Christ came to redeem His people
from Hell, as we find in Mat 1:21, “And she shall bring forth a son, and
thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their
sins.” John 10:11 also says, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd
giveth his life [soul] for the sheep.”
How did the Lord Jesus save His people
from their sins, and give His life for the sheep? He accomplished what was humanly
impossible. Jesus Christ had to finish all of the following work of
the Atonement before He could return spiritually to His Father in
Heaven. Then He cried, “It is finished!” before He physically
died on the cross (John 19:30):
- The
Lord Jesus had to become sin, as we read about in 2 Cor 5:21, “For
he [God the Father] hath made him [Jesus Christ] to be sin for
us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.”
- Jesus
Christ became a curse under the eternal wrath of God because of the sins
of His people, as we read in Gal 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”
- He
then had to suffer the equivalent of eternity in Hell as payment for those
sins, according to Psa 86:13: “For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou
hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.”
- Christ
obeyed God's will perfectly in thought, word, and deed for each of His
people, as we see in John 8:29, “And he [God the Father] that sent me
[Jesus Christ] is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do
always those things that please him.” This same idea is repeated
in Psa 40:7-8, “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it
is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law
is within my heart.”
- The
Savior gives His righteousness to His children in exchange for their sin,
as Isa 61:10 reveals, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul
shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of
salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a
bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels.”
We need to understand that Christ's physical
death was not what saves His people. He had to experience the spiritual “second
death” – eternal damnation – for every person He came to save. Since God is not
confined to time and space as we are, it is only because Jesus Christ is fully
God and fully man that salvation is possible for mankind: Isa 53:6 says, “All
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and
the LORD hath laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all [the elect].”
In light of eternity there is no more
important matter to consider than one's own salvation. Christ will either be
our Judge or our Savior. I pray that God might use His Word today to compel you
to search the Scriptures, as the Bereans of old did in Acts 17:11-12, “These
were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the
word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily,
whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of
honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.”
The Bible is the only place we can
find “the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
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