Have you ever considered just who Jesus died for? Something the churches often focus on is making it very personal and thinking about the fact that Jesus died for YOU. Making us consider the fact that Jesus’ sacrifice was for the very sins we as individuals have committed.  

I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me

Galatians 2 v 20

Jesus sacrifice is an incredibly personal thing, and it should touch us on a deep level. It should have an impact on us and change our lives for the better. 

Well that was unexpected

However, have you ever considered the OTHER people Jesus died for? When we think of a sacrifice made for US, it’s easy to quickly feel a sense of responsibility if we are so inclined. This would impact the way we live our lives and make our own choices take a different path. What is more difficult to prepare for and control is the impact that others choices will have on us.

When faced with disagreements, and people unwilling to even discuss a different way of looking at something, hate, hurt and pride can seep into our hearts. It becomes ‘us against them’ and it’s very easy to think I’m in the right and must stick to my guns no matter the consequences.

Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus died for your school bully, your boss at work, or our least favourite world leader? Christ did not just die for the ‘good’ in this world. Christ came to fix a broken world, full of broken people. 

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

Mark 2 v 17

The purpose of Jesus’ sacrifice was to allow a way to get closer to God. In the midst of conflict, this is a stark reminder that certainly brings me up short. This person who is causing such angst and heartache in life is STILL someone Christ chose to die for.  My very own saviour decided to give his life to save this person also.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die. But God demonstrates is love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us

Romans 5 v 7-8

No-one ever wins when the goal is to settle the score

This brings a new level of awareness to any conflict we feel and should soften any feelings of hate, distrust and anger. We may still not agree with the person’s point of view, politics or moral standpoint, but it needs to work on us and allow us to see them through a different lens. The lens of love that Christ embodied through his life and death.

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.

2 Corinthians 5 v 16

We are always going to experience conflict because we are human. However, before it destroys us, we must try to rethink our humanistic view of people and look at them as Christ did – worth dying for.

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On another level, some hopefuls have even requested that their bodies be frozen after death, with the conviction that someday, medical science will have advanced so far that we can be brought back to life!

It seems we are obsessed with extending our lifespan and finding ways to defy death. But have we really considered what it would be like to live forever?

Living forever in the world today

Take a moment to consider what it would be like if today, we cracked the code to immortality. No doubt your first reaction would be pure excitement – an eternity to complete everything on our bucket list, achieve all our goals and ambitions. But how long would that excitement last?

We often talk about ‘the state that the world is in’ – corruption within governments, wars, famine and poverty. Despite our best efforts, we have yet to find the perfect solution to any of these problems, and undoubtedly never will, even if we were given an eternity.

Fortunately, God has a much better plan for the Earth – a plan which we have the opportunity to be a part of…

A new world

The Bible describes a time when Jesus will return to the Earth and set up God’s kingdom:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. (Matthew 25:31)

The description we are given of the kingdom which Christ will rule over is so very different from the world we are familiar with today:

Everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40)

With righteousness he (Jesus) shall judge the poor…the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb…they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. (Isaiah 11:3-9)

What a stark contrast: a king who judges without corruption, complete peace on the Earth, no more death – even those who have already died are brought back to life! Who wouldn’t take up the offer of everlasting life in a world with no pain or suffering? It certainly seems an offer worth considering…

Want to know more about the journey to everlasting life? Check out this article on Baptism

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The presentation below accompanies the talk

Norman mentioned during the talk that you can get in touch with us if you have any questions – so let us know in the comments or email us at dundee@searchforhope.org

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…then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Genesis 2:7

Man was first of all formed from the dust of the earth, and only became a living creature when God gave that vital breath of life. Genesis also records the origin of death – man and woman disobeyed God’s commandment and so they were punished.

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Genesis 3:19

Genesis chapter 1 tells us that we have been created in God’s image. But beyond that, there is little difference between mankind and animals. Animals too have been formed from the dust, and made living creatures by God’s breath of life. Later in Genesis we read of a flood that covered the earth, as punishment for the wickedness of men and women. Here the point is made that as far as the breath of life is concerned, men and women are the same as animals.

And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.

Genesis 7:21-22

The following passage in Ecclesiastes leaves us in no doubt about this point:

For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

Ecclesiastes 3:19-20

What becomes of us when we die?

The passages quoted above speak of returning to the dust – a concept that we understand from our knowledge of the decay a body following death. But is there anything else? This trio of quotations helps to answer that question:

For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?

Psalm 6:5

The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence.

Psalm 115:17

For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten… Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Ecclesiastes 9:5-10

Emphatically then, when we die, there is nothing beyond the decay of our lifeless bodies. We have no consciousness; there is no longer an existence of our person in any form. Death is a punishment for sin, and without further provision it is an utter end.

But the Bible tells us there is hope beyond the grave. It likens death to a sleep, pointing to a promise of being awake – alive – once again.

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.

Daniel 12:2

There is no guarantee – for some death will be final and everlasting – but if we are willing to serve God, he is willing to forgive us and give us the gift of everlasting life in his coming kingdom.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52

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