Page 21 - The Gate and the Way

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through
sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned...

Mankind, in Adam, became subject to the law of sin and death. Pharaoh stands as a
type of the mastery of sin over mankind. Pharaoh would not let his captives go free. He
demanded that they spend their lives in service to him, and that they die in his presence.
Yahweh, however, made a way for mankind to be set free.
Death, being a consequence of sin, could not be denied. The fact remains that “the
wages of sin is death.” Yet, Yahweh would permit the soul of one creature to serve as a
substitution for the soul of another. In the Old Testament we see this in the substitutionary
sacrifices that Moses delivered to the children of Israel. A bull, an ox, a sheep or goat, or a
bird could be sacrificed that the sin of man might be passed over. These animals had to be
slain. Their blood had to be poured out, for the Scriptures teach that “the soul is in the
blood.” Yahweh would accept the soul of these animals in exchange for the souls of men and
women. These animals died that man might live.
Understand now, why Israel could not be released from bondage in Egypt until after
the blood of the Passover lamb had been shed and placed on their doorways. The only
escape from the bondage of sin is through death. The Israelites could either die for their
sins, or someone else could die in their place. The penalty of sin must be met.
Pharaoh released the people of God the night of that first Passover, for their lives had
slipped out of his control. The Passover lamb had died for them, even as Christ has died for
us. His death became our death. Having died with Christ, sin (Pharaoh) no longer has any
control over us. The penalty of death had been paid. By becoming partakers of the
resurrection life of Christ the people of God are freed from sin’s bondage. This is the
salvation Christ purchased for mankind.
You may say, “This is all well and fine, and I agree with it, but why must I then suffer?
If the power of sin has been broken over my life, why must I also carry a cross? Was not the
cross of Christ sufficient?” These are excellent questions, and they deserve an answer.
We become one with Christ by faith as we believe in His atoning work. When He died,
we died. When He rose again from the dead, we were raised to newness of life with Him
(Romans 6). All of this is symbolized in the ordinance of baptism. When we are placed
under the water, our union with Christ in His death is portrayed. When we are lifted back
out of the water, our union with Christ in His resurrection is depicted. Even as a person
being brought out of the water will take into his/her lungs a breath of air, so too do all who
are in Christ receive into their beings the Holy Spirit that they might have the divine life of
Christ inside of them.
In Christ, men and women become new creatures. There is life where there was
formerly death. A spiritual being has been conceived, and from the moment that we receive
the seed of Christ into our beings it begins to grow, mature, and advance in conformity to
the image of the Son of God. Yahweh desires that this process continue until Christ be fully
formed in us and we attain to the fulness of the stature that belongs to Yahshua (Ephesians
4:13).
At the same time that a new spiritual creature is growing and advancing in us, the
flesh has to be stripped away. Our physical bodies remain with us, and they still remain
under the curse of sin. This is obvious, for death continues to work in our natural bodies.