How Do We Benefit From The Atonement Of Christ?
Section Two of the Philosophy Of Forgiveness In Christianity
by Awad Sam'an
Chapter Five
God's Act Of Redemption In Christ
People who have no idea of the person of Christ presume that His crucifixion was a result of being betrayed by the Jewish priests whom He had reprimanded for their evil and unrighteous acts. So, they say, Christ died as a martyr to truth and duty only. But even if Christ really died as a martyr to truth and duty, the evidence of Christ's crucifixion in the Bible shows that He did not just die as a martyr, but as the atoning sacrifice as well, as it will be shown clearly later on.
1. Biblical evidence that proves the atoning or redemptive death of Christ
Firstly- Christ's testimony of His death as an atonement, and the evidence that proves it
1.) Christ's testimony:
Christ said about Himself before His crucifixion, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep" (John 10:11). By "the sheep" He meant true believers, the point of similarity between the two being that the sheep avoid filthy things and obey their shepherd, and believers, likewise, have an aversion to evil and obey God. Christ also announced, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross], that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:14-16).
The children of Israel had murmured against God in the wilderness, so He set the fiery serpents against them and they bit many of them. On seeing that they would surely die like the others, the rest of the people hurried to Moses and said to him, "`We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.´" So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, "`Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live´" (Numbers 21:4-9). This fiery [bronze] serpent was a symbol of Christ in the following respects:
(A) It had no venom like the other serpents, and Christ had no sin like the other people.
(B) It was not itself a serpent but like a serpent. Likewise Christ who, although appearing in the form of man like us, was not in reality one of us, because the fullness of the Godhead (divinity) dwelt in Him physically. He was born of a virgin who (physically) knew no man.
(C) Death came to the children of Israel through a serpent, and it was God's will that their salvation from death should be through a serpent of another kind. The same thing also applies to sin that leads to eternal torment: it entered into mankind through the first Adam, and God so willed that their salvation from it and from its torment be through the second Adam, who is Christ (Romans 5:12-19).
(D) The actual looking at the bronze serpent was the only way that God assigned for healing the people from the bite of the fiery serpents. Likewise looking at Christ spiritually, or rather having true faith in Him, is the only way that God assigned for saving a person from sin and its consequences (John 3:16).
Christ also said, "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (that is, die on their behalf; Mark 10:45), and "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost" (Matthew 18:11). He said when He likened Himself to a grain of wheat, "Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground, and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit" (John 12:24), referring to the fact that on the basis of His death many will have eternal life, and that His death will be a vicarious one, namely on their behalf.
When He spoke of Himself as the bread that came down from heaven to grant spiritual life to those who eat it spiritually, He said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:51). He informed His disciples that His body would be given and His blood would be shed for them and for many others (Luke 22:19,20). This proves that the death of Christ was not a matter of martyrdom, but was also a propitiation for people's sins.
2.) Evidence of the authenticity of Christ's testimony:
The Scriptures recorded Christ's testimony about His vicarious death for us, which leaves no room for doubting it. When looked at intellectually rather than spiritually, this testimony still proves true for the following reasons:
(A) National and political leaders try to whip enthusiasm and courage into their adherents by showing them their strong points and concealing from them news of their physical sickness and weakness, for fear that they may be discouraged and dismayed. Christ, however, declared the news of His death clearly and even repeated it several times, in spite of His knowledge that this would affect His disciples adversely and dishearten them at the beginning of their walk with Him. He must have known for sure that He would die as the atoning sacrifice for their sins.
(B) Christ was neither a charlatan nor a braggart; instead He was absolutely true and humble. It is unthinkable to say that He claimed that his death would be a vicarious one while in fact it was mere martyrdom or an ordinary death.
(C) Christ's declaration of His own death as the atoning sacrifice was not isolated from the teachings His audiences heard Him say about God's love and concern for mankind and His desire to bring them closer to Him. His declaration and teachings were fused together in such a way that one cannot separate them from each other. His declaration of His atonement was not a piece of cloth that was patched on a garment, but the very fabric of it. That is, it was not foreign to His teaching, but the very essence of it.
Secondly- The testimony of the apostles of Christ's vicarious death and the evidence that proves its validity
1. The testimony of the apostles.
(A) The apostle Peter wrote to the believers, "And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourself throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He was indeed foreordained before the foundation of the world" (1 Peter 1:17-20). This is nothing unusual, since God knew from the beginning that man would fall into sin, and prepared for his salvation from evil even before He created him.
(B) The apostle John wrote about Christ, saying, "By this we know love, because He (i.e. Christ) laid down His life for us" (1 John 3:16), and "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent us His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).
(C) The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about Christ that He "died for our sins according to the Scriptures," and also said about Him, "And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and rose again," and that God "made Him (Christ) who knew no sin to be sin (offering) for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (1 Corinthians 15:3, 2 Corinthians 5:15,21).
He wrote to the Romans, "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man will someone even dare to die. But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (5:7,8). He also wrote, "Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation" (3:24,25). Then He wrote, "For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all" (6:10).
He wrote to the Colossians about Christ, saying, "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness [of the Godhead] should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself... having made peace through the blood of His cross" (1:19,20). He also wrote to them, "And you being dead in your trespasses... having wiped out the handwriting of requirements [i.e. the debt of trespasses] that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Colossians 2:13,14).
He wrote to the Ephesians about Christ, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (1:7), "that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity" (2:16), that He has "given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma" (5:2), that he has loved the believers and has given Himself for them that He might present it to Himself "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle" (5:27). The word "church" means a group or a community of people that are called together for the same goal. This verse means that God will present true believers perfect to Himself through the precious atonement of Christ on the cross, and His continual spiritual work on their hearts as long as they live on earth.
