Death and Ressurection

Natural Images of Death and Resurrection

As we move through a biblical theology of death and resurrection, you will find that the physical world and the spiritual world overlap. The physical universe is a sort of parable that tells us about more important realities. So it is with death and resurrection. And so I want to begin by looking at the physical universe and observing death and resurrection. Death precedes life.

Food

Everything you eat has to die in order for you to live. There is nothing you eat that does not have to die in order to give you life. This is true for both plants and animals. In fact, in Scripture, one of the main points of offering sacrifices was eating the meal that the sacrifices provided. This gives the fitting name of “sacrifice” to the animal that must die in order for the priests and the people to eat.

Sleep

In order for you to live, you need to sleep. Sleep in the Bible is regularly associated with death.

1 Kings 2:10 Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.

1 Kings 11:43 “And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.”

John 11:11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.

When you sleep, you are in a sense dying. You lose consciousness. You no longer are alive and active in the world. But it is the very sleep that refreshes you so that when you resurrect in the morning you resurrect with new energy, new vigor, new life, and new mercies.

Evening and Morning | Darkness and Light

Associated with sleep is the idea of evening and morning. Night and Day. Darkness and Light. In the Scriptures, the evening time is associated with death and evil.

Ex 12: 29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. . . 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.

Luke 22:52 Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”

When Jesus is on the cross the sun is darkened.

“It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they w. . Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this, he breathed his last.” (23:44-46)

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb. . . but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” (Luke 24:1)

1 Thess 5:5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

Experientially we all know this. You shouldn’t go out and walk around at night alone. Even at home, lots of you experience that at night time your anxiety in general hightens. You are more prone to depression, fear, anxiety, and conflict with others. You have heard the phrase, “nothing good happens after 10pm.” But in the morning, you are generally refreshed, less anxious, more ambitious and positive, and more energetic. The morning brings resurrection energy.

Seasons

The seasons also give us a picture of death and resurrection. Winter represents death. The cold weather kills everything. The grass, plants, trees, they all die. They force us into a sort of hiding in our homes. Bears go into several months of hibernation-death. Birds fly south. Here in MN, we feel this. Our whole lifestyles change, and some even experience seasonal depression during this time. And then spring comes and everything changes. The grass turns green, the trees sprout leaves, the bees come out, the birds return, the flours sprout, everyone comes out of their homes and go to lakes, and go on walks, and start running again. Our emotional life is uplifted. Life appears come spring. More could be said about the seasons, but the seasons are telling us the story of life and death.

Seeds and Plants

Seeds go into the ground for a symbolic death (this is where you put dead people). And yet, it’s in the ground where a seed sprouts and produces life. This is true of plants, of human reproduction, and even of our future death. It is through death that resurrection comes.

John 12:24-26 “24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Summary

Creation and Death and Resurrection

A 3-Decker World

The Heaven | The Sky | Heaven

The Earth

Under the Earth | The Sea | Sheol

Heaven represents glory, light, God’s presence, life, the bride. The sky is full of angel-like animals such as birds with wings. The sun is like God’s glory. The blue sky is like sea of glass beneath his feet. The clouds are like the glory cloud. Thunderstorms are like theophanies. Rainbows are around God’s throne.

Under the earth, the sea, and sheol represent darkness, death, the abyss, the devil’s presence, and so on. The sea is full of lochness monsters.Water steals our breath.

Other Examples of 3-Decker Worlds in the Bible

The Tabernacle

A Mountain

The Ark

The House in Acts

Heaven is where God dwells, and where eternal life is. The sea is likened to sheol, to death, to hell.

The Nature of Death

A Punishment

In Genesis God says that in the day you eat of it you shall surely die (Gen. 2:17). In the story of the flood, God punishes the sinfulness of humanity through the flood. The water comes and its described as taking away the breath of life. So here you have the sea pictured as a judgment to take away the breath of life. In addition, the wages of sin is death. Death is what we earn through our sin. Sin is our labor and death is what we receive for our labor of sin. We will all die, and sleep with our fathers because of our sin.

“Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died” (Ge 5:5).

“All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died” (Gen 9:29).

“Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age” (Gen 25:8).

An Enemy

In the Bible death is personified as our enemy who is coming after us with plagues, and sting, and a conquering victory. Death is like an enemy who is trying to conquer you.

Hosea 13:14 O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?

1 Cor 15:55 O Death, where is your victory?

Ps 18:4-5 4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; 5 the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.

