FreeTruth

Two weeks from today, Jesus will die.

More than once before His death, Jesus foretold it. In Matthew 19:17-19, we have one such prediction. "I'm going to Jerusalem", He said, "and when I get there, death awaits; an unjust, cruel, mocking, shameful, horrific death at the hands of pagan rulers according to the wish and will of the religious leaders of My own people."

"But I'm going anyway."

As Good Friday draws closer, it might be good to reflect on why Jesus might have made this prediction. I wouuld offer these possible reasons:

1. He did not want his followers to be shocked by the dark days ahead, and made vulnerable by the shock. God is kind this way: He tells us often in His Word that the way of faith and obedience leads to many sorrows and much suffering so that when it happens we will not be surprised or dismayed.
2. He wanted them to know that He was fully aware of every dark development, even before it happened, so that they would know His calm and sovereign purpose in it all. Things were happening as planned by God (Acts 2:23; 4:26-28). Calvary was not a mistake or surprise, bringing our Lord's life to an untimely end; it was the reason and purpose for which He had come into the world.
3. He wanted them to know the greatness of His love. How much does Jesus love His people? Enough to walk straight ahead, fully aware that every step was leading Him closer to the cross. He didn't flinch or panic or turn back. He came to redeem those He loves through His death, and that's what He did.

He stared death in the face, and walked right into its grasp. Behold the purposeful sovereign loving grace of Christ.

Labels: Death of Christ, Ethnic Grace, Gospel, Lent

I grew up singing this old hymn:

I was a wandering sheep,
I did not love the fold;
I did not love my Shepherd's voice,
I would not be controlled.
I was a wayward child,
I did not love my home;
I did not love my Father's voice,
I loved afar to roam.

The Shepherd sought His sheep,
The Father sought His child;
They followed me o'er vale and hill,
O'er deserts waste and wild;
They found me nigh to death,
Famished and faint and lone;
They bound me with the bands of love,
They saved the wand'ring one.

They spoke in tender love,
They raised my drooping head,
They gently closed my bleeding wounds,
My fainting soul they fed;
They washed my filth away,
They made me clean and fair;
They brought me to my home in peace,
The long sought wanderer.

Jesus my Shepherd is:
'Twas He that loved my soul;
'Twas He that washed me in His blood,
'Twas He that made me whole.
'Twas He that sought the lost,
That found the wand'ring sheep,
'Twas He that brought me to the fold,
'Tis He that still doth keep.

No more a wandering sheep,
I love to be controlled;
I love my tender Shepherd's voice,
I love the peaceful fold.
No more a wayward child,
I seek no more to roam;
I love my heavenly Father's voice,
I love, I love His home!

All because of John 10:14, 15.

Labels: Death of Christ, Election, Gospel, Lent

God's ways are not our ways. He does things we can not even imagine through means we cannot even conceive.

That's why Peter runs into a mental/emotional buzz saw in Matthew 16:21-23. Peter simply had no category for what Jesus says in Matthew 16:21. The idea that his Savior-King-Redeemer would die was inconceivable. How could a dead Messiah deliver?

Mortified to the point of near apoplexy, Peter presumes to rebuke the Master for His self-imposed death sentence. "Jesus," said the apostle, "what in the world are you thinking? Get such thoughts out of your mind! You will not, you cannot die! You are, after all, the Messiah-King-Deliverer!" He spoke from real, but misguided love.

Peter's problem was one of selective Bible reading. He'd joined his Jewish contemporaries in loving the Old Testament texts predicting a mighty Deliverer-King, while largely ignoring the Isaiah 53 type texts about a Suffering Servant-Messiah. Like all humans, he wanted deliverance and salvation with no cost, no sorrow, no pain, no suffering.

He had no sense that before he or any sinner could enjoy God's salvation God would have to atone for man's sin. There is no kingdom of saints unless there is an atonement for sinners. Before the Messiah could rule as King, He had to die as Lamb.

Yes indeed--God's plan was to save through suffering and death.

So I repeat: God's ways are not our ways. He does things that we can not even imagine through means we cannot even conceive.

Satan knows this better than anyone. So that's why he got into Peter's brain and planted this rebuke. Satan hoped to derail the plan of God through the ignorance of man. He hoped that just maybe, Jesus might hear Peter's words, and buy into the ignorance.