The apostle wrote to the Hebrews of Christ, saying that "He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone" (2:9). When Christ was on the cross, He represented everyone in their guilt before God on the Day of Judgment. He carried the sins of every one of us from the time we are born till the time we die, which gives every true believer perfect assurance of his being accepted by God on the basis of Christ's atonement. The apostle also said, "Once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Hebrews 9:26). He also said of Him, "After He had offered one sacrifice for sin for ever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12), and that "He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate" (Hebrews 13:12). Sacrificial offerings were burnt outside the city gate in the sinners' place in the Old Testament. He also said to his disciple Timothy about Christ that He "gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:6) to redeem us from all iniquity.
2.) The evidence that proves the apostles' testimony:
The testimony of the apostles was recorded by holy inspiration and leaves no room for doubt. When looked at intellectually rather than spiritually, this testimony still proves true for the following reasons:
(A) The testimony of the apostles was not isolated from the advice and instructions they gave to the believers; instead it was fused with both. So it was not a piece of cloth that was patched on a garment, but the very fabric of it. This, of course, proves that Christ's sacrificial death is an indisputable fact.
(B) The apostles were not rich or influential people, who people would believe and whose statements they would affirm even if what they said was not true. Most of them were destitute and could hardly feed themselves on a daily basis.
The apostles differed greatly from one another in terms of age, culture, character and social status: Peter was daring, enthusiastic, poor and old. John was gentle, quiet, rich and young. Paul was a great scholar, a legalist, a stubborn debater who did not accept the opinions of others easily and was also a fatal enemy of Christianity. For such a diverse group of people, to agree on something means that this thing has to be indisputably true.
(C) By their testimony of Christ's sacrificial death for mankind, the apostles proclaimed to the Jews that there was no more benefit in the animal sacrifices that they used to offer to God through their priests, emphasizing to them that they were just symbols of Christ's atonement. This testimony provoked the priests to anger against the apostles and it was the reason they persecuted them, because if the Jews did not offer sacrifices, they would lose their source of income. Also, had Christ not really died as an atonement for mankind, it would not have occurred to the apostles to give such a testimony since it is inconceivable that, as diverse as they were, they would all make up an untrue story, be persecuted for it, yet continue proclaiming it with their strength and power. Therefore, their testimony of Christ's sacrificial death must have been true.
Thirdly- The testimony of the Old Testament prophets and the evidence that proves its authenticity
(A) Jesus is quoted by David who said, by the spirit of prophecy, 1000 years before Christ's birth, "Those who hate me without a cause [referring to the hatred of the Jews that led them to crucify Him] are more than the hairs of my head... though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it" (Psalm 69:4). He meant by this that even though Christ did not steal anything (or rather did not usurp any of God's rights) because this was done by mankind alone, yet He Himself restored what they stole and appropriated. Thus He satisfied the requirements of God's judgment and holiness in Himself on their behalf.
(B) In 700 BC, Isaiah the prophet spoke by the spirit of prophecy when he said about Christ: "But He was wounded for our transgressions [not for transgressions He committed], He was bruised for our iniquities [not for iniquities He committed]; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him [namely Christ has undergone on our behalf the punishment we merit so that God's justice toward us is fulfilled and the barrier between us and Him is taken away], and by His stripes [that is the wounds caused by the stripes] we are healed [from the lethal malady of sin]. 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" (Isaiah 53:5,6), instead of leaving us to carry our own sin, holding us responsible for it and punishing us for it.
(C) The angel Gabriel said to Daniel the prophet, who lived in 550 BC, in a special vision, "Seventy weeks [i.e. 490 years] are determined for your people [i.e. the Jews] and for your holy city [i.e. Jerusalem], to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins [which happened by their rejection of Christ], to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness [which lasts forever on the basis of the above-mentioned reconciliation], to seal up vision and prophecy [i.e. to fulfil them and bring them to pass], and to anoint the Most Holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem [which took place under King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 2:1-8)] until Messiah the Prince [in His first coming] there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks [i.e. 49 years plus 434 years equalling 483 years].... And after sixty-two weeks [i.e. 434 years] Messiah shall be cut off [i.e. rejected and killed], but not for Himself [i.e. not because of any iniquity He committed]" (Daniel 9:24-26).
The week here represents one year. God said to the prophet Ezekiel, concerning the times of the prophecies God revealed to him, that He made one day a substitute for one year for him (Ezekiel 4:5). When, however, the week refers to ordinary seven days, the Bible says so explicitly. It says in another place in Daniel, "In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks," where the original Hebrew has "three day weeks" (Daniel 10:2).
(D) The angel said to Joseph, Virgin Mary's fiance, "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Now, salvation from sins can be achieved only through propitiation, so Christ is the one who propitiates for our sins.
(E) Zacharias the priest (the father of John the Baptist) foretold the redemption of God in Christ, saying, "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people" (Luke 1:68). Therefore Christ is the Redeemer who saves mankind from their sins.
(F) Simeon the elder, who carried Christ as a baby, said to God, "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart [from the world] in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples" (Luke 2:25-31). This means that this elder felt secure concerning his eternal future because he saw in Christ the salvation which God had prepared to deliver people from sins and its due punishment.
(G) John the Baptist said about Christ, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), that is, "the scapegoat of redemption" who dies to redeem all mankind.
(H) Caiaphas the high priest said about Jesus by the spirit of prophecy, "it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish" (John 11:49-52), that is to say: to redeem and bring all the scattered children of God throughout the whole world into one nation for God.
The evidence that proves the authenticity of the Old Testament testimony
This testimony is recorded by holy inspiration and leaves no room for doubt. But even if it is looked at intellectually, it becomes clear to us that it must be true for the following reasons:
(A) The Torah, in which most of these verses occur, was written hundreds of years before the coming of Christ and it still exists today among all the Jews in its original language, and among Christians and non-Christians in translation. There were copies of it in the Temple, the synagogues and the religious schools during Christ's earthly ministry. The priests and the Levites revered these copies highly, read them every day and followed them to the minutest detail. It follows then that it is unthinkable that some Christians wrote down the above-mentioned prophecies in some copies of the Torah. If such a crime had been committed, it would have been discovered immediately. The Jews would have burned the copies that were falsified straight away, and they would have put to death those who falsified them.
