The scripture is full of images: the image of the beast, the image of a humble servant, the image of the wheat and the tares, the image of the two Jerusalem's, the image of the good seed, and an image of the children of disobedience. The image of the death of Christ and the image of the resurrection of Christ. There is the resurrection to life, and there is a resurrection to death (
John 5:29).
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection:on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
All of these images are instructive, but in the end they boil down to these two images, the image of the resurrection of Christ, or the image of the death of Christ. These are the images we hold in our hearts when we worship.
So lets look closer at the image of the death of Christ and of the resurrection to damnation/death. I will point out once again, that the image of the death of Christ is the image of a man. They worship the crucifixion, the image of a dying man, the last image of the humble servant. These are the children of disobedience, they have taken the image of a man and have made him their God. They have come to the knowledge of Christ, but not his Faith. They hold fast to the works he performed on the cross, and believe that their sins will be forgiven, but in the resurrection of death, they find themselves still subject to death. So while they wait for the return of their Lord in the image of the Son of Man, they set out to perfect themselves, so that the Lord will find them worthy when he comes, but instead they become obedient unto death. And because there just wasn’t enough things in the Bible to be declared as a sin, they create new sins for themselves daily (is it a sin to watch TV?, is it a sin if I listen to heavy metal or hip hop?). Then when they fall short, they are faithful to confess their sins to Jesus so they can be made clean again by the blood of the Lamb, and they bear in themselves the image of the death of Christ, and though they have been entered into the death of Christ, they have not yet embraced their own death through Christ. The scripture tells us that Christ died once for all, and that through his death, he hath put down sin and death (
Rom 6:6,
Rom 8:2) that we should no longer serve them. But serve them they do, and in their obedience, they bring again the sins of their dead works before the Lord, and in doing so, they crucify the Son of God afresh, and do put him to open shame.
Heb 6:4-6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and do put him to an open shame.