“He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
died, and was buried.
(Part II)
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Crucified Saviour, Jesus Christ.
From the bible, we know that God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ to die as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
But surely we have our doubts.
We know that Christ had to die – but to suffer, and then die?
Why did Christ have to die so tragically and horribly as an atoning sacrifice for our sins on the Cross at Calvary?
Why did Christ have to experience the most excruciating suffering known to Man, before He surrendered His Spirit to the Father?
What does His suffering and sacrifice mean to us – as Christians? How should we live in the knowledge of Christ’s Sacrificial love?
This week, we look to the Bible – yet again - to answer these questions.
As professing Christians, we must deepen our understanding as to why Jesus Christ had to suffer and die on the Cross for the Atonement of our sins.
As disciple-making Christians, we must know why our Lord Jesus Christ had to suffer so excruciatingly for us – in our places – to satisfy the penalty of our sins.
The Doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement
To begin, we will need to understand the Doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement, and we need to begin from the reality - that because of our sins, we have outraged and trespassed on the Holiness of God.
The outcome of this trespass is that we have justifiably brought upon ourselves the Wrath of God. And therefore, instead of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should have been the ones to have been tortured, scorned, spat at, cursed, and nailed to the Cross to prolong our suffering till the moment death comes in final relief.
This is existential; mankind’s inescapable reality.
When we incur the Wrath of God, we become enemies of God.
This is not His punishment for us. This is the punishment that we deserve.
However, by the blood of Jesus Christ, we will not only be saved from God’s wrath, we will reconciled to God this very day – only if we believe that Jesus can save us through His suffering and death on the Cross.
This salvific certainty is spelt out clearly for us in Romans 5:9-11:
“Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?
Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.”
Colossians 1:20 echoes this existential truth of reconciliation through the blood of Christ;
“And through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross — through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
This reconciliation is realized in the perfect love of God which 1 John 4:10 reiterates;
“In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice (KJV uses: propitiation – an act that restores peace between parties) for our sins.”
Here is the existential reality:
We are sinners.
We have sinned against God.
The finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross restores those who are sorry for their sins, and simultaneously believe that His act is divine and sufficient propitiation for us to be restored into right and peaceful relationship with the Almighty God.
Such is God’s love for us!
God will remove His Wrath by the Sacrifice He alone provides.
For those who believe in Jesus Christ, we are declared righteous by His blood.
Through Christ alone, we are reconciled with God, and cease to be His enemies.
What is God’s Wrath? Who are candidates of His Wrath?
To understand simply; the Wrath of God is God’s fixed opposition to sin and the unrighteous.
Romans 1:18 develops our understanding that the Wrath of God is revealed as condemnation of the Unrighteous: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness”
Their sin?
Ungodliness, unrighteousness and suppression of God’s truth by unrighteouness.
Ever wondered why there are people who simply refuse to acknowledge the presence of God, or even talk about God?
The Apostle Paul calls them out as ungodly, unrighteous and suppressors of truth. They are not ‘busy’ with other things in life, or religiously ‘sensitive’; they are lost in depravity.
Paul goes on to teach us in Romans 1:28,
’And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.’
And again in Ephesians 2:3;
‘…among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…’
That; as a result of their deliberate defiance against God, God released them into depravity – in allowing them to lose their ability for self-control and to indulge in their proclivities.
Don’t be mistaken; this release into depravity is not the Wrath of God – far from it. These are merely indications of that which is to come – a foreshadow of the dreadful eternity in ‘the lake that burns with fire and sulfur’ - the second death.(Revelations 21:8)
These sinful indulgences proves further that their innate sense of morality have been abandoned – by their own choice - and they are now by nature, children of God’s wrath – choosing to defy the Creator by doing ‘what should not be done’; what God had not intended for us to do – children, by symbolism, who would one day grow up to account for their lives in full concession that they are indeed deserving of God’s Wrath.
That is why it is imperative for us to constantly seek the conviction of the Holy Spirit to reveal in our hearts the darkness imbued and inherent in our lives – for sins of commission and omission are sins alike, and for sins revealed and yet unconfessed, prods the soul into the certitude of defiance and ultimately, into unbridled depravity.
Which would we choose to be – children of wrath? Or children of God?
Surrender your heart fully to the Holy Spirit for the conviction of all sins. Leave no stone unturned, leave no sin unconfessed.
You owe that much to your Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered every minute step of the way via Dolorosa, and died for the atonement of your sins.
