It is important for every believer to understand that the legal basis of our relationship with God is in the finished works of Christ Jesus. So, as much as it is good that people are taught on the subject of faith, on the subject of prayer, purity, sanctification, and everything that is needed for their spiritual growth, it is good that we bring people into the knowledge of Christ and let them understand it, what Christ had done on their behalf and accomplished. Before Christ came to accomplish this, we had no legal right to approach God or has that capacity to call Him “Abba Father.” As a matter of fact, Colossians 1:19-23 gave us a clear picture of what used to happen before Christ showed up. The Bible says:
“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”
Listen to Podcast: Identifying With Christ and His Finished Works
Verse 21 is a vivid picture of where we used to be before Christ stepped in. The word “alienated” there means “to be estranged or separated” from the very life of God. Man was not created to function or survive outside of God. Man was made and created to function in the life of God, in the capacity of God and everything that has to do with God. Man’s continuous survival was premised on knowing God (John 17:3). But Adam through his disobedience, sold the entire human race into the hands of the devil. He handed to Satan our legitimate and legal right to be the children of God to Satan when he disobeyed God in the garden of Eden. Romans 5:12 tells us: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” All sinned in Adam because the entire human race was in his loins at the time. Just the same way Abraham paid tithe, and it was imputed also for Levi, the same way it happened with Adam and the entire human race.
Now, it is important to state here that, what every unborn race inherited from Adam is not the sin of disobedience that Adam committed. Because I have heard people say or argue something like “are you saying that even babies that are given birth to, who does not have any record of right or wrong; is also a sinner?” Of course, a baby isn’t a sinner. What the baby simply inherited from Adam is that NATURE OF SIN! What Adam transmitted down the line of his unborn generation is the DNA to commit sin. So, people have the capacity to sin, and that is why Cain could murder his brother, Abel. Now, who taught Cain how to kill? Obviously, nobody taught him. That nature was passed down to him from his father.
Much more than the act, it is the nature that people inherited from Adam. And that is why everyone that is born of a man and woman has this nature automatically transferred to them. That is why David wrote in Psalm 51:5, it days: “Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
Also, 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 shows us. It says: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” When Adam sinned, man became alienated from the life of God. He lost the glory of God, and everything that has to do with the essence of God. Even though we were not present with Adam and Eve at the time, that legal right was sold to the devil on the platter of disobedience, the same way Esau sold his birthright to Jacob.
Because it was never God’s intention that Satan has us, something extraordinary had to be done for man to be redeemed back to God. Jesus Christ then became the SUBSTITUTION. Satan wouldn’t let man go until something what is commensurate with the punishment of man’s disobedience is meted on man. So, God decided to punish the sin of the entire human race on Christ Jesus once and for all. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” So, Christ became the sin, He became the commensurate punishment that Satan was looking for in mankind. So, God does not have to look at you and mete any other punishment on you for what Adam did again. Christ had taken your place once and for all, and the punishment had been meted on Him already.
Isaiah 53:1-10 gave us an Old Testament account of Christ did on behalf of mankind.
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
Identifying With Christ
“Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
Colossians 2:20-23
At what point did believers died with Christ? It is at that same point that Christ died. Somebody may say “But I was not in Israel when this incident occurred over two thousand years ago. How did it happen?” Because you were in Christ Jesus, just as you were in the loins of Adam at the beginning and Levi too was paying tithe while in the loins of Abraham. Romans 6:1-9 gave us a better biblical picture.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.”
So, identifying with Christ talks about identifying with His death, burial and resurrection. Identifying with Christ is not by mere tagging along. It is not observance of religious creeds or rules and regulations, as apostle Paul aptly wrote in Colossians 2: 21: “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle.”
What Christ Finished Works Accomplished For Believers
1. Christ Reconciled Us Back To God!
““For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”
Colossians 1:19-22
Embedded in Christ’s reconciliatory work is our redemption, our sanctification, and our justification. Achieving these three would not have been possible if Christ had not stepped in. 1 Peter 3:18 says: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.” Also 1 Corinthians 1:30 says: “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
2. Christ’s Death Offered a Perfect Sacrifice Once and For all!
“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’ ”8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
Hebrews 10:5-14
I believe you have been blessed!
Article Source: [Centre for New Dimension Leadership]
