Monday, November 25, 2013

What Is The Gospel? Part 7


God sent his Son

Not only did God decide to save sinners in order to glorify himself, but he actually did save them (of course, he is still saving sinners). It was not just a whim or short-lived impulse. No, this was God’s passion and moved him to inaugurate his glorious plan of redemption. So much so, he sent His Son. The second Person of the Trinity came to earth with the mission to save the lost. How was this enacted?

Jesus took on flesh. He had to partake of the same things and be made like his brethren. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things... he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God” (Heb. 2:14-17). Jesus “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:7-8). “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14).

Why? Why was Christ born of a woman? Why did he have to be made like us? It was to atone for sinful man’s iniquity. Man was the one that offended God. It is man that stands condemned before the tribunal of God. So, Christ took on flesh to die in the place of man in order for men to be saved. The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. But, the perfect and sinless sacrifice of the Son of Man can.

We must not miss the point. God sent his Son. Yes, it is important that we acknowledge that two natures are in one person by way of a hypostatic union. But, God sent his Son. His only Son. This is earth-shattering news. This changes everything. This truly is what all of history had been leading too and looking back on. Man, who lies dead by the wayside, desires everything except God and sweet communion with him. He loves his sin. By contrast, he hates what is holy and pure, including God. But God sent his Son. Christ came to redeem lawless, rebellious, unlovable, devilish, men.

How did this happen? Christ took on flesh and lived a sinless life of perfect obedience to God the Father and the law. Jesus obeyed perfectly. He succeeded where Adam failed. This is key because God demands a perfect sacrifice. Jesus was perfect so when he gave himself for sinners, God accepted it; he was propitiated. We are ransomed “with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you” (1 Pet. 1:19-20). “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ, our high priest is “without sin” (Heb. 4:15). The Westminster Confession states,

The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of His Father; and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him (VIII. V).



What is the gospel? Jeremiah Burroughs explains,



All mankind was lost in Adam and became children of wrath, and was put under the sentence of death. God, though He left His fallen angels and has reserved them in chains of eternal darkness, has thought upon the children of men. He has provided a way of atonement to reconcile them to Himself again. Namely, the Second Person in the Trinity takes man’s nature upon Him and becomes the Head of a second covenant, standing charged with man’s sin, and answering for it by suffering what the Law and Divine Justice required. He made satisfaction and kept the Law perfectly, which satisfaction and righteousness He offered up unto the Father as a sweet savor of rest for the souls of those that are given to Him.1



Oh, Christ is precious. He alone is our everything; he is our all in all. Christ is our Head, Shepherd, Prophet, Priest, King, Righteousness, Light, Mediator, Advocate, Propitiation. He is the Rock, Bridegroom, Door, Gate, Lamb, Redeemer, Son of God, Son of Man, Suffering Servant, Way, Truth, Life, Prince of Peace. Christ is the Holy One of God, adored by the heavenly host, the Father’s Beloved, infinite in beauty and splendor, worshiped by angels, obeyed by all creation. He is all wise, full of grace and mercy, patient and loving, powerful and just. Christ is sufficient, worthy, excellent, to be desired above all, magnificent, regal, amiable, eminent, glorious, and resplendent. Who could ever begin to comprehend his manifold illustriousness? He should be treasured, obeyed, feared, sought, trusted, followed, hallowed, worshiped, and magnified.

Jesus died on a cross

Oh, the cross of Christ. All of known history had been leading up to this one event. It changed everything. We now look back to Calvary. The cross has a special place in the hearts of every believer. For it was where our Savior died. We sing about it, preach it, meditate on its significance, sit at its foot, shudder at the horrific scene, yet gaze at it in a stupefied awe because it was necessary. How else would our sins be atoned? As dreadful and appalling as it is, we cherish the Savior and the cross in whose relentless grip he hung because this is what the blessed Trinity ordained in order to save man. The cross is where wrath and mercy meet. Heaven and hell converged.

The rapturous Horatius Bonar said it this way,

It is only through blood-shedding that conscience is purged; it is only at the cross that the sinner can meet with God; it is the cross that knits heaven and earth together; it is the cross that bears up the collapsing universe; it is the pierced hand that holds the golden scepter; it is at Calvary that we find the open gate of Paradise regained, and the gospel is good news to the sinner, of liberty to enter in2



The cross. What happened on that Roman torture instrument? In short, Jesus died a substitutionary, penal, vicarious, propitious, atoning death. In other words, he died in the place of others. And not just others, but sinners. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). Believers are justified “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation” (Rom. 3:24-25). Jesus is the “propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 2:2). Jesus said that he “lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11). He did not come to serve but “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). Jesus “gave himself for our sins” (Gal. 1:4). Christ Jesus “gave himself as a ransom” (1 Tim. 2:6).

The death of Jesus on the cross is paramount to a proper understanding of the gospel. Without it we’re doomed. With it we have deliverance. The centrality of Christ’s death on the cross cannot be overstated. It is the primary message of Christianity; it is at the very heart of the gospel. It was what Paul preached; “we preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). It was what Paul knew; “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Greg Gilbert has written that “the death of Jesus is- and must be- the heart of the gospel because the good news is precisely that Jesus saves sinners from their sin.”3 And he accomplished this by dying in their stead. He took their place. He took their curse. He bore our punishment; took what we deserved. The innocent Son of Man was raised up and killed for something he did not do. Oh, but millions are eternally grateful that he did.

What transpired on the cross? What happened? What was the point of all of the pain and suffering? Who better than Paul to adequately disclose the meaning of the cross? He wrote, “For our sakes he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). What happened at Calvary? Why the darkness? Why the cries of being forsaken? Because Christ became sin. Let that sink in. The Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect, spotless, sinless, holy, Son of God had sin laid upon him. He bore the curse. He bore guilt. He bore the shame. He bore the punishment. He bore the Father’s wrath.

The sins of the elect were laid upon Jesus. They were credited to him. As the Substitute, our sins were made his. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). Christ was offered to “bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28). Isaiah's account is even more remarkable. He prophesied some seven hundred years before the time of Christ, but it was as if he stood at Calvary and watched the Servant of the Lord die.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But 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. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned-every one-to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all... he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people... he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors (Is. 53:4-6; 8; 12).



As a result of sin being laid on him, Jesus bore the wrath of the Father. God the Father punished Jesus for sin. He who knew no sin became sin and took the penalty that it deserved. The Son, who enjoyed perfect communion and harmony with the Father, endured the righteous indignation for sins not his own. Oh, the love; the justice. What severity; what mercy. What heart can grasp the gravity of this forsakenness?

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). “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” (Is. 53:10).

How do we not adore the One who suffered undeserved punition at the hands of sinners? Even more compelling is that the Son was sent and crushed by his loving Father. We must remember that the loving Father loves himself supremely and ordained the suffering of the Son in order to redeem fallen sinners so that they may share in that love and enjoy him glorifying himself through redemptive love for all eternity.

1Jeremiah Burroughs, Gospel Conversation (Orlando Fl., Soli Deo Gloria Publications, 1995), 3-4.

2Christ Is All: The Piety of Horatius Bonar, ed. Michael A.G. Haykin & Darrin R. Brooker (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage, 2007), 79-80.

3Greg Gilbert, “The Gospel: God’s Self-Substitution for Sinners” in Don’t Call It a Comeback (Wheaton, Il: Crossway, 2011), 73.

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