"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed him not. 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".
Isaiah 53:3-5
This is another post, in my series on the atonement of Jesus. Here is the definition for this series of posts. The atonement is; “God killed His perfect Son to save hate-filled rebels from the wrath they deserved from Him”. Today I want to think a little more about what it means that Jesus bore the penalty and punishment for our sin. What does it mean that Jesus was a sin-bearer?
Central to the atonement is Jesus nature and ability to bear sin. Isaiah in his servant song (52:13-53:12) speaks much about the actions that Jesus does in saving His people. All throughout this servant song, the Prophet, Isaiah, declares Jesus ability to bear sin and remove sin becasue He is both human, yet perfectly obedient in every way as a servant of God. Jesus ability to bear sin depends upon his perfect obedience to the Father.
First, Jesus had an active obedience with the Father. Jesus active obedience means He was in perfect communion and fellowship with God. Jesus never sinned against God. Jesus never had a moment of unbelief in God. Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness. Thus Jesus was perfectly in step and union with God the Father. Jesus active obedience is the righteous life God imputes upon the saints.
Second, Jesus had a passive obedience with the Father. Jesus passive obedience describe His willingness, desire, and fulfillment of going to the Cross. Jesus passive obedience points to Jesus becoming a curse for the elect. Jesus passive obedience describes His suffering and anguish on the Cross. Jesus passive obedience is His willingness to be crushed by God for the sin He was bearing. Jesus passive obedience is where the sin of the elect is imputed upon Jesus.
Both Jesus passive and active obedience point to the reality that God sent His Son in human flesh (as God in the flesh) to live a perfect life and then die the sin-bearing death, so God could condemn sin in human flesh and bring salvation to His people.
In order for Jesus to be the Savior, He had to be the sin-bearer. For Jesus to be the sin-bearer, He had to be fully human, yet fully God. This allowed God to condemn sin in the flesh and for Jesus to live a perfectly righteous life. Both aspects of Jesus come into play in the atonement. Yet through it all, Jesus was perfectly obedient but was crushed and cursed for sin He never committed. Jesus was the only one who could be the sin-bearer.
Most times when we think about the atonement or Jesus saving His people, we think of the love Jesus must have had for us. I have even heard the expression, "when Jesus died on the cross, He was thinking of you". I think this expression is right (which we will explore in the next post in this series). But when we use the expression of Jesus in love think of us, we can't separate it from the sin He took upon Himself for us. Jesus was our sin bearer. Jesus went to the cross to pay the penalty for the lust we have committed, the greed we have done, the lying we do, the gossip we tell, the hatred we spew and the angry we feel. Jesus went to the cross to bear our specific sin upon Himself and as a result took our penalty.
When we think of salvation and Jesus saving us from our sin, let us not forget that Jesus saved us by being a sin-bearer for us and all the filth, unbelief, and treason we commit against God daily.
No comments:
Post a Comment