Passover is the first event of God’s annual holy day season. These days reveal God’s great master plan of salvation for the whole world. Passover is the memorial of the death of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Partaking of the symbols of His broken body and His shed blood means that you have been selected to know and understand God’s purpose. However, being chosen as one of the very elect to know God’s truth carries sobering responsibilities. We cannot approach this event lightly.
One aspect of Passover we often fail to properly focus on is what a tremendous, stupendous, sacrifice God the Father and Jesus Christ offered!
In Matthew 1:23, we read that Jesus Christ was called Emmanuel, or “God with us”—God in human flesh. He was both God and man—divine as well as human. Christ, our Passover, had to die to pay the penalty for our sins. Have we deeply considered that? Was it really possible for God to die? Was Jesus Christ really dead, or was it only His body that died? Was Christ, the divine One, alive during the three days and the three nights that His body was in the tomb?
These questions are enigmatic and bewildering to millions. Yet, if we believe the Bible, the truth on this matter is very clear and simple.
Emmanuel—God With Us
Throughout the Bible, different names are applied to the personage of Christ to amplify our understanding of who and what He is. For example, in the Old Testament, He’s known as Yaweh, or the Eternal One: the one who possesses life in Himself—in whom is life inherent. He’s also known as Yahweh Rapha; or God our Healer. In the Apostle John’s writings, He is described as the Word, or the Logos— the Spokesman—because this describes what He does. To Moses, He defined Himself as I AM—the One who is—the self-existing One, indicating that He has life inherent in Himself. God heals; God speaks; and God exists! God has life in Himself.
Yet, in Romans 5 we read, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. … But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (verses 6 and 8).
1 Corinthians 15:3 reinforces the same point. It says, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.” These three verses say Christ died, but what does that mean? Did the divine Emmanuel—God with us—really die? Was that possible? After all, He’s eternal—without beginning of days or end of life. How do we resolve this paradox?
Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, “Christ means ‘Anointed’ or ‘Messiah,’ and while the name Jesus may be used to denote the human man, the title Christ certainly refers to the divine One—the One who was God with us” (Good News, March 1983).
Verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 15 says that Christ “was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” He did not rise from a living state. He didn’t rise from life, but from death!
“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living” (Romans 14:8-9).
When Christ died, He rose and was revived. The word revived, according to Webster’s Dictionary, comes from the middle French reviver, or the Latin revivere, meaning, “to live again; to restore to consciousness or life.” Christ had to be restored to consciousness, or life, because He had no consciousness or life in Himself—He was lifeless—He was dead!
Divested of Immortality
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4). The life was the light of men. That life was in Him. We will see later why the Word’s life is the light of men.
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (verse 14). The Word was the same Being in whom was life (verse 4), the same Being who was made flesh (verse 14). Christ did not merely enter into some mortal fleshly body. He did not enter into the body of another. He was not separate from the flesh, as one inside the flesh. It very plainly says that He was made flesh. He became flesh. What does that really mean? The Logos, who had existed for eternity—without beginning—who was and is life, was converted into flesh: transformed into a physiochemical existence.
Being flesh—human—Christ had to divest Himself of His inherent immortality for the time being, that He might die for us, to pay the penalty of our sins in our stead. Christ had to do something that we could not even comprehend. He was life! He had to lay aside that which He was. You might want to make a sacrifice for your family, but could you lay aside who you are? That is what our Savior did for us. He laid aside who He was so that He could die, so that He could cease to exist.
From birth as a mortal, Christ had the full measure of the Holy Spirit. This was the only way He could be resurrected back to immortal life—converted back into the spiritual immortality and become that divine spirit again that He once was. Without God’s Spirit, that would not have been possible.
Why did Christ lay aside that which He was? That we might also have the opportunity to have eternal life—that we could be transformed from humans, in God’s likeness, to gods, in His image! The Logos “emptied” Himself of being God. Imagine a physical human being laying aside his human properties and becoming a plant. Unable to move. Unable to think. Unable to reason. Yet that’s the type of sacrifice the Godhead was willing to make.
