Subject Sixty-eight

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LORD’S DEATH

Scripture: Matt. 27:45-54

1. Why did the Lord Jesus die?
   1. The Lord Jesus died to bear our sins and to satisfy the requirement of God’s righteousness.
   2. During His crucifixion, there was darkness in heaven and on earth for three hours. This darkness symbolized sin. During that time, God gathered together all the sins of man and put them on Him. This was the time God judged sin in the universe. That was why there was darkness in heaven and on earth.
   3. Because He had taken up man’s sins at that moment, God forsook Him. God judged Him as if He were a sinner. That was why He cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
2. The effectiveness of the Lord’s death
   1. The Lord Jesus bore our sins and died to satisfy the requirement of God’s righteousness.
   2. Because the death of the Lord has fulfilled the righteous requirements of God, his death has several obvious effects.
   3. The first effect was that the barrier between man and God was removed. As soon as the Lord Jesus died, the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom. The veil in the temple was the barrier between man and God.
   4. The second effect is to quench the thirst of man. The moment He died, the rock was smitten. According to the record in the Old Testament, when the rock was smitten, there was living water flowing out to quench man’s thirst. The rock is something dry; it cannot issue water, and it cannot quench man’s thirst. Because of the death of the Lord Jesus, the Rock has been smitten, and the living water can flow out to quench man’s thirst.
   5. The third effect is to remove the power of death. When the Lord Jesus died, some graves were opened. The grave was the power of death which had man bound within. After the Lord’s death, the Lord’s people came out from the power of death.
   6. The Lord’s death solved the problem between man and God, the problem of man himself, and the problem between man and Satan. To God, the rent veil solved the problem between man and God; the barrier was removed. To man, the smitten rock solved man’s own problem; his thirst was quenched. To the devil, the opened graves solved the problem between man and Satan; the power of death was broken.
3. How to obtain the effectiveness of the Lord’s death
   1. There is a barrier between you and God. That barrier is sin. Therefore sin must be confessed.
   2. Confess that your life is a life of thirst; you are not satisfied.
   3. Confess that you are under Satan’s power of death. Man is in the process of dying daily and is on the way to death.
   4. Then confess that Christ died for you.
   5. Receive Christ and His salvation.