Him For Us

In light of our Easter holiday, it is appropriate to say: The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in human history.  What happened on the cross of Calvary is the absolute bedrock of our faith.  Yet sadly our view of what happened at the cross is sometimes way off or inadequate.  Sometimes what we say about Jesus dying is true, but it is not the whole truth nor is it the most essential part of the truth. 

For example, We often say that the cross at its core is all about or only about the love of God. It is about the love of God, but not only.  That is like saying that someone is a "nice guy", it tells you something about them, but it falls short because it doesn’t tell you enough about the person to tell you why or how he is "nice".  The person may be a nice guy because he is trying to get something from you, or because he has no backbone, or because he is naïve.  Instead of saying this guy is a nice guy because he has a deep abiding relationship with God that infuses him with life and integrity and character and hope.  In calling him a nice guy we might make a mockery of who he might really be.  

To say that the cross of Christ is only about love, or God setting a sacrificial example, or to not know what the cross of Christ is about is to run the risk of making a mockery of it.  To say that what Jesus did on the cross and resurrection is "nice" woefully misses the reality of it.   So how do we get the right idea of what the suffering and death of the cross was really all about?  One of the most poignant views of what the cross is comes from Isaiah 53:3-12 The crucifixion and subsequent resurrection comes into perfect view.

^“3  He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 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 pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds 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; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. ⁸  By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? ⁹  And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. ¹⁰  Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹  Out  of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. ¹²  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

In these verses we can't help but better understand what the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is all about.  He substitutes himself for us.  The innocent for the guilty.  He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness.  Him for us.  That is the reality for every believer in Jesus Christ.  Jesus substituting himself for the sinner who believes in his death and resurrection.  Then love truly comes into proper view.

^“8  But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹  More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”  Romans 5:8-11 

May we truly believe and see Jesus Christ as OUR substitute for OUR sin in order to reconcile US sinners with a holy God.  That is what it is all about. Him for us.