What did Christ's death accomplish for the believer by imparting eternal life and a new divine nature?
By His death, Christ took away the believer’s death and imparted eternal life in the spirit, along with a new divine nature. That spiritual part will one day be ushered into His presence, receive a new body, and become active in God’s overall plan, especially the coming kingdom.
Les explains that as Christ died the believer’s death and took it away, He also imparted eternal life in the area of the spirit and this new divine nature. That part of the believer will one day be ushered into His presence; then the believer will pick up the new body talked about last week. As such, the believer becomes active in the overall plan of God now, but more in the kingdom yet to come. In Romans chapter 6, beginning with verse 5, the apostle uses the planting illustration: if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. A seed dies in the soil, and out of that death comes new growth. If the old Adam has died and been crucified, being identified in His death, the believer will also be identified in His resurrection.