We now come to the ultimate question: What do God’s Word, His way and eternal life have to do with death? The answer is: EVERYTHING. The death that God requires of salvation seekers is of two types. The first type is commonly referred to as “death to self.” The Apostle Paul wrote about this type of death in First Corinthians 15:31 when he described his relationship with the Lord by saying, “I die daily.” Paul was honest with himself. He knew that he had a tendency toward pride due to what the Lord had accomplished through him (2 Cor. 12:1-7). Because of this weakness he had to consciously and forcefully put to death his desire for recognition, admiration, etc. Paul also knew that he was subject to the same temptations with which Satan attacked Jesus. It is said of Jesus that He was tempted and tested as all other men. His trials and His reaction to them are noted in simple terms in Hebrews 4:15: “Jesus … WAS IN EVERY WAY TEMPTED AS WE ARE, YET WITHOUT SIN.” The ultimate question relative to temptation, sin and righteousness is this: “Are those who claim to be Christ’s brethren required to face and overcome Satan’s tests and temptations as did He (Jesus) in order to enter the presence of God as did He? He answers the question in Revelation 3:21, saying that only those who “… overcome as I overcame will sit with Me on My throne” in the Kingdom of God. We must never forget that JESUS WAS A MAN– A HUMAN BEING LIKE  ALL OTHER HUMAN BEINGS. Biblically, the word used to describe his humanness is “anthropos”–the same word used to describe Adam’s humanness. Remember that Jesus is called the “last Adam,” meaning that the two men were created human. Just as Adam was capable of failure in the face of temptation, so Jesus was capable of failure. Jesus came to earth as a 100% man so that He could serve as man’s example relative to obedience to God in the face of tests, trials, etc. In that He did not fail, He set the perfect example for dying to self, which was what Paul was referring to in First Corinthians 15:31. Only those who follow Him in self-death will join Him in the Kingdom of God on earth (not heaven). See Jesus Christ: God, Man or God-man? and The Kingdom of God.

As stated above, when the Lord  and His spokesmen (prophets and apostles) wrote about the necessity for death now in order to attain life later they were referring to His command to die to our own desire for self-direction. This we must do using the power of the Holy Spirit which true saints have within them. The statement: “They who are led by the Spirit of God, (only) they are the sons of God” refers to the fact that we must die to our own desire for self-direction and must stay dead to it when the devil tempts us to go what we believe to be the right way, but which is contrary to God’s Biblical way. This error is brought in Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to death.” Note that well- meaning churchman will honestly believe that he is going the right (church) way because of his ignorance of God’s (Biblical) way. This man is zealous and confident. The problem is that he is zealously and confidently wrong–dead wrong. This man has failed to die to self and live to the Lord.

Though death to self (direction) is of vital importance, there is yet another death that true God-seekers must embrace. It is to this death that we will look in the next posting. L.J.