The Bible reveals that Satan has formed a satanic system called the world. Through the world, the satanic cosmos, Satan has systematized fallen mankind under his usurping hand. But this evil world system has been judged.
Because the world system is connected to Satan, when he, the ruler of the world was judged, the world was judged as well. Regarding this, the Lord Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). The ruler of this world was cast out when Satan was destroyed on the cross. Simultaneously, the world system related to Satan was judged.
This judgment can be compared to the crucifixion of the old creation when our old man was crucified. When the old man was crucified, the entire old creation was crucified. Likewise, when Satan was destroyed through Christ’s death, the world was judged.
Another matter dealt with by Christ’s all-inclusive death is mentioned in Ephesians 2:15: “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 when Christ was crucified, His eternal death abolished, annulled, the different ordinances of human life and religion. Furthermore, the differences among the races and the differences of social rank have been abolished by the eternal death of Christ.
In addition to dealing with so many negative things, the death of Christ also has a positive aspect. In John 12:24 the Lord Jesus speaks concerning this: “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.” This refers to Christ’s death. His all-inclusive death released the divine life that was within Him, and this life has produced many grains.
On the negative side, Christ’s all-inclusive death has solved the problems of sins, sin, the old man, the old creation, Satan, the world, and the ordinances. On the positive side, Christ’s eternal death released the divine life from within Him.
If we see the significance of the all-inclusive death of Christ, we shall see that His death was a greater event than that of the creation of the universe. Regarding the death of Christ, the Triune God determined in His divine plan in eternity past that the Son, the Second of the divine Trinity, should be incarnated and die on the cross to accomplish eternal redemption for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose. In the words of Peter spoken on the day of Pentecost, Christ was “delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).
Because of this determined counsel of God, the Second of the divine Trinity was ordained to be the Lamb of God (John 1:29) before the foundation of the world, that is, in eternity past (1 Pet. 1:19-20). In the sight of God, He as the Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world, that is, from the existence of God’s fallen creatures (Rev. 13:8).
From the time of man’s fall, lambs, sheep, and calves were used by God’s chosen people as types (Gen. 3:21; 4:4; 8:20; 22:13; Exo. 12:3-8; Lev. 1:2). These types point to Christ who was to come as the real Lamb foreordained by God. In the fullness of time the Triune God sent the Second of the divine Trinity, the Son of God, to come through incarnation to take a human body (Heb. 10:5) that He might be offered to God on the cross (Heb. 9:14; 10:12) to do the will of the Triune God (Heb. 10:7), that is, to replace the sacrifices and offerings, which were types, with Himself in His humanity as the unique sacrifice and offering for the sanctification of God’s chosen people. Therefore, it was the will of God for Christ to die an all-inclusive eternal death.
How great is the death of Christ! This death has cleared up all the negative things in the universe and has released the eternal life to produce the new man, who will be the ultimate consummation of the seed of the kingdom, the kingdom gene, an ultimate consummation that will be God’s eternal kingdom.
We need to be impressed with the fact that the death of Christ recorded in Mark 15:16-41 is an exceedingly great matter. We need to realize that the death of Christ was the eternal death of the God-man. The One who died as our Substitute was not merely a man; He was the God-man. Therefore, His death is an eternal death. This eternal death is greater than God’s work of creation.
When we read the account of Christ’s death in the Gospel of Mark, we should not read it in a superficial way. Rather, we need to realize that the One who died according to the record in Mark was a God-man and that His death was not common or ordinary. This extraordinary death, an eternal death, was the death of the God-man. Therefore, Christ’s death cleared away all the negative things and released the divine life to produce the new man. Eventually, this new man will become the eternal kingdom of God as the full development of the gene of the kingdom.