Easter
Spring is a wonderful time of year. Winter is over and with it comes warmer days and nights, green grass, budding trees and pops of color that reveal our God's mighty hand of Creation. Baseball is beginning, the Masters is soon and, of course, March madness is underway. Spring breaks bring time off and with the thought of summer quickly approaching, vacations are being planned. But perhaps the greatest thing that spring produces is the celebration of the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord. It is true that Christmas and Thanksgiving receive more notoriety. I certainly enjoy them both. But without Easter, however, our faith would be futile and our existence most pitiful.
I am not sure which result of Christ's Atonement is the most valuable, so I will make no effort to qualify them. I will take this opportunity to make sure you are familiar with a few of the most frequently discussed results of His vicarious, substitutionary Atonement of the cross of Calvary.
What Jesus offered in place of us (Hebrews 7:27) was His own blood (Hebrews 9:12). This means that the offering was not only substitutionary, it was also vicarious. In law, vicarious responsibility is the principle of act where one person is held accountable for the action of another. Jesus took upon Himself (Isaiah 53) and the guilt and penalty that was ours. Believers were united in Him (Romans 6) in His death and resurrection. The result is new life for all who are in Christ. Our sins were imparted to Him and His righteousness was imputed to us. Having come to Christ for salvation means that we have been declared righteous and, therefore, have a new standing before a Holy God.
Justification is that gracious and judicial act of God whereby a soul is granted complete absolution from all guilt and a full release from the penalty of sin (Romans 3:23-25). No Christian can understand the works of Christ apart from the writings found in the Epistle to the Hebrews or the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, nor the results of them.
Positional sanctification is a one-time act of the Holy Spirit in the life of an unbeliever to bring them into a spirit of believing and repenting. Experiential or progressive sanctification is the action taken on behalf of the convert to allow the Holy Spirit to transform their life through daily devotion and renewal. Both graces are the concern of faith in Christ, but in different ways. In justification, our faith results in being forgiven, accepted, and accounted righteous (Romans 4:1-4) in God's sight. In sanctification, that same faith actively and eagerly takes up all the commands that Christ has given His followers.
Because Jesus allowed Himself to be our propitiation, we gladly follow Him in the process of sanctification. Propitiation means that Christ's sacrifice satisfied the wrath of the Holy God due upon believers because of our sin nature received through the original sin of Adam, the first man and the father of all. The word appears four times: Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2, and 1 John 4:10. In each case, the word is used to express the grace of God, which allows Jesus' sacrifice to be the means by which our sins are given by Him, taking our punishment and God's wrath.
By His gracious act we have been redeemed and thus reconciled to our Father. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by purchasing us through His shed blood. We were aliens and strangers having become enemies of God by our sin nature and our sinful acts, but God bought us back (Ephesians 1:7) but really you need to read Ephesians chapter one through chapter two and verse ten to really appreciate your new standing and the how and why of it.
Why does celebrating Easter seem so necessary? Well, it is simple, isn't it? He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. We experience justification, redemption, reconciliation, sanctification by His propitiation and, oh yes, one more glorious "ion" word: Glorification. One day we shall receive a name and a new body. We shall live with Him for all eternity in a new Heaven and a new earth! What a day that shall be! Praise Him! Happy Easter, church!
He is risen, risen indeed!
In Christ,
Pastor Todd
I am not sure which result of Christ's Atonement is the most valuable, so I will make no effort to qualify them. I will take this opportunity to make sure you are familiar with a few of the most frequently discussed results of His vicarious, substitutionary Atonement of the cross of Calvary.
What Jesus offered in place of us (Hebrews 7:27) was His own blood (Hebrews 9:12). This means that the offering was not only substitutionary, it was also vicarious. In law, vicarious responsibility is the principle of act where one person is held accountable for the action of another. Jesus took upon Himself (Isaiah 53) and the guilt and penalty that was ours. Believers were united in Him (Romans 6) in His death and resurrection. The result is new life for all who are in Christ. Our sins were imparted to Him and His righteousness was imputed to us. Having come to Christ for salvation means that we have been declared righteous and, therefore, have a new standing before a Holy God.
Justification is that gracious and judicial act of God whereby a soul is granted complete absolution from all guilt and a full release from the penalty of sin (Romans 3:23-25). No Christian can understand the works of Christ apart from the writings found in the Epistle to the Hebrews or the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, nor the results of them.
Positional sanctification is a one-time act of the Holy Spirit in the life of an unbeliever to bring them into a spirit of believing and repenting. Experiential or progressive sanctification is the action taken on behalf of the convert to allow the Holy Spirit to transform their life through daily devotion and renewal. Both graces are the concern of faith in Christ, but in different ways. In justification, our faith results in being forgiven, accepted, and accounted righteous (Romans 4:1-4) in God's sight. In sanctification, that same faith actively and eagerly takes up all the commands that Christ has given His followers.
Because Jesus allowed Himself to be our propitiation, we gladly follow Him in the process of sanctification. Propitiation means that Christ's sacrifice satisfied the wrath of the Holy God due upon believers because of our sin nature received through the original sin of Adam, the first man and the father of all. The word appears four times: Romans 3:25, Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2, and 1 John 4:10. In each case, the word is used to express the grace of God, which allows Jesus' sacrifice to be the means by which our sins are given by Him, taking our punishment and God's wrath.
By His gracious act we have been redeemed and thus reconciled to our Father. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by purchasing us through His shed blood. We were aliens and strangers having become enemies of God by our sin nature and our sinful acts, but God bought us back (Ephesians 1:7) but really you need to read Ephesians chapter one through chapter two and verse ten to really appreciate your new standing and the how and why of it.
Why does celebrating Easter seem so necessary? Well, it is simple, isn't it? He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. We experience justification, redemption, reconciliation, sanctification by His propitiation and, oh yes, one more glorious "ion" word: Glorification. One day we shall receive a name and a new body. We shall live with Him for all eternity in a new Heaven and a new earth! What a day that shall be! Praise Him! Happy Easter, church!
He is risen, risen indeed!
In Christ,
Pastor Todd
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1 Comment
Thank you so much for these blogs!! You have talked about how we will have new bodies and when I hear that I always picture how Jesus showed his hands and side to the disciples. Those wounds!!! The love they show me!! He died for me and even though I cry when I picture all the things He went through I know one day because of those scars He will greet me in Heaven and I can't wait to hold His hand and kiss those beautiful scars.