Summer in the Systematics – Christology (Part 8): The Death of Christ

Transcript

JRS 48
8/11/2024
The Death of Christ
Selected Scriptures
Jesse Randolph

Alright everybody. Welcome back, please find your seat. Class is almost in session. Welcome back to installment number 8. As Pastor Mike mentioned. Summer in the Systematics. We have 2 to go after tonight. So tonight is the death of Christ. We’ve worked through The Preexistence of Christ. The Deity of Christ. The Humanity of Christ. The Natures of Christ. The Incarnation of Christ. The Life of Christ. Last week was The Obedience of Christ. Tonight is the death of Christ. And then in the next 2 weeks we’re going to be covering the Resurrection of Christ and then the last session will be the Return of Christ in one hour. So pray for me.

Well tonight is The Death of Christ. That’s our topic for tonight and what rich songs already we were able to sing that remind us of these great timeless truths of what the death of our Lord at Calvary accomplished. To get us started, I’m going to run up some quotes here of some theologians who really just highlight for us nicely the centrality of the death of Jesus Christ. Not only to the discipline of systematic theology but really to all of life as His followers. Henry Clarence Thiessen notes. “Contrary to the facts in the case of ordinary men, the death of Christ rather than the earthly life of Christ is of supreme importance.” Bruce Demarest notes that “The Cross was more than a tragic failure at the end of a successful career. It was the focal point of our Lord’s earthly life. Everything else pointed to it.” And again here’s Thiessen. He notes “Other religions base their claim to recognition on the teaching of their founders; Christianity is distinguished from all of them by the importance it assigns to the death of its founder. Take away the death of Christ as interpreted by the Scriptures, and you reduce Christianity to the level of the ethnic religions. Though we would still have a higher system of ethics, were we to take away the cross of Christ, we would have no more salvation than these other religions.”

And when it comes to the central role the cross of Christ the death of Christ, and how it plays that central role in the Christian faith and the Christian life, these men are absolutely right. We just consider the biblical evidence of how much prominence is given to death of Christ in the New Testament gospels. Something like 33% of Matthew’s Gospel is devoted to the final days leading up to the death of Christ. 37% of Mark’s Gospel is dedicated to that same aspect of His life and His death. 25% of Luke’s Gospel covers that territory. And 42% of John’s Gospel is focused on the death of Christ. All the events leading up to the death of Christ. So the Cross of Christ, the death of Christ is absolutely central to any study of Christian theology. Of sound doctrine. Which is why we would give a hearty “amen” to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:2. “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

Now, we have five points to cover this evening as we work through this massive topic of the death of Christ. And bear with me please. I didn’t know what fit into one hour on the death of Christ so I got the core topics. Surely I’ll miss something that you think I should have covered. We can always talk about after the service or set up a meeting with me later this week or next. But we will try to get through the massive topic of the death of Christ in an hour. And like I said we have 5 points. In fact I think we have handouts now if you haven’t received one, I believe they’re in the back. I think that’s right. So I think you have those. But what you are going to see from the worksheets that our points this evening are relatively imbalanced. Meaning, we’re going to have 4 points in the front end that we’re going to go through relatively quickly and then one longer point that we’re going to spend most of our time on in the second half of the message.

So with that we’ll get right into our first point and the first blank on your worksheet there which is THE PREREQUISITE OF CHRIST’S DEATH. THE PREREQUISITE OF CHRIST’S DEATH. Under this heading, we are looking to answer a very basic, yet profound question which is this. Why did Jesus Christ have to die? Why did He have to die? There are two real basic answers to that question. And really two reasons to express here. First, is the character of God. Specifically God’s holiness. His moral perfection and His separation from all that is impure and unholy. And also, God’s justice. Meaning, the perfect manner in which He brings about that which is right in accordance with his perfect and holy standards. So, the character of God factors into why Christ had to die. Second, is the sinfulness of man. The entrance of sin into the world through the original sin of Adam brought in this sinful nature in all of humanity. We see this in Romans chapter 5. And the result is that every human being. Every image-bearer, since Adam, that is, with one exception, the Lord Himself, has inherited Adam’s sin nature. So we are by nature hostile to God and were estranged from Him. Romans 8:7 says “the mind set on the flesh is at enmity toward God.” Spiritually, we are dead to God. Ephesians 2:1. “And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

