Death, Resurrection, New Life, Salvation, Forgiveness, Tribulation, Heaven and Hell

OUR LIFE IN TRANSITION
If we study the life of Jesus, we see a life that fulfills The Law perfectly. Setting aside the particulars of what it means to be obedient for a moment, we get an idea of how we would rewrite the progression of our life:

  1. In the beginning, we think and act as though we know it all and have it all (i.e. we are like God).
  2. As we mature through successive stages of spiritual transformation (i.e. listening to God’s voice more and becoming more and more compliant with his laws) we think and act less and less as though we know it all and have it all. God brings us to repentance for each way in which we find that the life we have made for ourselves is at odds with the ideal life as represented in The Law as we understand it. At each step in the transformation process, we are brought down from our lofty opinion of ourselves, and come to see ourselves more as servants rather than as someone who should be served because we are so smart and so important.
  3. We come to understand that our purpose here on earth is to die to our concept of who we are. Rather than running from anything that would diminish our importance and our influence, we embrace trials that expose our weaknesses and our frail humanity.
  4. We learn to trust that God will be faithful to raise us up from each phase of dying to our self and give us new life (i.e. life that conforms to The Law) that will be superior to the old way of life that we previously thought was so great.

None of the above changes happen unless we are willing to put some aspect of our life to death. The more we protect and defend the life we know, the more that life atrophies (i.e. dies a slow, incremental death). We will die either way, so the smart thing to do is choose to put to death those parts of our life that cause trouble for us and for others, and receive the new life that God has made available to us through the New Covenant. It is a life that conforms to The Law in increasing degrees. In the New Covenant, however, we do not keep the law as a matter of legalism. Rather, we keep it naturally and effortlessly because we are entering into that ultimate relationship with God where The Law is written on our hearts. His character (i.e. his name) becomes our character

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Click here for an extensive discussion of the New Covenant compared to the Old Covenant. It is a critical concept for both Jews and Christians to understand.

In God’s eyes, our willingness to voluntarily go through this process of dying is an act of love. It is love on our part because we are willing to die to our kind of life so that his kind of life can be reproduced in us. It is an act of love on God’s part because he is disciplining us so that we can become legitimate sons in the sense that we are recreated in his image.

God spells the benefits of going through though this transformation for us in John 15:8-18. Here he calls the dying process “laying down your life, and he says that laying down your life is the greatest love, and we see that there are great benefits (beyond the new life) when we choose to lay down an aspect of our life.

We see an example of this process in the life of Noah who built an ark that saved him, his family, and many others. To appreciate this story, we must accept that the animals symbolize people. This makes more sense than saving animals because it forecasts Jesus saving people and us making the way for other people to be saved through our life-long process of building an ark that God will use to bring new life to others. The ark, of course, is our life as New Covenant disciples in whom the spiritual light of God shines out to a world that is lost in religion.

When Jesus laid down his life for those who choose to follow him, it was the supreme act of unselfish love. Jesus, like Noah, trusted that God would restore him and those who follow him to new lie. We, like Noah and Jesus should also be willing to lay down our lives for others. We may not see the particulars of how that happens for anyone, but that is part of trusting God.

STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of what it means to lay down your life for others.

Christians who interpret the Bible literally are misled by the images of Jesus’ persecution and death on a cross. These images are symbolic representations of the second death — not of a physical death.

According to the literal interpretation of the so-called Easter Story, Jesus died a natural death. According to the spiritual interpretation of this story, spiritual death is a process — not a singular event that happens at a unique moment in time.

STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of spiritual death. Also see Second Death for understanding of what it means to lay down your life for your friends.

Followers of Jesus experienced spiritual death in their journey coming out of religion. They also experience the second death as they lay down their lives  Here is a brief summary of the way the death and resurrection process plays out for New Covenant disciples:

  • You come to agree with God (and perhaps others) that you are not as important or as smart as you thought you were.
  • You identify with the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes and other religious leaders who maneuvered to have Jesus crucified. You see that you have also been protective of your Old/First Covenant  religion and an obstruction to the advancement of the New Covenant.
  • You understand that while you were deceived about your importance and wisdom, you offended God and used and abused others. You understand that you have kept other religionists in bondage to your heavy yoke of religion just like the Pharisees. Or you recognized that you have an idol in your life, or that you are a hypocrite. You come face to face with the reality that there are ways in which you practice Defiled Religion.
  • You repent for being religious (i.e. following traditions made by men) while neglecting the weightier matters of the law.
  • You repent for using, abusing and controlling others so that you can have your own way.
  • You repent for creating and worshiping idols.
  • You repent for your hypocrisy.
  • You repent for your partiality and favoritism.
  • You identify with Jesus as a victim of religion and choose to voluntarily die to your own religious beliefs and practices. You also identify with Jesus in his resurrection as a New Covenant disciple by recognizing that the suffering and death that he went through made it possible for you to go through a similar death and resurrection process.
  • You thank God for raising you from the dead to new life even though you have not yet experienced new life and in fact do not even know what that new life will look like.
  • You take it by faith that you will be transformed at least a little into a New Covenant disciple.
  • You begin to notice, little by little, that your attitudes and behaviors toward God and others are changing. The presence of God’s laws in your heart is a greater reality for you. You no longer worship idols. You are not as bossy, condemning, abusive, hurtful as you were before. Eventually you find that people relate to you differently. They seem to like you more and are more comfortable around you. You see evidence in your life that you are more like Jesus.
  • You thank God for what he has done for you, and eagerly share your experience with others. You are eager to go through the process again and again because you are more at peace in your relationship with people and God.
  • You resolve to love your neighbor as yourself sacrificially.

Of course this is a simplistic way to look at the process, but this is essentially what happens when you voluntarily choose to lay down your religious life.

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