CHRIST DYING FOR EVERYTHING
Now we need to consider how we can prove that God in Christ died for everything. Christ’s death was not only for us sinners but also for everything, including all of creation with the angels. Hebrews 2:9 says that Christ tasted death on behalf of everything. This means He died for everything. The word everything is very strong in Greek. Everyone means every man, but Hebrews 2:9 says that Christ tasted death, not for everyone but for everything. The Lord Jesus’ redemption was accomplished not only for people but for everything created by God.
Colossians 1:20 says, "And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross—through Him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens." This is the second verse that proves Christ’s death was for all things. Not only the things on the earth but also the things in the heavens needed to be reconciled to God through Christ’s blood. God reconciled all things to Himself through Christ. Hebrews 2:9 and Colossians 1:20 show that Christ died for everything, for the whole creation.
Romans 8:21 says, "In hope that the creation itself will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." The whole creation needs to be freed from the slavery of corruption, so the whole creation needs Christ’s redemption. Everything in the old creation is corrupting, decaying, dying. Everything created in the whole universe needs redemption. Eventually, the millennium will be a time of the restoration of all things. Restoration implies degradation, and degradation came from sin.
In the universe two rebellions brought in death, corruption, and degradation to the entire creation. One was the satanic rebellion, and the other was man’s rebellion. Before man’s rebellion there was a satanic rebellion which contaminated the heavens. Satan’s rebellion contaminated, made filthy, all the heavenly things. Such a contaminated, degraded universe can be restored only through Christ’s redemption. Before the creation can be restored, it has to be redeemed. Christ died on the cross for all the items of the creation so that He could reconcile all these items back to God. Christ’s redemption is a foundation laid for the upcoming restoration. When the restoration comes, the slavery of corruption will be over. Today the entire creation is under the slavery of corruption, so the entire creation is groaning. Everything is groaning because everything is under the slavery of corruption.
Hebrews 9:21-24 shows that Christ’s blood was for the purification of all the heavenly things. The tabernacle and all things pertaining to it were sprinkled with and purified by the blood of goats and bulls. That was a figure showing that the heavenly things needed to be purified by the blood of better sacrifices, which are the sacrifices of Christ (Heb. 7:27; 9:14, 28; 10:10, 12, 14). Christ offered Himself as the one sacrifice (9:14; 10:12). This one sacrifice, viewed from its various aspects, can be considered many sacrifices. Heaven and all things in heaven were defiled by the rebellion of Satan and the fallen angels, who followed Satan in his rebellion against God. So all the heavenly things needed to be purified. Christ accomplished this purification with His own blood when He entered into heaven itself.
Christ’s tasting death for all things and reconciling all things to God is clearly typified by the redemption accomplished through Noah’s ark, in which not only eight persons but also all living things created by God were saved (Gen. 7:13-23). Noah’s ark saved not only eight people but also all the creatures.
Another type of Christ dying for all things is the veil in the temple being rent when the Lord died. When Christ died, the veil of the temple was split in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). On the veil there were cherubim embroidered (Exo. 26:31). According to Ezekiel 1:5, 10 and 10:14-15, cherubim are living creatures. The cherubim on the veil, then, indicated the living creatures. When the veil was rent, all the creatures were rent also. That means when Christ died on the cross, all the creatures died with Him.
(The Move of God in Man, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