Leviticus 17:11 says that “the life of the flesh is in the blood.” The Word was made—transformed into—flesh. Thus, instead of having life inherent, the life that now kept Christ alive resided in His blood. The breath that oxidizes the blood is called the breath of life. God gave man the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). Christ became a physical human being like you and me. He was not God inside of and yet separate from the body of flesh. He was composed of human flesh.
God was made manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). He became God in, not inside of, but in the human flesh.
Christ’s Human Nature
As human beings, we have a physical-chemical existence. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same …” (Hebrews 2:14). We are partakers of flesh and blood—we live because our blood is being oxygenated. God Himself had to start that process by breathing into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life. Yet notice how Paul says, “he [talking about Jesus Christ] also himself likewise took part of the same.” Christ also took on that same physiochemical existence that we possess, so that it would be possible for Him to die—to cease to exist.
Paul continues, “… that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (verses 14-15). In order to free us from the captivity of Satan, Christ and the Father did this. “For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham” (verse 16). Christ did not just step down to the spirit realm of angels. No, He stepped down to the realm of mere physical human beings.
“Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (verse 17).
Mr. Armstrong wrote, “Jesus came not in the nature of angels—that is, spirit nature. He was made flesh—made human—He took on, at birth, human nature. He was tempted in all points like we are. He was forced to resist the pull of human nature, even as you and I. He, God, became man—manso that He could die for us, that our sins might be erased and forgiven!” (Good News, op. cit.).Christ took on human nature, yet He did not take on the carnal mind that is enmity against God (Romans 8:7). His mind was never like ours, because He had a full measure of God’s Holy Spirit from birth. Yet He did take on the properties of a human being, or the nature of man in that sense.
The Death of a God
How is it possible for God to die? The proof seems overwhelming that it must be possible. Yet, how can you lay aside something that you are? Christ was life!
The only possible way for Christ to lay aside the life inherent in Him was by voluntary choice. “… God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son …” (John 3:16). No other being, physical or spirit, could ever take that life that was in Christ from Him. Only He, in His love, could choose to divest Himself of it.
Angels have taken on physical appearances when they have come before men. Lot, for example, was visited by angels (Genesis 19). Jesus’s mother, Mary, saw the archangel Gabriel (Luke 1:26-30). The One who became Christ may even have done the same thing on several occasions; for example, in the Garden of Eden, or when Abraham paid his tithes to Melchizedek. On those occasions, however, it was a case of a spirit being inside a physical shell for our benefit. This was not the case when Jesus Christ was born. Christ was not just a spirit being in a physical shell. He became flesh—He was God, composed of human flesh.
When Christ was dead for three days and three nights, the second person of the Godhead—Emmanuel, the God who was made flesh—was dead. He ceased to exist. As a human being, Jesus was the Son of God the Father; God was His only Father. He did not have a biological, physical father. God the Father sired Him physically and spiritually. Born of His mother, Mary, Christ became the Son of man. By His resurrection from the dead He became the Son of God.
Christ’s death paid the penalty for our sins. If the second personage of the Godhead had not ceased to exist—divested Himself of His real spirit life—we would be “lost” and doomed to eternal punishment. If onlyChrist’s physical body died, we have no spiritual Savior and we are lost.
But, through death there is no life. The law of biogenesis teaches us that dead matter cannot impart life; so if there had been no other person in the Godhead, then the giver of all life would have been dead forever; His blood, in which His life resided, would have drained from His veins and all humanity would have come to its doom.
The Gift of Life
Thankfully there was another source of life. Christ’s life had been poured out on Golgotha. His life resided in His blood, not in spirit. He did not shed His spirit to save us from our sins—He shed His blood.
The Father still reigned in heaven and had life inherent in Himself. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. 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. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man” (John 5:19-27). If we really meditate on these marvelous verses, we can see some tremendous details.
Verse 24 states, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life ….” Why do we need to believe on God the Father to have everlasting life? Isn’t it sufficient to accept Christ? No! Christ was dead. Christ had no life whatsoever in Himself during that three-day-and-three-night period when He was in the grave, but the Father gave life to His Son (verse 26). If Jesus Christ, who had life in Himself previously, had kept that life while He was a human being, the Father wouldn’t have needed to give it.
