Christ is the gospel #2

Joel Gilbert

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His Suffering Life

Theologians define the life of Christ in terms of active obedience

and His death in terms of passive obedience.

Active obedience specifically refers to His perfect conformity to every requirement of the law of God,

whereby for His people (in His humanity) He earned life by fulfilling righteousness.

The merited righteousness of Christ is an essential factor in our justification.

Passive obedience refers to the death of Christ whereby He suffered the penalty of the broken law

in behalf of and instead of His people.

The death of Christ satisfied justice and established the grounds for the forgiveness of sin.

Keep in mind that the term passive in no way implies that Christ was inactive or simply an idle victim.

Let’s understand, that Christ was most active in His death and was highly capable of suffering throughout His life.

I am happy enough with these designations and use them regularly in my teaching about the work of Christ.

It is important to understand, however, that Christ was most active in His death and was highly capable of suffering throughout His life.

Indeed, it is the entire suffering life of Christ that constitutes a necessary aspect of His humiliation.

Christ humbled himself in his life, by subjecting himself to the law, which he perfectly fulfilled; and by conflicting with the indignities of the world, temptations of Satan, and infirmities in his flesh, whether common to the nature of man, or particularly accompanying that his low condition. (question 48)

Because of Christ’s lifelong misery, we have a Savior who is able “to sympathize with our weaknesses” ().

What a beautiful thought.

Christ prays as a man whose affections and compassions are larger to us than any of our dearest friends could be!

His heart is full of compassion because He

suffered like us,

was tempted like us, and

experienced human weakness like us.

Through suffering, the Source (or Captain) of our salvation was perfected ().

"For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God—for whom and through whom all things exist—should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” ()

This verse serves as a map of the road of glory.

“many sons and daughters” shows us where we all derive our sonship. It’s found in Christ!

“source of their salvation” We see that Christ leads His people into the salvation that He has secured.

The word “perfect” means complete and entire.

Christ’s sufferings were the means of completing the work the Father had given to Him.

Similarly, "Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. "After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,” ()

“what He suffered”. Jesus experienced true suffering.

Jesus experienced true suffering. This is what qualifies Him to be a high priest and have compassion on His people.

This is what qualifies Him to be a high priest and have compassion on His people.

There’s that word again, “perfected”, which isn’t moral perfection but the idea of maturity or the completion of a mission (2:10).

“the Source of eternal salvation” Christ has a perpetual priesthood that secures a perpetual salvation for His people.

“for all who obey Him” Obedience isn’t a prerequisite to salvation but it’s the fruit of genuine salvation.

In simple terms, Jesus earned His qualification as the Savior through real life experiences.

His humanity was real.

Throughout His life, Christ suffered in body and soul from various causes ranging from

lack of life’s goods to

living in the polluted atmosphere of a sinful world.

He suffered assaults by Satan from the

time of His birth to

His temptation in the wilderness to

the unfathomable agonies of Gethsemane.

In the midst of His sufferings, He evidenced a perfect trust in and reliance upon His Father and the Word of God.

(see, for instance, the express statement of trust in and as well as His use of Scripture in resisting temptation—, , ).

In so doing He fulfilled all righteousness in behalf of His people and

also taught by example the godly way through the sufferings and temptations of life.

Another substantial benefit accrues to us in that because "...he himself has suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.” ()

Furthermore, His being rejected by His people hurt His soul deeply,

as evidenced by His compassionate lament over Jerusalem ().

In that verse we read, "“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” ()

What a picture, a hen gathering her chicks under her wings is a picture of the tender love of Christ for sinners.

He says, “I wanted to gather”… “but you were not willing!”

God is sovereign in giving grace, but He cannot be blamed when sinners are damned!

They’re damned for the guilt of their own sins and refusal to repent (13:27).

That rejection from Luke’s account shows the marvelous precision that Isaiah foretold, as though in echo, the

With what marvelous precision did Isaiah foretell, as though in echo, the

intensity,

extent, and

substitutionary purpose

of the Savior’s suffering life:

"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn’t value him. "Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.” ()

Man of Suffering-what a name! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

His Experiencing Death

Since death is a human experience (), it was necessary for Christ to become man in order to die.

Very simply, Christ was born to die; the ultimate purpose of Christ’s incarnation was death.

Consider how the Scripture so often links the fact of the incarnation to the end and purpose of His death.

For instance, Paul says, "But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.” ()

Tasted death for everyone,

Christ had to suffer in the place of man because man failed to remain obedient and sinned.

had to suffer in the place of man because man failed to remain obedient and sinned. The word taste does not at all minimize Christ’s agony, but highlights the real contact Christ made with death. Death is now swallowed up in victory ().