(B) This testimony was given by people who had no connection or relationship of any kind; they include friends and enemies, angels and men, elders and youth, those who lived in Persia hundreds of years before the birth of Christ and those who lived in Jerusalem hundreds of years after the birth of Christ. And in spite of these essential differences they were one in their testimony of Christ: that He died to atone for sin. No doubt that they were led in this testimony by one Spirit, the Spirit of God, without whom they would not have agreed on it unanimously.
(C) Great historians have proved the accuracy of the timing the prophecy of Daniel determined for the coming of Christ to atone for sins. Some of these historians are: Yahin, Hingsberg, Sais, Anold and Cooper. They all have agreed that Artaxerxes' decree of the renovation of Jerusalem was issued in 455 BC. Now if we subtract 69 yearly weeks (483 years) from this number the rest will be 28 years after the birth of Christ according to the Roman calendar. But we should add one more year to this (the difference between the old and the new calendars) that is needed to adjust the dates, which makes it 29 years AD. This is the year of the crucifixion of our Lord, since old historians have determined that Christ was born in 4 BC according to what was discovered later when the Julian calendar, which was used at those days, was compared with our Gregorian calendar. Now if we add 29 to 4 we come up with 33, which is the age of Christ when He was crucified.
2. Intellectual evidence that proves the atoning death of Christ
1.) Christ's voluntary acceptance of death:
Christ could have avoided crucifixion if He wanted to. He could go back to His heavenly home where He was always welcome, which He also had left wilfully and could return to because it was His and under His authority(John 16:28), or He could rally an army of angels to destroy all the Jews in a moment of time (Matthew 26:53). He could go away from them by any other means as He had done more than once at the beginning of His ministry among them (Luke 4:30; John 8:59) when He knew that the hour of His departure from the world had not yet come (John 7:6), or stop rebuking the high priests who were driven to kill Him as a result of His rebuke.
But when we refer back to the history of Christ we see the following: (A) His disciples attempted to stop Him from going to Jerusalem for fear of the aggression and violence of the Jews (John 11:8-10), yet despite all that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). (B) The soldiers who came to arrest Him fell on their faces before Him in awe of His majesty, yet He never took advantage of that to control them and join them to Himself. Instead He gave Himself over to them with His own free will (John 18:6). (C) The disciples were not unarmed; they had two swords, and probably many more knives which they used in slaughtering the sheep for the Passover Feast as it was usual, yet Christ never allowed them to use any means of self-defense. Even when Peter lifted his sword and struck the servant of one of the Jewish priests, Christ said to him, "Put your sword into the sheath" (John 18:11). (D) King Herod, who was responsible for judging Christ at a certain time, was glad to see Him and asked Him to perform a miracle for him. Had Christ fulfilled his wish, Herod would have released Him and protected Him from His adversaries. Yet Christ refused even to answer him (Luke 23:8,9). (E) Pilate the governor, who was responsible for the judgment of Christ from beginning to end, gave Him the chance to defend and clear Himself, yet Christ did not answer Him a word and the governor marvelled at Him (Matthew 27:12-14). Every one of these situations proves that Christ intended to give Himself up to be crucified. Of course there would be no need for this unless He wanted to be the atoning sacrifice, as already mentioned.
2.) God's approval of the crucifixion of Christ:
If Christ's death was not sacrificial God would have hastened to rescue Him, because He is the only One who lived on this earth without sin. And such a One is not supposed to come under the judgment of death, because death is the wages of and the punishment for sin. Christ, however, stood up to be judged before the most evil of mankind. They spat on Him, struck Him in the face, flogged Him and then nailed Him to the cross of shame between two criminals. While all these things were taking place, heaven remained silent and did not take any action. It neither destroyed the evil and the violent, nor sent its angels to rescue Him from their hands. Did God's moral law fail to accomplish its task? Did the nature and attributes of God change? Or did God leave the world alone under the power of evil and iniquity? Of course not! God does not change, and He has never left the world alone. Likewise, God's moral law will not fail in accomplishing its task. We must admit that God let Christ be crucified as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Objection: [Why then did God let the virtuous saints be killed at the hands of the unrighteous sinners?] This objection has nothing to stand on, because even if those saints escaped death, they would die anyway like other people. It was more honourable for them, indeed, to die as martyrs for the truth rather than to die a normal death.
The Scriptures have stated unequivocally that Christ's death, even if it seemed outwardly as an act of the Jews' will, was in fact by God's will. The apostle Peter said to the Jews about Christ after His Ascension to heaven, "Him... you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death" (Acts 2:23). He and the other apostles prayed together, saying, "For truly against Your Holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done" (Acts 4:27,28), which indicates that God meant for the death of Christ to be a sacrificial atonement for us.
3.) Christ's sorrow before the crucifixion:
History attests that the martyred saints met crucifixion and death by fire with joy and gladness. No doubt Christ was more courageous and unbending than they due to His perfect holiness. It was Christ Himself who gave Himself up to be crucified, so He must have met His suffering with more joy and gladness than all of them. Yet if we look at Christ in the Gospels before these pains were inflicted on Him, we see Him in a state that is completely different from that which we expect Him to be in. He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed and said to His disciples, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death." He prayed fervently and incessantly so that His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground as a result of the intense emotional anguish He went through.
Now why was Christ so exceedingly sorrowful?
The answer: The sufferings of the cross which He expected must have been immeasurably harder than the normal sufferings of crucifixion which martyrs underwent. In other words, these sufferings were those of atonement which we deserved forever for our sins, because these sins are infinite by nature. He was not sorrowful because of a sin He committed, but because of the sins we all committed.
