Jesus is greater than anything that comes against us. It doesn’t matter the circumstances, the situations, the people, or the danger; when we are focusing our attention on Jesus, He will bring us the victory we need. We began this series with teaching that Jesus is greater than temptation; the second was Jesus is greater than poverty, and last week we studied how Jesus is greater than sickness. So, the fourth in this series is the fact that Jesus is greater than death – spiritual death. Though there are Biblical accounts of the dead being raised from physical death, (2 Kings 13:21, Luke 7:12-15, John 11:43-44, Acts 20:9 to mention a few), we are concentrating on spiritual death.

We must begin where the beginning began to understand why we needed to be redeemed from death – back to the Book of Genesis to get a good and correct understanding. In Genesis 2:9 we see where “the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” In the midst gives the indication of being in the center. When I saw this, I’m reminded of the decisions we make and how often times there is a right and wrong way from which we can choose. Right being in the form of obedience and wrong being in the form of disobedience.

The first command regarding the Garden is in Genesis 2:15, that Adam was to tend and keep it, which probably means he was near both trees while he was working. The second command we see is in verses 16 and 17. He could eat of every tree in the Garden, except, he was not to eat of the tree of good and evil, “for in that day you shall surely die.”  Therefore, it wasn’t the fruit of the tree that caused death but the sin of disobedience of Adam. We must remember that the knowledge of evil is not the same as the sin of evil. Disobedience is sin. The result of Adam’s sin came to be known as the Fall of Man because his sin infected the whole human race with a sin nature. But don’t despair, for God had a plan.

Keep in mind that Adam died spiritually first, and we know this because he was immediately afraid to face God, whereas before he must have walked and talked with God. (Genesis 3:8) Spiritual death is referred to as separation from God. His sin broke his fellowship with God His Creator. His physical death took many years for Adam lived many years after his sin. But nevertheless, physical death and spiritual death are connected to the sin of disobedience of one man-Adam.

God had so creatively and uniquely crafted the human body to live forever – for when God breathed into his (Adam’s) nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being (spirit) because it held the Spirit of God within it. We see this in the fact that our bodies have the ability to renew and heal itself when scratched or hurt. When the breach was caused by disobedience the man no longer had the Spirit of God within him but the spirit of rebellion. Therefore, instead of humans having the nature or Spirit of God, they have the nature or spirit of the devil. But again I say, God had a plan to redeem mankind from the wages of sin and the fear of death.

Death is the result of sin; it’s the payment, or the wages for sin. (Romans 6:23) By taking care of the sin problem, God would also be taking care of the temptation, poverty, sickness and death problems. There had to be a way of remitting the sin (to forgive and pardon; to refrain from enforcing the penalty of death). Thus the beginning of the sacrifices of animals as sin offerings (Leviticus 16:15-16) Though this represented the faith of the people in God to forgive them, this only made the way to be forgiven of their sin – it didn’t remove the sin problem or nature. Romans 5 is a good study chapter; and we read in verse 19 that, “for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Adam was the man of disobedience and Jesus is the Man of obedience.

Going back to the beginning in Genesis, we find in chapter three where God says that there will be a “seed” of the woman to come and bruise the head of the serpent who was representing the devil in the temptation to Adam and Eve. In Isaiah 7:14 God gives a clue to who this “seed” is when He says, “a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This is the same message that the angel said to the virgin Mary that she was to have a son and call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:18-21)

So there we have it; Jesus, who had no sin, is the Savior of the world because when He died on the Cross, He took the sin nature of mankind upon Himself and He gave to believers His sinless nature and made us the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21) In Jesus’s death and resurrection He purchased back our right to have fellowship with God our Creator. Jesus told Nicodemus that a person must be born again to see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3) All we have to do is receive His gift of Salvation by believing in our heart and confessing Him as our Savior and Lord. (John 10:9-10) In Jesus, the sin nature was done away. Jesus is greater than spiritual death. He is the Savior of the world.

John the Baptist announces that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world in John 1:29. Then the next day He basically says the same thing, “Behold the Lamb of God.” (John 1:36) As we wrapped up this four-part series on the greatness of Jesus, let’s remember that God’s purpose in sending Jesus to us was not to condemn us but to save and deliver us so we would not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16-17)

God wants us to enjoy our Salvation, our redemptive life, our victory over temptation, to have and enjoy prosperity and good healthy, and to live a strong long life now on this earth. Our life of obedience to the Word of God prepares us to meet God when we do leave this earth.