Did God die?
Did he die?
Jesus, I mean. Jesus, who was God made flesh for us. Did God really die on that cross over two thousand years ago?
Today, even in troubled places like Jerusalem, Moscow and Kyiv, Christians remember the crucifixion of Christ, often with re-enactments and re-imaginings of what happened. We know that the physical man, the child who was laid in a manger, died on the cross and was resurrected. But what about the spirit of Jesus? The essence of who he was and is?
If Jesus was, as Christians claim, fully God and fully man, did God die? If Jesus is the one in whom “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17 NIV), was there a temporary break in the universe until the resurrection? If so, how did “all things” continue to hold together?
There’s a beautiful scripture in Luke 23:46 that suggests that the spirit of Jesus, his Holy Spirit, was received by God after the physical man died. “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’” Not even death can separate the oneness of God.
We can rest assured that God did not die on the cross.
God lives.
Warm regards,
Gavin
About the Writer:
Gavin Henderson is the National Ministry Leader for GCI in the UK and Ireland.