Suffering and death - The Biblical Reality of the Atonement
In a world where we mask widespread wickedness with our frail attempts at being ‘humane’, we have confused necessity with need.
As believers, we recognize the necessity for God’s intervention for the atonement of our sins. On our own, we - who are guilty of sin along with the rest of the world - have no answer to the problem of sin in the world and in our own lives. Somehow, deep in our consciences, we know that our sins will not go unpunished.
However, in the recognition of the necessity of God’s Salvation in our lives, we impudently spell out the framework of ‘how’ we should be saved – based on our self-serving and sinful need for a more sanitized, a more ‘humane’ form of saving.
This is wicked. And these are wicked thoughts.
To entertain that we are deserving of a more ‘humane’ form of salvation, is to entertain the idea that our sin is not as bad as what it is made out to be.
Sin is sin, and it is far, far worse that we can ever imagine it to be.
We are sinners, in need of salvation. The criminal does not spell out the terms of his punishment, the judge does.
We do not try to sanitize the sacrifice meant to atone for our sins.
We are utterly helpless to help ourselves.
As such, we must remain fearfully voiceless to the reverent reality of atonement in simply accepting that our sin has so outraged the Holiness of God, and the suffering that must precede death in the sacrifice of Atonement is divinely necessary for it accurately paints the picture of the awfulness of sin in the eyes of God.
Sin is awful, and may only be resolved with the suffering and death of an innocent life
The concept of Substitutionary Atonement is rooted in the final plague upon Egypt where the blood of an unblemished lamb painted on the doorpost of the household would guarantee the passing over of God’s judgment, which would result in the death of all the firstborn.
This is that instruction:
“I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:
Throughout the Old Testament, the Atonement sacrifice would represent God’s ‘pass-over’ or ‘covering’ of sins through the shedding of innocent blood.
He must do with the rest of the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; this is what he must do with it. So the priest will make atonement on their behalf and they will be forgiven. (Leviticus 4:20)
‘for the life of every living thing is in the blood. So I myself have assigned it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life.’ (Leviticus 17:11)
And yet, there is an inherent understanding amongst the people of God that this kind of sacrifice was just a provisional solution. Hebrews 10:4 speaks to the impermanence, inefficacy and futility of animal sacrifices, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
There was a understanding in the Old Testament paradigm of Atonement where God was ‘covering’ and ‘passing over’ sins until such time that His Chosen Messiah and Christ would one day completely fulfill the penalty of sins once for all.
John the Baptist knew this paradigm well, but more importantly, he recognized Jesus as God’s ultimate sacrifice for the Atonement of all sin.
“On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
And it is to this task of fulfilling the penalty of sins once for all, and for all Man the Christ uttered the words, “It is completed!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30)
Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God who has suffered and died to take away the sin of the world.
It is completed!
But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. (Romans 3:24-25)
Throughout the time before Jesus Christ paid the ultimate penalty for our sins, God remains immutably Holy in His embrace of His people because all the animal sacrifices pointed forward in time to the Perfect Lamb of God whom He sent for the forgiveness of our sins.
Hebrews 9:22-28 explains this in full to us.
22 Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23 So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands—the representation of the true sanctuary—but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us.
25 And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world.
But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice.
27 And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, 28 so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.
When Christ suffered and died on the Cross, His blood did not simply ‘cover’ or ‘pass-over’ our sins, HE TOOK IT AWAY!
With His suffering and death, we are forgiven by God because Christ took upon His own body the penalty of our sin (God’s wrath, and our death) and freed us from sin’s power over our lives (1 Peter 2:24).
Through the blood of Christ,
How do we know this for a fact?
“He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.” (Romans 4:25)
Christ’s Resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit gives us irrefutable evidence that God is satisfied with the suffering and death of Jesus for the atonement of our sins.
Christ’s death and resurrection remains an indelible part of human history.
What more proof do we need?
Experiencing the Atonement of Jesus Christ today.
What right have we to ask for proof?
The honest recognition of our sins is proof enough that we need a Crucified Saviour to suffer and die in our place for the Atonement of our sins.
What follows is simply appropriating and experiencing Christ’s atonement for us – in faith.
The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me.(Ref: John 6:53-63);
Brethren, through this biblical understanding of Substitutionary Atonement for our sins, it is my prayer that you would allow the Holy Spirit to convict and inspire to love a God who is so deserving of your love for Him.
Here are the key facts of this doctrine.
God remains uncompromised in His Holiness.
You are a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness.
Thus, you are in need of a Crucified Saviour.
Jesus Christ - God’s Atonement sacrifice- has died for your sins.
