"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." -- Romans 1:16

NOTES AND QUOTES FOR TODAY:

The Necessity of The Cross of Christ

Calvary is  the Central Place in the Bible -For all the Truth of the Bible Converge upon it!

And when thy were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the Malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.” Luke 23:33

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me, this He said signifying what death He should die.” John 12:32-33

The cross represent the defining moment in history when creator God is reconciled to mankind.There have been literally libraries of books written concerning the necessity of the Cross of Christ and its implications for us, filled with theological languages and philosophical discussions; human speculations, and attempts to explain the deep and unfathomable mysteries of God.

Is the death of Christ really a necessity in God’s plan of salvation? If it is, why? We might also ask, “Could God’s love have been expressed in some other way than this incalculably costly way of the Cross?”   Multitudes entering into dialogue on this issue that caused them anxiety, ask, “couldn’t God have saved men by a mere fiat –Let men be saved” – just as He had created the world with “Let there be light.”? Why couldn’t a merciful God grant forgiveness of sins freely, without insisting on an atonement? 

Some go to the extent pondering, “ if salvation demand a mediator, why did God choose His only Son as a Mediator instead of some other intelligent being?” In other words, God could have found some other way to save men.  Throughout the centuries men have tried to expound the reason for efficacious offering of the Son of God.

  • There is the Anselmic theory – that the atonement honored God’s sense of justice and righteousness.

  • There is also Socinian theory – that the death of Christ was an example, a paragon that he died as a martyr dies or a hero dies. 

And still many theologians put forward their theory of atonement that denies the necessity of the cross and punishment for sin. Some insist that since God is love, He is automatically going to forgive sinners without any payment for sin. They argue that, the mere demonstration of this incarnate love in Christ is sufficient to awaken a response of on the part of the sinner without Him going all the way to the Cross.     Then we have the Reformers that gave a sharper biblical clarity to the certain aspects of the doctrine of atonement.    One such a reformer by the name John Calvin, while sternly warning his readers against any speculative notions said, “… now it is of greatest importance for us, that if Christ was to be our Mediator, He must be both true God and true man. This has stemmed from a heavenly decree on which man’s salvation depend. Our most merciful Father decreed what is best for us.”

There is a mystery in the death of Christ that mind cannot enter. A mystery in which only a mind that could equal the mind of God could ever be commensurate. But there are somethings that a rational human being can see and sense and understand. We can see what God is like, what God does, and how God does it, but no man can explain anything! So the marvelous mystery -inexplicable, unfathomable, indescribable- the atoning grace of God is beyond what the human mind encompass.

He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripe we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.” Isaiah 53:5-6

The question we need to ask would be, “How does the atonement of Christ affect me?” What has God done that I can understand, feel, experience and to which I can respond in my heart?”    Now, turning to the Scripture, a clear and all pervasive testimony is given to the absolute necessity of the Cross of Christ. 

The Moral Law:

These is a universal law which all humanity share – the Moral Law. The phrase, “God created man in His image,” does not refer as such to man’s intellectual capacities. There are many animals that are shewed and intelligent to certain extent. This image of God in man refers to his moral sensitivity. Besides the angelic beings, man is the only one who possesses that image of God. After the fall of man in the garden of Eden, the entire human race of all generation  has felt that moral lack – the condemnation of sin and transgression, the burden of guilt. Ever since Adam disobeyed commands of God man in his entirety  has been plunged in to sin, and ruin, and degradation, and death! The sense of moral lack and depravity is universal. The human race is fallen and is being plunged in to the depth of darkness and abyss! And that all the generations have felt in their souls that sense of guilt and condemnation because of their sins. That is the moral sensitivity!

We read in Genesis 3:7 we read, “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God, amongst the trees of the garden.”     Adam and Eve in their transgression, sewed fig leaves together and made aprons to cover their nakedness. When they heard the voice of the Lord God , they hid themselves and were afraid. They were ashamed because they were naked. Having done all they knew to do to hide their sin, nakedness, and shame they were still vulnerable and afraid.

