The Way of the Cross
God could have dealt with human rebellion in several different ways. He could have immediately destroyed Adam and Eve, even the whole planet. Or He also could have decided to abandon them to their fate; that is, He could have just left them to face the inevitable results of sin, which would be eternal ruin.
But there was one thing He could not have done; He could not have ignored their rebellion, pretending as if nothing had happened and allowing their relationship to continue as before.
In the end, what did God do? He didn’t destroy them, He didn’t abandon them, and He didn’t ignore them. Instead, He put into effect His eternal purpose of salvation through Christ.
Read Mark 10:45, Galatians 1:4, 2:20, Ephesians 5:2, and Titus 2:14. What key theme is repeated in these texts? What do they tell us about the plan of salvation?
Once God committed Himself to save us, He didn’t have several options on how to do it. In fact, there was just one. Sin could be solved only through the incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and mediation of Christ. If we were to be spared eternal ruin, Jesus had to “give” Himself for us. The incarnation and the death of Christ were unavoidable if we were to be saved. In other words, there is only one road to heaven, and it passes through the heart of Christ on the cross.
When Jesus was in Gethsemane, experiencing the anguish of death (Matt. 26:36–46) and bearing the sins of the world, He approached the Father, asking Him, essentially, whether or not there was another option available to accomplish the salvation of humankind. The answer came wrapped in divine silence. There was no other way out for the human problem except through the sacrifice of Christ.
In the mystery of divine council, before the creation of the world, the Son of God offered Himself to die as our substitute and surety. He, as we saw in the above verses, “gave” Himself for us. There was no other way.
Again, He was not under compulsion to save us; He did it willingly, out of love. But once He decided to accomplish that salvation, His death was inescapable, even though a voluntary act. “ ‘I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord’ ” (John 10:17, 18, NIV).
No comments:
Post a Comment