We are in our natural condition enemies of God. Colossians 1:21 speaks of the natural man. “you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and doing evil deeds.” (I think that should say) So why did Jesus have to die? Well, since on account of His holiness and His justice, God certainly can’t turn a blind eye to sin. And not only that, He couldn’t pardon sin merely on the grounds of the sinner’s repentance. A holy and a righteous God couldn’t accept a sinner works based repentance what otherwise would be called in Isaiah 59:2 “filthy rags.” Rather God, on account of His holiness and on account of His justice, could only pardon an unholy and unrighteous sinner when a penalty had first been paid. So there was only one way that our sin debt. A debt so great. A debt we unquestionably owed, could be pardoned while not minimizing or mitigating God’s perfect and righteous and holy standards. And that was be if our sin was laid on the shoulders of someone else. A substitute. But not just any substitute. Rather, a perfect substitute. Only through a perfect substitute could God pardon sinners while remaining perfectly holy and righteous and just at the same time.

And that substitute, of course, was Jesus Christ. Christ paid the sinner’s penalty. The Son of Man was lifted up on a cross to die. John 3. This is Jesus Himself speaking. It says “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” Luke 24:7. He says “the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” That’s Jesus’ own witness to what would have to happen. And the result is for we who have believed upon what He did on the cross. We’ve been “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, (more on that later) for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.” So yes. Romans 3:23. “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That speaks to man’s sin and his contribution to Christ’s death. But we can’t forget what Paul says just a few verses later, in Romans 3:26, where He speaks of God demonstrating “His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

So those are some very basic biblical truths about the prerequisites to Christ’s death. Namely, that it was brought about by our sin. And it was brought about by God’s perfect holiness and His perfect justice. But theologians, because they are theologians, like to debate things. And they like to debate a lot of the “why” as opposed to the “what.” They’ll debate the why behind what is propositionally declared in Scripture as the what. And that’s true of a number of different topics in Christian theology. Including the subject of the death of Christ. And the question that will often get raised among Christian theologians is not so much, “Is Jesus the only way”? Unless they’re just a totally off the rails liberal theologian, but rather, “Could God have selected different way”? As in, “Was Jesus’ death on the cross the only way God could have saved us?”

Now, we can come at that question from a number of different angles. You can come at it from the biblical angle or the more philosophical theological angle. But the answer in either case is yes. It had to be this way. The death of Christ specifically His death on the cross, was necessary. The biblical reason is a pretty simple one. We recall that the Scriptures of the Old Testament foretold this very event. And because the Old Testament Scriptures come from God, 2 Timothy 3:16, the Scriptures had to be fulfilled. So as a simple matter of required prophetic fulfillment, Jesus had to die and He to die the way He did.

And here are a few quotes on that from the Gospel accounts. That’s not just me spitballing. These are the words of Jesus Himself that speak to the Son of God needing to die in this specific way, as a matter of Scriptural fulfillment. He says in Matthew 26. “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? Therefore, how will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” Or Mark 8:31. “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Or Luke 24 says “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” So these are the some of the biblical reasons. Just a matter of Old Testament fulfillment as to why Jesus had to die the way He did.

But there’s also a theological reason. Maybe a more logical or more philosophical reason if you want put it that way. As to why Jesus had to die the way He did on the cross. Here’s a quote from Paige Patterson. He says “Add to these [meaning the biblical arguments] the intriguing scene in Gethsemane in which Jesus cries to his Father for deliverance from the agony of making atonement. What kind of Father does it make of God if he insists that the Son endure the cross when there remained some other option available to the Father through which he could save men? God will have difficulty avoiding the charge of being a ‘cosmic sadist’ if he failed to exercise other options to save men, while choosing instead to allow his beloved Son to be crucified.” Indeed. The question of whether Christ’s death on the cross and specifically on the cross, was necessary really does in a sense come down to the character of God. Because God is a good Father. He wasn’t hiding other options behind His back from the Son. Rather, He appointed and He decreed one way and presented that one way to the Son.

