When Jesus the man was crucified on the cross, the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were all involved. The Son’s death was with the Father and by the Spirit. Yes, it was in His humanity, in the flesh, that Christ died on the cross. However, He also died with His divinity. When Christ was dying on the cross, He was not only the Son of Man, but also the Son of God. We must remember that He was one Person with two natures—the human nature and the divine nature. We cannot say that when Christ was dying on the cross the divine nature was taken away, because the very Person who was dying on the cross, as both the Son of Man and the Son of God, still possessed the divine nature and the human nature. This was His very being and this is related to His intrinsic nature.
For example, a person may take away the jacket I am wearing, but he cannot take away my intrinsic nature. The intrinsic nature of Jesus was the nature of both the Son of Man and the Son of God. Jesus as a Person was both the Son of Man and the Son of God. When He was walking on the earth, living on the earth, when He was arrested, when He was judged, when He was crucified on the cross, He was always both the Son of Man and the Son of God. On the cross He was dying as both the Son of Man and the Son of God.
He was the Son of God through the conceiving of the Holy Spirit essentially (Luke 1:35). Essentially means intrinsically. A person’s intrinsic nature cannot be changed. Just because a German puts on a Japanese kimono does not make him Japanese; he is still a German. Essentially he is German. Economically he is wearing Japanese clothing. Jesus was born to be the Son of God essentially because He was conceived of the Spirit of God. Nothing can change His essential nature.
His conception was God’s incarnation (John 1:14); hence, He was God (Rom. 9:5). Jesus was God when He was in the manger as a little babe. Isaiah 9:6 tells us that a Child is born unto us and His name shall be called the mighty God. The little babe in the manger was God essentially. Can we say that when He was put on the cross He was no longer God? To say He was no longer God on the cross is not logical since nothing can change His essence. He was always with the Father and by the Spirit.
Essentially, on the cross Christ was God. Economically, God left Him while He was dying His vicarious death for sinners (Matt. 27:45-46). Many Christians have never seen the difference between the essential and economical aspects of the Trinity. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and the divine element of the Holy Spirit became His very essence. From His birth the Holy Spirit was all the time in His being, but when He was thirty, after His baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove (Matt. 3:16). Before the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, He had the Holy Spirit as His intrinsic essence essentially (Matt. 1:18, 20). Why then did the Holy Spirit still need to come down upon Him? The reason is that essentially Jesus already had the Spirit of life for His existence, but economically for His ministry He did not have the Spirit of power yet. He had the Holy Spirit as His life essence already, but He did not have the Holy Spirit as His power. At the time of His baptism the Holy Spirit came upon Him economically, and this economical Spirit remained with Him for three and a half years until the time He was crucified to die for us, the sinners. At this juncture, God left Him economically (Matt. 27:45-46), just as God came to Him by the Spirit as power economically three and a half years previously.
Whether God came economically or whether God left Him economically did not change His intrinsic essence or nature. Whether I put on a jacket or take off a jacket does not change my essence. God came upon Him at His baptism economically and God also left Him on the cross economically. This did not change His essence. When He was standing in the water of baptism, He was the Son of Man and the Son of God. When He was crucified on the cross, He was still both the Son of Man and the Son of God. Essentially there was no change, but economically there was some change. At His baptism God came upon Him, and on the cross God left Him. But this economical coming and this economical leaving did not change His essence. When Jesus was dying on the cross, God was dying there. One line from a famous hymn by Charles Wesley says, “Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?” (see Hymns 296). Jesus was God, and He died on the cross not only as a Man but also as God. Therefore, even when He was on the cross He was still the Son, with the Father, and by the Spirit.
The Triune God was there at the conception of Jesus. The Triune God lived on the earth, and the Triune God was also dying on the cross. The Triune God was involved with the conception of Jesus, with the living of Jesus on this earth, and with the death of Jesus on the cross. The Triune God was altogether wrapped up with Jesus.
The death of Jesus on the cross as a man provides the human blood necessary for our forgiveness in redemption. But if He died merely as a man the effectiveness of His death would not be eternal. The efficacy of Jesus’ death is eternal, without limit in space and without limit in time. His efficacious death can cover millions of believers. His humanity qualifies Him to die for us, and His divinity secures the eternal efficacy of His death.
An eternal redemption was accomplished by the blood of the Son of God through the eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:12, 14; 1 John 1:7). The blood He shed on the cross was not only the blood of Jesus the Man, but also of the Son of God. First John 1:7 tells us that the blood of Jesus the Son of God cleanses us from all sin. The blood of Jesus the Man qualifies His redemption for us as men. He was a genuine man who died for us and shed genuine blood for us. But the efficacy of His redemption has to be secured by His divinity and it has been secured for eternity by Him as the Son of God. Therefore, His redemption is the eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12) because this redemption was accomplished not only by the blood of Jesus the Man but also by the blood of Jesus the Son of God, which the Apostle Paul even called “God’s own blood” (Acts 20:28). This is marvelous!
The Son’s death was also through the Spirit (Heb. 9:14). He offered Himself to God for His death through the eternal Spirit. He died with the Father in the nature of the Triune God, and He offered Himself to death through the Spirit. Again, this indicates that even in His death as the Son of God, He was with the Father and by the Spirit. Hence, His death accomplished an eternal redemption by the blood of the Son of God and through the eternal Spirit. This eternal redemption has no time element. As the redeeming Lamb, He was foreknown before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:19-20), and was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). In our eyes Christ died two thousand years ago, but in the eyes of God He was slain from the foundation of the world. His death is eternal without any element of time.
Such an all-inclusive death has been compounded into the all-inclusive Spirit (Phil. 1:19). Our intention is to see, to know, and to realize the compound Spirit because the elements of Christ’s conception, of Christ’s human living, and of Christ’s death are all compounded in this Spirit. When we apply the all-inclusive Spirit to ourselves, this all-inclusive death is ours. This death was not merely a human death, but also a divine death. This was the death of the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the Man. In this death, sin is condemned, Satan is destroyed, the world is judged, and man with the flesh of sin is crucified. This is a mysterious, excellent, marvelous, wonderful, and victorious death. We must treasure this death since it is a great inheritance to us. It is one of the great bequests of the New Testament. God the Father has bequeathed to us the treasure of Christ (2 Cor. 4:7) with His unsearchable riches (Eph. 3:8). Among these unsearchable riches is His wonderful death. May the Lord grant us a proper view and a proper knowledge of this marvelous, all-inclusive, wonderful death, so that we may be able to be brought into the enjoyment of our New Testament inheritance.