Sheol and Afterlife in the OT

It is becoming more popular to believe in the notion of annihilation - basically that those who are not saved are destroyed and there is no eternal conscious punishment for them.

Sheol in the OT is “A Conscious Intermediate State for the Righteous and the Wicked.”

Ezekiel 32:15-32 Describes Sheol:

(1) Know Yahweh (32:15),

(2) Know that the terrors they caused in “the land of the living” have determined their fate (3:23, 24, 25, 26, 27),

(3) Are able to speak (32:21),

(4) Are able to see and bear “regret” over their loss of status and power (ESV= “comfort”; 32:31; cf. 31:16), and

(5) Carry the shame of dishonorable burial (32:24, 25, 30).

Samuel Can be Called from the grave (1 Sam 28:11-15) and suggests afterlife

Other examples of dead being reawakened

Elijah and Elisha (1 Kgs 17:17–24; 2 Kgs 4:18–37; 13:20–21)

Eternal Punishment

In the OT

Isa 30:33. For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Isa 34:10. Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.

Isa 66:16, 24. For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many…. 24 And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

Dan 12:2. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

In the NT

Matt 3:12. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Cf. Luke 3:17.

Matt 25:41, 46. Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Rev. 20:10. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Cf. 9:17.

Contrasted with Eternal Life

Rom. 2:6–8. He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Rom. 5:21. . . . so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom. 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gal 6:8. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Instances of Death and Resurrection

Elijah raises the widow's son - 1 Kings 17:22

Elisha raises the Shunamite’s son - 2 Kings 4:22

The Man who touched Elisha - 2 Kings 17:20-21

Jesus raises the widow's son - Luke 7:11-17

Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter - Luke 8:40-56

Jesus raises Lazarus - John 11

Saints in Jerusalem raised at Jesus’ death - Matt 27:50-53

Jesus raises from the dead - Mark 16:1-8

Peter raises Tabitha from the dead - Acts 9:36-43

Paul raises Eutychus from the dead - Acts 20:7-12 f

Resurrection in the Bible

Resurrection Texts in the OT

Isa 26:19

Dan 12:2

Hos 6:1–3

Psa 49:15–16

Resurrection in the NT

Jesus is the Death and Resurrection

Jesus foretold his death and resurrection (Mark 8:31)

Jesus claimed to be the resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26)

1 Cor 15:12

Christians will be resurrected (vv. 11-19)

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

1 Pet 1:21

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

Rev 20:5

5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.

Spiritual Images of Death and Resurrection

Circumcision

Circumcision of the flesh was a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham (Gen 17) and became associated with the Jews. A circumcised male was a Jew.

Circumcision has to do with fruitfulness

The sign of circumcision was given in the context of a covenant of a fruitful seed or offspring. Circumcision removes the obstacle of generation for the male.

Circumcision is associated with male organ of generation. “Death arises from the flesh of Adam as the man.”

Trees are circumcised before Israel can partake of the fruit (Lev 19:23) when they enter the land. For three years, the trees were to be regarded as uncircumcised, but in the fourth year, the fruit was to be holy, and in the fifth year, they could now eat of the fruit.

Circumcision has to do with God’s judgment and presence.

The principle is that our flesh condemns us in Adam. You don’t want to be in God’s presence uncircumcised.

The uncircumcised are judged by God in the Bible. So Israel must see to it that they are circumcised so that God will not judge them. This is why they are circumcised in Gen 17 right before the judgment of Sodom. It’s why Moses’ wife rushed to circumcise their son when God came in judgment. It’s why the trees needed to be circumcised before Israel ate of them in the land. And it’s why we need to be circumcised in Christ before we can be alive in him.

There is something about our flesh that calls God’s judgment down on us. Cutting off of the flesh (circumcision) is a preparation for the judgment of God.

The circumcision of Christ is the circumcision in which flesh is cut off and killed and so we are circumcised “in him” (Col 2:11). Our body of flesh, which calls down God’s judgment, has been cut off. “You, who were dead in your tresspasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him.

In contrast, we have been circumcised in Christ, and now life generates forth from this new Adam.

Circumcision of the heart establishes a person as a Christian

Prophesied in Deut 30:6 and Jer

Rom 2:29

For circumcision, a part of you is cut off which enables life. Once God circumcises your heart, you are enabled to love him as you should. With that cut, that death, the life of the covenant is enabled.

Baptism

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Rom 6:3-4).

