Life in the Spirit.

(1Peter 3:18) “Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”

“Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;” Being made alive in the spirit, but wasn’t He always alive, If He is God, which He is, He then has no beginning; He was never created! He is part of the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), so then how was it that He died and was made alive in the spirit?

He is the first fruit of our salvation, to all who believe. He has lead the way by example, He is the greatest of leaders, His motto was never, “do because I say so”, No, He encourages us to follow His example by leading with the actual doing of it. He died in the flesh and on the third day He rose again, He committed Himself to His Father, the Righteous Judge. He trusted Him as He wants us to trust Him. Nothing is expected of us that the Lord Himself has not experienced. He may not have known what it is like to sin as He never sinned, but He suffered for sin in our place, He most definitely knew what it felt like to suffer, and in fact no man ever suffered or will suffer as much as He suffered for the sake of righteousness, the truth be told, He was given into the hands of His enemies. "Now was that scripture fulfilled God hath turned me over into the hands of the wicked;" and no angel is sent from heaven to deliver Him, no friend on earth raised up to appear for Him.

The example of Christ is proposed as an argument for patience under sufferings; Jesus Christ himself was not exempted from sufferings in this life, though He had no guilt of His own and could have declined all suffering if He had pleased. The reason or commendable cause of Christ's suffering was the sins of men: Christ suffered for sins and yet He never sinned, I hope this grips our heart, can you ever remember being blamed for something you never did? It must have happened somewhere in your life. Do you remember how violated you felt, well this was possibly an everyday experience for the Lord Jesus, that was His life and how it played out. The sufferings of Christ were a true and proper punishment; this punishment was suffered to compensate and to make atonement for sin; and it extends to all sin. In the case of our Lord's suffering, it was the just that suffered for the unjust; He substituted Himself in our room and stead, and bore our iniquities. He that knew no sin suffered instead of those that knew no righteousness. This is a phenomenal thought I hope its grips our hearts! The merit and perfection of Christ's sacrifice were such that for Him to suffer once was enough. Prior to this the legal sacrifices were repeated from day to day, and from year to year; but the sacrifice of Christ, once offered, purged away sin, “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for His own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” (Hebrews 7:27)

Obviously God has always purposed all things He has chosen to do, it is not random, He is full of wisdom and He will silence all His critics, those who appear to be wise, yet have become fools as they think they have the answer to life but will be proved wrong on Judgment Day.

The blessed end or design of our Lord's sufferings was to bring us to God, to reconcile us to God, to give us access to the Father, to render us and our services acceptable, and to bring us to eternal glory, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)

“For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18)

It is very clear and we could make reference too many other scriptures to verify the truth of the Lord Jesus’ purpose here on earth. The issue and event of Christ's suffering, as to Himself, were these, He was put to death in his human nature, but He was quickened and raised again by the Spirit. Here comes the point... Now, if Christ was not exempted from sufferings, why should Christians expect it? If He suffered, to make amends for sins, why should not we be content when our sufferings are only for trial and correction, but not for punishment? If He, though perfectly just, why should we not, who are all criminals? If He once suffered, and then entered into glory, shall not we be patient under trouble, since it will be but a little time and we shall follow him to glory? If He suffered, to bring us to God, shall not we submit to difficulties, since they are of so much use to quicken us in our return to God, and in the performance of our duty to Him?

We must grasp the truth and purpose of suffering, they have a specific purpose for us in our lives, and they are there to cause us to flee to our Saviour in time of need. They will help fuel our hope, which is heaven and an eternity in the presence of God, where we will receive a body that will be incorruptible and will never age as this fleshly body of ours does. It will take on the attributes of the Lord Jesus, we shall be like Him. To what degree and how that will look, time will tell. I know this that all those who endure unto the end, will be like Him!

Suffering then is needful for all of us, it is an aid to help us flee to the cross and to remember our hope in Him. It is through death and suffering that we are made alive in the spirit; “Being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”

Signing off

Tyrone

"Much of the above text comes from Matthew Henry..."