Free to Live

 Easter Sunrise Service (6)

My wife loves the series of movies “Aliens”. Although I don’t particularly like them, because of my wife I have seen each one on DVD a number of times. There was one particular scene that was really unforgettable. It was at the end of the movie (I can’t remember which episode) and the heroine Lieutenant Ripley threw herself from a high point into a lake of fire, carrying with her a young Alien about to be “born" breaking out of her body. Her body had somehow become a host that the Aliens deposited and breed their seeds and at this juncture an infant Alien was about to come out of her. She plunged into the golden sea facing up with her hands clutching the head of the ugly creature, preventing it from breaking out of her body. She died, and the Alien died with her and in her. It was a captivating scene.

When Jesus died, we (our old man) died with Him and in Him. Most believers are familiar with the fact that when Jesus died, He bore all our sins. What they are seldom made aware of is the fact that He was bearing us too, our old man, when He died. Much like the infant Alien in Lieutenant Ripley, we were in Jesus when He died. Scriptures are very clear about this point:

… 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 …(Rom 6:6, NKJV)

Think of it this way: when Adam sinned, we sinned because we were in him; so when Jesus died we died because we were in Him! Don’t let time and space put a limitation on our understanding and, most importantly, our believing. I know it’s not easy to imagine or understand this, but it’s vital that we grasp this truth in the spirit because the implication is far-reaching: we are no more slaves of sin!

Our old man was a pitiful creature, a slave of sin. Sin was his master, so he had to live and work for sin; there’s no way out. He was joined to sin and acts and lives sin’s nature. To sin was natural to him. The results of sin – all forms of darkness and death – were also evident on him. Now, imagine that this old man is dead, can he continue to be a slave of sin? Of course not, a dead man cannot serve anybody! To sin is no more our nature.

But that’s not all. Jesus not only died, on the third day He arose from the dead. If we died with Him, we also rose up with Him (Rom 6:4-5)! When Jesus was raised up, He left behind all the sins and the horde of darkness as a result of sin: the curses, oppression, fear, strife, poverty, sickness and all things that kept man in bondage. They were put on Him just as sin was put on Him, but now they couldn’t touch Him. If Jesus is free from them then we too are free from them. From this point on we could leave behind all the baggage of the old man that has bogged us down and truly live. No wonder Paul says that we are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).

In this sense, Easter is not only a day to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also a day to remember we receive new life, and we can live in the power of His resurrection. It’s truly a time to rejoice.

Happy Easter!

Photo Credit: renjith krishnan on FreeDigitalPhotos.net