Buried in water (death), Raise from the dead (alive), walking (the way we live).

Baptism is a statement that a death and resurrection has happened. A person, dead in their sins, died to their sins. They put off the old man, old way of life, and have put on Christ and been united with him. We were baptized into Christ’s death, and we are raised with his resurrection.

For Believers

Portrays unity with Christ’s death and resurrection

Portrays cleansing

Portrays escape from judgment

Mode: Immersion

Circumcision points forward to the circumcision of the cross. Baptism reflects on that work and symbolizes union with Christ.

Marriage

Adam and Eve, Sleep and Glory

We have already seen that sleep is associated with death and waking up is associated with resurrection. So it is with the first marriage, “

“So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Woman is thus the glory of man (1 Cor 11:7)

“An excellent wife is the crown of her husband” (Prov 12:4)

“Go out, O daughters of ion, and look upon King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart” (Song 3:11)

Man comes first, dies, and receives the glory of the woman.

This is also seen in Revelation. Jesus’ death purchases the new creation.

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2).

The woman is the resurrection glory of the new creation. The old passes away, and the new come. Thus, a man should leave father and mother, he should put off the new man, the old passes away, and the new comes etc. Maybe this is also why God designed the world so that men typically don’t live as long as women.

Marriage and death

Similarly when 2 people get married, they die to their old lives. The two become one flesh (Gen 2:24). They die in a sense to their individual selves which is sad and hard, but the glory of the one-flesh marriage is beautiful and glorious. A new person is created. The death aspect is hard. For instance, guys tend to struggle with losing their independence and girls tend to struggle with entering into a new emotional structure typically because its hard to transition from a seasoned head of a Father and to now submit to a man who can be quite sloppy as he learns leadership. And yet, with these hardships also comes the benefits of marriage, intimacy, companionship, offspring, etc. With death, comes resurrection.

Marriage and the death of daily life

In order for a marriage to be healthy and life-giving, there needs to be death to self. Death to selfishness, and to preferences, death to expectations, death to holding grudges. Along with dying though is the death of experienced disappointments and struggles along the way. Yet, we know what God is doing in all of this. As we suffer and die as Christians—joyfully walking into death in faith—God brings about glory.

This is the hope of every Christian marriage, including yours. Not that your marriage will be free of the trouble, but that the trouble and challenge of your marriage will be transformed into glory by the transforming power of the cross of Jesus. This is the hope of your marriage: That your marriage will manifest the glory of the Triune God, the glory that is humility. This is the hope of your marriage: That the way of the cross is not only the way to glory, but the way of glory.

Born Again

Marks of Spiritual Death

Life of sin

“Dead in trespasses and sins.”

Hard heart

It is not receptive of Christ. God’s claim and authority angers and frustrates you. It threatens your control over your life. It is a heart that does not love God, does not rejoice in God, does not fear God, does not treasure God, doesn’t submit to God, does not obey God, does not repent, it’s a dead heart. There’s no life.

“2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph 2:1-3).

3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:3-4).

Marks of Spiritual Life

Soft Heart

A heart that receives and feeds on Jesus—putting faith in his work on the cross. Jesus sits on the throne and you wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s a repentant heart. A heart that loves God, rejoices in God, fears God, treasures God, obeys God, repents of sin, lives holiness because God is holy. It’s a heart that has been transformed by God and lives. It’s alive.

“4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:4-6).

“6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

Additional Notes on New Birth

New Birth is a miracle. You cannot make it happen. You cannot make yourself live when your dead. Lazerus could not of done anything to make himself live. It took the call of Jesus. It took something outside himself to make him live. New Birth is a miracle.

New Birth comes through the Word of God - the Gospel

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Pet 1:23-25).

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17).

New Birth isn’t merely about content—the demons have right content and believe. The Pharisees hearing but did not hear, seeing but did not see. New birth is about the supernatural ability to receive the content by faith as true, glorious, beautiful, and governing over your life. It’s receiving God for all that he is.

New Birth isn’t merely receiving the benefits of the gospel—forgiveness of sins, no hell, a great church community, etc. New Birth is the supernatural ability to receive God. The best news of the gospel is you get God. Every other good of the gospel finds its climax in him. What’s so great about forgiveness is that your relationship with God is restored. What’s so great about no hell, among other things, is you get to dwell with God. He’s the point!

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18).

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

Texts

2 How can we who died to sin still live in it? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.(Ro 6:7)

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Ro 6:11)

3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:3).

