What Did Jesus' Death Do For Mankind? Galatians 1:4

Everyone agrees that Jesus is important and that his death is important, but not many agree on what his death on the cross did. What does the Bible say?

"Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever."  Galatians 1:4.

JESUS GAVE HIMSELF

Giving is a choice. Jesus' death was not forced; he could have done many things to avoid the horrible death on the cross. He was aware it was coming, so he could have left town. He knew Judas was his betrayer, but he didn't challenge or censer Judas. He could have done a miracle or said one of those wonderful things that silenced his critics. He said heaven had ready more than six legions of angels to rescue him. But he didn't do any of those things. He stayed quiet and endured humiliation and death.

FOR OUR SINS

What is sin?   The Bible says, "All wrongdoing is sin..." 1 John 5:17, and "He who knows the good he ought to do and fails to do for him it is a sin."James 4:17.  Every act of rebellion against God is a sin.

Sin must be judged, or else God would be guilty of compromise, and evil wins mankind. But since he is the God of Love, he sent a substitute to take our place in judgment.

God accounts Christ's death as on behalf of our sins. The resurrection is God's demonstration of approval or ratification that God accepted Jesus' death on our behalf.*

RESCUE

To rescue someone is to deliver them out of a threatening situation. There was purpose in his death. It was not an accident but an intentional act to save mankind.  We need rescuing since we are in danger because of our sins and the judgment of God, who is holy and would never compromise.

Your sin had to be paid for, and either you pay for them, or a substitute does. But the substitute must not have any sin of his own, or he would not be qualified to pay for them since he must have his own sin paid for. Christ lived a perfect and sinless life. Even the professional district judge Pontius Pilot found no wrong in him. His enemies had to fabricate lies to justify his execution. He was able to bear the sins of others because he had no sin of his own to pay for.

The payment must be equal to the judgment, so the person paying for the sin would have to be God since God is the judge. Jesus proved himself to be God in many ways, so he alone is worthy.

How does Jesus' death rescue us from our sins? It is because God accepted his death on our behalf.

THE PRESENT EVIL AGE

In Christ, we are brought into God's kingdom and have become separated from this age and freed from the judgment that will come. The age we live in is going to end. Those who do not have Christ do not have any assurance of surviving God's judgment.

WHAT WE MUST DO

Jesus did the work for us. He paid for our sin as only he could do. The Father accepted his death on our behalf and leaves nothing for us to do to make salvation. Christ declared it so when from the cross, he said, "It is finished." John 19:30. All that is left for us is to accept what he did for us the same way we receive a gift since salvation is a gift. As the Gospel of John says. "But to as many, as received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God." John 1:12.

If you want to know more about receiving the gift of salvation, see the tab above for the Gospel.

*Thoughtful readers will recognize this is the most simplistic explanation of the resurrection, and much much more could be said.

(c) Adron 10/13/16

Does The Bible Explain What Being Born Again Is? 1 Peter 1:3

Jesus taught that we must be born again but what if we need help understanding what that is, does the Bible explain it? The apostle Peter gives some insight.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," 1 Peter 1:3.

In his Epistle, or letter, Peter opens with a greeting of exuberant worship and the new birth is the pivot of his worship. In doing so he makes a few remarks that are very illuminating.

"HIS GREAT MERCY"
The foundation is not our deeds or our worthiness but His great mercy. Mercy is when you have the opportunity to exercise authority over someone but instead demonstrate forgiveness when condemnation is justified, like a judge who could condemn a guilty criminal but grants pardon instead.

"HE HAS GIVEN US"
The word "has" means that something already happened. This phrase is past tense. God did something for us already and we do not need to look for it to happen.

Being born anew is an event that happens at a point of time and you can point to that day and hour and say that was when it happened.

"NEW BIRTH"
This phrase is used several times in the Bible. It may be seen as a metaphor that describes salvation. A birth is an event. That which is born does not have any power to be more born or less born. The one being born does not make the birth he just experiences it. The one being born cannot take credit for birth because his birth is the result of another's action. In the same way we do not make salvation but we experience it when we by faith receive it.

"INTO A LIVING HOPE"
Not just a hope but a living hope. The word, living, is a present tense word, it is not a temporary hope but it is a hope that is a forever living hope. This is something more than just an idea, teaching, or concept, instead, it is a hope that is evident by the activity of the mercy of God and what He has given us.
Our hope is not in ourselves or our efforts but it is through or by something else.

"THROUGH THE RESURRECTION"
To be born again is a participation in the resurrection.

The resurrection is a cornerstone teaching of the Christian faith. It represents and confirms the validation by God and acceptance by God of Jesus' work of salvation on our behalf. The resurrection illustrates that the power of death is broken which means the threat of hell is revoked because the justice of God is proven to be satisfied. Because of the resurrection, we can be assured that Jesus took our sins upon himself and endured their punishment completely and is victorious.

"OF JESUS CHRIST"
It all points to this person. Only Jesus could save us.
      * Only Jesus was perfect and without sin (even his most fierce critics could find no fault in him, and a professional judge washed his hands of condemning Jesus whom He deemed innocent.) Being sinless, he was qualified to bear our sins.
     * Jesus gave his life willingly. He said, "I have the power to lay down my life, and I have the power to take it up again." John 10:18.
     * As the Son of God, he alone had the right to offer himself. If anyone else died for mankind's sins, we would be indebted to that one over God, which would be wrong. Only our creator could be our redeemer since we would not be in conflict with either our God or another who is our Savior. Jesus alone is the expression of God, and he alone could be our savior.

