The God who came to Save

Introduction

We have come to remember the death of Christ on the Cross....

Yesterday I was thinking that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem. Then in the evening He was in the upper room, washing the disciples feet, exposing Judas for the traitor He was, and then heading to the Garden.

In the Garden He prays for 3 hours in great struggle. Then He is taken by the mob, has six short trails, and is finally condemned to die.

He has now been forced to Golgotha, crucified and set upon the hill. This is why we are here. To remember His suffering under God’s wrath on that hill.

But it didn’t start here.

It starts even before the foundation were laid for this world.

Ephesians 1:3–4 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,”

God, before creation began decided to create man and that man would have the ability to chose to sin.

He did this knowing that man would sin, and that they would then need someone to save them.

All this was according to His plan, for the sake of His glory. He wanted to show the excellence of His power to save, the depths of His mercy and how low it could reach, and the heights of His glory was able to take a soul too. He wanted to glorify His name, to make it know. To do that he had to create the people He would tell and eventually need to save.

So God created a perfect world, with man made in His very own image. A position of greatness and authority.

But man did not stay in this position of greatness.

He questioned God, doubted His goodness and wisdom and disobey His plan. He ate of the only forbidden thing in the garden that God had prepared for Him.

As he entered into a state of rebellion against God, defiling himself, he fell and became deserving of death.

Yet God was still in control. This hadn’t taken Him by surprise. He came and sought out Adam and Eve.

Knowing their sin, knowing their heart, knowing all that would be needed to save them, He came to seek after them, to restore them.

From here out, we have two themes that will echo in the scriptures. The first is the need for an atonement, the second is the guarantee of victory.

When God found Adam and Eve they were hiding as they were naked and ashamed.

God then slew an animal and made cloaks of skin to cover them. Here is the first hint of the need for an atonement.

Death was required for this grievous sin, yet God allowed an innocent animal to die and covered the nakedness of the couple.

This would be a foreshadow for all the millions of Sacrifices that would be offered to God over the next 6000 years. Millions of animals slain with their blood poured out to God.

Symbolizing their need of a sacrifice, and the inability of an animal to really cover sin.

The second them that we have is the them of the victory we have in Christ.

God would curse the serpent for his part in this.

But would also in Gen 3:15 He gives the first promise of the coming victory over sin and satan.

Genesis 3:15 “15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.””

The woman would have a singular seed who would crush satans head. Here is the hope of the ages.

Old Testament Examples

Abraham who is given the theme of victory as He is promised that out of His line will come the promised Seed and the this seed will be a blessing to every nation.

David is also told that it will be from His line and that this seed will now rule as a King for eternity.

Isaiah tells us of the Suffering Servant who is to come and returns to the need of an atonement.

This brings us to the New Testament.

Jesus

Matthew 1:21 “21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.””

John 1:29 “29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Mark 2:17 “17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.””

John 12:46–48 “46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. 47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”

John 15:13 “13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

The Cross

Luke only includes 3 of the saying of Christ.

Father forgive them.

Luke 23:34 “34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.”

The Love of God for sinners is here on Public display.

He would cry for Jerusalem, and their coming loss.

And He would pray in His love for the very ones who Killed Him.

Here is the Mercy, the Justice, and the Love of God on display for the lowest.

Those that lied and deliveered Him up… Father Forgive them...

Those that plucked out His beard and spit on Him....

Those that drove the nails into His hands and feet…

Maybe it was this very love, this very offer of Mercy that God might have used to open a sinful theifs eyes.

Luke 23:43 “43 And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.””

One thief on the cross was saved, that none should despair, and only one, that none should presume.

J. C. Ryle

Will we seek After this God who has shown us such great Love and Mercy? The King of Heaven, offered himself to God on our behalf and prayed for those who crucified Him.

Isaiah 53:4–8 4. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6. 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. 7. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. 8. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. (NKJV)