You are justified by your faith in the Power of the blood of Christ.
Your only requirement is believe that Jesus Christ is your Saviour.
That’s all. We are undeserving; but that is all that is needed from us – for God has removed His wrath by the Sacrifice that He alone provided.
Would you believe Christ more deeply today?
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You suffered and died on the Cross at Calvary to save me from the penalty and power of sin in my life.
I am saved by Your finished work on the Cross, and may be a part of God’s New Creation and Family through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
I acknowledge that I am a sinner in need of Christ Jesus, my Lord and Saviour.
Today, I recognize and repent from my sinful ways, and turn towards the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, Your tremendous suffering has caused me to realize the true darkness of my sins. I am so sorry for my wickedness and my past choices of living my life separated from You.
I believe that in You, I have redemption through Your blood, the forgiveness of my sins.
I have trespassed against You, my God, and for that, I am fully deserving of Your wrath. Instead, You send Your only Son, Jesus Christ, to bear my sins on Calvary’s Cross.
My God, thank You for Your forgiveness in my life through Jesus Christ, my Saviour – who took our place in excruciating suffering, crucifixion and death on the Cross.
Thank you for Your mercy and grace.
I believe that You have forgiven me, and by the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ, I am free from sin’s grip over my life.
In Christ, I am free indeed! And in Christ, I am forgiven indeed!
Teach me to walk daily with You, O Lord.
Teach me to live daily through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for revealing to me Your divine narrative for the Atonement of my sins through the blood of my Lord Jesus Christ.
May I never waver in my faith nor falter in my steps in proclaiming that my only Salvation is through Jesus Christ – my Lord and Saviour - with these resolute words,
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
Indeed, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ.
Holy Spirit, fill my life, fuel my heart and fulfill Christ’s destiny in my life.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You paid it all.
All that I am and have, I owe to You.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
died, and was buried.
(Part II)
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Crucified Saviour, Jesus Christ.
From the bible, we know that God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, Jesus Christ to die as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
But surely we have our doubts.
We know that Christ had to die – but to suffer, and then die?
Why did Christ have to die so tragically and horribly as an atoning sacrifice for our sins on the Cross at Calvary?
Why did Christ have to experience the most excruciating suffering known to Man, before He surrendered His Spirit to the Father?
What does His suffering and sacrifice mean to us – as Christians? How should we live in the knowledge of Christ’s Sacrificial love?
This week, we look to the Bible – yet again - to answer these questions.
As professing Christians, we must deepen our understanding as to why Jesus Christ had to suffer and die on the Cross for the Atonement of our sins.
As disciple-making Christians, we must know why our Lord Jesus Christ had to suffer so excruciatingly for us – in our places – to satisfy the penalty of our sins.
The Doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement
To begin, we will need to understand the Doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement, and we need to begin from the reality - that because of our sins, we have outraged and trespassed on the Holiness of God.
The outcome of this trespass is that we have justifiably brought upon ourselves the Wrath of God. And therefore, instead of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should have been the ones to have been tortured, scorned, spat at, cursed, and nailed to the Cross to prolong our suffering till the moment death comes in final relief.
This is existential; mankind’s inescapable reality.
When we incur the Wrath of God, we become enemies of God.
This is not His punishment for us. This is the punishment that we deserve.
However, by the blood of Jesus Christ, we will not only be saved from God’s wrath, we will reconciled to God this very day – only if we believe that Jesus can save us through His suffering and death on the Cross.
This salvific certainty is spelt out clearly for us in Romans 5:9-11:
“Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?
Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.”
Colossians 1:20 echoes this existential truth of reconciliation through the blood of Christ;
“And through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross — through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
This reconciliation is realized in the perfect love of God which 1 John 4:10 reiterates;
“In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice (KJV uses: propitiation – an act that restores peace between parties) for our sins.”
Here is the existential reality:
We are sinners.
We have sinned against God.
The finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross restores those who are sorry for their sins, and simultaneously believe that His act is divine and sufficient propitiation for us to be restored into right and peaceful relationship with the Almighty God.
Such is God’s love for us!
God will remove His Wrath by the Sacrifice He alone provides.
For those who believe in Jesus Christ, we are declared righteous by His blood.
Through Christ alone, we are reconciled with God, and cease to be His enemies.
What is God’s Wrath? Who are candidates of His Wrath?
To understand simply; the Wrath of God is God’s fixed opposition to sin and the unrighteous.
Romans 1:18 develops our understanding that the Wrath of God is revealed as condemnation of the Unrighteous: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness”
Their sin?
