When Jesus was crucified, and He died on the cross, He died spiritually. If Jesus had not become sin and died spiritually, He never would have become what we were and we would not be able to be called the righteousness of God, in Christ. Did you know that when Jesus became sin, He even forgot that God was His Father? He so much became Adam (fallen humanity- man hewn down), that He cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Can you imagine how scared Jesus must have felt at that moment? He was hurting and he felt all alone.

Jesus was made a curse. Everyone turn their Bibles to Galatians 3:13. Who would like to read this Scripture? Have a child read.

How does the Bible say Jesus became a curse? Answer: He was hung on a tree. The cross was made from the wood of a tree. When Adam brought sin into the world, man was made to live under a curse. When Jesus became human (Adam after the fall) and went to the cross, He took on the curse for humanity breaking God’s Law, and set us free from the force of sin, which is unbelief.

What would one of the curses be as a result of unbelief? (Answer: sickness, poverty, spiritual death…) We have been set free from these things in Christ. Have you ever felt like you couldn’t do anything right, and no matter what, you were going to get in trouble, even when you tried to be good? Jesus must have felt like He would never be able to do good again. He had become all things bad, and He did that just for us and as humanity.

Jesus became the first Adam (Humanity- Man hewn down). The Bible tells us that just as Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of the whale, so Jesus would spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth (Adam). (Matt 12:40)

How many have ever heard the story of Jonah and the whale? Do you remember how Jonah thought he would die? Why did Jonah get swallowed by the whale? Answer: Because he disobeyed God.

Can you see how Jonah’s story is kind of like what happened to Jesus? Adam disobeyed God. But because Adam could not make things right with God, Jesus became human and He was swallowed up by the darkness of death. On the third day, the whale spit Jonah out on dry ground. On the third day, Jesus was resurrected.

Jesus so identified with humanity, he took the penalty of death and suffered the curse; spirit, soul and body. Isaiah 53 says that God saw the travail of His soul and was satisfied with the fact that all humanity had been judged in the person of Jesus. Then Jesus Christ, a new creation being was resurrected and through His resurrection from fallen Adam He defeated death, hell and the grave and He became the Last Adam (Man with the Life of God in him; spirit, soul and body, ushering in ever lasting righteousness to all who would believe in Him. We no longer have to fear death or separation from God, they do not belong to the believer.

Does anyone know how Jesus overcame death and the grave?

Jesus overcame death, Adam and the grave, when Father God made Jesus Christ a new creation being and gave him quickening life.. When Jesus was raised, who was raised with Him? Answer: We were. So if we were raised with Christ from spiritual death, does that mean that who all humanity was in Adam died with Christ? Allow the children to think about it and voice their ideas.

Answer: Yes, because humanity was already spiritually dead and Jesus identified Himself with humanity. Our identification, as believers, with Jesus began when He was quickened.

Jesus triumphed. Read Colossians 2:15 NIRV " He took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross."

What did the fall of man produce in mankind? Answer: spiritual death. So when Jesus won the battle and became the firstborn from among the dead, he took away the power of spiritual death, didn’t He?

Jesus was raised from the dead. The Apostle Paul prayed that we would all receive understanding about the power of the cross and Christ’s resurrection. Why do you think he did that? Answer: Because we have a power in us that gives us life. If we never know that we have a resurrection power in us, we will never be all that God created us to be.

Everything that Jesus is, is inside us. We need an understanding of how great that power is, how much Jesus made us victorious in Him, how much God life belongs to us. Because you know what? It all belongs to us. There is nothing Father God is holding back from us. How much we enjoy our inheritance, depends on how much of our inheritance we know we have.

Now we are going to learn about our identification with Christ. Who knows what the word "identification" means?

The definition is: THE SAME AS (Scholastic Children’s Dictionary).

That’s a pretty cool definition isn’t it? What happened to Jesus during His death burial and resurrection was the same as what happened to us.

It is important for us to realize that when we speak of our identification with Christ, we are talking about what God saw when Jesus went to the cross.

Now let’s do a little thinking game. Everyone think about Jesus. Think about His traits. What do you love about Him? Has everyone thought of something? Good. Now, one by one, I want each of you to take turns telling us what it is about Jesus that you love or what is special about Him.

Let every child answer.

Wow those are wonderful things. Now lets see how identification makes this even more special. Begin again with each child and tell them they are the same as the trait they described.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that Father God sees us in Christ, and that to Him, we are the same? Jesus is our Head, we are His body, together we are One.

Before we go today, we’re going to say the memory verses we learned from The Six Steps to the Throne. We know that we were with Jesus through each step, God sees us the same as, we have been….

Crucified With Christ – Galatians 2:20

Died With Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:14

Buried With Christ – Romans 6:4

Quickened With Christ – Ephesians 2:5

Raised With Christ – Colossians 3:1

Seated With Christ – Ephesians 2:6