Romans 3:23-26

In our culture, sin is no longer considered an issue. Although some people might admit to making mistakes or being wrong, few will actually say, “I have sinned.” The Lord, however, takes sin very seriously. Until we learn to see transgression as He does, we will never understand what happened at Christ’s crucifixion.

The cross was God’s perfect answer to a terrible dilemma. Because the Lord is holy and just, He hates sin and must respond to it with punishment and wrath. Yet He also loves sinners and wants to be reconciled with them. The cross of Christ was the place where God’s wrath and love collided.

The only way to rescue fallen mankind from eternal punishment was to devise a plan whereby the Lord could forgive sins without compromising His holiness. There was no way to overlook transgressions; His wrath had to be poured out–either on us or a substitute. But there was only one possible substitute: the perfect Son of God.

So Jesus came to earth as a man and suffered the Lord’s wrath for us as He hung on the cross. Sin was punished, divine justice was satisfied, and now God could forgive mankind without compromising His character. His wrath was poured out on His Son so that His love and forgiveness could be lavished upon us.

Because of human limitations, we’ll never grasp all that happened while Jesus hung on the cross. We can begin to comprehend only the physical suffering He endured, but in the spiritual realm, Christ bore so much more–the very wrath of God. This costly redemption plan proves God’s great love

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself, alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”(1)

His hour had come. He had walked among them, taught them, performed miraculous signs, and he had loved and cared for them. But now, his hour had come and the cross lay ahead of him. The “hour” he faced would be filled with trial and suffering: “Now, my soul has become troubled and what shall I say, ‘Father, save me from this hour?'”

Jesus would walk the long, lonely road to the cross. Rather than taking the way of self-preservation, he would offer his life, like a grain of wheat. He would die; he would be buried in the darkness of the earth, but as a result he would bear much fruit. Despite what lay ahead of him, and despite the trouble in his soul, he affirms, “For this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

Of what was transacted there on that cross, there are many theories.(2) In formal theology, these “theories” attempt to get at the very nature and the very essence of what Jesus accomplished through his death. For theologians, atonement studies are a fertile field of inquiry because the meaning and impact of the atonement are rich, complex, and paradoxical. One theory, for example, suggests that the atonement stands as the preeminent example of a sacrificial life. Other theories argue that the cross is the ultimate symbol of divine love, or that the cross demonstrates God’s divine justice against sin as the violation of his perfect law. Still other theories suggest the cross overcame the forces of sin and evil, restored God’s honor in relation to God’s holiness and righteousness, or served as a substitution for the death we all deserved because of sin.

While the nature of the atonement may include a portion of all of these theories, Jesus’s statements as recorded in John’s gospel indicate that his death would be a path to abundant life resulting in the production of much fruit. And in this case, Jesus doesn’t construct a theory of the atonement, but instead chooses an agrarian image to indicate what would be accomplished in the cross. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified… unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:23-24). Charles Spurgeon, the nineteenth century theologian and preacher, wrote that this passage of Scripture is rich with paradoxical statements describing the nature of atonement:

“[P]aradox is this—that his glory was to come to him through shame…[that] the greatest fulness of our Lord’s glory arises out of his emptying himself, and becoming obedient to death, even the death of the cross. It is his highest reputation that he made himself of no reputation. His crown derives new luster from his cross….We must never forget this, and if ever we are tempted to merge the crucified Saviour in the coming King we should feel rebuked by the fact that thus we should rob our Lord of his highest honour.”(3)

Spurgeon expands on the paradoxical nature of death bringing forth life. It is only through the cross, just as a kernel of wheat must die in order to produce a harvest, that new life in Christ and reconciliation with God are accomplished. Most powerfully, Spurgeon notes that “this teaches us where the vital point of Christianity lies, Christ’s death is the life of his teaching. See here: if Christ’s preaching had been the essential point, or if his example had been the vital point, he could have brought forth fruit and multiplied Christians by his preaching, and by his example. But he declares that, except he shall die, he shall not bring forth fruit.”(4)

We see this paradox borne out every spring. Dead bulbs ugly, brown, and buried in dark soil all winter burst from their earthen tomb green with life and bright with color. Their glory disguised in ugly packaging, and one bulb producing green leaves and flowers in abundance. So it is with Jesus’s passion and death: glory and abundance come out of sorrow, shame, death and suffering. Encased in the cross of Golgotha is a beautiful, life giving seed.

Long before the beauty of Easter morning, a tiny kernel of wheat dies; it lays buried seemingly dead underground. This is a great paradox, but one in which we can come to glory, one in which we can find our lives.

See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ere such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?(5)

Margaret Manning is a member of the writing and speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington.

