Now, as promised, we need to look at the principle of spiritual death. This is a subject generally misunderstood or ignored by most Christian groups, but is essential if we are to truly understand what Christ suffered on the cross.
Now that we have examined the way in which the sacrificial offerings of the Old Covenant portrayed the future work of Christ on the cross, let’s examine the mechanics by which Christ provided our salvation and thus established the New Covenant. When you consider everything that the Bible says about salvation in both the OT and the NT an analogy or comparison is formed. In other words, you see the distinct similarities between what is presented in the OT as compared to what is found in the NT. But let us be perfectly clear on this point, the animal sacrifices represent the shadow side of the analogy, while the events on the cross are the reality of those shadows.
It is important to remember what was stated in Lesson 148. In the OT, the blood was literal and the judgment was symbolic, but on the cross the blood was symbolic, while the judgment was literal. And, it was stated that it is the spiritual death of the Lord on the cross that provides our salvation.
So, what payment did God’s justice demand for the sins of the world? To understand what the payment must be, you must first understand the penalty for sin that God had established. And that penalty was given even before the first sin had ever been committed. It’s found in Genesis 2:17.
"But of the tree that holds the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat of it, because the day that you eat of it you will surely die."
The Hebrew verb muth, means, "to die" and is doubled in this verse. It should be literally translated "dying, you will die". This is an idiom or word picture for spiritual death. When Adam disobeyed God and ate the fruit from this tree, he did not immediately die a physical death. In fact, he probably lived over 900 years after committing this original sin (Genesis 5:5). But he lost his relationship with God and that is spiritual death. Physical death was never the penalty for sin. Physical death is, however, the eventual result of sin. When Adam disobeyed God’s instruction, he began to die physically.
In order to purchase our salvation through a substitutionary death, Christ had to die spiritually. The price had to be the same as the penalty. Most professing Christians today wrongly conclude that Christ bought their salvation with His physical death on the cross, a position that is both unscriptural and illogical. They fail to make the distinction and therefore fail to recognize with any degree of appreciation what Christ actually had to do.
Most people need to change their frame of reference with regards to any mention of death in the Scriptures. Because they tend to think only in terms of physical death, many times they miss the true meaning of a verse that’s clearly speaking of spiritual death. To get an idea of what I’m talking about, read the following verses that mention death and think about their meaning: Proverbs 14:12, Ezekiel 18:20, Romans 5:10, 12; 6:23, I Corinthians 15:22, Ephesians 2:5, Philippians 2:8, Colossians 1:22 and Hebrews 2:9. These are all references to spiritual death, separation from God in time.
And just so there’s no confusion; spiritual death is not eternal separation from God. The eternal state of separation from God is called the second death, described in Matthew 25:41, and in even greater detail in Revelation 20:12-15. Spiritual death carries over from time into eternity, just like life in Christ carries over from time into eternity. In John 10:10 the word perissos is used to describe Jesus’ promise of abundant life. What Jesus is actually describing here is a life that comes from Him that literally overflows from time into eternity. It is an overflowing life!
The fact is and the Scripture record clearly shows that Christ died twice on the cross. In Colossians 2:12, the Greek noun nekros is plural and is used as the object of the preposition ek. The last phrase of that verse should be translated "God raised Him out from the deaths." In Isaiah 53:9, it’s the same thing. The Hebrew meweth is plural and should be translated "deaths". Christ experienced spiritual death as the payment for our sins, and then He experienced physical death to demonstrate His power over physical death through His resurrection.
The OT rituals that portrayed the saving work of Christ on the cross all pictured His spiritual death – the means of our salvation. In every case, the physical death of the sacrificial animal represented the spiritual death of Christ. The animal’s physical death could not have represented Christ’s physical death.
If that were true and the principle of substitutionary death is applied, then it would be reasonable to say that anyone who accepted God’s plan of grace and faith for salvation would not experience physical death. But we know that’s not the case. Hebrews 2:9 says that Jesus "…should experience death for every man." When you read that verse it’s obvious that he experienced spiritual death for us, not physical death (compare Hebrews 9:27).
Jesus Christ died physically as an act of His own will and choosing (John 10:17-18). No one took His life from Him. It’s ridiculous to think that anyone could kill God. When His work on earth was finished, the Father’s plan called for Him to depart. And so when that time came, Jesus dismissed His own soul and spirit. In the lessons to come we will see Christ’s spiritual death and then His physical death on the cross clearly presented in the Gospel accounts.