 John 38).
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Our Lords spiritual death reconciled both men
and angels to God (See Colossians 119-20) and
fulfilled righteous requirements of the Mosaic
Law (see Romans 83-4).
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The Cross of Christ dealt with man's sins, which
have all been forgiven and have been "nailed to
the cross (Col. 213-14).
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The Lords spiritual death purchased the entire
human race out from the slave market of sin in
which every human being is born physically alive
but spiritually dead as a result of the
imputation of Adams sin (1 Tim. 26 Mark 1045
Eph. 17 Col. 114 1 Pet. 118-19 Rev. 59).
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Our Lords spiritual death propitiated or
satisfied the righteous demands of a holy God
that are sins be judged (Rom. 322-26 1 John
22 1 John 410).
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His spiritual death reconciled the entire human
race to God (2 Cor. 518-21 Eph. 214-16 Col.
120-22 1 Pet. 318).
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Therefore, the Cross of Christ is called the
"power of God" and "foolishness" to those who are
perishing (1 Cor. 118) because it has crucified
the old Adamic sin nature and therefore, freed
the believer from its power.
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Matthew 2747, And some of those who were
standing there, when they heard it, began saying,
This man is calling for Elijah.
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Matthew 2748, Immediately one of them ran, and
taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and
put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.
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Matthew 2749-50, But the rest of them said,
Let us see whether Elijah will come to save
Him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud
voice, and yielded up His spirit.
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The Lord Jesus Christ did not die from
suffocation or exhaustion, nor did He bleed to
death, or die of a broken heart but rather He
died unlike any person in history, namely by His
own volition.
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Remember what our Lord said in John 1018.
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John 1018, No one has taken it away from Me,
but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have
authority to lay it down, and I have authority to
take it up again. This commandment I received
from My Father.
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If He had bled to death, He would have fainted.
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The Lord Jesus Christ was in total control of His
faculties and was totally and completely alert
throughout all His suffering on the cross.
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Our Lords voluntary physical death was another
indication to those observing Him at the Cross
that He was indeed the Son of God.
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He died like no other man in history, namely, of
His own choosing.
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This is why the centurion stated that our Lord
was the Son of God.
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Matthew 2751, And behold, the veil of the
temple was torn in two from top to bottom and
the earth shook and the rocks were split.
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Matthew 2752-53, The tombs were opened, and
many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep
were raised and coming out of the tombs after
His resurrection they entered the holy city and
appeared to many.
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Matthew 2754, Now the centurion, and those who
were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they
saw the earthquake and the things that were
happening, became very frightened and said,
Truly this was the Son of God!
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