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atonement, cross, Gospel, Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, John Macarthur, Judgment, Justification, Lamb of God, penal, Sacrificial, salvation, Savior, sinners, sins, Substitutionary, Vicarious, Worship
‘The crucifixion of Christ was also the greatest act of divine justice ever carried out. It was done in full accord with “the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23)—and for the highest of purposes: the death of Christ secured the salvation of untold numbers and opened the way for God to forgive sin without compromising His own perfectly holy standard.
Christ was no mere victim of unjust men when He hung on the cross. Though murdered unjustly by men whose intentions were only evil, Christ died willingly, becoming an atonement for the sins of the unjust, just like the murderers who killed Him. It was the greatest sacrifice ever made; the purest act of love ever carried out; and ultimately an infinitely higher act of divine justice than all the human injustice it represented.
Every true Christian knows that Christ died for our sins. That truth is so rich that only eternity will reveal its full profundity. But in the mundane existence of our daily lives, we are too inclined to take the cross of Christ for granted. We mistakenly think of it as one of the elementary facts of our faith. We therefore neglect to meditate on this truth of all truths, and we miss the real richness of it. If we think of it at all, we tend to dabble too much in the shallow end of the pool, when we ought to be immersing ourselves in its depths daily.
Many wrongly think of Christ as merely a victim of human injustice, a martyr who suffered tragically and unnecessarily. But the truth is that His death was God’s plan. In fact, it was the key to God’s eternal plan of redemption. Far from being an unnecessary tragedy, the death of Christ was a glorious victory—the most gracious and wonderful act divine benevolence ever rendered on behalf of sinners. It is the consummate expression of God’s love for us.
Yet here also we see the wrath of God against sin. What is too often missed in all our songs and sermons about the cross is that it was the outpouring of divine judgment against the person of Christ—not because He deserved that judgment, but because He willingly took it upon Himself on behalf of those He would redeem. In the words of Isaac Watts, “Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?”
Christ’s death is by far the most important event in human history. It is the focal point of the Christian faith. It will be our one refuge in the final judgment. It ought to be the main sanctuary for every believer’s private meditation. All our most precious hopes stem from the cross of Christ, and our highest thoughts should be rooted there. It is a subject we can ill afford to neglect or treat lightly. It is the shame of the modern church that our focus is so often fixed elsewhere.
May we never take the cross of Christ for granted or miss its depth. It was there that mercy and truth met together; righteousness and peace kissed each other (Psalm 85:10).”
(Excerpted from The Murder of Jesus by John MacArthur.)
The Truth of the Cross: Jesus Christ taking God’s curse and wrath in the place of sinners
The Essence of Gospel Evangelism Is To Proclaim the True Doctrine of the Cross by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
godwordistruth said:
Regarding your comments that “Jesus would not allow accountability to be placed on humanity. Instead He asked that forgiveness be granted.”
The bible is very clear that each person of humanity past and future will be held accountable for their sins. The unchangeable God will no doubt judge righteously and with inflexible justice.
Rom 2:5-8 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
Rom 2:11-12, 16 “For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
…… on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”
Every sinner must come to God through what Jesus has done and finished on the Cross by repenting and believing that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour. God judgment and righteous wrath against that sinner then have been exhausted through Jesus’ atonement on the cross. Jesus is the perfect doer of the Law and righteous before God, Jesus’ righteousness will then be imputed by God by grace to the sinner who have repent and believe and God “will give eternal life”.
Rom 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Unless a sinner repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner will be amongst “those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”God granted grace for repentance is the very essence of the God’s call to every sinner on the basis of what His Son has done on the Cross and God was pleased.
DA Carson in commenting on Jesus’ warning: Luke 13:3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
“Jesus’ surprising analysis makes sense only if three things are true: (a) All of us deserve to perish. If we are spared, that is an act of grace. What should surprise us is that so many of us are spared so long. (b) Death comes to all of us. Our world often argues that the worst disaster is for someone to die young. Not so. The real disaster is that we all stand under this sentence of death, and we all die. The age at which we die is only relatively better or worse. (c) Death has the last word for all of us—unless we repent, which alone leads us beyond death to the life of the consummated kingdom.”
Steve said:
Jesus overcame any temptation to come down from the cross and accepted what was before Him. Even taunts of those at the cross were not enough to persuade Him to abandon His mission. Jesus would not allow accountability to be placed on humanity. Instead He asked that forgiveness be granted. Jesus willingly gave His life for the very ones who at the same time wanted to take it from Him as though He were the enemy. Jesus willingly took humanity’s sin upon His own body. That was evident by what occurred on Golgotha. As a result of Jesus’s willingness to take humanity’s sin and His ability to bear them in humanity’s stead the one and only worthy sacrifice offered for sin was successful.
Steve A. Rush, author, CSI: Gethsemane to Golgotha.