4.) The spread of darkness over the earth:
As Christ hung on the cross, darkness covered the face of the earth, and continued for three hours without stopping, from noon till three o'clock p.m. This was caused by the descent of a thick, black cloud. The cloud in the Bible symbolizes the presence and the intervention of God in the affairs of mankind (Number 11:25). The black colour symbolizes deep grief or terrible anger. Only sin causes such a deep grief and nothing else causes God to show terrible anger as sin does. There is no doubt that Christ carried the sins of mankind at that time, or, in other words, He atoned for them.
This darkness could not have been a result of an eclipse of the sun, as some claim, for Christ was crucified on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, and no eclipse can happen at that time. Moreover, the longest period of an eclipse of the sun is only a few minutes and it occurs gradually. As to the darkness that came over the earth at the crucifixion of Christ, it came at once and it continued for three whole hours, after which it was lifted at once also.
Many old scholars made a mention of this event; Philpho the astronomer of the 2nd. century AD said, "The darkness that took over at the crucifixion of Christ did not have an precedent in the whole cosmos." Dionysius the Areopagite said when he saw this darkness, "Either the God of nature is suffering now, or He is sympathizing with someone who is suffering" (al-Khareeda al-Nafeesa vol. 1, p.114). The pagan historian Thales and the Christian philosopher Tertullian of the second century have referred to this darkness, as well as the Islamic philosopher aL-Imam al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir of the fourth century in his book al-Bidaya Wal Nihaya, vol. 1, p.182).
5.) God forsaking Christ:
During the first three hours of His crucifixion, Christ said various things. He asked forgiveness for the ones who crucified Him, promised paradise to the penitent thief, and entrusted His mother into the hands of His disciple John. But when night fell during the following three hours, He was horribly silent. Then He cried out, as man, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me!?" At this point someone may ask:
(A) Does God forsake His chosen ones at times of trouble and distress?
The answer: Of course not. He rescues and delivers them according to His true promise "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me" (Psalm 50:51). And even if it was His will that they die as martyrs for the truth, He Himself draws near to them and helps them endure pain so that they pass through it with joy and gladness, as it happened, and is happening, with the martyred saints. Yet God did not treat Christ, as the Son of Man, in this familiar way, but left Him alone, even though Christ was never more exalted in God's sight than at the time when He hung on the cross. It is there that Christ showed utter obedience to the will of God. God would have never left Him unless His death was a sacrificial one.
(B) Supposing that Christ's death was sacrificial, was it still necessary for God to forsake Christ?
The answer: Yes, of course. Since God is not in harmony with sin, due to His holiness, and since Christ agreed to carry our sins on Himself as though they were His own, it was necessary for Christ to share our standing in God's sight, thus feeling the evil and horridness of sin and suffering the pains that come with it. One of these pains is to be deprived of enjoying God Almighty. So even though Christ remained in His own personal position (who was Himself perfect and inseparable from God), He became like the Son of Man in His vicarious position on the cross during the above-mentioned three hours. He took the place of all mankind and carried all their sins and evils, bearing upon Himself the terrible pain that they deserved. Naturally no other being could take their place in such a dire state but Christ Himself, which has been explained in the previous chapter.
(C) Didn't the divinity of Christ leave His humanity when God left Him for a few hours?
The answer: No, it did not. The reason for this is that the divinity (or Godhead) is an inseparable unity that cannot be split apart because there is no composition within it. Hence, the essence of the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son is together from eternity to eternity.
When the Bible refers to God forsaking Christ it means that, during the terrible hours of darkness, God made Christ (as the Son of Man who represents sinners) bear all the judgment of the world that it deserved according to the divine justice, without giving any sort of help that would alleviate its intensity for Him. This way Christ's propitiation for the sins of mankind could be lawful and in keeping with God's absolute justice. By saying, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Christ was not objecting or asking why (Christ was utterly obedient to God and perfectly understood His dealings); He was just expressing the pain of sacrificial suffering that He was passing through, which reached its peak at that moment. Then He felt utterly lonely before the evil and painful torment of sin.
(D) Doesn't the cry of Christ indicate that He was forced and unwilling to be crucified?
The answer: No, because He simply cannot be forced or coerced. This cry rather indicates that, as the Son of Man, He had full trust in God despite the hard circumstances which He was going through. Actually these unbearable circumstances were the cause of His cry. It also proves His personal perfection; because when ordinary people go through suffering they cannot ask God why He has forsaken them, since they deserve to be forsaken by God for their sins.
Christ literally felt forsaken, because He was substituted for the sinners. Yet this experience was only for a short while, because the question "Why have You forsaken Me?" is an expression of an experience that took place on the cross for a limited period of time and then was finished. Besides, His saying later on, "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit," (Luke 23:46) proves that His relationship with God, even as the Son of Man, was never broken. All that happened was that, after His suffering from all the agonizing pains of crucifixion, He once more rested in the hands of God in the glory, as the Son of Man, by accomplishing the work of atonement to the end.
Even though Christ suffered incomprehensible pains on the cross, yet inwardly He was joyful and happy to suffer for us. He was, in effect, saying, as the Son of Man, "I delight to do Your will, O my God" (Psalm 40:8). This is not unusual, since the psalm that referred to Christ's saying "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" is not one of despair and frustration but of assurance and hope, because it says, "I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise You" (Psalm 22:22). This is evidence of Christ's confidence in God while He was hanging on the cross. He knew He was going to rise from the dead and that He would declare the grace and salvation of God to true believers, then lead them afterward to thank and praise God for them.
6.) His quick death:
After six hours of Christ's crucifixion, the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two thieves that were crucified with Him, so that they may die and be buried before sunset, as was the custom of the Jews. The day following the crucifixion was a Sabbath, which was a holy day on which dead bodies were not supposed to hang on a cross. But when they came to Christ, they did not break His legs because they saw that He had already died (John 19:33). This incident shows us clearly that He died with such unexpected quickness that the governor who sentenced Him to crucifixion did not believe the news till he heard it for himself from the mouth of the centurion who supervised the crucifixion (Mark 15:44,45).