The Spiritual Resurrection
When God gave life to Christ, did He resurrect Him in a physical body? Did the Father put the life back in the blood that had spilled over Golgotha? No. God the Father did not cause Jesus Christ to return to a physiochemical existence. Christ was revived. The resurrected body was no longer human. It was the Christ resurrected, immortal, once again, changed from physical to spiritual. As He had been changed—converted into mortal human flesh and blood—subject to death, for the purpose of dying for our sins, now by the resurrection from the dead He was changed again and brought from the physical realm back to the spirit realm. Christ now is alive forevermore, which makes Him a living Savior.
A member of the God Family was dead, but only for three days and three nights. What a tremendous price has been paid to release us from the death penalty of our sins! That’s something to consider as we approach Passover.
“For the wages of sin is death …” (Romans 6:23). Death is the absence of life. The penalty, or wages, of sin is the absence of life, “… but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”Because the Father, who had life in Himself, gave that to Jesus Christ, He now desires to give it to us. So it is through Christ that we can obtain eternal life from God the Father. It’s the Father’s gift. Christ poured out His life to pay the penalty for our sins, but we are saved through His life.
The Father created all things through Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:16). Since all things include mankind, Christ is our Maker; therefore, the life that He gave up was greater than the sum total of all human lives put together.
Christ had implicit trust in the Father to resurrect Him. He had faith that the Father would restore Him to real spirit life.
Our only salvation is in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who died and was raised by God for us. That’s where our salvation lies (Acts 4:10-12). He gives us what the Father gave Him. Christ had His Father’s mentality, of desiring to give, of passing on and sharing what He possesses. The Father passed life back to Jesus Christ, so He might pass it on to us. The Father passed on all physical things to Jesus Christ, so that He can share them with us in the future. Christ and God the Father want to share all they possess, including their inherent life.
Living Sacrifices
Our Savior Jesus Christ gave everything He had and was for you and me. In so doing, He bought us and paid for each and every one of us. Thus, we belong to Christ! We are His “purchased possession.” Will we give ourselves to Him the way He gave Himself to us? Will we crucify our lives and allow the resurrected Christ to live in us?
When Jesus Christ walked this Earth, He was the greatest example of a living sacrifice. That is what we are commanded to be in Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” This way of life is our reasonable service. Why? Because we’re already dead in our trespasses and sins.
Unless and until we repent of sin and surrender to God, giving ourselves to our living Savior, we are dead. Like Christ was dead and ceased to exist, we will cease to exist if we don’t repent of our sins. If we continue in sin, God will put us out of our misery and deny us the gift of life that is in Him. In order to live, we have to die and voluntarily crucify our old life.
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:11-12). The life that we can obtain is the same life the Father gave to Jesus Christ, when He resurrected, or revived, Him and brought Him back into being. The Logos had ceased to be, and we will cease to be if we don’t repent of our sins and accept the sacrifice of our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have to change our lives and let Christ live in us. We have to let God’s Holy Spirit work in us so that we might have life. Are we allowing ourselves to be used by God and Christ to help bring knowledge and salvation to the rest of mankind—to extend their free gift of real life? Our job is to reach out and help all mankind by presenting our physical lives as living sacrifices to God’s work.
Live to Serve Like God
Christ illustrates through the Passover how He came to serve the world, from the foot-washing ceremony to His beating and death. His supreme sacrifice proved the extent of the extreme service He was prepared to give in love for you and me. He gave His very life. He died the most humiliating and excruciatingly painful death. How much are we prepared to give and sacrifice, as co-saviors with Christ, to change this world? Are we giving everything we can to back our Father’s work of proclaiming real hope, comprehending the gravity of the price that was paid to open the opportunity for humans to become members of the Family of God?
As we grow to think more like God we will want to reach out and change this world. “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:2-6). What a sacrifice!
“And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” (verses 9-10). God was “pleased” to suffer as He did because He saw beyond the suffering of His sacrifice. He had the vision to see a wife and children—a family. He knew that the only way to attain that goal was for one Person of the Godhead to voluntarily lay aside His life. That is why Christ died for you and me—to make the God Family vision a reality!