But Jesus would have none of it. He told Satan to get lost, set Peter's mind on course, and kept right on walking toward Calvary; no hesitation, no slacking of His pace, no turning back.

Friends, God has done what we cannot imagine (saving us for eternal bliss) through means we cannot even imagine (the bloody accursed cross). And it happened because Jesus sensed Satan's lie in Peter's love, and commanded the enemy be gone.

Then He marched on to Golgotha with a cross-beam on His shoulders and our forgiveness in His heart.

Labels: Atonement, Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Lent

Isaiah 53:12 begins with that ever important word: "therefore". This follows the statement in verse 11 that the servant will make many to be accounted righteous and shall bear their iniquities. And then verse 12 says, "Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong."

This speaks of the Servant's exaltation. He receives the spoil of the victory. He receives His due reward. And as the rest of the verse emphasizes again, it is "because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."

The "therefore" at the beginning of verse 12 makes the same connection between Jesus' humiliation and exaltation as the "therefore" in Philippians 2:9. "And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name..." Jesus' humiliation on our behalf is rewarded with great exaltation.

Another indication of the Servant's success is in the middle of verse 10, just after the statement that "he shall see his offspring." It goes on to say, "He shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." This is a reference to Jesus' resurrection, because even though He was crushed and put to grief, He prolongs His days.

His mission did not end in death. His Father crushed Him, but then His Father brought Him back to life and prolongs His days. He lives, and He reigns forever more!

Christ's resurrection is so essential to the Gospel, because had He not conquered the grave, His sacrificial death would have been a total failure; He would have saved no one.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins" (v. 17). It was not enough that Jesus died. He had to die and then conquer death. He had to triumph over the grave. Our salvation depends upon it. Romans 4:25 says He "was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."

That verse shows us the inseparable connection between Jesus' death and His resurrection. He was raised for our justification, meaning His resurrection proved that the substitutionary death was effective. The resurrection proves that Jesus' death conquered death, and therefore purchased our justification.

This is the reason why the observance of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday is such a significant time for Christians. These are the two enormous events that have revolutionized our lives and they should be the focus of our lives every day of the year.

Jesus died on a cross for our sins, and He came back to life on the third day to demonstrate His triumph over sin and death. Jesus accomplished His agonizing mission, and then He looks out over the fruit of His labors, and He is satisfied.

by Sesky Paul

Labels: Death of Christ, exaltation of Christ, Lent, resurrection of Christ. Guest Post

"Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities."

How could God the Father have killed His own Son, let alone delight to do so? What compelling purpose would warrant this action of a seemingly utter betrayal? When Jesus was baptized, didn't the Father say, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17)? What compelled the Father to do this? And what compelled the Son to submit to this?

The purpose that the Father and the Son agreed to was the redemption of sinners in such a way that would magnify God's justice, righteousness and glory. This is powerfully expressed in Romans 3:23-26:

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

This passage explains why God the Father crushed His Son, and why He delighted to crush His Son, and why the Son agreed to be crushed. Hebrews 12:2 says, "for the joy that was set before him endured the cross."

The cross was something that the Father and the Son agreed to, for the purpose of displaying God's justice and displaying God's marvelous grace. This was done "so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Romans 5:1 tells us how that we become "justified" before the Lord by faith in Christ and His work on Calvary in our place for salvation, "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

The love between the Father and the Son is immeasurable. It is infinite. The Father delights in His Son, who is "the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature" (Hebrews 1:3). The Father looks upon His Son and sees the radiance of His own glory, and He delights in Him.

God the Father is satisfied in the work of His Son, and the Son Himself is satisfied. The justice and wrath of God against sin and sinners was fully satisfied by the suffering of Jesus upon the cross of Calvary, and thus Isaiah tells us that the Lord would "see it and be satisfied."

by Sesky Paul

Labels: Atonement, Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Guest Post, Justification, Lent

In Isaiah's 700B.C. prophecy about the suffering Servant of Yahweh--the Son of God become Lamb of God--he includes details of the passion of Christ that are striking for their accuracy, but even more so for their poignancy.

As for the accuracy of these predictions notice that the Suffering Messiah would:

1. Submit to death without argument or personal defense (Isaiah 53:7; Matthew 26:59-63; Mark 14:55-61).
2. Actually die (Isaiah 53:8). This prediction of a dying Messiah made no sense to anyone looking for a mighty Deliverer, but in the wisdom of God's plan for human redemption, the Savior would have to die so that He could save.
3. Be buried in a rich man's grave (Isaiah 53:9; Mark 15:43; Luke 23:50-53).

