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All people, from every nation, are guilty of sin (wrong and evil thoughts, words and deeds) – Romans 3:23. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Therefore God already considers them to be dead even while they are still alive.
We are not simply referring to physical death here, although that too is a result of our sin (Genesis 3:17-19). Rather, we mean the death of a person’s spirit, which is much worse (Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 21:8). By our sins, we are separating ourselves from the life that God wants to give to our spirits (Ezekiel 18:21-22; Isaiah 55:1-7). God wants us to live with him always (John 3:16); when we leave this world, he has prepared a wonderful home for us (John 14:2-3; Revelation 21:1-4). God wants us to live always in heaven and the New Jerusalem.
So, the dead state of our spirits matters very much in God’s opinion. We cannot save ourselves. Even Israel’s people who have a covenant (relationship) with God could not do that. The mark of their covenant is circumcision, a physical operation that their males accept. People from other nations do not even have that covenant (Ephesians 2:11-12). However, God is very kind. He sent Christ to die for the sins of people from every nation, including Israel (Romans 5:6-8). The result is that we all can turn from our sin to receive a right relationship with God (Romans 1:16; Romans 10:12-13).
When we do that, God makes the most wonderful change in our lives. He forgives all our evil deeds (Psalm 103:3). He rescues us from our dead state, and he brings life to our spirits (John 10:10). The same Holy Spirit who caused Christ to rise from death is now working in our lives, too (Romans 8:9-11).
Next part: How Christ's death can cancel the judgement against us (Colossians 2:14)
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© 2019, Keith Simons.