Derek Prince - He Tasted Death, That We Might Share His Life
The next exchange we will turn to Hebrews 2:4. We could turn to many different passages but this I think is the simplest and shortest. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 4. It's not verse 4, I made a mistake. It's verse 9. Excuse me, I wrote down the wrong verse. Hebrews 2:9: But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He by the grace of God might taste death for every one. So the wages or the penalty of sin is death. When Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness, it was inevitable that He would have to pay the penalty, which is death. So, Jesus tasted death for us. You don’t have to be a theologian to know the opposite, that we might what? Share His life.
John 10:10: The thief cometh only to steal, to kill and destroy, but I am come that they might have what? Life and have it more abundantly. So the exchange is very simple: Jesus tasted death for us that we might, I like to say, share His life. Okay, are you ready? Jesus tasted death for us, that we might share His life. Can you see how very clear it is, how very logical, how very practical? Mind you, I’d have to say: it took me a good many years to mind these truths out of the word of God. I’m sharing with you in an hour or two things that have cost me hours, days and weeks and months and years. I say cost but, after all, it was a blessing and a privilege. The next exchange is stated in Galatians 3. Galatians 3:13-14: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written: cursed is every one who hangs on a tree.
Remember that the cross is called a tree. Because in some languages, Hebrew is one and Swahili in East Africa is another, a tree is a tree, whether it it’s growing or whether it’s cut down. So the cross was a cut down tree. Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. How many theologians do we have here who can discern the two opposites? What is the evil? Curse. What is the good? Blessing. So Jesus on the cross was made a curse. It says in the book of Deuteronomy 21:22-23 that anyone who is hung on a tree becomes a curse. So when Jesus was hung on the tree of the cross, every Jew who knew his Torah, his Old Testament, knew that Jesus had been made a curse. He was visibly made a curse. He was made a curse that we might receive the blessing.