1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
Christ suffered one time, a single act for all of whom He was the sacrificial offering, the righteous for the unrighteous; the innocent for the guilty. “Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself“. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many“, for if this were not true, then “must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world“, each time a person believed and converted.
But Christ did not die for the believers, nor did He die only for those who have become children of God since His death. But instead, He died for all of God’s chosen, since the beginning of time unto the last day. Once for all He died, but not for all of mankind. He was “put to death in the flesh“, so that “we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all].” Yes, sanctified – to purify by expiation: free from the guilt of sin -through His death, one time forever more, and not through our faith! “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified“. Then after three days in the grave, He was “quickened by the Spirit“.
Three days separate His death from His resurrection. These are two different events, each one bearing its’ own significance and accomplishing different things. By His death we have been purified and freed from the guilt of sin. By His resurrection, death has been swallowed up in victory, for under the Old Testament, death reigned. But now, “a new and living way” has been made possible. Also by His death, He tore down the veil that separated the first tabernacle from the second. Under the Old Testament “the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service [of God]“. The priests, which were a shadow of the body of believers, accomplished the service of God, void of the Holy Spirit, “for the Holy Ghost was not yet given“, “the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest“. But of the New Testament, which was to come, Jesus “spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive“. And now under the new covenant, by our faith, we enter into this “new and living way“. For now, “after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory“. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh“.
In the Old Testament, God dwelled among a chosen nation of His elect, in the Tabernacle made with hands. Leviticus 26:3 & 11 “If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them… I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you…” Deuteronomy 4:30-31 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find [him], if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, [even] in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the LORD thy God [is] a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
In the New Testament, God dwells among the believers of His elect, in the tabernacle not made with hands – this is the Holy Spirit of promise. John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
“Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?”