Tag: redemption

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Why Jesus Died

This season of the year is traditionally a time when Christians contemplate the message of the cross. That is what Jesus wanted his disciples to do. As he and his men made their way to Jerusalem, he gave them a prophecy of what would happen to him there. In fact, he repeatedly told them he was going to die and then be raised from the dead. And he told them why.

“‘We are going up to Jerusalem,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise'” (Mark 10:33-34). This is the third preview of his death which Jesus gave his disciples which is recorded in Mark’s gospel.

One cannot help but notice the explicit detail: Jerusalem, religious leaders, Gentiles (Roman government and army), mocking, flogging, spitting, killing. These details are intended to drive home, to a group of men who were in a state of denial, the reality of what was about to happen.. Mark says they were astonished and afraid (v. 32).

Mark had introduced Jesus as the Son of God (Mark 1:1). But the title Jesus used most often was Son of Man. Why is this? Jesus’ hearers knew what he meant: he was claiming to be the Messiah, God’s anointed king.

The Lord Jesus was referring to the prophecy of Daniel 7:13-14 and applying it, without hesitation, to himself. According to the prophecy, the Son of Man will receive reverence belonging only to God. He will reign as a universal king, and all nations, peoples and languages will worship him.

In using this title for himself, Jesus was also identifying with the human race. Son of Man was a Hebrew idiom for humanity (Numbers 23:19). He is THE Son of Man, the representative man, the ideal human being. He identified himself with us in every way, except for sin.

Instead of asking for clarification or showing any interest at all in these momentous announcements, Jesus’ disciples persisted in denial and unbelief. They tried to change the subject to the power and prestige they associated with the kingdom (Mark10:35-41). In answer, the Lord Jesus contrasted their appetite for honor, security, and earthly power with his humble servanthood. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45).

He expected his disciples to follow him in humble service, not in ostentatious displays of power. “Whoever wants to be greatest among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44).

D.L. Moody once said that the measure of a man is not how many servants he has, but how many people he serves. The word “servant” Jesus used for himself and his disciples, was the common word for a household slave. How many of Jesus’ 21st century  followers see themselves in this way? Someone has said that the test of whether a Christian has the attitude of a servant is how he acts if he is treated like one.

Then the Lord returned to the theme of death. His dying would be the payment of a ransom. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). This is a further expansion of his predictions of his death and resurrection. It tells us the purpose for which he would die and rise from the dead.

“‘Ransom’ was a familiar idea in Jewish, Roman, and Greek cultures,” wrote Donald English. “It was the price paid to liberate a slave, a prisoner of war, or a condemned person. The paying of the price cleaned the slate. To set a person free like this was known as ‘redemption.'”

The rest of the New Testament develops this theme. In their letters, Peter and Paul, and other apostles use this terminology of the marketplace to describe the great redemption payment that was made as Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins (Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Hebrews 9:12). The ransom was the price paid to secure freedom for the captive or the slave. Jesus’ ransom secures forgiveness and freedom from sin’s penalty for all those who believe in him.

During this season, as we prepare for Holy Week and Easter, let’s remember that Jesus paid the ransom so that we could be set free. He was judged so that we might be acquitted. He was forsaken, so that we might be accepted. He refused to save himself, so that we might be saved. He died so that we might live.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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The Most Important Paragraph

You may have noticed that when you are reading the Bible, sometimes a chapter division seems arbitrary or out of place. Perhaps you have felt that it interrupts the flow of the discussion. Well, you may be right. It is good to remember that the chapter and verse divisions were not part of the original inspired text of scripture. They were added in the 13th-16th centuries by editors for the convenience of Bible readers.

Most of the time chapter and verse divisions are helpful to us in locating and remembering Bible passages. We rely upon them to help us find our way around in the Bible. Sometimes, however, we wonder why an editor put the chapter division where he put it. It feels awkward in relation to the context.

Romans chapters two and three are such a context. In chapter two, Paul has been arguing forcefully that the religious person, no matter how pious, is no better off than the untaught pagan. In chapter three the discussion continues: in the eyes of God all people are morally guilty and in need of God’s gift of righteousness. The chapter division might lead someone to think that Paul is changing the subject. He is not. The argument flows from chapter two right on into chapter three.

In Romans 3:1-8, Paul imagines a verbal opponent who wants to claim that his teaching on universal human guilt undermines God’s justice. “If we are all guilty and our sin magnifies God’s righteousness, wouldn’t he be unjust to punish us?” His imaginary debate partner might go on to say something like, “We might as well go on sinning because God looks good when he forgives us!” “No way!” Paul answers. Human sin never brings glory to God.

Paul rejects these distortions of his teaching. He calls them slanderous. He wants his readers to understand that God is both just (in judging sin) and merciful (in providing a remedy). His doctrine of universal human guilt is reasonable and consistent with scripture (Romans 3:9-20). Paul here quotes seven Old Testament scriptures to support this point. We are all sinners and guilty before a holy God.