Alright so we have seen that the death of Christ was necessary. It was made necessary by our sin and God’s character, His holiness and His justice. Next, we’re going to see that the death of Christ was predicted. And that’s the second point on your worksheet. THE PREDICTIONS OF CHRIST’S DEATH. Now simply for the sake of time we will not have time to go exhaustively into this subject tonight. Entire thick books have been written on this subject. And courses have been taught on this subject of the various ways in which the Old Testament Scriptures pointed not only to the birth of Christ, but to the death of Christ. What I’m going to do here this evening is simply point out that there are really two types of Old Testament revelation, Old Testament Scripture, which highlight or point to the death of Christ.

First, there are those Scriptures that more indirectly point to the death of Christ. Those would be ones that some will call shadows or pictures or types. Those sort of texts. These are those Old Testament Scriptures or depictions of sacrifices being made by the Israelites which many will say point to the sacrifice of Christ. We think of the ram on Mount Moriah in Genesis 22. We think of the Passover lamb in Exodus 12. Or the entire system of Levitical sacrifices in Leviticus 1-7. Those are just a few examples of some of the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings which in some sense pointed to the better sacrifice, the better offering made by Jesus Christ.

The second category would be those direct Old Testament prophecies related to the death of Christ. And again, there are so many places we could go with this. For the sake of time, I’ll just mention a few. For instance, there are Old Testament prophecies concerning the betrayal of Christ before His death. Psalm 41:9. “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” And that’s a prophecy of course, that would be fulfilled through Judas’ betrayal of Jesus as we see here in John 13:18. Zachariah foretells the selling of Christ, the betrayal of Christ for 30 pieced of silver here in Zechariah 11:12. “And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages.” That’s fulfilled here in Matthew 27. “Then that which was spoken be through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, “AND THEY TOOK THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER, THE PRICE OF THE ONE WHOSE PRICE HAD BEEN SET by the sons of Israel.” Obviously I gave you the Jeremiah quote, I meant to give you the Zacheriah quote there. I’m always moving too fast this afternoon.

There are also other prophecies concerning what Christ experienced in His anguish upon the cross. Psalm 22:1. “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Which is fulfilled in Matthew 15 and other gospels. “At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?’ which is translated, ‘MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?’” Or these familiar passages. Isaiah 53:5. “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.” Psalm 22. “For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. I count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” Both of those Old Testament prophecies, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, are fulfilled in places like this. John 19 where “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” Again, for the sake of time, we can’t go through every Old Testament prophecy which foretold the death of Christ at Calvary. These are just a select few. But I do appreciate the summary statement of the various Old Testament predictions of Christ’s death from Henry Clarence Thiessen again. Who says “We can trace a scarlet cord through the whole Bible.” That’s true.

So we’ve dipped our toe in the water on some basic truths related to the prerequisite to Christ’s death. Our sin and God’s holiness. We’ve just looked at a handful of predictions related to Christ’s death. Next we’re going to look and this is your third heading. At THE PATH TO CHRIST’S DEATH. That’s the third heading on your worksheet this evening. Our Lord went down a specific path leading up to His crucifixion and His death. We could go way way back but let’s just, for argument sake, put it at the triumphal entry, that entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Interestingly pastor Aaron and I had a podcast recording this week with a professor who takes a Palm Monday interpretation so tune in for that one later. He thinks Palm Sunday was actually Monday. But we can tackle that one some other time.

But anyway He goes through His triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. When as John 12 records. The crowds were taking “the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, ‘Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel’.” So He had the triumphal entry. This is part of the path leading up to His death. Then there was betrayal. Acts 1. “Men, brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.” Judas of course, betrayed Him. And He went through great suffering our Lord did. He went through great agony culminating in his encounter with a Roman torture device known as a cross. And the cross was an agonizing experience. It involved, ripped flesh and infected wounds and torn muscles and swollen tissue. It involved depending on the time of year, the sun’s heat beating down, and the cold of night. Insects biting and potentially animals attacking. It was a horrific experience.