Not breaking Christ's legs was not only determined by the circumstances at the time, but it was foreordained by God from the beginning of time. God had referred to it in an old symbol more than 1500 years before the crucifixion of Christ when He commanded Moses to prohibit the children of Israel from breaking the bones of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:46). The Passover lamb was a symbol of the atonement of Christ, on the basis of which eternal judgment passes over true believers without condemning them to death, just as the destroying sword in old times passed over the first-born among the children of Israel on the basis of the blood of the lamb. The apostle said, "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:7,8). This means that we may keep the feast with pure and holy life that has no trace of sinfulness, because leaven in the Bible symbolizes wickedness that is hidden deep in the soul.
Why then did Christ die that quickly, even though He was the most physically durable, psychologically stable and most resistant to pain among people because of His purity and sanctity?
The answer: Doctors say that when someone is crucified, he dies slowly within about 24 to 28 hours from "a secondary shock". The cause of death is either nervous exhaustion, inflammation of wounds and bleeding, or suspension of the circulation of the blood and heart disturbance. This shows that Christ's death after only six hours (namely 18 hours earlier than the time when the weakest person hanging on a cross is expected to die) can be accounted for only by the severe pain He was going through. This pain was not only the outward physical pain, but He must also have had to suffer another sort of pain: the pain of the atonement which He took upon Himself for us. The intensity of this pain knows no end and it was enough to finish Christ's physical life in a short time.
Therefore doctors believe that, when Christ was hanging on the cross, He had what is called in physiology "sudden cardiac leakage" {I am not sure of the technical term}, which is commonly called a broken heart. The Bible had referred to this fact beforehand when it said, "Reproach has broken my heart" (Psalm 69:20). Of course Christ was not reproached for something He had done, for He was perfect. This was the reproach of the sin in which we have wallowed, which Christ agreed to take upon Himself in our place on the cross.
Some commentators, however, say that Christ died quickly owing to the strenuous effort He exerted on the night prior to His crucifixion and due to the heavy lashing He received from the soldiers after He had been arrested. This opinion, we believe, is not correct. It is true that those two things mentioned by the commentators cause fatigue, but Christ's loud cry on the cross (Matthew 27:46) indicates that, at that time, He was physically fit and full of vitality in spite of all His sufferings. Then the cause of His quick death was that He bore the hard pains of atonement. From this we see clearly that Christ did not die on the cross like a martyr, because death had no authority over Him whatsoever, but He died willingly for us, as a result of atoning for our sins.
7.) The quaking of the earth and the splitting of the rocks:
It has been already mentioned that the darkness that spread over the earth at the crucifixion of Christ was not normal, and now it is time to say that the earthquake that occurred then was not normal either. Jerusalem is far away from the earthquake belt where rocks often split. Geologists say that Jerusalem lies in an area where the crust of the earth had settled thousands of years before the birth of Christ. Also the tremors that occur there sometimes are caused by earthquakes in far places and do not affect it on any large scale. Yet, when earthquakes happen contrary to natural laws, they represent the awesome divine judgment (Matthew 24:7; Revelation 8:5), which the Romans and the Jews deserved at that time, for their evil had reached its climax. They mistreated the Source of grace and goodness, and showed Him enmity (John 12:31). But why were they not judged immediately?
The answer: Because Christ bore their sin upon Himself on their behalf and on behalf of all humanity, which they represented in the inclination toward evil and the deviation from truth. So the death of Christ was not just martyrdom, but atonement.
The way Adam was delivered from death also symbolizes this fact, for the judgment of God was supposed to have befallen him and his wife when they sinned against God's previous warning to them. Yet the judgment did not befall them then, because God let it fall on the sacrifice that God allowed them to have as a substitute for them both, as already mentioned in chapter three.
Darkness and tremors took place because the Bible says they did. The two incidents are mentioned in the Bible with brevity and with no exaggeration, which writers of novels always fall back upon. The news about them spread among the contemporaries of Christ and none of them objected to it. The Jews who were by the cross beat their chest in remorse as well (Luke 23:48), and the centurion bore witness that the crucified One was truly the "Son of God", which proves that these two incidents actually took place in their presence and that they were all greatly affected by them.
3. The suffering of martyrdom and the suffering of atonement
We have seen then that Christ endured two sorts of suffering on the cross: the sufferings of martyrdom and the suffering of atonement. Yet many people think that they are the same, therefore we shall now look at each in turn.
Firstly- The suffering of martyrdom
The suffering of martyrdom that Christ endured was not only physical, but also emotional, as it is shown as follows:
1.) Physical suffering:
(A) In Ananias' house, the spirit of hatred and cruelty welled up in one of the servants so much that he struck Christ with all his strength. In Caiaphas' house as well, the servants and the Temple soldiers fell upon Him and vented all their anger on Him. Some punched Him, others slapped Him, while others hit Him with staves.
(B) In the governor's house, the Roman soldiers jumped at the chance this Jew offered them by claiming He was a king. They stripped Him of His clothes, tied His hands, bent Him down, tied Him to a pole and flogged Him with all their might. Their whips consisted of nine leather belts, in each of which were seven balls of unpolished metal. The lashing fell on His back, and sometimes on His head and face. His flesh was lacerated and the metal balls plunged into the wounds, causing blood to gush out from them. Also the nerves were torn and the bones were severely scraped. Christ suffered excruciating pain indeed. Had He been a normal man, He would have died then and there, as many men had done. Afterward they placed a crown of thorns on His head and struck Him with a stick on it, so the thorns dug into His head and blood gushed out profusely, running down His face.