To be sure, the apostle is not teaching that every person is a bad as he or she could possibly be. What he is saying is that sin affects us all, in every part of our being. There are no exceptions. God’s law pronounces us guilty. The law cannot deliver us. It cannot forgive us. It cannot redeem us. That is not the law’s purpose. The law upholds God’s standard of righteousness and shows us how far short if it we have fallen. “Through the law we become conscious of our sin” (Romans 3:20).

What Paul says next is the best news the world has ever heard. It has been suggested that Romans 3:21-26 may be the single most important paragraph ever written! It states the central theme of the book of Romans: that although we are all sinners and deserving of God’s judgment, it is possible to be declared righteous though faith in Jesus Christ.

I invite you to read these verses, to believe their truth, and to receive the free gift they offer. The gift is justification. What is that? It means to be declared righteous by the grace of God. It is more than forgiveness. It is positive acceptance, freedom from guilt, a new status credited to you freely, at no cost to you (Romans 3:24).

How is that possible? It is because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood”(Romans 3:25). Paul refers to this as “redemption,” a term taken from the Roman slave market. It is obtaining a release by the payment of a ransom. By his death, Jesus paid the ransom to set us free from sin’s ultimate penalty. His death satisfied the demands of God’s justice on our behalf.

The only way to receive the gift of justification is through faith in what Christ has done. Paul repeats this several times (verses 22, 25, 26 and 28). “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law” (Romans 3:28). Someone has said that faith is simply the hand of a beggar reaching out to accept a gift from a king.

The awkward chapter division between Romans two and three was not in Paul’s original letter. It is important to understand the entire scope and range of his argument taken together. In Romans one the Gentile pagan world is guilty before God. In chapters two and three the religious Jews are also said to be guilty before God. The only solution to this universal human predicament is the good news found in Romans 3:21-31.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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A Christmas Letter from Paul

Well, not exactly.  Paul did write letters. The letters of Paul make up half of the New Testament. He never really described the birth of Jesus, nor did he write an account of the life of Jesus. But Paul sent a Christmas message in his letter to the Galatians.

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:4-5).

Let’s think about Paul’s little Christmas message.

Jesus came in the right way. He was “sent” by God our Father and Creator. Jesus was sent on a mission from heaven to earth. In the words of John the apostle, “We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).

He was “born of a woman.” the infant Jesus was conceived in a supernatural way, but born in the normal human way. The divine child took a human nature as he passed through human birth into the world. He partook of his mother’s humanity. This conforms to the prophecy of Isaiah, “Unto us a child is born” (Isaiah 9:6).

C.H. Spurgeon wrote of the birth of our Lord: “Infinite, and an infant. Eternal, yet born of a woman. Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman’s breast. Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arm.”

The fact that Jesus was born under the law means that he was a Jew who observed the requirements and customs of the law of Moses. He was born under and into that system so that he could release people from that system. He fulfilled the requirements of the law by his sinless life. He paid the penalties of the law by his sacrificial death.

Jesus came at the right time. His appearance on the scene coincided perfectly with Bible prophecy. Those familiar with Daniel the prophet know that he prophesied the exact time of Messiah’s coming to Israel (Daniel 9:25-27). There are many prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures about the first coming of Messiah and Jesus fulfilled them. The book of Hebrews tells us that his coming was “in the culmination of the ages” (Hebrews 9:26).

Not only that, but his coming coincided with world events. In the providence of God, there was a confluence of historical circumstances that contributed to the rapid and efficient spread of Christianity just a few years after the earthly life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus came for the right reason. This is the heart of the Christmas message. In Galatians 4:4-7 Paul enumerates some of the blessings of salvation that are true because Jesus came at Christmas.

One of them is redemption. Jesus is said to redeem those who believe in him. This is a word that is taken from the Roman slave market to illustrate the freedom of those who are released from the bondage of sin. “All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). His death on the cross was the ransom payment for our redemption.

Not only that, but his coming makes it possible for us to be taken into the family of God by adoption. In Paul’s day that meant full acceptance, status and recognition as children in the family. He applied that as an illustration of the believer’s relationship to God.

He goes even further to speak of the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is the indwelling presence of the Spirit who makes possible an intensely personal relationship to God. It is because of Christmas that it is possible for us to call out to the Father is prayer and call him “Abba!” It is because of Christmas that it is possible for us to know God and to be known by God and to receive the inheritance of eternal life (Galatians 4:6-9).

Paul would have us think about these things as we celebrate around the Christmas tree, sing carols and feast with our families. He wants us to know that redemption, adoption, the Holy Spirit, inheritance, and knowing God are wonderful gifts of Christmas. All because Jesus came in the right way, at the right time, and for the right reasons.

Pastor Randy Faulkner