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Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth
on Me hath everlasting life. (John 6:47)
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Does it say in this verse that he who believes will
have everlasting life, or has everlasting life?
Jesus, the Son of God, was born without sin to the
virgin Mary and He was crucified and died for your
sin and mine. God gave us Jesus as a gift in order
that He would provide forgiveness for the sins of the
whole world. If my sins are included and I myself
am included, then I have been crucified with Christ.
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I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
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When was I crucified with Christ?
On the day that Adam sinned, we were already in
his body, and God knew that we would be born as
sinners. So God promised that He would send His
Son into the world for the sake of sinners such as
we are. This promise is the Old Testament. Jesus
died to atone for Adam's sin. We were born into
the world clothed in Adam's body, and since Jesus
died in Adam's place, we also died with Him.
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Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine. 6
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If it weren't for this principle, if we, as individuals,
hadn't died with Jesus when He was crucified,
everyone who sings this hymn would be
deceiving himself.
We are people who have received many blessings,
or perhaps I should say we have met with blessings.
This world is full of blessings. Every time you sneeze
someone blesses you. Nevertheless, there are many
people who have yet to receive the true blessing,
the blessing freely given to us by God's command.
What is God's command? There's a hymn I used to
sing parrot-fashion when I was a young boy, completely
oblivious to what it was
all about:
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On us has fallen God's clear command:
In this garden land let us go labor! 7
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6 Daniel W. Whittle (1840-1901),
Dying with Jesus, 1893
7 Koong-Uk Nam (1862-1939),
River and Mountain, Streams Flowing Clear
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