(C) Finally, they threw Him on the cross that had been prepared for Him, then pulled His arms violently on its cross-beams, and hammered a thick nail into each of them with a heavy hammer. The two nails sank into skin, flesh, sinews and bones, till they penetrated the cross-beams of the cross and were secured there. They put one foot of His on top of the other, and with a longer nail they nailed both of them together till the nail penetrated the prop of the cross and was secured in it too. After this, the cross was raised up and dropped in a hole to fix it, which must have caused Christ a great deal of pain. There He was left under the scorching heat of the sun till His strength was dried up like a potsherd, and His tongue clung to His jaws due to extreme thirst (Psalm 22:15).
"The cross," Cicero said, "is the basest and most cruel punishment, which was executed only upon the most wicked criminals and the lethal enemies [of the state] to make their torment go longer. Whoever was sentenced to the cross wished he could die quickly- a wish that never was fulfilled. He would labour under his excruciating pains a day or more, until death comes as the end and rescues him." The Jews wanted Christ to suffer this kind of pain; but they were disappointed, for He died after a few hours from His crucifixion.
2.) Emotional suffering:
(A) Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, even though He had entrusted him with the money that had been given to the disciples and had allowed him to eat from the same dish with Him a few hours earlier. Peter, the bold one among the disciples, denied Him in spite of the many special privileges Christ had granted Him and the big favour of healing his mother-in-law that He had done his family. Peter did not even stop at that; he started to curse, swearing that he did not know Christ. As to the other disciples, they left Him and ran away, even though they were the ones He loved the most and were closest to His heart. He had spent His last three years of life teaching, instructing and taking care of them.
(B) In Gethsemane, the Jews came up to Him with swords and sticks as though He were a burglar or a murderer who killed people. They tied Him up, as they did the slaves and criminals, and led Him with brutality to Annas and then to Caiaphas. They began to spit on Him as if He were the vilest and lowest of men. In biting mockery they covered His glorious face, struck Him, and then ask Him, "Prophesy! Who is it that struck You?!"
After finally deciding to nail Him to the cross, they led Him to Pontius Pilate amid the people's open derision, mockery and taunting. They stood before him and heaped their accusations up against Christ, forgetting, or rather ignoring, that they or their relatives had received much from His gracious hands. In addition to all that, He was the purest and holiest Man who ever lived on our earth at all times.
(C) When He stood before Herod, the soldiers mocked and ridiculed Him. They clothed Him with a bright robe to make fun of Him. On bringing Him back to the Praetorium to be further judged by Pilate, the high priests, who held God's Bible in their hands, asked to release Barabbas rather than the Messiah. So they asked Pilate to release that manslayer and to crucify Christ. He complied with them and granted them their wish for fear that he should lose his position, although he held all the authority in the country in his hands. Actually he was appointed to maintain and protect justice from those who wanted to play havoc with it.
(D) In the Praetorium, the Roman soldiers took Him and gathered the whole battalion upon Him. They tied Him up amongst them, and made Him an object of their ridicule. They held a mock coronation celebration for Him in which they took off His ordinary clothes and put on Him a purple garment (perhaps it was a worn out cloak which a noble man had long disposed of and was taken by one of the soldiers). Afterward they made a crown of thorns and thistles and put it on His head. They placed a stick in His hands for a sceptre, to make Him look like a phony king. In utter mockery and degradation they knelt down before Him and said, "Hail, King of the Jews!!" When they had finished, they took away the stick they had given Him and struck Him hard with it on His head to complete their insult to Him.
(E) When He was hung on the cross, those who passed by blasphemed Him, shaking their heads and looking at Him from top to bottom with all contempt and spite, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!" They did not know that He accepted the cross voluntarily to propitiate for their sins and the sins of others, and that the miracle He wanted to give to the world was not to come down from the cross, but to rise from the dead after completing the work of redemption.
Even if He had come down from the cross as they asked Him to, they still would not have believed in Him. They would have said that He had a demon, as they had said earlier about Him when He worked miracles. The real reason behind their disbelief was not their need of proof of Christ's unique prophetical position with God, but the blindness of their insights, which made them see truth as falsehood and falsehood as truth.
Christ endured these physical and emotional pains, which affected Him far more than what we can imagine or bargain for, for the following two reasons: (a) He was in perfect physical health and suffered from no illness or pain, which would have taught patience and endurance. He also was in perfect emotional health, so His feelings were never clouded and His emotions were never hardened and He never experienced the taste of insult and shame. (b) He loved men, but they met His love with hate and enmity. He did good to them, but they met His benevolence with rebellion and disobedience. Because of His absolute perfection, He hurt deeply as a result of this ingratitude. These pains, however, were only the pains of martyrdom that the martyred saints also endured (in varying degrees) with all joy and delight. Therefore, they could not be the cause of the deep sorrow that He showed in the Garden of Gethsemane or the loud cry that He uttered while He was hanging on the cross.
Secondly- The suffering of atonement
This is the invisible pain that Christ had to endure on behalf of mankind as a result of their sins and iniquities. The sword of divine justice was about to fall upon them all, but Christ received it out of mercy and pity for them. Thus the prophecy that was said about Him more than 500 years was fulfilled: "'Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,' says the Lord of hosts 'Strike the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered'" (Zechariah 13:7). He was cut down by the sword of punishment instead of the sheep that deserved it. We cannot begin to comprehend the magnitude, the horror or the intensity of the this pain. However, let us ponder on the following points, and we can understand a little more:
1.) Christ replaced the sinners in position:
Divine justice considered Christ guilty because He substituted for us on the cross. The Scriptures said, "He was numbered with the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12). He took upon Himself all our sins, as ugly, despicable and unclean as they are, as though they were His own. David had seen this fact a long time ago and had spoken as though he were Christ, saying, "O God, You know My foolishness; and My sins are not hidden from You" (Psalm 69:5), although Christ did not do any iniquity or commit any sin. Knowing that a man of noble character is naturally hurt when he is accused of a wrong that someone else did, no doubt then that Christ was deeply hurt inside. As holy and righteous as He is, all our sins were put on Him, thus becoming not only guilty, but as though He were all sinners combined together. He even became as though He were sin itself, which corrupted the whole world and cause God's laws and rights to be violated. The Scriptures referred to this fact when it said about God that "He made Him [that is Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
2.) His acceptance of the reproach of sin:
Since Christ was a substitute for sinners, He took upon Himself the reproach of their sins. The shame of sin is the highest sort of shame. The Bible says of it, "Sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). Christ felt this reproach in a way we cannot imagine, because His feeling for reproach is incomparably finer than that of those who were born and lived in it. With the spirit of prophecy, David saw the reproach that Christ felt when He was hanging on the cross, and said on His behalf, before He ever came to earth, "Reproach has broken My heart, and I am full of heaviness" (Psalm 69:20). It was this reproach that broke Christ's heart, which was brimming with the holiest and finest emotions. It was this reproach that made Him hang His head, which was full of the purest and most noble principles. Therefore He was heavy with sorrow. This heaviness of soul is the worst of all diseases because it kills a man quickly and relentlessly.
