Under the law death reigned because of sin, but in Christ grace abounds much more. Grace reigns “through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21. He destroyed sin and defeated death by his atoning sacrifice on the cross. As the author of the Book of Hebrews writes, “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12). Thus the Lord was able to redeem the souls of his elect, He was able to raise us who believe on Him from spiritual deadness and to bring us into life eternal according to the riches of his grace. As Heb. 10:14 says, “By a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Christ “offered Himself without blemish to God, [to] purify our conscience from dead works [so that we may] serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14). He conquered death for us who are in Him, so that we might live with Him in the presence of our God forever. And so Paul writes in Rom. 6:8-11, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”