Because God is good and merciful, He gives us this new beginning of birth into a hope that will never die. The verse teaches that the new life is a gift that must be received, which means we must choose to receive it. When we receive by faith the work of Christ on our behalf, we receive the new birth.

No one can really imagine what blessings and joys are in store for those who come to God and receive the new birth.

To learn more about the plan of salvation, click on the tab, the Gospel, above. 

(c) Adron 9/23/16

Is Changing My Life Just Some Empty Hope?

Can our hope to get our lives right ever be more than just a hope?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3.

IN HIS GREAT MERCY

God is full of mercy, and to call it great mercy is an understatement.  He has shown mercy to every living person every day, allowing us all just to live and breathe.  His mercy must be the focus of our hope and not our own efforts.

HE HAS

This is the past tense of what has been done.  When God promises something, you can be assured of it.  So, "In his great mercy, he has given," suggests it is here today.  Salvation, new life, and heaven are not just a future dream but for those who have received it- it is present now.

GIVEN

Something given is not something earned.  This Bible verse says salvation and the new person we become are given away by God.  Salvation and this new birth are not a payment or reward that we earn by anything we can do, or else it would not be a free gift.

NEW BIRTH

God gives us more than heaven. He also gives us a new birth, a new identity; who you are is now ready and able to change.  Because we have a new birth, we can turn from the things that led to death and have success over things that ruined our lives.  We can turn around and be the people God meant for us to be.

INTO A LIVING HOPE

Our hope in Jesus is not some far off, maybe so- maybe not, a vain thing; it is something that is living, current, active, and engaged.  Our hope in Jesus is real.

Jesus did what no one else could do.  He died to pay for our sins.  The resurrection proves he has the power of life and power over death, that the judgment has been paid for, and it proves God is satisfied with what Jesus did on our behalf.  If he can rise from the dead, we can trust absolutely in his promise of eternal life and new birth.

When you come to Jesus, you come to the one who makes us new, and we become who and what we are meant to be.  God has given the gift, but he does not force it on us, he offers it, and each of us must decide to receive it.

If you want to know more about receiving God's offer of free salvation, see the tab above.

(c) Adron 8/17/15

Is Jesus All About The Here After, What About Life Now?

We live in the real world and though we think about what happens to us after we die we have needs for God's help today, and we need new life in us right now.  So does Jesus offer anything for me here and now?

JESUS SAID
"Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." John 7:38. NIV.*

A LITTLE CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND
Many times Jesus spoke in word pictures to give power to his statements.  This statement was made at the end of the feast of the tabernacles, a time of celebration where one act of worship was to draw water and pour it out on the altar as a sacrifice.  Water is essential in the arid region and represented life.  The act of pouring water on the altar symbolized giving one's life to God.  It was also a memorial of the time that God provided water for the people in the wilderness by his miraculous powers.

WATER
Clearly, water represents life especially in such a dry region; it was sought, valued, and fought over.

RIVERS
Those who believe in the person and work of Christ are promised rivers- not just a tap, or a trickle, or a well, but plural rivers; and notice the absence of specific number given, there are countless rivers of blessing.

LIVING WATER
Water is life-giving and life-sustaining but this water is more, it is the Holy Spirit, (see vs 39).  Believing in Christ is like having life itself in us and it is busy; it is trying to bless us and others; it is trying to be life.  

WILL FLOW
Stagnate water is dead and even poisonous.  Flowing water is healthy, it is filtered and aerated by rolling over river rocks, and purified by the UV light of the sun. Flowing water is the best.

Flowing water is going somewhere; it has a direction, it can do things and take things with it. It leaves a mark on the landscape.

Flowing water is almost irresistible.

The water metaphor speaks of His Spirit entering our lives and becoming a force of abundant blessing to us and those around us.

FROM WITHIN THEM
When we come to Jesus we become a co-worker with him in blessing others.  We get his new life in us in exchange for our old life which he takes to the cross.   We become the sources of blessing that Jesus spoke of when he said, "You are the light of the world," and "You are the salt of the earth."   Jesus life is within us; we are his hands and his feet in this world.

ALL JESUS ASKS
His words were, "Whoever believes in me..."  Jesus asks us to believe in who he is and what he did for us when he died in our place for our sins.  We must believe not with an in your head knowledge way but with an in your heart and with all your soul way of believing.

Jesus offers us something now in this life; he said it like a promise that these rivers of living water will flow. It is a waste to delay coming to him and to delay the flow of blessing.

Spend time reading his words and reading the accounts of his life in the gospels to understand better who he is and what he has done for you.

To learn more about coming to Jesus click on the tab above for "The Gospel."

*There are many references in scripture to water that Jesus may have referred to such as Isaiah 58:11 Joel 3:18; Zechariah 14:8; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 55:1 and Zechariah 14:8, to name a few.

Thank you for visiting this blog. I hope these thoughts are helpful to you.

You can find more like this in the most helpful post list on the left sidebar.

(c) Adron 1/25/15