The Law of Redemption:

This is another universal law. It is the law of repurchase and ransom. We read in the book of Leviticus 25, that if the possessions of a poor man were taken away from him, the law of redemption or ransom says that, “a kinsman could buy back his poor brother’s loss.”  In the same chapter we read that if the poor man sold himself into slavery, a kinsman could buy him back and redeem him. Any slave could be bought back, redeemed and freed in an exchange of money. Yes, the law of redemption or ransom is universal.    That’s why our Lord said, in Matthew 20:28 , “ Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

The Apostle Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit penned the following;   What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost…. which ye have of God, and not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s.” 1st Corinthians 6:19-20

Now, the word “atonement” originally meant an exchange – as an exchange of money. It describes an exchange of enmity for friendship or hatred for peace. So it came to be reconciliation. This describes what Christ has done for us. He bought us. He redeemed us. He paid the ransom for us.    for if where we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” Romans 5:10

And we read in 2nd Corinthians 5: 18- 20; “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 

The Law of Substitution:

This is another universal law: Vicarious suffering, substitution: a life for a life – which is a common concept in everyday life. A good example of this in the Scripture will be Abraham and his Son Isaac on mount Moriah, where Abraham built an altar and laid his son upon it. When he raised the dagger, to plunge into the heart of his son Isaac, a voice called from heaven and the angle of the Lord stayed the knife, and pointed Abraham to a ram caught in a ticket. And Abraham offered the ram as a substitute for his son Isaac.

Without fail the Scripture has borne witness to that glorious saving grace, the efficacious substitution that we know in Christ. We read in the gospel of John 1:29,   Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29    Also in the first Epistle of John 2:2  we read, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1st John 2:2 The apostle Peter by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote these words,   who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes that we are healed.” 1st Peter 2:23-24

This was the great fact of the gospel and the unequaled proclamation of the love of God in Christ Jesus. He took our place. He died in our stead. He was punished for our sins, that we might be received as righteous before God through His vicarious substitution.    The cross was part of God’s plan because it was the only way to save human beings from their sins. God couldn’t simply overlook our sins. To do that might have been loving, but it would not have been holy. Justice would not have been served. Jesus Christ, God in flesh, laid down His life as the sacrificial lamb, taking the punishment we deserve upon Himself, atoning for our sins, and setting us free from the enslavement of sin and ultimate death.

The holiness and the justice of God Himself make the atonement by the Son an absolute necessity! Sin must be punished, but who can pay a sin debt vaster than the whole universe? Only God! Yet man is the one who ought to pay the penalty. The conclusion is inevitable – it is an absolute necessity, that God must become man.

 

Calvary was the place where God manifested both His Patience and His Love to mankind!!

From The Staff of The Peoples Gospel Hour

 

 
 

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The Bible reveals two ways which people are following to get into heaven. One way, the true way, is God’s way. God’s way into heaven is the way of peace and truth and righteousness. It is the only way approved of God. This way centers in the Lord Jesus Christ who said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). The Bible declares that there is another way. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:12).

There are so many popular ways today filled with lost multitudes all over the land, such as the way of morality, the way of respectability, the way of religion, the way of churchianity, the way of baptism, the way of christening, the way of confirmation, the way of penance, the way of confession, the way of “doing the best I can”, the way of self, the way of education, the way of philosophy, the way of false isms and cults that crowd the street. Little wonder then when we speak to people about the way of salvation, that so many have asked, “How can I know which is the true way? There are so many different ideas and so many religions.”

But there is ONE difference between God’s way of salvation and man’s way, and that difference is found in a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. You will notice that man leaves Christ out of the center of his way. You will discover that the modern false cults and isms demote Christ to a mere man and add something to what He has already done for your salvation and mine. We become children of God through a supernatural birth. Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Jesus also said, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:7)

“May the Lord bless you, and make you a blessing!”  – The PGH Staff.

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The People's Gospel Hour - TPGH