Correspondence

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Duration: 4min
Gen. 2:17, Eze. 18:4, Romans 6:23 Heb. 2:9
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Through the first Adam’s disobedience sin came into the world, and with sin came death so far as man was concerned― “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Rom. 5:1212Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (Romans 5:12)). No doubt the death spoken of in Genesis 2:1717But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17) is both physical and spiritual. There is no difficulty in this, for the word “day” does not mean a period of twenty-four hours. Had sin not entered, man would not have died but death has now come in, and for man nothing is more terrible, indeed death is called “the king of terrors” (Job 18:1414His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors. (Job 18:14)). It is the ruin of all his hopes, the end of all his projects, and the destruction of all his plans.
But death is not merely the humiliating evidence of man’s weakness, it is also “the wages of sin,” and thus has terror for the conscience. Satan, too, wields over man “the power of death.” These are solemn sentences of God’s Word― “The power of death,” and “the fear of death” (Heb. 2:14,1514Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14‑15)). Let the sinner reason as he will, yet he will tremble when in his utter weakness he stands helpless in the presence of this hideous monster.
But there is more than human weakness―more, too, than Satan’s power; there is the judgment of God. Death, mere physical death, is not all― “After this the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). How can it be anything but terrible!
Blessed be God! Christ has come into the midst of this scene of death. There where sin had plunged man, Christ came in grace. He died, and in His death suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust. He tasted death, not merely physical death, but death as the judgment of God against sin. He was made sin for us. His was an infinite sacrifice. As you rightly say, “An eternity of woe was all compressed in those hours of darkness.” All that sin was in its horribleness in the sight of a holy God Christ has borne.
Did you and I not deserve to be banished from God’s presence for all eternity because of our sin? Yes, indeed. But Christ has fully borne the judgment of God which was our due; He has borne it all for us before the day of judgment comes, so that now death has lost its terror for the believer. In the words of another: “Condemnation and judgment are entirely over, as a question of the soul’s acceptance. The dreadful ordeal is passed; but by Another—so that it is my deliverance from it according to the righteousness of God.”
So far as I remember there is no such expression in the Scripture as “eternal death.” Death will be destroyed, but rejectors of Christ will live on forever, just as certainly as the saint. The passage in Ezekiel has reference to God’s government of men upon the earth, and refers to their physical death. The word “soul” is used there in the same way as in the common way of expressing a shipwreck, so many souls perished.
Take unto you, dear friend, the whole armor of God whereby all the enemy’s fiery darts will be quenched, and above (or, over) all the shield of faith, not reason. Ed.
WE may have been brought to see the sinfulness and evil of our condition before God, and the power of the blood of Jesus in satisfying the holiness of God; but we do not know liberty till we see God for us in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. J. N. D.