Many times we have looked at the degrees of the sufferings of Christ, but now we look at it in relation to our comfort and benefit. What do we gain and get from His death and burial and the different degrees of Christ's sufferings? We can be comforted amidst our death now also!

His death. We are talking about His atoning death and not the severing of body and soul. With Christ we have to separate the two as the ATONING death of Christ came BEFORE His physical death (even though in both we have much to rejoice in!) Since Christ made the atonement he could then physically die (separate body and soul.) If He had NOT atoned He would have not been resurrected and as He did all these things so will we have the victory over death and the grave!

We also look at our dying. Death and corruption are inherent things in our life and reality. The world tries to avoid it at all costs and we ought to stare at it "straight in the face" and deal with it! We see it and then we ask why must we die? We cannot get to Heaven without dying and we can look at death just so! Christ took death upon Himself and so it now longer has anything to say to us...as we see it with the eye of faith! Can we see and face death with this perspective? The body dies and the soul is delivered into glory where the saints who have gone before are now! Funerals are happy! We have many fellowships here below and sorrow when they end, but also must have a joy amidst the tears that roll down our face. Death now works for us! And the "dreary" cemeteries are planting grounds of our Lord Jesus Christ and we will see beautiful things happen there when He comes again. Christ is the beginning of a plentiful harvest!!!

We believe that God did not go to a local place called hell, but that God essentially brought hell to Christ. All of life is death and speaks to the wrath of God from what we have already been delivered from and we can be comforted that Christ bore these things His whole life and we are FREE of them now. Delivered from them. And we have glory and Heaven that await us! "My flesh shall rest in hope...there are joys forevermore...I will NOT be left, forgotten in the grave!" Read Romans 8 at the end of the chapter!