3.) His enduring the torment of sin:
Sin not only brings reproach on its doer, but also torment. Now since Christ agreed to represent us, it was self-evident that he had to endure the torment of sin also, which is an incomparable torment. It is hell itself with its psychological anguish and the flames of divine justice. David the prophet saw the effect of this torment on Christ's soul with the spirit of prophecy and said on His behalf, before He ever came into the world, "I am poured out like water, and all My boned are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws" (Psalm 22:14,15).
4.) The curse of sin settled upon Him:
Sin does not bring reproach and torment only; it also brings a curse. The Scripture said, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them" (Galatians 3:10). So it was necessary that the Redeemer should not only carry the reproach and torment of sin, but its curse as well. Did Christ accept the curse of sin, together with the sufferings He accepted for us? The answer brings tears to one's eyes, and one's pen to slow down: Yes, He did. The Scripture said, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). So because of agreeing to carry our sins upon Himself out of love and pity for us, He was not only considered accursed, but a curse as well to remove the curse from us and bring us a blessing instead.
This is only a little of the suffering of atonement. There is no more to be written about it than what has been written already. Only God and Christ know its magnitude and horror, because God knows the requirements of His infinite justice, and Christ was the One who fully met these requirements in His human nature. Supposing that the pains of atonement turned into a physical fire and consumed Christ's body, this would be easier for Him than the pain He had to endure. The reason for this is that these pains continued to rage in His body, soul and spirit, tormenting them, yet not destroying them, all during the hours of darkness in which Christ was crucified.
Some people assume that the atonement was an outward, automatic act, which God had to accomplish before He could forgive us and bring us closer to Him. This act, however, issued from His very nature. For fear that the meaning of atonement should be misunderstood, we say: "But for God's atonement of our sins in Christ, we would not have obtained salvation." Unless God, with His infinite love, could endure our sins, with all their filth and horridness, and agree to bring us closer to Him in spite of our personal shortcomings, we would have never been saved. Therefore, His appearing to us in the person of Christ to do these two services was not an outward act that He had to do in order to accomplish something else that His nature would not do. On the contrary, it was an act issuing from His very nature.
As a result of His strong love for mankind, God did not destroy them because of their sins, but waited for them patiently many years. When the wickedness of a group of them would exceed the bounds, He would send a flood, fire or pestilence upon them to chastise them and bring them to repentance. But when the time He appointed came and the souls of the elect were eager for salvation from sin and its consequences, sure now that they could not obtain it by their own strength, God appeared to us in Christ and bore all our evils and iniquities, instead of returning them upon our heads and inflicting eternal judgment upon us. Now if Christ avoided crucifixion, allowed His disciples to use the sword or summoned the angels to defend Him (which He could easily do), our sins would still be our master, defying God's love and mercy. But now God's love and mercy have completely overcome our sins, so that any of us who truly believes has the privilege of being forgiven forever and ever, as it is made clear in chapter seven.
So then, Christ's sacrificial death was the greatest service He rendered us, for if He lived until today teaching the people, feeding the hungry and raising the dead without atoning for our sins, all these services, as useful and marvellous as they are, would not save us from the condemnation of sin or qualify us to be in the presence of God and in harmony with Him. We would spend our lives in eternal misery!
Chapter Six
The Sufficiency and Results of the Atonement of Christ
1. The sufficiency of God's atonement in Christ
It was God Himself who redeemed us through Christ, therefore His redemption must be sufficient to meet the requirements of His justice and holiness toward us. Consequently, it must be sufficient to save us from our sins and its destructive consequences. However, because this is so important, let us cite some evidence that confirms the truth, so that doubters may rest assured.
Firstly- Christ's testimony and the evidence of its authenticity
(A) Before He accomplished His redemption of mankind, Christ said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). He also said, "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see [eternal] life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36), and "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment [because the judgment he deserved was borne by Christ], but has passed from death into life" (John 5:24). The enjoyment of this life on the basis of true faith in Christ is the evidence of the sufficiency of His atonement.
(B) When Christ was on the cross, He said to the thief, who regretted his sins and took refuge with His grace because he had true faith in Him, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Now this thief merited eternal torment for his crimes. His mere regret for having done them would not qualify him to be forgiven or to enjoy God, as it is explained in chapter two. It follows then that the statement of Jesus to the thief, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise," is an evidence that the atonement of Christ is sufficient to save from sin and its consequences.
(C) The last statement uttered by Christ on the cross was, "It is finished!" (John 19:30). There is a big difference between ending something and finishing it. When one ends something he may stop short of finishing it, but when one finishes something, then he has completed it. So by saying "It is finished" Christ not only stated that He had ended the act of atonement, but also that He had accomplished His goal successfully, as is necessitated by the original language of the Scripture. The Greek word for "finished" here is "teles" which means not only the termination of a thing, but also carrying out a thing to the full (Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, W. E. Vine, p. 431, 14).