But not only was crucifixion exceedingly painful, it was considered to be the most shameful of punishments under Roman Law. It was only for those criminals who were considered the lowest of the low. In fact Roman law forbade the crucifixion of Roman citizens. It was only for the true worst. But it wasn’t just Roman Law who or which found crucifixion to be shameful. The Law of Israel regarded anyone who had been crucified, hung on a tree, cursed of God. Deuteronomy 21. “And if a man has committed a sin, the judgment of which is death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (because cursed of God is he who is hanged), so that you do not make unclean your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance.”

And of course this idea of cursed is the one who hangs in a tree, is picked up by Paul in Galatians 3 when he says “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE” in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” And this by the way, is why later Jews, like Paul, when they got saved and they started preaching on Jesus and preaching on the crucifixion, that message of a crucifixion was a stumbling block when they took that gospel message back to their countrymen. That’s why he would say things like this in 1 Corinthians 1:23. “we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.” Or a few verses before that. “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.”

Now in terms of what the Scriptures reveal about what Jesus experienced on the cross. We know from the biblical revelation that He was on that cross for three agonizing hours. The three hours of darkness that are recorded here in Matthew 27. “From the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.” And in those three hours of agony, He was mocked as was prophesied in Psalm 22. “All who see me mock me; they smack their lip, they wag their head, saying, ‘Commit yourself to Yahweh; let Him rescue him; let Him deliver him, because He delights in him.’” He was the object of scornful glares. Psalm 22:17. “I count all my bones. They look, they stare at me.” He looked to the God who had sent Him on this mission to save. “But You, O Yahweh, be not far off; O my Strength, hasten to my help. Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the mouth of the lion; from the horns of the wild oxen. You have answered me.” And, ultimately, He bore the full measure and weight of God’s wrath on our behalf. “All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him and Yahweh was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief ” And we can’t lose sight of the fact that He did all this, our Lord did this, Jesus did all this, on account of our sin.

1 Peter 2:24. “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that having died to sin, we might live to righteousness; by His WOUNDS YOU WERE HEALED.” And though He had no sin He was made to be sin as our perfect and spotless substitute. The unblemished Lamb who takes away the sin of the world so that we might be made righteous before God in Him. That’s what we see in 2 Corinthians 5:21. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” And last just want to note one more thing that in addition to the physical pain. Note the gut-wrenching feelings of abandonment that Jesus experienced vis-à-vis God His Father. When He said “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?” Which again was in fulfillment of Psalm 22.

So that was our third point. The path to Christ’ death. Meaning, what the Scriptures reveal about the various events leading up to our Lord’s last breath. Now, for point 4, we’re going into THE PROOFS OF CHRIST’S DEATH. And I just want to say editorial comment here. I know that this kind of feel, I even said this morning, you know, church isn’t a seminary classroom. I said that in the right context. Tonight it is kind of like a seminary classroom and I just want us to not lose sight of the glorious revelation we’ve been given of what Christ did but also the glorious salvation that all this did for us. So I know it’s coming of like data that I’m just rattling off. But these are the eternal truths that translate us from death to life and darkness to life. So lets hold onto that truth that these are amazing facts and details that really cement and secure our eternal hope okay? This is not just seminary class. This is church in a very organized fashion. Fair enough? Alright.

So THE PROOFS OF CHRIST’S DEATH. Number 4. After bearing the full measure of God’s full fury and wrath on the cross. After exhausting God’s wrath against our sin. After facing divine judgment for our sin. Our Savior’s work on the cross was done. He died in His flesh. In His humanity. That’s why Peter says in 1 Peter 3:18. He was “put to death in the flesh.” In fact here’s how Jesus’ death is recorded in Luke’s Gospel, in Luke 23. “Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.’ Having said this, He breathed His last.” He died. But note, He died only after He cried out triumphantly, “It is finished!” I’ve only given you a few verses here. There are many more to look through and talk about. But what they reveal and make abundantly clear is that Jesus died. He truly died. He didn’t “swoon” or “faint” as we’ll look at next week when we get to the resurrection. He died. He drank down the wrath of God to the very last drop and died.

