Life-Study of Luke, Chapter 52 THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE TORN DOWN THE MIDDLE Furthermore, 23:45 says, “The veil of the temple was torn down the middle.” Matthew 27:51 tells us that the veil of the temple was torn in two “from the top to the bottom.” This tearing of the veil signifies that the separation between God and man was abolished, because the flesh (signified by the veil) of sin, of which Christ had taken on the likeness (Rom. 8:3) had been crucified (Heb. 10:20). “From the top to the bottom” indicates that the rending of the veil was God’s doing from above. In Luke 23:44 and 45 we see two matters accomplished by God: darkness coming over the whole land and the veil of the temple being torn. These are signs proving that from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, that is, from noon until three o’clock in the afternoon, God came in to judge the Redeemer, who was dying as our Substitute. His death was not for Himself; it was for us. Therefore, we may call His death a vicarious death. This death was accomplished by Him for us on the cross and under God’s judgment. The Man-Savior Forsaken by God During the hours from noon until three o’clock, God put all our sins upon the Lord Jesus. In the words of Isaiah 53:6, “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” The darkness signifies that God had put our sins upon Him. Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that God made Him to be sin for us. Hence, God not only put our sins upon Him; He even made Him to be sin on our behalf. This took place during the second period of three hours. It was also during these hours that God forsook the Man-Savior (Mark 15:34). Because the Lord is God’s beloved Son, God always delighted in Him. But because God regarded Him as our Substitute, as the One who bore our sins and was made sin for us in God’s sight, God forsook Him. In the sight of God during those hours the Lord was a totality of sin. This understanding of the Lord’s death is not guesswork. On the contrary, this understanding is according to the study of the accurate record in the Bible. All our sins were put on the Man-Savior. The root of our sins is the sin that came into mankind from Satan. This sin indwells us. When our sins were put on the Lord Jesus, He was made the very sin that indwells us. Therefore, both the root—indwelling sin—and the fruit—our sins—were put upon Him. As such a One, He was judged by God according to His righteousness. First Corinthians 15:3 says, “Christ died for our sins.” First Peter 2:24 tells us that He Himself “carried up our sins in His body onto the tree.” These verses indicate that Christ bore our sins and died for them. Hebrews 9:28 says that Christ was “once offered to bear the sins of many,” and verse 26 in the same chapter says, “He has been manifested for the putting away of sin by His sacrifice.” Both sin and sins were dealt with by His death once for all. Therefore, we may call His death an eternal death, a once-for-all death. When the Lord Jesus was bearing our sins and was made sin on the cross, He was considered by God to be the Lamb of God. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). In this verse the “world” refers to mankind, to the human race. The Lamb of God took away the sin of mankind. The problem of sin has been solved by His vicarious death for us. One with God Essentially, but Forsaken by God Economically When the Lord Jesus, the God-man, died on the cross under God’s judgment, He had God within Him essentially as His divine being. Nevertheless, He was forsaken by the righteous and judging God economically. We have seen that Christ was conceived and born of the Holy Spirit essentially. The Holy Spirit was one of the essences of His being. As the Lord Jesus grew up and lived on earth, He had the Holy Spirit within Him essentially. Later, when He was baptized, He had the Holy Spirit as an essential part of His being. However, when He was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him economically. This means that the Lord Jesus had the Holy Spirit as one of the essences of His being essentially, and also that the Holy Spirit descended upon Him economically. This does not mean, of course, that there are two Holy Spirits. It means that the one Holy Spirit has two aspects—the essential and the economical. The essential aspect was for the being, the existence, of the Lord Jesus, and the economical aspect was for His work, His ministry. Now we need to see that when the Lord Jesus was on the cross dying for our sins, God was in Him essentially. Therefore, the One who died for our sin was the God-man. But at a certain point the righteous God, while judging this God-man, left Him economically. God’s forsaking of Christ was an economical matter related to the carrying out of God’s judgment. SOME DETAILS RELATED TO THE MAN-SAVIOR’S CRUCIFIXION Let us now consider a few other matters covered in 23:26-49. Luke 23:26 says, “And as they led Him away, they laid hold of Simon, a certain Cyrenian, coming from the country, and they placed the cross upon him to carry it behind Jesus.” Cyrene was a Greek colonial city, the capital of Cyrenaica in North Africa. It seems that Simon was a Cyrenian Jew. A great multitude of people followed the Man-Savior, and the women were mourning and lamenting Him (v. 27). “But Jesus turned to them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep over Me, but weep over yourselves and over your children. For behold the days are coming in which they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs which did not bare, and the breasts which did not nourish. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us! And to the hills, Cover us! For if they do these things in a green tree, what will happen in the dry?” (vv. 28-31). A “green tree” refers to wet wood, full of sap. This signifies the Man-Savior, who is living and full of life. The dry wood signifies the dead people of Jerusalem, the people who were devoid of life juice. Verses 32 and 33 say, “And two others also, who were criminals, were led away with Him to be executed. And when they came to the place called Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.” In Matthew 27:33 this place is called Golgotha, a Hebrew name (John 19:17) which means skull (Mark 15:22). Its equivalent in Latin is Calvaria, anglicized into Calvary. It does not mean a place of dead men’s skulls, but simply skull. When one of the criminals blasphemed the Man-Savior, “the other answering rebuked him and said, Do you not even fear God, since you are in the same judgment? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we did; but this Man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:40-41). The Greek word for “wrong” also means “out of place.” This criminal then said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (v. 42). The Lord said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (v. 43). This record of salvation, from verse 40, is unique to this Gospel. It shows the effectiveness of the Man-Savior’s vicarious death and the highest standard of morality of His salvation. In 23:43 “Paradise” denotes the pleasant section in Hades, where the spirits of Abraham and all the just are, awaiting the resurrection (Luke 16:22-23, 25-26). The Lord Jesus went to Paradise after His death and stayed until His resurrection (Acts 2:24, 27, 31; Eph. 4:9; Matt. 12:40). It differs from the paradise in Revelation 2:7, which will be the New Jerusalem in the millennium. LIFE-STUDY OF LUKE MESSAGE FIFTY-THREE THE DEATH OF THE MAN-SAVIOR (3) Scripture Reading: Luke 23:26-56 THE MAN-SAVIOR’S ALL-INCLUSIVE DEATH We have seen in the foregoing message that the Man-Savior was put to death as our Substitute, as our Redeemer, by God. Now we need to see that the Lord Jesus died an all-inclusive death. His death on the cross was not merely vicarious; it was also all-inclusive. Because the Man-Savior is an all-inclusive Person, on the cross He died an all-inclusive death. Let us now go on to consider different aspects of the Lord’s all-inclusive death. The Lamb of God According to the record of the entire New Testament, when the Man-Savior died on the cross, He died as seven items. First, He died as the Lamb of God to deal with sin and sins. John 1:29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Here the world denotes mankind. From 1 Corinthians 15:3, 1 Peter 2:24, and Hebrews 9:28 we see that as the Lamb of God the Lord Jesus died for our sins. Furthermore, according to 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Hebrews 9:26, His death dealt with sin. Therefore, both sin and sins were dealt with by the Lamb of God, who was under God’s judgment on the cross. A Man in the Flesh When the Man-Savior died on the cross, He also died as a man in the flesh. As the Word which was with God and which is God, He became flesh (John 1:1, 14). First Peter 3:18 tells us that He was “put to death in flesh.” As a man in the flesh, He had only the likeness, the form, of a fallen man; He did not have the nature of a fallen man. This means that He was in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3), but He did not have the actual nature of sin. Because the Man-Savior died as a man in the flesh, His death dealt with the fallen flesh. Praise the Lord that sin, sins, and the fallen flesh have been dealt with by the death of the Man-Savior! A Man in the Old Creation The Lord Jesus also died as a man in the old creation. This is the reason Romans 6:6 says that our old man was crucified with Him. Because the Lord died on the cross as a man in the old creation, our old man was dealt with through His death. The Serpent It may come as a great surprise to hear that the Man-Savior died on the cross even as the serpent. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). Here the Lord Jesus applies to Himself the type of the brass serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness (Num. 21:4-9). No doubt, the Lord Jesus was crucified as a serpent in form in order to deal with Satan, the Devil, the old serpent. As fallen human beings, we all have been bitten by this serpent. Do you know when we were bitten? We were bitten in the Garden of Eden when Adam was bitten by the serpent and poisoned by him. Therefore, it was necessary for our Savior to be crucified as the serpent in form in order to deal with the old serpent. It was through being crucified as the serpent that the Lord Jesus crushed the head of the old serpent, the Devil (Gen. 3:15). In this way, He judged the ruler of this world. Concerning this, John 12:31 says, “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out.” By His death on the cross, the Man-Savior destroyed the Devil, who had the power of death (Heb. 2:14). Therefore, as the One who died as a serpent under God’s judgment, the Man-Savior dealt with the Devil and with his world, the satanic system. The Firstborn of All Creation When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He died as the Firstborn of all creation (Col. 1:15). With respect to His humanity, Christ was the first item of God’s creation. When He died on the cross, He died as this first item of the old creation. Hence, through His death on the cross the entire old creation was dealt with. The Peacemaker In Ephesians 2:14 and 15 we see that Christ died as the Peacemaker, as the One who makes peace: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity, having abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, making peace.” Here we see that Christ died on the cross to abolish all the ordinances among mankind. In particular, He died to take away the partition between the Jews and the Gentiles. Not only was there a partition between Jews and Gentiles; there were also partitions between every nationality and race. Without the removal of these partitions, there would be no way for us to be one in the Lord Jesus as His Body. Praise the Lord that all the ordinances were abolished by the Man-Savior on the cross! Now in the church life we have people of all races, colors, and nationalities. A Grain of Wheat Finally, Christ died on the cross as a grain of wheat: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). The Lord died on the cross as a grain of wheat in order to release the divine life from within Him. The New Testament reveals that the Lord Jesus died on the cross as seven items: the Lamb of God, a man in the flesh, a man of the old creation, the serpent, the Firstborn of creation, the Peacemaker, and a grain of wheat. This is not merely our word; this is what the Bible reveals. We need to proclaim the fact that, according to the Word of God, the Man-Savior died as these seven items. The Death of an All-inclusive Person Christ died an all-inclusive death because He is an all-inclusive Person. For example, if the king of a certain country were to die, a person with a twofold status—a man and a king—would die. As our Substitute, the Lord Jesus had a sevenfold status and therefore died as the Lamb of God, a man in the flesh, a man of the old creation, the serpent, the Firstborn of all creation, the Peacemaker, and a grain of wheat. Such an all-inclusive Person died an all-inclusive death. Because the Lord’s death was all-inclusive, when He died on the cross many things were dealt with. Sin, sins, the flesh, the old man, Satan, the world, the old creation, and the ordinances were all dealt with. Furthermore, the divine life with the divine riches was released from within the Lord Jesus. His all-inclusive death took away all the negative things and released all the positive things. Luke 23:44 and 45 say, “And it was already about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, the sun’s light failing; and the veil of the temple was torn down the middle.” The darkness here is related to sin, and the veil is a type of the flesh of the Lord Jesus. Hebrews 10:20 speaks of “a new and living way, which He dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.” On the veil that was rent when Christ died cherubim were embroidered. These cherubim represent the living creatures. This indicates that in His flesh Christ bore all the creatures. When the veil in the temple was torn, the cherubim embroidered on it were also torn. This means that when the flesh of Christ was crucified, all the creatures borne by Him were crucified as well. Through the death of Christ sin, sins, the flesh, and all the creatures were all dealt with. Accomplished Once for All The all-inclusive death of Christ was accomplished once for all. There is no need for Him to die again. The Lord’s all-inclusive death is eternal. If we see this, we shall praise the Lord that sin, sins, the flesh, the old man, Satan, the world, the old creation, and the ordinances have been dealt with, and the divine riches have been released and imparted to us. Now through the Lord’s all-inclusive death we are people of the jubilee.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 14:04:04 +0000
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