As for the poignancy of these predictions, notice that the suffering Messiah:

1. Chose death for us over defense of self. Such was His love, and resolve to die for us that He didn't even try to put up a defense.
2. Was cut off from the land of the living not having any "generation" or children (Isaiah 53:8). He did not marry or have children because He was not here for such a purpose or pleasure. He came to produce offspring of a different sort (Isaiah 53:10; Hebrews 2:10-15). He came to save a people that would be children of faith and children of God.
3. Didn't even have his own tomb. (In the end this didn't matter much of course; since a Fort Knox vault-like tomb couldn't have held Him. But still: a borrowed tomb?!)

Such is the love of the Messiah for us. As you and I reflect on the dying love of Christ, may we feel the wonder of a Savior who gave up his rights, His life, His personal pleasure, His dignity, His all, for us.

Labels: Death of Christ, Gospel, Lent

It's a familiar story, told in this instance by singer-songwriter Michael Card in his book, A Violent Grace.

A friend of mine and his buddy were sitting together in a foxhole during the Korean War. Their patrol had been assigned to sweep for concealed mines. As they sat together, sharing a candy bar, an enemy hand grenade flew through the air and landed between them. Without hesitation, my friend's partner threw aside the last piece of candy bar and flung himself on the grenade. His courage saved my friend's life.

Card adds this thought: "Jesus fell on the grenade, as it were, for me." And not just for Michael Card, but for me, and for you.

"The atonement is the work Christ did in his life and death to earn our salvation" (Wayne Grudem, Bible Doctrine). Simply put, Jesus Christ took our place.

Perhaps nowhere is this truth seen more clearly than in Isaiah 53:4-6. Take a minute to read the passage, preferably aloud. Notice the number of times in these three verses that Jesus absorbs the punishment we deserved.

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; ...he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.... (A)nd the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Now read it again, this time putting your name in wherever there is a pronoun, "our" or "we" or "us." The truth is literally hammered home time after time: it was we who deserved to suffer and die, but Christ took our place.

This is so much more than simply saying, Jesus died for our sins. As true as that is, it fails to capture the depth and extent of the atonement's effect. Jesus Christ felt the weight of "our griefs and... our sorrows."

Why do we grieve, and why are we sorrowful? Because of sin. Because we mess up our lives by our own sin, and we suffer when sinned against. Jesus knows this, and carries that burden for us. In the process, "he was wounded" and "he was crushed."

Recall the account of his humiliation and torture and agonizing death. This was the eternal Son of God undergoing everything that I deserved and nothing that he deserved. The grenade he fell on had my name on it, and would have separated me from God forever, but Jesus willingly took that on himself.

"Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed." Thanks to the atonement, peace is now available--peace with God, which is our greatest need, and peace with those around us. What a gift! What grace and mercy! We have peace. We have healing. (See Matthew 8:17 for the New Testament commentary on verse 4.)

And what is our "contribution"? Isaiah answers that question in verse 6: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way." Every one--without exception. It is our sin that made the atonement necessary. Praise God for the merit of Christ, who alone could have earned our salvation!

by Tim Bowditch

Labels: Atonement, Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Gospel, Guest Post, Lent

"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief..."

I recall sitting on my college bunk one evening in complete darkness, listening to this text as arranged by Handel in his musical masterpiece, Messiah. I was deeply moved that evening and I think the experience led me to a new awareness of our Lord's sufferings. There is something about the image of Christ as "a man of sorrows" that has always drawn me. It's how I most often look at him.

To truly understand this world is to be in significant measure, "a man of sorrows." Of course, no one understood life, reality, and eternity the way Jesus did. He knew the joys of heaven and the bliss of unhindered fellowship with the Father. He knew what a world without sin would look like, and just how much had been lost in the Garden. And he left heaven, to remedy the mess.

Our text for today tells us this sorrowful man was also despised and rejected by men. What an irony! Jesus was rejected by those for whom love had driven him to be "acquainted with grief." Loving the sinner is a sorrowful proposition! Were it not for his great love, he would not be that "man of sorrows." Sorrow is a function of love. Ask the parent of a wayward child--the greater the love, the greater the sorrow.