One more set of Scriptures we should consult as we look at these proofs of Jesus’ death are considering who was ultimately responsible for His death. Who was responsible for the Lord’s death. On the one hand, we know there was a human element as we see in this series of passages. “From that day on they planned together to kill Him.” Acts 3. “You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Author of life.” It’s a second person statement. You did it. Acts 5. “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you put to death by hanging Him on a tree.” Acts 10. “And we are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree.” Acts 13. “And though they found no ground for death, they asked Pilate that He be executed.” So the Scriptures do witness to the fact that others put Him to death. But the Scriptures also testify to there being this divine element to Jesus’ death. Look at Acts 2:23. “this Man, (speaking of Jesus) delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, (that’s divine responsibility there, and then the human side) you nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death.” Or consider these words from Jesus Himself. “I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself, I lay it down. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”

Alright we are through 4 points. We’ve been moving fast. With the rest of our time this evening though we’re going to fill up that back side of your worksheet with our fifth point here. Which is the THE PURPOSES OF CHRIST’S DEATH. The Purposes of Christ’s Death. Now, this one, these are all massive topics, but this is a massive topic because it intersects with various different subdisciplines of Systematic theology including Soteriology. The doctrine of salvation. And I’m not going to go deep onto the Soteriological side tonight. But I’m going to take us through the basics as we look here at THE PURPOSES OF CHRIST’S DEATH. We’re going to start by looking at some inadequate views of the significance of Christ’s death. And then we’ll look at what the Bible actually teaches about THE PURPOSES OF CHRIST’S DEATH.

We’ll start now the inadequate views. The wrong views. The false views of the purposes of Christ’s death. The first one we’ll cover is what’s called The Accident Theory. This view sees there being no significance attached to the death of Christ. This would be the purely humanistic atheistic viewpoint which views Jesus, if He even existed they would say, as a mere man. And, as a mere man, he was subject to death, just like anyone else. Maybe it was natural causes. Maybe it was just an accident. Who knows. According to this view, it’s unfortunate that Jesus, this good man, this good moral teacher was killed. But His death had no meaning beyond that. It was sort of like the death of anybody else. Of course that view, openly denies and refutes Scriptures like what we just looked at. Acts 2:23. “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, (was nailed to a cross)” That doesn’t sound random or accidental to me! Here’s another one. The Martyr Theory. In some circles, this is called The Example Theory. This holds the view as you can see here, that Christ’s death was that of a martyr. Meaning, He was killed because he was faithful to the cause. He was faithful to the principles that He held dearly which makes Him an example of courageous fidelity.

But ultimately, what this view does is it leaves the unbeliever with the impression that what they need most is simply to following the courageous example of Christ in pursuing their own chosen cause which is very much like the nonsensical “find your truth” movement of today. But in reality, what does the unbeliever needs most? They need repentance. They need faith. They need a regenerated heart. They need reconciliation to God. Yes indeed Christ was an example. But He’s not some sort of generic example to the world like the Martyr Theory would say. Rather, He’s an example to believers, to those who have put their faith in Him. He says, Jesus does in Matthew 11 to believers in that context. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” Or 1 Peter 2:21. “Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example (He’s talking to believers there) that you should follow in His steps.” Or 1 John 2:6. “the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” But for the unbeliever, Christ’s perfect example is certainly not sufficient to save.

Next is The Moral Influence Theory also called the “love of God” theory. This view holds that the love of God which was manifested in the incarnation and later in the sufferings and death of Christ. Was all for the purpose of softening human hearts and eventually to lead unbelievers to repentance and faith. In this view of Christ’s death, it has nothing to do with God’s divine justice being satisfied. Rather the death of Christ is all about this expression of divine love.

And that is just an inadequate view of Christ’s death. Well it is certainly true that His death was an expression of God’s love. John 3:16 right here. Or Romans 5:8. “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The Bible also plainly teaches that propitiation or the satisfaction of God’s divine justice and wrath had to happen at the cross as well. We’ve been “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.” Or Hebrews 2:17. “He had to be made like His brothers in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” One more. “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” In other words, while there certainly was a demonstration of God’s love at Calvary. The wrath of God was also on display at the Cross. Where Christ absorbed the wrath of God. And made propitiation, more on that term later, for our sins.

