The Indestructible Christ

The Christ is eternal. The Christ did not die. Jesus died. The physical body of the human/divine Jesus died, but the eternal Christhood of the Man of Calvary did not die, nor could it. Because the body of the man of the cross housed that Spirit who is the Christ, it was raised from the dead. The departing of the Spirit of the Christ from the body of Jesus brought about its death, so we say with Paul that 'Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures'; but to say that does not mean that the Christ died: He is completely indestructible. At His birth the angels said, 'Unto you is born a Saviour which is Christ the Lord', and He is recorded as saying to His Father, 'a body hast thou prepared me'. He said so at the time He joined the body formed in Mary's womb in preparation for the birth of the child Jesus, resultantly He was born Christ the Lord. He was the Christ -- God manifest in the flesh.

The Jews said, 'we have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever', and they were right. It was precisely this mystery that stumbled them, for calling Himself the Son of Man He was saying that He must be lifted up to die. They knew that the Christ is eternal and therefore cannot die. They were mystified because they stumbled at the stumbling-stone laid for them in Zion. Jesus died according to the scriptures; He suffered death, that is He allowed it and told others to do so too. 'Suffer it to be so now', He said, as He moved on to Calvary. According to scripture 'He should be the first that should rise from the dead'. He 'endured the cross', suffered death as well as suffering when dying, and rose again: Luke called it 'His passion'. Christ did not die; He conquered and destroyed death. He was found in fashion as a man and became obedient (unto God) unto death (as any man would have to) that His manhood might be highly exalted -- His Christhood remained intact and eternal as ever.

John says of Him, 'the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory .... the Word was with God and the Word was God'. God the Word joined the tiny body of flesh for the purpose of dwelling on the earth in human form. It was a miracle and He did this in order that He should be the true tabernacle which God pitched and not man. God was moving along the line of scriptural fulfilment. Whilst living on earth among men in that tabernacle of flesh, He first displayed in it God's glory before all and then at last, by means of it, gave to His Father the one human sacrifice He required. Unto this end all the sacrifices made of old under the Mosaic Covenant pointed. At the time they were offered in connection with the tabernacle and temple erected with men's hands, but to God they spoke of Him. He once said of His body 'destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it again'. The voice of Him who indwelt the temple was speaking from within the temple; they could and did 'destroy' that (not permanently though as we know) but not Him.