But recall, Our Lord was also "anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows." Another irony—the saddest man on earth is also the most joyful! Love and joy led Jesus to submit to the sufferings of the cross. "Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross..."

Brothers and sisters, what a Savior!

Today, as we meditate on these words of scripture, we must understand that it was love for us that made Jesus the "man of sorrows." It was love for us that caused him to become that marred and disfigured man on the road to Calvary. Hear the words of the hymn writer, Philip Bliss:

Man of Sorrows, what a name
For the Son of God who came,
Ruined sinners to reclaim;
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Labels: Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Gospel, Guest Post, The Work of Christ

May I suggest that you take a few minutes and read Isaiah 52:13-15 and Isaiah 53:1-12? If you do my post today will be superfluous. Go ahead and do it. Then if you have more time later to come back to this, feel free. See you in a bit.




This is a stunning portion of God's Word for many reasons. Because it describes the experience of Christ with such poignant detail, it became in the minds of the early church, one of the most important Old Testament texts.

Here are some vital facts and statistics about this prophecy:
1. It is made 700 years before Christ was born.
2. It was understood to be a Messianic prophecy by many Jewish scholars before (and is some cases long after) the coming of Christ. Later, because of its striking connections to Jesus, revisionist interpretations were created.
3. It includes no less than 10 specific predictions that were fulfilled in the experience of Christ, including His resurrection!
4. It is cited no less than 12-15 times in the New Testament.
5. It gives a clear declaration of the atoning, sacrificial death of Christ in behalf of sinners, making it a stunningly clear gospel text in the Old Testament.

Above all this Scripture shows the amazing love of Christ for us; for me. May I suggest that you go back and insert your name and a first person singular pronoun throughout Isaiah 53 wherever it fits? Let me help you do this:

He was despised and rejected by [me];
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom [I hid my face]
he was despised, and [I] esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne [my] griefs
and carried [my] sorrows;
yet [I] esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for [my] transgressions;
he was crushed for [my] iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought [me] peace,
and with his stripes [I am] healed.

... like sheep [I] have gone astray;
[I] have turned [to my] own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity [which was mine].
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for [my] transgression...?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, [God's] servant,
make [me] to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear [my] iniquities.

Labels: Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Gospel, Lent

If you know the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion of Christ, especially as found in Matthew, a number of verses from Psalm 22 will sound strikingly familiar. The very first verse--"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"--was quoted by Jesus as he hung on the cross (Matt. 27:46). Verses 7 and 8 foreshadow the taunting by the chief priests and others (Matt. 27:39 ff.). Obviously these are unmistakable prophetic words.

There are others: the description of the soldiers gambling for Christ's clothing in verse 18 (see Matt. 27:35), and even the imagery in verses 14 and 15, which could easily apply to a thirsty Jesus hanging in agony with his weakened shoulders dislocated from bearing his weight--all these details bring to mind the picture of Christ in the six hours on that day we call Good Friday. What is amazing is that the psalm was written in about 1000 B.C., hundreds of years before the Romans would invent crucifixion!

Referring to this psalm, the ESV Study Bible has this to say:

(I)n view of its prominent place in the crucifixion story, Christian readers have found in it a description of the sufferings of Jesus. Many Christians have taken it as a straight prediction of Jesus' sufferings, as if the primary function of the psalm was to foretell the work of the Savior; others have read it as a lament in its OT context, with a "fuller meaning" revealed by Jesus' use of it. It is better to see the psalm as providing a lament for the innocent sufferer, and then to see how all the Gospels use this to portray Jesus as the innocent sufferer par excellence.

Regardless of how we approach the question of interpretation, the point is that there is something going on here that mere "coincidence" cannot explain. As believers in Christ, we can take from this a few things:

1. The Word of God is utterly dependable. It spoke prophetically of the crucifixion a millennium before God the Son would assume a physical body and undergo the agony of the cross. Therefore, it is just as dependable when it comes to prophetic words that have yet to be realized. The description of the return of the Lord in 1 Thessalonians 4 would be but one example. Jesus Christ is coming again.

2. When we suffer, we can know that God is "in it" for our good. He was most certainly in the sufferings of Jesus, and he is in our sufferings as well. He intends to work in them for our good.

