Did Jesus Die Spiritually?

Question:

Did Jesus die spiritualy? If so, where in the bible is it recorded?   If not, where is this recorded? I am hungry for the truth, so pleace answer me.

Submitted by CF on Nov. 20, 1998

Answer:  (Given by Bro. Gregg Swaim)

The gospel accounts of the New Testament each record that Jesus died when he was crucified upon a cross (Matthew 27:31-50; Mark 15:15-37; Luke 23:23-46; John 19:19-30). Mark's and Luke's account say that Jesus breathed His last. Matthew records that He "yielded up His spirit," and John says He "gave up His spirit." Ecclesiastes 12:6-7 describes death and the need to be prepared to meet God before death. "Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." We are all familiar with this event, called physical death, when the spirit God gave us leaves the physical body and returns to meet its Maker. "It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

Jesus died a physical death because He chose to become a man and to die. He "emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7-8). Jesus willingly died to fulfill God's eternal purpose and plan for redeeming man from the clutches of sin and into the family of God. (Read Ephesians 1:3-12). In becoming flesh, neither Jesus nor anyone else "inherited" sin that someone else committed. Ezekiel 18:20 teaches, "the person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself." However, all flesh has inherited the consequences of Adam's sin in Genesis 3, which includes physical death (Read I Corinthians 15;21-22; Romans 5:12-15).

Jesus was uniquely qualified to suffer and die (physically) on the cross to fulfill God's plan for redeeming man. Just as the Jewish passover lamb had to be a lamb without blemish (Exodus 12:5), Jesus, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), provides redemption with His "precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless" (I Pet 1:19). Jesus was "without sin" (II Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15), "nor was any deceit found in His mouth" (I Peter 2:22).  Jesus is a fitting high priest that is "holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens" (Hebrews 7:26).   The reason that Jesus is sinless is because He is God. Jesus is the Word who became flesh (John 1:14), "...and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus said, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30). Jesus, who "existed in the form of God" (Philippians 2:6), is "the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3). "And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created.... And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:15-17).

When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He fulfilled the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15:3). He bore our sins so that we might be healed (I Peter 2:24). He became a curse (Galatians 3:13) and He became sin on our behalf, even though He knew no sin (II Corinthians 5:21). Jesus fully paid the debt of our sins (I John 2:2) when He died on the cross.   But did Jesus die spiritually? Spiritual death is a separation from God caused by our sins. "...Your iniquities have made a separation betwen you and your God" (Isaiah 59:2). Jesus told the Pharisees before His death, "I go away, and you shall seek Me, and shall die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come. ...For unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins" (John 8:21,24). When Jesus died on the cross, He went to the place where spirits go after death, called Hades -- not hell as the King James Version inaccurately translates in Acts 2:31. Jesus did not go where the eternally condemned souls dwell in torment, but rather He went to Paradise, where dwell the souls of the saved. (Read Luke 16:19-31.) Jesus told the penitent thief on the cross, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Later that day, both Jesus and the thief died (John 19:32-33), and their spirits were together in Paradise. Spiritual death results in eternal separation from God and Christ, described as the second death or the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). "And if anyone's name was not written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15).

Jesus willingly and puposefully died a physical death on the cross to pay the debt of sin that condemns lost mankind. Jesus' death substituted the penalty of our sins to keep us from suffering the consequences of spiritual death -- eternal condemnation -- if we believe and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. But Jesus Himself did not suffer spiritual death. Rather, Jesus triumphed over death by raising Himself from the dead after three days in the tomb (John 2:19; John 20:1-17).  After 40 days He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:3,9). Now he is seated at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19) where He intercedes for Christians (Romans 8:34). We are exhorted to "keep seeking the things above, where Christ is" (Colossians 3:1) until He comes again in the clouds (Acts 1:19; I Thessalonians 4:17) to deliver the kingdom to God (I Corinthians 15:24) and to deal out "retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (II Thessalonians
1:7-8).

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