Ungodliness, unrighteousness and suppression of God’s truth by unrighteouness.
Ever wondered why there are people who simply refuse to acknowledge the presence of God, or even talk about God?
The Apostle Paul calls them out as ungodly, unrighteous and suppressors of truth. They are not ‘busy’ with other things in life, or religiously ‘sensitive’; they are lost in depravity.
Paul goes on to teach us in Romans 1:28,
’And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done.’
And again in Ephesians 2:3;
‘…among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…’
That; as a result of their deliberate defiance against God, God released them into depravity – in allowing them to lose their ability for self-control and to indulge in their proclivities.
Don’t be mistaken; this release into depravity is not the Wrath of God – far from it. These are merely indications of that which is to come – a foreshadow of the dreadful eternity in ‘the lake that burns with fire and sulfur’ - the second death.(Revelations 21:8)
These sinful indulgences proves further that their innate sense of morality have been abandoned – by their own choice - and they are now by nature, children of God’s wrath – choosing to defy the Creator by doing ‘what should not be done’; what God had not intended for us to do – children, by symbolism, who would one day grow up to account for their lives in full concession that they are indeed deserving of God’s Wrath.
That is why it is imperative for us to constantly seek the conviction of the Holy Spirit to reveal in our hearts the darkness imbued and inherent in our lives – for sins of commission and omission are sins alike, and for sins revealed and yet unconfessed, prods the soul into the certitude of defiance and ultimately, into unbridled depravity.
Which would we choose to be – children of wrath? Or children of God?
Surrender your heart fully to the Holy Spirit for the conviction of all sins. Leave no stone unturned, leave no sin unconfessed.
You owe that much to your Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered every minute step of the way via Dolorosa, and died for the atonement of your sins.
Suffering and death - The Biblical Reality of the Atonement
In a world where we mask widespread wickedness with our frail attempts at being ‘humane’, we have confused necessity with need.
As believers, we recognize the necessity for God’s intervention for the atonement of our sins. On our own, we - who are guilty of sin along with the rest of the world - have no answer to the problem of sin in the world and in our own lives. Somehow, deep in our consciences, we know that our sins will not go unpunished.
However, in the recognition of the necessity of God’s Salvation in our lives, we impudently spell out the framework of ‘how’ we should be saved – based on our self-serving and sinful need for a more sanitized, a more ‘humane’ form of saving.
This is wicked. And these are wicked thoughts.
To entertain that we are deserving of a more ‘humane’ form of salvation, is to entertain the idea that our sin is not as bad as what it is made out to be.
Sin is sin, and it is far, far worse that we can ever imagine it to be.
We are sinners, in need of salvation. The criminal does not spell out the terms of his punishment, the judge does.
We do not try to sanitize the sacrifice meant to atone for our sins.
We are utterly helpless to help ourselves.
As such, we must remain fearfully voiceless to the reverent reality of atonement in simply accepting that our sin has so outraged the Holiness of God, and the suffering that must precede death in the sacrifice of Atonement is divinely necessary for it accurately paints the picture of the awfulness of sin in the eyes of God.
Sin is awful, and may only be resolved with the suffering and death of an innocent life
The concept of Substitutionary Atonement is rooted in the final plague upon Egypt where the blood of an unblemished lamb painted on the doorpost of the household would guarantee the passing over of God’s judgment, which would result in the death of all the firstborn.
This is that instruction:
“I will pass through the land of Egypt in the same night, and I will attack all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see the blood I will pass over you, and this plague will not fall on you to destroy you when I attack the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:
Throughout the Old Testament, the Atonement sacrifice would represent God’s ‘pass-over’ or ‘covering’ of sins through the shedding of innocent blood.
He must do with the rest of the bull just as he did with the bull of the sin offering; this is what he must do with it. So the priest will make atonement on their behalf and they will be forgiven. (Leviticus 4:20)
‘for the life of every living thing is in the blood. So I myself have assigned it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life.’ (Leviticus 17:11)
And yet, there is an inherent understanding amongst the people of God that this kind of sacrifice was just a provisional solution. Hebrews 10:4 speaks to the impermanence, inefficacy and futility of animal sacrifices, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
There was a understanding in the Old Testament paradigm of Atonement where God was ‘covering’ and ‘passing over’ sins until such time that His Chosen Messiah and Christ would one day completely fulfill the penalty of sins once for all.
John the Baptist knew this paradigm well, but more importantly, he recognized Jesus as God’s ultimate sacrifice for the Atonement of all sin.