So those are some alternate explanations for the death of Christ. And as I’ve hopefully articulated here, they are partial explanations, inadequate explanations, and flawed and wrong explanations. That being so then what was the true meaning of Christ’s death? We don’t want to learn just about the errors here. We’re here to receive truth! Well, The Death of Christ Was Deliberate. That’s one undergirding principle related to the biblical witness about the death of Christ. The death of Christ was Deliberate. We’ve alluded to this already, but Jesus deliberately laid down His life in obedience to the Father. Having borne the wrath of God against our sins on His shoulders. On His back. On His head. He voluntarily and decisively laid down His physical life. No one took it from Him. And though His enemies were charged with murder, as was their intention. I’ve already given you these 2 passages. Acts 3 and Acts 5. He laid down His life by way of His own authority and in obedience to God the Father. Again John 10. “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one takes it away from Me, but from Myself, I lay it down. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” He also yielded up His own human spirit. “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.” It says in Matthew 20:27. So even His very last breath on earth was under His own divine sovereign control.

And with that last breath. And with those last words, John 19:30 when He said “It is finished” He was declaring victory over Satan. “Through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” He was declaring victory over hell. Revelation 1. “I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” And He was declaring victory over sin and death. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57. “Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Or Romans 8. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” He broke their power forever. They could not hold Him. They could not even hold His followers anymore for those who had trusted in Him for salvation.

So, the death of Christ was deliberate. It was foreordained, controlled by Jesus Himself. Next we’re going to see that The Death of Christ Was Substitutionary. Meaning, it was on behalf of others. Jesus didn’t die for His own sin because He had none. He said in John 8:46. “Which one of you convicts Me of sin?” Hebrews 4 we see we “do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin.” 1 Peter 2 says “For to this you have been called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps, WHO DID NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH.” So He didn’t sin but the Scriptures testify repeatedly that He died for the sins of others.

We had racked up a debt of sin. A mountain of sin, in the eyes of a just and holy God. And because God, because He is just and holy, He had to punish that sin. Punishment was deserved and punishment was needed. So how could this holy and just God deal with sinners like us, in the way we deserved? While at the same time, delivering us from the punishment that our sins deserved? Well the answer is through a substitute. There had to be a substitute if sinners were to be delivered from the penalty that was attached to their sin. And again to be the adequate substitute, that substitute had to be a divine substitute. Meaning, God Himself. And so, according to the divine plan, God the Son came to earth. He received this sinless human nature. We saw that when we studied the natures of Christ. He submitted to crucifixion. And while on the cross, He received God’s punishment on our behalf as our substitute. His death was substitutionary.

Which we see in passages like these. Isaiah 53. “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.” Romans 5:8. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 1 Corinthians 15:3. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” 1 Peter 2:24. He “Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that having died to sin, we might live to righteousness; by His WOUNDS YOU WERE HEALED.” 1 Peter 3:18. “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He might bring you to God.” Mark 10:45. “For even the Son of Man did not come to serve, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” John 10:11. “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” 1 Corinthians 5:7. “Christ, our Passover lamb, also was sacrificed.” 2 Corinthians 5:14. “one died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all, so that they who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”

Every one of those Scriptures and many more testifies, clearly, that Christ’s death was substitutionary. He died for the sins of others. He died for us. Louis Berkhof notes that “The sufferings of Christ were not just the sympathetic sufferings of a friend, but the substitutionary sufferings of the Lamb of God for the sin of the world.” He died for sinners. He took the place of sinners like you and me on the cross. He bore the punishment for our sins. And as our substitute, the just died for the unjust. Danny Akin notes that “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born to die. Unlike any other person who has ever lived, he came into this world for the expressed purpose of dying as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world.” John Stott notes that “Evangelical Christians believe that in and through Christ crucified God substituted himself for us and bore our sins, dying in our place the death we deserved to die, in order that we might be restored to his favor and adopted into his family.” Amen. So His death was substitutionary.