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph 2:1–3)4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:4–10)

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Col 1:13)

Teaching Notes:

The power of sin to condemn is defeated

Imagine what life would be like if this were not the case. You would live in a state of perpetual fear that if you mess up you would be condemned. Your life would be consumed with trying to combat that fear and terror with every attempt to not mess up. That type of lifestyle and fear isn’t Christianity. In Christ, sin cannot condemn you. That fear, that pressure, that enslavement, that weight, is killed on the cross. In fact the more you sin, the more grace increases - “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20). Jesus reverses the old order of things. Before Christ, the law increased sin “through the law comes knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20), “the law came to increase the trespass” (Rom 5:20), but now, in Christ, the increase of sins actually increases grace 21” so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 5:21). AKA GRACE REIGNS, your sin is not the exception, it doesn’t change that grace reigns, rather, it proves the point!

"None of us would claim that we are working for our salvation. . . however that is exactly what we are doing when in our mind our salvation is only as valid as the previous act of sin we've committed." | Just Thinking Podcast

You have indeed died to sin and its coming power. And you are alive in Christ. IF you are united to him by faith.

And as the twig derives substance and nourishment from the root to which it is attached, so those who receive baptism with true faith truly feel the efficacy of Christ's death in the mortification of their flesh, and the efficacy of his resurrection in the quickening of the Spirit. Calvin, Institutes

Be Humble

"O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing you have no ground for it. Whatever you are, you have nothing to make you proud. The more you have, the more you are in debt to God ; and you should not be proud of that which renders you a debtor. Consider your origin; look back to what you were. Consider what you will have been but for divine grace." -Spurgeon

Kill sin

Paul asks in Rom 6:1, “if grace abounds even the more we sin, should we sin?” No. Rather,

Let not sin reign therefore in your mortal bodies

How can we who have died to sin still live in it?

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you (Col 3:5)

So, go for it. Kill it all, and leave none of it remaining. You will make way more headway in this battle if you fight as a free man (as I have just unpacked it) than if you fight as a fearing man. Paul puts it this way, “14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace (Rom 6:14).

“13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Rom 6:13).

Christians are the freest people and they don’t use their freedom to sin. It’s not in their blood, because they have the Spirit. You can tell a tree by their fruit. Christians strive to bear fruit, because they have died to sin and have been made alive.

"The greatest happiness of a Christian is to be holy. It is no slavery to him. Put him where you will, he will not sin, Expose him to any temptation, if it were not for that evil heart still remaining, you would never find him sinning. Holiness is his pleasure; sin is his slavery."

Good Pretending/Holy Imagination

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in all his doing” (Jas 1:22-25).

Let’s look into the perfect law of liberty:

“Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God” (Rom 6:11).

“You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3).

“When Christ, who is your life appears, you will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:4).

Now that you have looked into the mirror, don’t forget what you look like. These things are reality, they are who you are in Christ. Go live into that reality.

“Practically speaking, it works like this: imagine what you'd be like if you really did experience deep, gospel renewal- if you really believed that the living God was for you and that he would meet all your needs. Imagine that version of yourself, the one that is free and happy and stable and full of love. Now take that imaginary you and put him in the situations you face in your life. If you really did love God deeply from the heart, and if you really did love your neighbor sincerely, what would you do? When you have the answer, ask for God's help and then go and do it (even if you suspect that your motives are mixed).” Rigney, Chpt 9

“It’s what children do when they pretend to be grown up so that they can grow up. And it’s what Christians do, in our pilgrim condition, when we’re told to do the Word.” Ibid.

So the process is, look into the perfect law of liberty and see reality in Christ. Imagine what it would look like in your life. Then, we act in light of who we are, and with God’s help we will be blessed.

Missions/Evangelism/Persecution

Persecution Leads to Evangelism

“And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria” (Acts 8:1).

“4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4)

Persecution calls us to take seriously what we believe.

The death of those who believe with us beckons us to join them.

The death of Christians calls us to live by faith (Heb 11)

Martyrdom is not a Waste

“11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been” (Rev 6:11).

He famously said in response to the Christian persecutors, “All your ingenious cruelties can accomplish nothing; they are only a lure to this sect. Our number increases the more you destroy us. The blood of Christians is their seed.”

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1-2).

Significance

Only if you have a robust theology of death and resurrection will you immitate the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us—Christ being center stage.