“On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
And it is to this task of fulfilling the penalty of sins once for all, and for all Man the Christ uttered the words, “It is completed!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30)
Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God who has suffered and died to take away the sin of the world.
It is completed!
But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. (Romans 3:24-25)
Throughout the time before Jesus Christ paid the ultimate penalty for our sins, God remains immutably Holy in His embrace of His people because all the animal sacrifices pointed forward in time to the Perfect Lamb of God whom He sent for the forgiveness of our sins.
Hebrews 9:22-28 explains this in full to us.
22 Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
23 So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands—the representation of the true sanctuary—but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us.
25 And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world.
But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice.
27 And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, 28 so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.
When Christ suffered and died on the Cross, His blood did not simply ‘cover’ or ‘pass-over’ our sins, HE TOOK IT AWAY!
With His suffering and death, we are forgiven by God because Christ took upon His own body the penalty of our sin (God’s wrath, and our death) and freed us from sin’s power over our lives (1 Peter 2:24).
Through the blood of Christ,
- We are saved from God’s wrath and declared righteous (Romans 5:9);
- We are sanctified (Hebrews 13:11-12);
- we are redeemed and forgiven of our trespasses (Ephesians 1:7-8);
- ‘Our lives will no longer be empty’ (1 Peter 1:18-19);
- Our consciences are purified from dead works to worship the living God (Hebrews 9:14); and
- We now have every confidence to enter in God’s Holy Presence! (Hebrews 10:19-20)
How do we know this for a fact?
“He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.” (Romans 4:25)
Christ’s Resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit gives us irrefutable evidence that God is satisfied with the suffering and death of Jesus for the atonement of our sins.
Christ’s death and resurrection remains an indelible part of human history.
What more proof do we need?
Experiencing the Atonement of Jesus Christ today.
What right have we to ask for proof?
The honest recognition of our sins is proof enough that we need a Crucified Saviour to suffer and die in our place for the Atonement of our sins.
What follows is simply appropriating and experiencing Christ’s atonement for us – in faith.
- Constantly remember Christ’s finished work on the Cross for you everytime you partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper; for
The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me.(Ref: John 6:53-63);
- Live daily in the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 3:18); and
- Walk daily with Christ (1 John 1:7) – for our fellowship with one another, and consecration is possible only through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Brethren, through this biblical understanding of Substitutionary Atonement for our sins, it is my prayer that you would allow the Holy Spirit to convict and inspire to love a God who is so deserving of your love for Him.
Here are the key facts of this doctrine.
God remains uncompromised in His Holiness.
You are a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness.
Thus, you are in need of a Crucified Saviour.
Jesus Christ - God’s Atonement sacrifice- has died for your sins.
You are justified by your faith in the Power of the blood of Christ.
Your only requirement is believe that Jesus Christ is your Saviour.
That’s all. We are undeserving; but that is all that is needed from us – for God has removed His wrath by the Sacrifice that He alone provided.
Would you believe Christ more deeply today?
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You suffered and died on the Cross at Calvary to save me from the penalty and power of sin in my life.
I am saved by Your finished work on the Cross, and may be a part of God’s New Creation and Family through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
I acknowledge that I am a sinner in need of Christ Jesus, my Lord and Saviour.
Today, I recognize and repent from my sinful ways, and turn towards the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, Your tremendous suffering has caused me to realize the true darkness of my sins. I am so sorry for my wickedness and my past choices of living my life separated from You.
I believe that in You, I have redemption through Your blood, the forgiveness of my sins.
I have trespassed against You, my God, and for that, I am fully deserving of Your wrath. Instead, You send Your only Son, Jesus Christ, to bear my sins on Calvary’s Cross.
My God, thank You for Your forgiveness in my life through Jesus Christ, my Saviour – who took our place in excruciating suffering, crucifixion and death on the Cross.
Thank you for Your mercy and grace.
I believe that You have forgiven me, and by the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ, I am free from sin’s grip over my life.
In Christ, I am free indeed! And in Christ, I am forgiven indeed!
Teach me to walk daily with You, O Lord.
Teach me to live daily through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you for revealing to me Your divine narrative for the Atonement of my sins through the blood of my Lord Jesus Christ.
May I never waver in my faith nor falter in my steps in proclaiming that my only Salvation is through Jesus Christ – my Lord and Saviour - with these resolute words,
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
Indeed, no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ.
Holy Spirit, fill my life, fuel my heart and fulfill Christ’s destiny in my life.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You paid it all.
All that I am and have, I owe to You.
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.