The word taste does not at all minimize Christ’s agony, but

highlights the real contact Christ made with death. Death is now swallowed up in victory ().

Again the apostle declares, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (). In His voluntary, atoning, and redeeming death, Jesus reached simultaneously the depth of His humiliation and the height of His gracious love for His people. It will be in proportion to how much we can begin to fathom the depth that we will fully appreciate the height. Before considering some significant statements about the death of Christ, I think it would be good to appeal again to the statement of the Larger Catechism for a precise synopsis of how Christ humbled Himself in His death. It really is a profound summary.

Again the apostle declares, "Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the devil—” ()

n His voluntary, atoning, and redeeming death, Jesus reached simultaneously the depth of His humiliation and the height of His gracious love for His people. It will be in proportion to how much we can begin to fathom the depth that we will fully appreciate the height. Before considering some significant statements about the death of Christ, I think it would be good to appeal again to the statement of the Larger Catechism for a precise synopsis of how Christ humbled Himself in His death. It really is a profound summary.

In His voluntary, atoning, and redeeming death, Jesus reached simultaneously

the depth of His humiliation and

the height of His gracious love for His people.

It will be in proportion to how much we can begin to

fathom the depth that we will

fully appreciate the height.

Before considering some significant statements about the death of Christ,

Here’s a bit of a summary of how Christ humbled Himself in His death.

It really is a profound summary.

Christ humbled himself in his death, in that having been

betrayed by Judas,

forsaken by his disciples,

scorned and rejected by the world,

condemned by Pilate, and

tormented by his persecutors;

having also conflicted with the terrors of death, and

powers of darkness,

felt and borne the weight of God’s wrath,

he laid down his life an offering for sin,

enduring the painful, shameful, and cursed death of the cross.

Christ’s Death was Necessary

The fact of the matter is that “without the shedding of blood is no forgiveness” of sins ().

This is the bottom line: Salvation is impossible without the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

Without Christ’s death, there is no gospel—no good news for sinners.

God’s holy justice demands that the penalty of sin be paid in full, and one way or another that penalty will be paid.

God cannot let bygones be bygones when it comes to sin.

Apart from the atoning death of Jesus Christ, man is left to pay his own debt to law and justice.

Self-payment requires an eternity of death and unrelenting suffering in hell.

God, according to the reasoning of His grace, provided His

one and only Son to be the Savior, and

His being the Savior required His death.

According to the New Testament, Christ’s death was the only means by which God could be both just and the justifier.

"God presented him as an atoning sacrifice in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. "God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.” ()

It is on the cross of Jesus that “mercy and truth are met together” and “righteousness and peace have kissed each other” ().

The Scripture forthrightly declares that if salvation were possible in any other way,

then Christ died in vain—for no reason at all. "...if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” ()

Christ’s Death was Vicarious

Christ’s death was a substitutionary sacrifice.

We often speak of this aspect as the vicarious atonement.

A vicar is simply one who fulfills the duties of another as a substitute.

That Christ’s death was vicarious means that He died instead of us; He died in place of us.

By virtue of His perfect obedience, Jesus Christ was personally exempt from death—the consequence of disobedience.

Notwithstanding His right to live, Christ assumed our guilt and fulfilled our obligation to die in payment of our sins.

This amazing truth has three notable implications.

(1) It implies that the guilty party could not endure his own punishment

with the remotest hope of ever satisfying justice or

accomplishing reconciliation with the offended God.

Man’s salvation must come from a source independent of himself.

(2) It implies that the person paying the penalty had no personal debt to discharge.

Had Christ not been completely pure and holy before His death,

He would not have been able to die for others.

This is why the life of Christ is so much a vital part of the gospel.

His perfect substitutionary life made possible His vicarious death.

(3) It implies that the offender is

3) It implies that the offender is conscious of his guilt, his deplorable condition, and his desperate need, and that he recognizes that a substitute suffered and died in his place. Salvation does not require theological knowledge of all the theories of the atonement, but it does require the knowledge of and trust in the profoundly simple truth that “Jesus died for me.”

conscious of his guilt,

his deplorable condition, and

his desperate need, and that he recognizes that a substitute suffered and died in his place. Salvation does not require theological knowledge of all the theories of the atonement, but it does require the knowledge of and trust in the profoundly simple truth that “Jesus died for me.”

his desperate need, and that he

recognizes that a substitute suffered and died in his place.

Salvation does not require theological knowledge of all the theories of the atonement,

but it does require the knowledge of and trust in the profoundly simple truth that “Jesus died for me.”

