The Wages Of Sin Is Death

Written by Stephen Kingery


"Forrepparttar wages of sin is death, butrepparttar 141130 gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) This article is really about two ideas which Paul so beautifully brings together in this one verse:repparttar 141131 wages of (or payment for) sin is death, butrepparttar 141132 forgiveness of that sin results in eternal life in Christ. Let's take a look at both contrasting ideas and see how they come together in this beautiful verse.

First of all,repparttar 141133 wages of sin is death. In other words,repparttar 141134 punishment for living a life of sinfulness without repentance and salvation is surely death. The death spoken of here is also referred to inrepparttar 141135 Scriptures asrepparttar 141136 "second death." The meaning ofrepparttar 141137 word "death" is a separation. (The meaning ofrepparttar 141138 word "death" inrepparttar 141139 secular world means an ending of life, or thatrepparttar 141140 person has ceased to live.) Inrepparttar 141141 physical sense, death isrepparttar 141142 separation ofrepparttar 141143 spirit ofrepparttar 141144 person fromrepparttar 141145 physical body. This isrepparttar 141146 first death. The "second death" isrepparttar 141147 eternal separation ofrepparttar 141148 spirit of a person fromrepparttar 141149 presence of God. In as much as God is our Creator - both as a human race and as an individual - it is our desire for our spirit to return to God upon physical death to be able to live with Him for eternity. However, due to sin - or more specifically a life of sinfulness without remission of sin and salvation - one will experiencerepparttar 141150 "second death" which isrepparttar 141151 eternal separation ofrepparttar 141152 spirit with God.

If one is eternally separated from God, then where will his spirit be? "Butrepparttar 141153 cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part inrepparttar 141154 lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which isrepparttar 141155 second death." (Revelation 21:8) "And I sawrepparttar 141156 dead, small and great, standing before God, andrepparttar 141157 books were opened. And another book was opened, which isrepparttar 141158 Book of Life. Andrepparttar 141159 dead were judged according to their works, byrepparttar 141160 things which were written inrepparttar 141161 books. The sea gave uprepparttar 141162 dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered uprepparttar 141163 dead who were in them. And they were judged, each according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast intorepparttar 141164 lake of fire. This isrepparttar 141165 second death. And anyone not found written inrepparttar 141166 Book of Life was cast intorepparttar 141167 lake of fire." (Revelation 20:12-15) "In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obeyrepparttar 141168 gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction fromrepparttar 141169 presence ofrepparttar 141170 Lord and fromrepparttar 141171 glory of His power." (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9)

These Scriptures paint a grim picture for those who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and strive to live a life pleasing to Him. This picture is one of a spiritual separation from our Creator. It is also a picture of eternal suffering inrepparttar 141172 "lake of fire."

The Bible does not give us a great amount of detail as torepparttar 141173 place we call Hell. Perhaps it is to protect us fromrepparttar 141174 knowledge of that awful place. It is possible thatrepparttar 141175 very knowledge would destroy us. (No Scripture for this, just my opinion.) Butrepparttar 141176 Bible does give us a glimpse of what it will be like. Jesus tells us ofrepparttar 141177 rich man who went to hell in Luke 16:19-24. In this passage, verses 23 and 24 say, "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may diprepparttar 141178 tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame." How severerepparttar 141179 torment must be if a single drop of water would be desired to bring whatever slight relief it could. There is no way on earth that we can even begin to imaginerepparttar 141180 torment that awaitsrepparttar 141181 unrepentant sinner.

The good news (no,repparttar 141182 great news) is that a sinner can be forgiven. "For God so lovedrepparttar 141183 world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son intorepparttar 141184 world to condemnrepparttar 141185 world, but thatrepparttar 141186 world through Him might be saved." (John 3:16,17) "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

Even thoughrepparttar 141187 wages of sin is death, God provided His Son to payrepparttar 141188 penalty for all who would accept Him as their Lord and Savior. It was throughrepparttar 141189 love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of us that He gave Jesus to bear our sins torepparttar 141190 cross and payrepparttar 141191 penalty that each of us, by rights, should be paying. You and I along with every other person living today or inrepparttar 141192 past arerepparttar 141193 guilty parties. We arerepparttar 141194 ones who have sinned againstrepparttar 141195 Father. In order for justice to be done, we should payrepparttar 141196 price of death for our sins.

The Scarlet Cord

Written by Stephen Kingery


From Genesis 1:1 allrepparttar way throughrepparttar 141129 Bible torepparttar 141130 last verse of Revelation, there is a plan by which man can receive salvation andrepparttar 141131 promise of God for eternal life with Jesus Christ. This plan is like a scarlet cord which runs allrepparttar 141132 way throughrepparttar 141133 Old and New Testaments. This plan is embodied inrepparttar 141134 life, ministry, and deity of Jesus Christ. In this article we shall examine this scarlet cord;repparttar 141135 Christ ofrepparttar 141136 Old and New Testament.

Many uninformed Christians believe that Jesus Christ "appeared" onrepparttar 141137 scene inrepparttar 141138 book of Matthew and thatrepparttar 141139 New Testament is about Christ and His teachings. They also believe thatrepparttar 141140 Old Testament is an account ofrepparttar 141141 history and laws ofrepparttar 141142 Jewish people beforerepparttar 141143 time of Christ. They do not see or recognizerepparttar 141144 relationship betweenrepparttar 141145 two testaments. The relationship is Christ.

