Thursday, April 23, 2009

Jesus' Death Our Death

Punishment for temporal sin is never eternal.

"Propitiation means satisfaction or appeasement, specifically towards God. Propitiation is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross by which He appeases the wrath of God who would otherwise be offended by our sin and demand that we pay the penalty for it. The concept of propitiation is often associated with the idea of a substitutionary atonement."
Theopedia

1. Payment for sin was made on the cross, by the cross. Punishment for temporal sin is not eternal. It is temporary. The reason man stays in hell is that he is punished and then continues to be punished and held at bay for ongoing sin.

2. There was no secretive, invisible, extra, outpouring of God's wrath on Jesus on the cross. Simply the non-intervention of the father in the life of a heavenly prince who had never known the Father's refusal or lack of love.

1Pe 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

1Pe 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

Php2:8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,

Isa 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

“Jesus did not and could not experience a quick and painless death because that would not have been sufficient. It took all the beating and whipping and scourging; it took all that blood and pain. God hates sin so much that He truly and fully punishes those who sin, and thus Jesus, if He was going to fully bear the punishment for the sins of all mankind, He truly had to experience the full and very severe wrath of God! You see, it wasn't really the Jews and the Romans who beat and killed Jesus; it was God Himself pouring out His wrath upon the sins of the whole world!
It was not just the death of Christ that saves us; it was also the beating and the scourging, and it was all really at the hand of God Himself.”
Bob Williams
Azalea City Church of Christ

Jesus died brutally, physically, temporally for our sins. Worse than all, what caused him to cry out, was the non-intervention of the father. This prince of heaven experienced what we are so used to and yet continually surprised by. God lets us die.

Our grace is that the saint is not abandoned to it, but comforted in it, though Jesus was not. 2Co 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

He became sin. The Father's emotion was one of anger towards Christ in his death. Hence Jesus cry, “Why have you forsaken Me?!” A question the Whole New Testament goes on to answer. He is our only substitute.

God does not express anger towards his saints though he chooses not to intervene in our deaths. God’s allowing nature to take it’s course in our lives, is not anger. His expression and body-language communicates his compassion toward us.

Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Ps 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Lu 23:43 "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

1 comment:

WUZBEAN said...

Thank you Jesus, Thank you.