3. Christ died for us as our Older Brother. There is another statement that is quoted, not in the Gospels, but in Hebrews. Psalm 22:22 ("I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.") appears in Hebrews 2:12, and that quotation comes on the heels of these words: "That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers." So we can know that Christ's becoming our older brother was never far from his mind, even as he hung dying for us. Understanding that, we can rejoice in the exclamation of verse 26: "May your hearts live forever!"

by Tim Bowditch

Labels: Atonement, Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Guest Post, prophecy fulfilled, The Love of God

In Genesis 3:15 remarkable words are spoken at the dawn of time. This is the first Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter text all rolled into one.

By all appearances in that moment Satan had won. The power of hell appeared to have mutinied successfully against heaven, while taking the human race with him. He'd seduced Adam and Eve, and effectively gotten them banished from Eden.

But in Genesis 3:15 God gives a promise spelling the Devil's demise, which simultaneously sustained believers' hopes for millennia--all the way through the moment when it was fulfilled in the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. The promise is called in theology: "The Proto-Evangelium": the first gospel. It is the first heralding of a Saving Redeemer to come.

But this is also the first announcement that the Savior would suffer. Satan would attack the woman's offspring so fiercely that he would succeed in "bruising" or crushing His heel, speaking of a crippling, near mortal wound against Eve's seed. A child born to woman would experience a severe wound that would appear to spell ultimate defeat.

But in the end the Child would bruise or crush Satan's head! Here is a promise that a Child would be born that would experience apparent defeat only to turn around and gain ultimate triumph. That does sound familiar, now doesn't it?

Thousands of years later a Child was born to a woman; one who would redeem His people from Satan's grasp and hell's dominion. This Child would appear to be defeated on a cross, but then would triumph through the empty tomb. Satan would crush His heel; He would crush Satan's head. He came to destroy the devil and death, and that's exactly what He did (Hebrews 2:14, 15).

Friends, this text shows us that the sufferings of Christ came as no surprise to our Lord. Long before they happened He knew they would happen. He knew what would befall Him, and He didn't flinch.

History is not a story of a God surprised by human choices or sins. Jesus did not--as some have suggested--come to earth expecting a warm welcome only to be rejected. Rather, history is the unfolding of an eternal plan of God in which He Himself would come, knowing He would endure infinite unspeakable sorrow, that He might redeem us from eternal unspeakable sorrow. He knew His heel would be crushed, but He stepped into time and space to endure it all nonetheless.

Calvary was not an afterthought; it was the plan. It was not a mistake; it was exactly what God had in mind. And because it was, we have a Savior.

Labels: Atonement, Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Gospel, Lent, The Work of Christ

Many would ask what Lent is. People put ash on their foreheads; others go without meat or some other pleasure for a few days or weeks; still others fast seriously for a season--and we wonder what to make of it all.

The word "Lent" refers to spring, signalling emergence from the cold barrenness of winter to life-renewal on planet earth. The symbolic usefulness of this is plain. Lent can mark the coming of spring with a reflection upon how our souls may need renewal, as they often grow cold and barren for a season.

From back in the 100s AD some Christians have prepared for the Good Friday/Easter event with fasting and prayer. Marked by repentance, this was a season for personal reflection about one's own relationship with Christ, with an accompanying sorrow and confession over sin.

Someone has written: "The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial, for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ."

So Lent, with most of its individual components as practiced by many Christians throughout the centuries, is really a merging of many Christian disciplines into one forty day long event.

It's hard to argue with any of this. We evangelicals embrace penitence (not the same as penance), confession, fasting, prayer, self-evaluation, almsgiving, self-denial, and even the observance of holy days. Who can deny the value of these practices? In fact, each (with the exception of holy days) is biblically required of believers in some form or another, at one time and another.

What is optional is whether one attaches them to a Lenten pre-Good Friday/Easter experience. If one chooses to do so, I'd only urge that the following safeguards be observed.

--Lent must never be seen as a form of penance or personal atonement for sin.
--Lent must never be required of a believer by any Church or spiritual authority
--Lent must never be elevated above human tradition status. We must keep in mind our Lord's teaching in Matthew 15:1-9 that traditions are very dangerous things.

If so guarded, this discipline can prove and has proven immensely helpful to many. After all, don't we all have sin-winters in the soul from which we need to emerge into springtime life and renewal?