As early as Genesis 3:15 we see Christ inrepparttar 141146 Old Testament. The Old Testament is replete with prophesies aboutrepparttar 141147 coming Messiah, and God begins to tell His people these inrepparttar 141148 first book ofrepparttar 141149 Bible. In Genesis 3:15 we see that Christ isrepparttar 141150 seed ofrepparttar 141151 woman; in 4:25 we see that He is fromrepparttar 141152 line of Seth; in 9:27 we see thatrepparttar 141153 line continues through Shem; in 12:3repparttar 141154 line continues through Abraham; in 21:12repparttar 141155 line continues through Isaac; in 25:23 through Jacob; and in 49:10 we see that Christ shall be ofrepparttar 141156 tribe of Judah.

Another way we see Christ inrepparttar 141157 Old Testament is through types. A "type" is a historical fact that illustrates a spiritual truth. For example, Adam is said to be a type, "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according torepparttar 141158 likeness ofrepparttar 141159 transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come." (Romans 5:14) How is Adam a type of Christ? Both enteredrepparttar 141160 world through a special act of God as sinless men. We think of Adam as beingrepparttar 141161 head ofrepparttar 141162 first creation,repparttar 141163 physical creation of man. Jesus isrepparttar 141164 head ofrepparttar 141165 new creation. Through Adam, sin was introduced torepparttar 141166 world, through Jesus sin is made null and void.

There are also what I like to call "pictures of Christ" inrepparttar 141167 Old Testament. An example of this is Abel's acceptable offering of a blood sacrifice which points to or "pictures" Christ as beingrepparttar 141168 acceptable blood sacrifice for all mankind's sin. In like manner, Cain's murder of Able picturesrepparttar 141169 death of Christ; both were a result of jealousy.

Joseph is also a type of Christ. Both Joseph and Christ were objects of special love by their fathers, both were hated by their brothers, both were rejected as rulers over their brothers, both were sold for silver, both were condemned though innocent, and both were raised out of their humiliation to positions of glory byrepparttar 141170 power of God.

Not all Old Testament books contain direct messianic prophecies. Some books which may not have direct prophecies will be full of types and/or pictures of Christ. Let's take a look at each Old Testament book following Genesis to see what of Christ we can see in each of them.

EXODUS: Exodus has no direct prophecies but is full of types. Some of these types are: Moses,repparttar 141171 Passover,repparttar 141172 seven feasts,repparttar 141173 exodus,repparttar 141174 manna and water,repparttar 141175 tabernacle, andrepparttar 141176 high priest.

LEVITICUS: Leviticus is also brimming with types and allusions ofrepparttar 141177 person and work of Jesus. Some ofrepparttar 141178 more important are:repparttar 141179 five offerings,repparttar 141180 high priest, and seven feasts.

NUMBERS: In Numbers there are several pictures of Christ. Some of these include: a bronze serpent on a stake (a picture ofrepparttar 141181 Crucifixion),repparttar 141182 rock that quenchesrepparttar 141183 thirst ofrepparttar 141184 multitude,repparttar 141185 daily manna,repparttar 141186 pillar of cloud and fire, andrepparttar 141187 six cities of refuge.

DEUTERONOMY: The most obvious picture of Christ is found in 18:15, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear." Also we see Moses as a type of Christ as described above. Also note that Moses and Christ wererepparttar 141188 only ones to fillrepparttar 141189 three offices of prophet, priest and king (remember that Moses was never named a king, but fulfilledrepparttar 141190 duties of a king as ruler of Israel).

JOSHUA: Joshua himself is a type of Christ. Joshua led Israel into their promised land, and as such he pictures Christ asrepparttar 141191 One who will bring "many sons to glory" (see Heb. 2:10). Joshua succeeded Moses and realizedrepparttar 141192 victory which was unattainable by Moses, and in like manner Christ realizedrepparttar 141193 victory which was unattainable byrepparttar 141194 law. The "Commander ofrepparttar 141195 army ofrepparttar 141196 Lord" which we see in 5:13-15 is evidently a preincarnate appearance of Christ.

JUDGES: The judges fulfilled two roles, that of spiritual savior and political ruler. These two roles picturerepparttar 141197 role of Christ as our Savior and King. The seven judges also functioned individually somewhat differently. Some are warrior-rulers, some priests, and one (Samuel) was a prophet. These different functions all picturerepparttar 141198 three offices of Christ as our Prophet, Priest and King.

RUTH: The book of Ruth showsrepparttar 141199 redemption of Ruth by her kinsmen. This kinsmen-redeemer relationship is a picture ofrepparttar 141200 relationship which Christ has with us. Also, Ruth wasrepparttar 141201 Great-Grandmother of David and therefore a blood relative of Christ.

I & II SAMUEL: Samuel is a type of Christ as he holdsrepparttar 141202 offices of prophet, priest and judge. However we see more of Christ inrepparttar 141203 life and person of David in these two books. David is born in Bethlehem, serves as a shepherd, and rules as king of Israel. David isrepparttar 141204 forerunner ofrepparttar 141205 messianic King, andrepparttar 141206 New Testament calls Christrepparttar 141207 "seed of David according torepparttar 141208 flesh" (Romans 1:3) and "the Root andrepparttar 141209 Offspring of David." (Revelation 22:16)

I & II KINGS: Solomon is a type of Christ in a number of ways. His wisdom points to Christ; his fame, glory, wealth, and honor also point to Christ. Solomon was indeed considered great, however Christ said of Himself, "indeed a greater than Solomon is here." (Matthew 12:42) Inrepparttar 141210 northern kingdom there were nine different dynasties. However, inrepparttar 141211 southern kingdomrepparttar 141212 dynasty of David is preserved and thereby alsorepparttar 141213 linage of David of which Christ comes. Elijah is more a type of Johnrepparttar 141214 Baptist than Christ but he reminds us of Christ in that he stressed repentance.

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