(1) John 12:24.
(2) The following theories of the atonement are based upon Millard Erickson’s Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1983), 781-823.
(3) “The Corn of Wheat Dying to Bring Forth Fruit: John 12:23-25,” Charles H. Spurgeon, Farm Sermons (c 1875), from http://textweek.com, accessed April 2, 2009.
(4) Ibid.
(5) “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” written by Isaac Watts, 1707.

Morning   “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made

the righteousness of God in him.”

2 Corinthians 5:21

Mourning Christian! why weepest thou? Art thou mourning over thine own

corruptions? Look to thy perfect Lord, and remember, thou art complete in him;

thou art in God’s sight as perfect as if thou hadst never sinned; nay, more than

that, the Lord our Righteousness hath put a divine garment upon thee, so that

thou hast more than the righteousness of man–thou hast the righteousness of

God. O thou who art mourning by reason of inbred sin and depravity, remember,

none of thy sins can condemn thee. Thou hast learned to hate sin; but thou hast

learned also to know that sin is not thine–it was laid upon Christ’s head. Thy

standing is not in thyself–it is in Christ; thine acceptance is not in

thyself, but in thy Lord; thou art as much accepted of God today, with all thy

sinfulness, as thou wilt be when thou standest before his throne, free from all

corruption. O, I beseech thee, lay hold on this precious thought, perfection in

Christ! For thou art “complete in him.” With thy Saviour’s garment on, thou art

holy as the Holy one. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea

rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also

maketh intercession for us.” Christian, let thy heart rejoice, for thou art

“accepted in the beloved”–what hast thou to fear? Let thy face ever wear a

smile; live near thy Master; live in the suburbs of the Celestial City;

for soon, when thy time has come, thou shalt rise up where thy Jesus sits, and

reign at his right hand; and all this because the divine Lord “was made to be

sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in

him.”

 

Evening   “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.”

Isaiah 2:3

It is exceedingly beneficial to our souls to mount above this present evil world

to something nobler and better. The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of

riches are apt to choke everything good within us, and we grow fretful,

desponding, perhaps proud and carnal. It is well for us to cut down these thorns

and briers, for heavenly seed sown among them is not likely to yield a harvest;

and where shall we find a better sickle with which to cut them down than

communion with God and the things of the kingdom? In the valleys of Switzerland,

many of the inhabitants are deformed, and all wear a sickly appearance, for the

atmosphere is charged with miasma, and is close and stagnant; but up

yonder, on the mountain, you find a hardy race, who breathe the clear fresh air

as it blows from the virgin snows of the Alpine summits. It would be well if the

dwellers in the valley could frequently leave their abodes among the marshes and

the fever mists, and inhale the bracing element upon the hills. It is to such an

exploit of climbing that I invite you this evening. May the Spirit of God assist

us to leave the mists of fear and the fevers of anxiety, and all the ills which

gather in this valley of earth, and to ascend the mountains of anticipated joy

and blessedness. May God the Holy Spirit cut the cords that keep us here below,

and assist us to mount! We sit too often like chained

eagles fastened to the rock, only that, unlike the eagle, we begin to love our

chain, and would, perhaps, if it came really to the test, be loath to have it

snapped. May God now grant us grace, if we cannot escape from the chain as to

our flesh, yet to do so as to our spirits; and leaving the body, like a servant,

at the foot of the hill, may our soul, like Abraham, attain the top of the

mountain, there to indulge in communion with the Most High.

 

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.    Isaiah 53:6

Here a confession of sin is shared by all the elect people of God. They have all fallen, and therefore, in one voice, from the first who entered heaven to the last who shall arrive they all say, “All we like sheep have gone astray.”

This confession is not only unanimous, it is also special and particular: “We have turned every one to his own way.” All are sinful, but each individual faces his or her own peculiar sinfulness, which is not found in someone else. It is the mark of genuine repentance that while it naturally associates itself with other penitents, it also takes up a position of loneliness. “We have turned every one to his own way” is a confession that each individual had sinned against light peculiar to himself or sinned with an aggravation that he could not perceive in others.

This confession is unreserved; there is not a word to detract from its force, nor a syllable by way of excuse. This confession bids farewell to every plea of self-justification. It is the declaration of those who are consciously guilty—guilty with aggravations, guilty without excuse: they stand with their weapons of rebellion broken in pieces and cry, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.”

Yet we hear no mournful wailings attending this confession of sin; for the next sentence makes it almost a song. “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” It is the most grievous sentence of the three, but it overflows with comfort. How strange that where misery was concentrated, mercy reigned; where sorrow reached her climax, weary souls find rest. The Savior bruised is the healing of bruised hearts.

Consider how the humble confession gives way to assured confidence by simply gazing at Christ on the cross!

The family reading plan for April 3, 2012

Proverbs 21 | Colossians 4