Labels: Death of Christ, Gospel, Lent, Spiritual disciplines, the passion of Christ

Earlier today as I was reading the Word I came again to that most astonishing text which is Galatians 3:10-14. It seems to me that, despite the protestations of many to the contrary, the meaning of the text is plain, and is able to be summed up as follows:
1. Those who disobey any part of God's Law are law-breakers.
2. Every law-breaker is subject to a penalty, a curse from God. Those who violate God's Law in any way at all are subject to its damning judgment (i.e.-they are declared guilty and worthy of severe penalty and punishment, being placed under the condemnation of God's wrath and subject to the very opposite of His blessing).
3. There they (we) all remain helpless in themselves (ourselves) to do anything to avoid the curse, because even if from this moment on we were to fully keep God's Law, we can never undo the fact that we have already been Law-breakers. We can do nothing to get out from under the curse of God.
4. There is One Who has been born of woman and under the Law (Galatians 4:4, 5) who has by virtue of His death become a curse (i.e.-became accursed) for us, bearing in His own Person and body on the cross the full curse and wrath due to our sin, that the curse may be lifted from us.
5. Now in the place of God's cursing we receive God's blessing (Galatians 3:14).
6. This means that Christ was cursed that we might be blessed. He got what we deserved that we might receive what He deserved.

This text is simple profound stunning gospel. It is essential Christianity. It is the single message that gets as close to the heart of what our faith is about as any text anywhere. Take away the truth of the substitutionary atoning death of Christ, and you take away the gospel; you take away everything.

Nowadays there are many who are attacking this truth as if it were an antiquated quaint embarrassing relic from primitive times. The attacks are sometimes subtle (like with those who for church growth purposes tell us to remove references to sin and blood and the like, or like those who say that the gospel is not so much about personal salvation and forgiveness of sins as it is about being a part of the kingdom of God); they are sometimes brazen (like those who simply say that such talk of atonement and cursing and substitutionary death are offensive carry-overs from primitive superstitious days).

Let me say this: if the death of Jesus was not to take away sin through blood atonement and curse-bearing sacrifice, then what in the world was it for? Don't tell me that it was to be a model of love. Don't tell me that it was to be a model of humility. Don't tell me that it was to show how willing people should be to suffer. That is unadulterated nonsense.

Christ Jesus died in my place for my sins to remove the curse hanging over my head. He was damned on the cross that I would not have to be damned forever. He was forsaken of God under a curse so severe and real that it was sufficient to guarantee that I would never be forsaken of God under any curse at all.

Here I stand; where else can I stand? Take this away and we have no hope, no faith, and nothing else to say. Embrace it and you have every reason to rejoice, break forth and shout aloud for joy (Galatians 4:27).

Labels: Atonement, Cross Centered Living, Death of Christ, Gospel

As promised I have a few words from another to follow up yesterday's post. Please read with astonishment and joy.

When Jesus took the curse upon himself, he so identified with our sin that he became a curse. God cut him off and justly so. This was an act of divine justice. At the moment that Christ took upon himself the sin of the world, he became the most grotesque, most obscene mass of sin in the history of the world. God is too holy to even look at iniquity. When Christ was hanging on the cross, the Father, as it were, turned his back on Christ. He removed his face. He turned out the lights. He cut off his Son. There was Jesus, who in human nature had been in a perfect, blessed relationship with God throughout his life. There was Jesus, the Son in whom the Father was well pleased. Now he hung in darkness, isolated from the Father, cut off from fellowship – fully receiving in himself the curse of God – not for his own sin but for the sin he willingly bore by imputation for our sake…I have heard many sermons about the physical pain of death by crucifixion. I’ve heard graphic descriptions of the nails and the thorns. Surely the physical agony of crucifixion was a ghastly thing. But there were thousands who died on crosses and may have had more painful deaths than that of Christ. But only one person has ever received the full measure of the curse of God while on a cross. I doubt that Jesus was even aware of the nails and the spear – he was so overwhelmed by the outer darkness. On the cross Jesus was in the reality of hell. He was totally bereft of the grace and the presence of God, utterly separated from all blessedness of the Father. He became a curse for us so that we someday will be able to see the face of God. So that the light of his countenance might fall upon us, God turned his back on his Son. No wonder Christ screamed. He screamed from the depth of his soul. How long did he have to endure it? We don’t know, but a second of it would have been of infinite value…Finally, Jesus cried, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). It was over. What was over? His life? The pain of the nails? No. It was the forsakenness that ended. The curse was finished (R.C. Sproul).

Friends: Behold the Lamb.

Labels: Atonement, Death of Christ, Gospel, Grace