The way of peace comes as we get Dead in Christ.
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3
” …reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:11
Paul the Apostle repeats the essential death often in his letters. Another instance comes in Galatians 2.
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;” Galatians 2:20a
The fact of my crucifixion demands an explanation as to why I still live. Answer: It is Christ living in me and I live by His faith. Yes, Him in me,
“I live”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Jesus in John 5:24
So, a short summary goes, I died, passed from death unto life. I now ledger this death and resurrection to my account of personal existence. Risen with Christ, I set my mind’s interests on and seek things which exist above. The “above” consists of where Christ sits at the Father’s right hand. This place means judicial acceptance in righteousness (imputed).
” …a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 2:16
“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. ” Galatians 2:21
Friends, this is grace un-frustrated! All of it (grace not made ineffective), founds our judicial standing, our new identity, and current position in Christ.
“AT Robertson expounds, “If one man apart from grace can win his own righteousness, any man can and should. Hence, Christ died gratuitously, unnecessarily.” “This verse is a complete answer to those who say that the heathen (or any mere moralist) are saved by doing the best that they know and can. No one, apart from Jesus, ever did the best that he knew or could.”
So, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your mind’s interest on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:1-2
Beloved, from heaven’s abode, our place of citizenship, we glory in the cross, Christ and Him crucified is our focus. In Genesis God killed an innocent beast. The beast was innocent in the sense that he had not committed the disobedience of Adam and Eve, It was a substitute and that beast donated its coat a covering for the sinners. I’m sure it was an unwilling victim. However:
Christ died willingly. The just for the unjust, see 2 Peter 3:18 Innocent in that He was sinless in himself, The motivation of Christ? Obedience to the Father, He who so loved the world that He gave …His only begotten, innocent. The spotless lamb. Grace unfrustrated is the evidence of Love, and not to be watered down, manipulated, substituted or discarded. Except for innocent blood shed, there is no remission of sins. Thank you, thank you, Lord, Jesus, our Savior forever more.
Now, with a message we are sent:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:16-17
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