The First Decision: Death Before Resurrection

by Dave Miller

To follow Jesus and impact anything in the kingdom, the first decision is death. The only way to resurrection comes through suffering and death, even for Jesus Himself. The cross is not an exception; it is the way. Every act of kingdom advancement begins where self-preservation ends.

The Pattern of Jesus: The Path of Death to Life

Jesus declared the pattern plainly: “If anyone wants to be my disciple, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). The cross wasn’t just His substitution; it was His example. The road to glory runs on obedience that bleeds.

In Gethsemane, Jesus faced His final decision. The cup of suffering stood before Him: the wrath, shame, and isolation of sin-bearing obedience. He prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). That prayer became His oath. It sealed His path. The Son swore allegiance to the Father’s will unto death.

This oath was not only a statement of submission but a covenant of love. “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again” (John 10:17). His death was no accident. He chose it. He surrendered deliberately, opening the door to resurrection.

The Witness of the Epistles: Death as the Door to Life

The apostles did not soften this truth. Paul writes, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:10). For Paul, death wasn’t a one-time event but a daily participation in Christ’s sufferings.

Peter echoed this: “Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind” (1 Peter 4:1). To follow Christ means embracing His pattern: suffering before glory, humility before exaltation, obedience before inheritance.

This rhythm defines the new creation. Resurrection power flows only through crucified vessels. The kingdom advances when the self dies and the Spirit reigns.

Philippians 3: Paul’s Blueprint of Death and Resurrection

Paul’s testimony in Philippians 3 mirrors Christ’s oath. He begins with renunciation: “Whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 3:7). His language is total. Everything—status, achievement, identity—counts as refuse compared to knowing Christ.

Then comes participation: “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death” (Philippians 3:10). Paul doesn’t chase resurrection as comfort; he seeks it as consequence. He understands power follows the pattern. The only way to know resurrection is to share in the cross.

Finally comes aspiration: “That by any means possible I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:11). The phrase “by any means possible” reveals Paul’s oath—his Gethsemane moment in ink. Like Jesus, he signs his life away to the will of God, trusting the same Spirit who raised Christ will also raise him.

The Oath of Jesus and the Oath of Paul

Jesus’ oath, “Not my will, but yours be done,” became Paul’s creed. Both oaths flow from love and loyalty, not fatalism. Death was not their goal; obedience was. Yet obedience led through suffering and death toward life and glory.

To take this oath means entering the covenant of cruciform living. It means saying with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). It means believing with Jesus that resurrection is certain because the Father is faithful.

The Kingdom Impact: Death as the Seed of Multiplication

Jesus taught a seed must die before it bears fruit (John 12:24). The death of self is not loss; it is investment. Every act of obedience, every surrender of comfort, every refusal of pride becomes the soil where resurrection life multiplies.

To follow Jesus is to live with a death sentence to self and a resurrection promise from God. The path of power runs through the graveyard of pride. The first decision is death, and from that death comes the unstoppable life of the kingdom.