I sit here early Christmas morning beginning to comprehend the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. Jesus Christ’s physical death on the cross was heinous, gruesome and brutal. Jesus not only died physically on the cross, he took the punishment for all the sin of mankind. As Isaiah 53 describes so vividly is that “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 were healed.” In 1Corinthians Paul talks about “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God took the submissive, pure and innocent lamb and slaughtered him physically on the cross and crushed him with His wrath. That is the punishment we deserve. That is the punishment I deserve. The apostle Paul knew who we were, “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.””
(Romans 3:10-18 NIV-G/K)

Jesus willingly took the punishment that we deserved. There is a word that describes what Jesus did for us it is propitiation. Propitiation means “that which appeases the wrath of God against sin.” Jesus Christ became our atoning sacrifice. His death on the cross turned aside the wrath of God.

Jerry Bridges in his book “The Discipline of Grace” describes it this way: “First God presented Him, or set Him forth as an atoning sacrifice. It is God the Father who initiated the whole plan of salvation. It is God the Father who provide the sacrifice of His Son to satisfy His justice and appease His own wrath.”

Did you catch that? God the Father KNEW he was going to have to give up his Son in order to save the wretched creatures he created.

One two cent theory is that the creation of the universe was created out of an outpouring of God’s love. God knew that by the creation of the universe we were going to need the sacrifice of His son. The plan of salvation by sacrificing His Son was created before He created the universe.

John Piper in an article called “The Suffering of Christ and the Sovereignty of God” says “The entire universe exists to display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God“ Piper goes on to say that “the death of Christ in supreme suffering is the highest, clearest, surest display of the glory of the grace of God…. The suffering of the utterly innocent and infinitely holy Son of God in the place of utterly undeserving sinners to bring us to everlasting joy is the greatest display of the glory of God’s grace that ever was, or ever could be.

Grace has been defined as the undeserved favor of God shown to those who deserve His wrath. In simpler terms it is love. All of what God has done is about love. He created us to show us his outpouring of love. He gave us the Old Covenant Law to help us realize that we need a savior. He gave us a savior, His only Son, to rescue us from the consequences of our actions. He gives us a path towards everlasting life and fellowship with Him.

In the end, Jesus had to die on the cross in order to show us how much God, the Father and Jesus the Son loves us.

Merry Christmas and remember God’s love for us!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
(John 3:16 NIV-G/K)

“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved.”
(Ephesians 2:3-5 NIV-G/K)

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 24th, 2006 at 8:13 pm and is filed under Awe Moments, Cross, Gospel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.