When we preach the gospel, we usually tell people that the Lord Jesus died for us to bear our sins. But what is the meaning of the death of the Lord Jesus? The death of Christ, who was God yet man, dealt with all human elements and human problems. Praise the Lord that we have been saved. Christ has come into us and has joined us to Himself so that His death, which dealt with all of our human elements, becomes our death. When we are joined to Him, we are also joined to His death. Romans 6:5a says, “We have grown together with Him in the likeness of His death.” His death deals with all of our human elements, such as our pride, our temper, our naturalness, and our flesh. His death specifically deals with everything that comes out of man.

This is the revelation of Christ. He not only died but also resurrected. His death dealt with everyone who belongs to Him. After we are saved, His life comes into us, and as the Spirit He lives in us and is joined to us. Hence, His death has dealt with us. The whole New Testament tells us that the self, the old man, and the old “I” of a person who belongs to the Lord have been crucified with Christ (v. 6; Gal. 2:20). When Christ died, we died with Him in His death. Thus, the Christian faith declares that on the cross our Savior Christ has dealt with all those who belong to Him; the salvation of God tells us that we have been dealt with on the cross. This is truly a tremendous matter in the universe.

Although the Bible tells us that all those who belong to the Lord were already terminated on the cross, do we really know that we too have been terminated on the cross? Do we believe that the death of Christ has already terminated us? I am afraid that not many people have such a realization. This is why we do not have a strong sense that we have been terminated already. Suppose a group of people had all been executed and terminated. Can you imagine how serious a thing this would be? If someone were to ask us, “Do you belong to the Lord? Do you know that you have been crucified with the Lord Jesus?” We might say, “Yes, we belong to the Lord, and we have been crucified with the Lord Jesus,” yet we may not have any feeling at all about this. If we really have seen this vision inwardly, our meetings will have a different atmosphere and our living will be different. The northerners will have been dealt with and the southerners also will have been dealt with. Those who are from Canton will have been terminated, and those who are from Shantung also will have been terminated. This is an earth-shaking matter!

Because Christians do not see who Christ is and what the cross is, today’s Christianity has become a degraded religion. Regardless of how much religious education we have received or how many religious concepts we have, if we really see that we have already been executed, we will no longer have any religious concepts. This will not be possible. Only those who take Christ as a religion will bring their religious concepts with them. This only proves that they have never been dealt with by the cross. If they were really under the death of the cross and were executed by the cross, they absolutely would not bring their religious concepts into the church. If we have truly been executed by the death of the cross, when we go to Kaohsiung, we would not bring our religious concepts to the church in Kaohsiung. If among us we still have some religious concepts, this shows that we have not seen the death of the cross-we have not seen that we have been identified with the Lord in His death, that we have been crucified with Christ, that we have been executed in Christ, and that we are finished. Because we have been identified with Christ, His death generates the effect in us of putting to death everything that comes from us or belongs to us.

Therefore, in this Savior, with whom we have been united, not only is there death but there is also resurrection. In whomever Christ’s death operates, in him Christ’s resurrection will also operate (2 Cor. 4:11). Romans 6:8 tells us that if we have died with Him, we believe that we will also live with Him. If we have truly seen that we have died with Christ, this experience of co-death will immediately operate in us, enabling us to experience Christ’s resurrection. Christ’s resurrection releases both God’s life and nature. Through Christ’s death everything of man has been dealt with; through Christ’s resurrection everything of God has been released. Once we are saved, we are identified with Christ and His death. Once we see this identification, we will immediately declare that we have died with Christ. As a result, all thoughts, persons, and teachings will lose ground in us because in Christ we have died and been dealt with. No method in the whole world is as thorough as death in solving man’s problems. All the problems that we cannot solve by any other means are solved upon our death.

Most likely all of us have had the experience of losing our temper and then of being very bothered and wishing that the problem of our temper would be dealt with as soon as possible. The best way for us to deal with our temper, however, is to die. Once we are dead, we will not lose our temper anymore. The only way for us to be a husband or wife who does not lose his or her temper is to die. Neither Confucius, Socrates, nor Wang Yang-ming can help us to solve the problem of losing our temper. The best solution is death. Some sisters are bothered by their talkativeness and have made up their mind again and again not to speak excessively. However, when a situation arises, their mouth is out of their control. There are too many stories like this. The only solution is death. Death solves all the problems. Whether it is a problem in our family with our spouse and children, or a problem in our company with our colleagues, the only solution to all of our problems is death. When we die, everything is finished and all our troubles are gone. Opium smoking is a serious addiction. In order to get rid of such an addiction, there is no other way except death. Death is a big release and is the best solution. Do not think that death deals only with the negative or bad things. In fact, death deals not only with bad things but also with good things, things that are considered positive, such as our meekness, our love, our humility, and our patience. As long as these things are of the self, they will be finished upon our death.
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