The next one we’re going to look at. I’ve used this word a couple of times already is that His Death Was Propitiating. The word “propitiation,” Hilaskomai in Greek, appears in four different New Testament texts. I’m going to rattle these off for you real quick. Then we’ll work through this term propitiation. Romans 3. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.” Here’s another one. Hebrews 2:17. “Therefore, He had to be made like His brothers in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” 1 John 2:2. “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” 1 John 4:10. “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

So what does that word propitiation, or what does that verb “propitiate” mean? The word means to appease or to satisfy. The noun form of that word propitiation hilasterion. We see it over in Hebrews, the book of Hebrews chapter 9 verse 25. Where its translated “mercy seat”. So propitiation is translated mercy seat in the book of Hebrews and that’s key because we know that in the Old Testament the mercy seat inside the Holy of Holies was the place where the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled and as a result, the wrath of God’s was temporarily satisfied. Similarly, by the shedding of Christ’s blood, God’s wrath toward us and our sin-stained condition has been satisfied. That’s the idea of propitiation. Bruce Demarest notes that “Through Christ’s death on the cross, all the demands of a holy and just God were satisfied. (that’s the idea of propitiation there) The divine anger was turned into kindly favor.” And, it’s really important to note that man is not involved in this act of propitiation. Rather, God satisfies Himself through the satisfactory work of the Son on the cross. So Christ’s death was propitiating.

Next we’re going to see His Death Was Redeeming. Redemption is a term from the world of commerce. Ancient commerce and war and slavery. Its roots go historically all the way back to the days of the Exodus. Where there were parts of the Law which detailed how a slave could be released, redeemed from bondage. And in that ancient commercial context, the meaning of that term “redeem” or redemption meant to pay a ransom price to the release the captive or to release the slave. Now in the spiritual context, this idea of “redemption” is rooted in the idea of bringing sinners out of their bondage to sin. And bringing them into this place where they have genuine freedom in Christ. Which Jesus has bought with the shedding of His own blood. 1 Peter 1:18-19. “you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your futile conduct inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 1:7 says “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our transgressions, according to the riches of His grace.”

Other texts that relate to redemption, and that being an aspect of Christ’s work on the cross is Galatians 3:13. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, ‘CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE’.” And then 1 Timothy 2:5,6 says “there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the witness for this proper time.” That word “ransom” there. The idea of ransom or Him giving Himself as a ransom, is directly connected to the concept of redemption. We are redeemed by Jesus giving Himself as a ransom.

So we’ve just looked at how Jesus’ death was redeeming. Next we’re going to see how it was Reconciling. “Reconciliation” looks at the death of Christ through the lens of the reality of this broken and estranged relationship between fallen humanity and the God who made us. It’s picked up here in Isaiah 59:2. “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” And what reconciliation highlights is how through Jesus’ death. And through the faith that we express in how He did what He did through His death and resurrection. How that broken relationship is now restored.

So that now “we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Romans 5:11. Or 2 Corinthians 5:18. “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their transgressions against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” So because of Christ’s reconciling work on the cross, God has chosen to treat those who are once dead in sin but have now come to Him through faith. No longer as enemies or transgressors but instead as His children. Ephesians 2:13. “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” That’s language of reconciliation. Or Colossians 1:21 and 22. “And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds, (that sounds much like Isaiah 59) but now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless beyond reproach.”

So that’s a bit about the reconciling aspect of Christ’s death. Next, we’re going to see, and I believe this is our last one, The Death of Christ Was Justifying. To be “justified” means to be declared righteous before God. It’s a judicial term that indicates a verdict of acquittal. Meaning, there is no longer any condemnation. Which is Romans 8:1 to the letter. There is “Therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And how are we justified? Well through faith. Romans 3:28. “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” Galatians 2:16. “a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” Galatians 3:11. “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident, for ‘THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH’.”

So a man, a women, a child is justified by faith. Faith in Jesus Christ. But faith in what? Faith in what He did in His life? Or faith in what He did in His death? I covered a little bit about that last week. You might have been here for that. Where we got our answer from Scriptures like these. Colossians 1. “For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” Romans 5:9. “having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” We’ve been justified by His blood. Hebrews 10. He said ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL.’ By this will we’ve been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Our justification, then, and I won’t bang on this drum again this evening, is grounded not in Christ’s keeping of the Law on our behalf in His life, rather our justification is grounded and rooted in His death. His shedding His precious blood on our behalf. His death on the cross.