Both the Old and the New Testaments are rich in the theology of substitutionary sacrifice.

The plethora of “proof-texts” verifies this as the essence of the gospel message.

For example, if we listen to Isaiah’s classic declaration, the point is pretty hard to miss.

"Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; ..."But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. "We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.” ()

Christ’s Death was Successful

Every time we meditate on the cross-work of the Lord Jesus, our hearts

ought to warm,

overflowing with gratitude and praise

for His wondrous love.

To meditate on the indescribable sufferings, tortures, and agonies that our Savior endured for us

should generate ever-increasing

love,

devotion,

dedicated service, and

confident assurance.

This kind of subjective response to Christ is good and is an intended effect of the sufferings and death of our Lord.

In fact, one of my objectives in these messages is to

encourage right thinking about Christ and His gospel

in order to direct right living for Christ.

Nevertheless, the atonement possesses an objective aspect that is vitally important, too.

By objective, I mean something outside of and independent of our subjective, personal responses:

something that is true regardless of feeling.

This is so important because when we understand what the atonement did “objectively,”

it warrants even more “subjective” confidence, joy, and praise.

There are three principal truths about the success of the death of Christ that make it a real, and not a “maybe,” gospel.

Toward God

Christ’s death was effective with God.

This Godward effect of the atonement is called propitiation (atoning sacrifice).

Propitiation refers to the satisfaction or appeasement of God’s just wrath against sin and sinners.

The death of Christ satisfied the penalty of the broken law;

the blood of Christ appeased the divine wrath against the sinner.

The blood of Christ removed every legal impediment to man’s coming to God.

This fact brings us to one of the great mysteries of the cross of Jesus Christ.

The crucifixion was at the same time the greatest display of God’s love for sinners and

the greatest display of His justice and wrath against sin.

The inflexibly holy and just God poured out His infinite wrath on His dear and only Son.

Because the Lord Jesus took for us the full brunt of God’s wrath, there is absolutely no wrath left for us.

To be in Christ is to be free from divine wrath because that wrath was appeased. (Rom. 8:1)

God is no longer angry with those reconciled by the blood of His Son.

The mystery is that the God who is justly angry at sin

is the God who lovingly gave His Son “to be the propitiation for our sins” (; ; ).

Against Sin

Christ’s death was effective regarding sin.

This sinward effect of the atonement is called expiation.

Expiation refers to the removal of sin and guilt, the forgiveness of sin.

Christ came “for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself” (), and this is exactly what He did.

John said the purpose of Christ’s coming was to “destroy the works of the devil” (; cf. ).

This in no way means that Christ offered Himself to Satan, but rather that

His death was the ultimate bruising of the serpent’s head that reversed the curse of sin ().

His sacrificial death

paid the penalty of sin; it

provided cleansing for sin; it

defeated the power of sin; it

guaranteed the final escape from the very presence of sin.

Through the blood of the Lord Jesus is “the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” ().

Little wonder that Paul exclaims, “Sin will not rule over you” ().

The old hymn answers its own question definitely. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

For Man

Christ’s death was effective for man.

My point here is simply that the gospel works.

Because the atonement satisfied God and defeated sin, it can save man.

The emphasis of Scripture is on the redemption and deliverance every believer enjoys through Christ (see ; ; ; ; ).

Believers are delivered from every curse of sin and threat of the law.

Believers are assured access to God—now only spiritually, but someday completely.

The death of Christ is the basis for every benefit that we enjoy in salvation:

union with Christ,

justification,

adoption,

sanctification,

assurance of divine love,

peace,

joy,

perseverance,

eternal security,

hope of certain resurrection,

eternal glorification, and

whatever else God has promised and Christ has guaranteed.

"For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in him....” ()

The more we learn to relate every aspect of our salvation to the precious blood Christ shed for us, the more we will know and enjoy the certainty of our salvation.

The more we learn to relate every aspect of our salvation to the precious blood Christ shed for us,

the more we will know and enjoy the certainty of our salvation.

Ironically, although the death of Christ successfully accomplished its eternal design,

it appeared from every human perspective to mark failure.

In one last humiliating gesture, the limp and lifeless body of Jesus was

removed from the cross,

wrapped with the spices of death, and

placed in a damp, dark grave.

The passive entrance of Christ to the tomb seemed to score another victory for death and the grave.

Christ’s being held by death seemed to end any gospel hope flowing from Him.

Paradoxically, what appeared to be a place of defeat—where death kept its spoil—

became the place where triumph was first revealed.

He entered the tomb dead in apparent defeat;

He exited the tomb alive in unmistakable triumph. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (; see ).