Dead, and Made Alive

“And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of dis­obedience.” Verses 1-2.

The law says, “You shall not bear false witness.” So when a per­son says something that’s not true in order to spare himself, he is shifting judgment from himself to someone or something else. Yet judgment was the very thing that was supposed to do a work in that person, turning him to righteousness. But by lying he deflects the judgment; that is to say, by lying he effectively circumvents his own salvation.

The law says, “You shall not steal.” The one who steals does so in order to spare himself. He avoids having to work, and he can live off the work of others and enjoy the fruits of other men’s wages. All this is sin and leads to death. A person’s conscience be­gins to grow lax, and the end result is that he does not hear the Spirit’s conviction concerning sin; he is dead in sins and tres­passes. Lust conceives and continually gives birth to sin, and his conscience is driven further and further away. He sinks deeper into death. This death is where all the ungodly reside. One day, death will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14) along with all those who reside there, so it is worth the effort now to come out of death, out of the power of Satan, by the gospel of Christ. God has power to transfer us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, from death to life, from the power of Satan to God.

Death is where darkness reigns, where Satan has power, where the principalities of the air are at work in the children of disobedi­ence. It’s hard to imagine that things are as bad as they really are. Death is a terrible place to reside, a place from which no one has been able to escape, except by the gospel of Christ.

There is a double aspect in all God’s work, both with respect to salvation and perdition.

Everyone who lives according to the lusts of his flesh, and every­one who does the will of the flesh and of the mind, resides in death. The mind of the flesh is death—that is to say, the flesh craves full satisfaction for its lusts without having to be tormented by pangs of conscience.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” Verses 4-5.

Residing in death under the power of Satan and under God’s condemnation is a miserable state of affairs. People talk about having fun in this state, but this “fun” is at the expense of losing that image of God in them which has not yet been destroyed by death. Where death has been allowed to wreak havoc, all fun comes to an end.

Christ entered the realm of death and destroyed “him who has the power of death, that is, the devil,” and delivered “all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.” Hebrews 2:14-15. Through His flesh, by self-denial, Christ carried out this masterly work, for it was the seed of the woman that was to crush the head of the serpent. That is to say, it was man who was to conquer Satan—but by God’s power and guidance.

This mighty kingdom, “death,” has now come under judgment and condemnation by the work of Christ. Everyone is convicted of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The Spirit finds His way into restaurants and dance halls. He has something to say both in bars and at the card table. No one is able to keep the Spirit out, because Christ, who has the keys of death and Hades, has sent Him. When the fun is over, the Spirit comes and speaks more powerfully than any preacher ever could. He chastens man and shows him a better way.

If anyone will listen, God by His Spirit will lead him out of death.