Thiessen again notes that “Christ did not come primarily to set us an example or to teach us doctrine, but to die for us.” The death of Christ is fundamental to the gospel. Thiessen, you can tell I was reading a lot of Thiessen this week, says “The death of Christ for man’s sin is good news; it implies that man does not need to die for his sin. The Mosaic law, the Sermon on the Mount, the teaching and example of Christ, all show to us our sin and reveal to us the need of a Savior, but they do not provide the remedy for sin. This remedy is found only in the death of Christ.” So the death of Christ is fundamental to the believer’s justification to our salvation, to our witness even, as we’re going to see in these few verses. “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:23. “we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” And then last one here. “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

Now, I have a whole other section here. I went 5 minutes late this morning, I go minutes late every Sunday night. And I have a whole other section here that I’m sure you’ll be intrigued by. Let me show you the slide. But I’m not going to teach the sections. You’re going to have to email me for the slides or get them on-line.

What about the Blood? As in there are all kinds of passages that deal with the blood of Christ. What is the significance of the blood. Is there some kind of magical worth. That’s the wrong word I get it. Is there innate worth to the actual physical substance of the blood of Christ? Or is it pointing to what we’ve been talking about tonight, the death of Christ. You’ll have to wait for another night to get my answer on that. So I’m going to conclude with this. Ok? With a story. It’s a story which, I think, is going to force us to take all of this head knowledge that we’ve been accumulating, not just tonight, but really all summer long in these evening summer in the systematics messages. And really bring it down to the heart level.

And the story that I’m going to share with you was originally told by a man named Henry C. Mabie. Who was a Baptist missionary living in the late 1800s. And the story centers on how the gospel was being preached by this missionary in the interior of South Africa at the time, in Mabie’s day, which was sometime in the late 1800s. And to this missionary’s preaching the gospel to this south African native tribe. And the chief of this tribe is listening intently to what this missionary’s gospel presentation is all about. And then the chief in the middle of this presentation asked the missionary to stop his presentation and go back to the part about the cross. And he asked the missionary to demonstrate for him with motions and body movement and such, that part about the cross again. He wanted to see this visual depiction of what Jesus the Savior would have looked like on that cross with His outstretched arms. And the missionary starts to do it and starts to picture and to typify what that would have looked like in his own manner of doing so, and the chief rushes forward, crying, tears streaming down his face and he says this. “Hold on! Hold on! Take Jesus Christ down from the cross. Take Him down, I say. Jesus Christ does not belong on that cross. I belong on that cross.” The chief was right. He belonged on that cross. The missionary belonged on that cross. I belonged on that cross. You belonged on that cross. But God purposed to send His Son into the world to die on that cross. Yes, Jesus Christ lived. But what He ultimately came here to earth to do was die. For sinners like For you and for me. And there is no greater news and no greater note to close on than that. Amen? Let’s pray.

Father thank you for the reminders this evening in this jet tour of what your Scriptures reveal about the death of your Son. But thank you for that final reminder that ultimately the death that was, that Christ died was in our stead. In our place as a substitute. And I pray as a church that we would never lose the weight of that. God that we would rejoice through the grace that we’ve been shown and rejoice in the eternal hope that we have. But not far behind that would be a sense of awe in what you did in sending your Son into this world to die on that cross on our behalf. As the chief of that village indicated 150 or so years ago. That should have been me. That should have been us. That should have been all of us. That should have been the whole world. But God because of your great love with which you showed your love to us, you sent your Son, your only Son. The one with whom you had had perfect fellowship and communion with in the godhead going back to eternity. And all for rebels like us. And all for wretches like us. And all for undeserving fist shaking ingrates like us. God thank you for the cross. Thank you for the death of your Son. May we treasure this truth. Store it deep in our hearts and proclaim the death of Christ to all who will give us an audience. Thank you for this group. Thank you for their commitment to the Word, to truth and to each other. It’s in Jesus name we pray. Amen.