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Righteousness Through Christ, January 9
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
.
The God of justice did not spare His Son.... The whole debt for the
transgression of God’s law was demanded from our Mediator. A full
atonement was required. How appropriate are the words of Isaiah, “It
pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.” His soul was
made “an offering for sin.” “He was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities” (
Isaiah 53:10, 5
).
Jesus suffered the extreme penalty of the law for our transgression,
and justice was fully satisfied. The law is not abrogated; it has not lost
one jot of its force. Instead, it stands forth in holy dignity, Christ’s death
on the cross testifying to its immutability. Its demands have been met, its
authority maintained.
God spared not His only-begotten Son. To show the depth of His love
for man, He delivered Him up for us all. “Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world” (
John 1:29
). Behold Him dying on the
cross. Behold Him who was equal with God, mocked and derided by the
mob. Behold Him in Gethsemane, bowed under the burden of the sins of
the whole world.
Was the penalty remitted because He was the Son of God? Were the
vials of wrath withheld from Him who was made sin for us? Without
abatement the penalty fell upon our divine-human Substitute.
Hear His cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
(
Mark 15:34
). He was treated as a sinner, that we might be treated as
righteous, that God might be just, and yet the justifier of the sinner....
The love existing between the Father and His Son cannot be portrayed.
It is measureless. In Christ, God saw the beauty and perfection of excel-
lence that dwells in Himself. Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O
earth, for God spared not His own Son, but gave Him up to be made sin
for us, that those who believe may be made the righteousness of God in
Him....
Language is too feeble for us to attempt to portray the love of God.
We believe it, we rejoice in it, but we cannot comprehend it.
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