The Death of Christ

Christ Judging the World

Although most believers realize that Christ, through His death has taken away their sins, perhaps not many may adequately appreciate His judgment of the world on the cross. Nonetheless, in order for God to fulfill His plan, He must first deliver His people not only from sin but also from the world. They must therefore see what this “world” actually is as well as experience the world-judging aspect of Christ’s death.

Concerning His impending death, the Lord Jesus told His disciples,

“Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out” (John 12:31).

The “world” referred to here bears a very different connotation from the “world” in John 3:16. There it signifies the fallen human race which God loved and for which He gave His only begotten Son. It also differs from the material “world” or universe created by God mentioned in Matthew 25:34. The Greek word translated “world” is kosmos, which in John 12:31 particularly indicates the system or arrangement set in motion by Satan in order to occupy and thus usurp man from God’s purpose. This world system lies in the evil one (1 John 5:19); therefore, the believers are strongly exhorted not to love it (1 John 2:15).

Once enlightened to see this all-pervading satanic system called the world, a believer may wonder how he can possibly escape its bondage and usurpation. In fact, many individuals and groups throughout church history, in their attempt to flee the influence of the world, have chosen to isolate themselves from society and live monastic lives. But the way of escape is not found in a merely positional, external separation from the things of the world, as evidenced by the Lord’s prayer to the Father in John 17:15:

“I do not ask that You would take them out of the world, but that You would keep them out of the hands of the evil one.”

The only deliverance from the world is found at the cross of Christ. Paul testified in Galatians 6:14-15 that he had learned to live in the reality of the cross:

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world, for neither is circumcision anything or uncircumcision, but a new creation is what matters.”

For the world to be crucified to Paul signified that the world no longer meant anything to him and thus, no longer had any power over him.

The church cannot be built up, nor can God’s purpose be fulfilled, if the believers are occupied and possessed by today’s evil age. Therefore, Christ “gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us out of the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father” (Gal. 1:4).

To fulfill His purpose, God must rescue His redeemed people from the usurping world system, this “crooked generation” (Acts 2:40). This deliverance from the world by the death of Christ was prefigured in the Old Testament when God rescued His enslaved people out of Egypt, which typifies the world. Thank the Lord for the glorious exodus of His people from the satanic cosmos through His cross! May all believers in Christ enter increasingly into the reality of being crucified to the world that the Body of Christ may be built up on the earth today.

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