2.) The evidence of the authenticity of Christ's testimony:
Christ's statements have been recorded by divine inspiration, which removes all doubts as to their authenticity. Besides, Christ did not announce all of them at the beginning of His ministry; instead He uttered some of them while on the verge of death. At such a time people tend to part company with their false claims and appear as they really are. Now since Christ's testimony of His sacrificial death proved to be true, as was made clear previously, and since Christ was not One to brag or boast, then His testimony of the sufficiency of His atonement to meet the requirements of God's justice and holiness and to save us from sin and its consequences must be true as well.
Secondly- The apostles' testimony and the evidence of its authenticity
1.) The apostles' testimony:
(A) The apostle Peter said about Christ that He "bore our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24), as well as "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18).
(B) The apostle John said about Christ, "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world" (1 John 2:2). He also said that He "loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Revelation 1:5), and that "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).
(C) The apostle Paul also said about Him, "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most High Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12). He also said, "For by one offering He has perfected for ever those who are being sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14), "He had by Himself purged our sins" (Hebrews 1:3), "who gave Himself a ransom for us" (1 Timothy 2:6), "He... might taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9) and "who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed" (Titus 2:14).
These verses make it clear that the redemption of Christ is not confined to a certain group of people, or to certain sins, or that it extends for a certain period of time after which people would not get another redemption. Instead, Christ's redemption is for all people, from all sins, and it extends forever. This gives the chance for everybody at all times and in all countries to be saved.
2.) The evidence of its authenticity:
The apostles' testimony has been recorded by divine inspiration, which removes all doubt as to its authenticity. In the previous chapter, we have cited evidence of the authenticity of their testimony. Moreover, by proclaiming the sufficiency of Christ's atonement, the apostles made clear to the Jews that there was no need for offering the sacrifices they used to offer, as well as for the existence of the Temple or the priests and the Levites who ministered in it. This declaration exasperated all the Jews and made them persecute the apostles severely led by their religious leaders. For this declaration not only dissolved their sources of income, but also put an end to Judaism, which they deeply cherished. The apostles could not have made up such a thing to get themselves persecuted. They could never have persisted in proclaiming it with such bravery and courage if they knew it was false. Besides, it was impossible for them to agree on fabricating this declaration because they were different in culture, upbringing, age, environment, citizenship and social status. They must have been completely certain before God of the truth they proclaimed the sufficiency of Christ's atonement.
Thirdly- The testimony of the Old Testament prophets and the evidence of its authenticity:
1.) The testimony of the Old Testament prophets:
(A) In 1500 BC the prophet Moses said that before God brought Adam and Eve from the Garden, He had revealed to them that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). By this revelation God gave Adam a full promise of redemption in Christ. The Hebrew word for "seed" [zera`] mentioned here occurs in the singular, not the plural, and the only one who could be called the "seed of the woman" is the Lord Jesus Christ, because He was born of a mother without a father. When this Hebrew word occurs in the plural [zera'im], it is translated descendants or plants that have seeds. This is made clear by apostle Paul's argument in Galatians 3:16, where he says, "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to your seed,' who is Christ" (Galatians 3:16).
The serpent refers to Satan, because Bible calls him "the serpent of old" (Revelation 20:2), owing to his deception of people and the way he leads them astray. Bruising the head of the serpent means that Christ terminated and destroyed the devil's authority completely. This indicates the sufficiency of Christ's atonement to save true believers from sin and its eternal consequences.
(B) In 1000 BC, David said with the spirit of prophecy that true believers would come [from everywhere] and declare His [Christ's] righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this [righteousness] (Psalm 22:31). He also said about those believers that they will see and be glad, and their hearts shall live (Psalm 69:32), which proves the sufficiency of Christ's atonement for their eternal salvation, because there is no room for gladness or eternal life without the sufficiency of Christ's atonement.
(C) In 700 BC, Isaiah the prophet said about Christ, "You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord (pertaining to the salvation of true believers) shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many [true believers], for He shall bear their iniquities" (Isaiah 53:10,11). Each of these passages denotes the sufficiency of Christ's atonement forever. The seed that He shall see is true believers who live forever, and it is they who will satisfy and bring gladness to Christ's soul by receiving His sufficient salvation.
Isaiah calls Christ "the Servant of the Lord", which is a biblical term meaning the one who fulfils all the limitless purposes of God. In His humanity, Christ is referred to with this term, because He carried out His task to the full. This is not unusual, since He is "the Word of God" and in so being He alone can carry it out.
2.) The evidence of its authenticity:
This testimony has been recorded by divine inspiration, which removes all doubts as to its authenticity. Yet, in addition to the evidence of the trustworthiness of those prophets, they lived so far from each other in terms of time that they could not have possibly colluded together to concoct such an idea (contrary to what some people claim). It is impossible, likewise, that one of them copied what another said, because each one of them spoke about a specific aspect of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement that none else shared with him. This proves that they were led together by the Spirit of God, since He is the One that knows everything about the truth from the beginning. He was able to reveal to each one of the prophets some parts of it that were suitable to his circumstances.
Fourthly- The factual testimony of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement
1.) The torn veil of the Temple:
When Christ said, "It is finished," the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). In order to understand clearly what the tearing of the veil of the Temple at that moment means, we need to know the following: There was in the tent of meeting that Moses built, and the Temple that Solomon later built, a chamber called the Holy of Holies. God made this chamber a symbol for heaven, in which He manifested Himself in His glory and splendour. Opposite this chamber, there was another one called the holy place, in which the priests offered worship to God daily. The veil was between these two chambers (2 Chronicles 3:14; Exodus 26:31) and it symbolized the fact that people (priests included) were not qualified to have access to God's presence because of their sins, and that He could not receive them into His presence due to His absolute holiness.
This veil remained between the two chambers from the time of Moses till Christ was taken down from the cross. No one dared to enter, or even look at, the Holy of Holies all that time for fear that he might die immediately. God even commanded Moses that the high priest may not enter beyond the veil at all times, lest he should die (Leviticus 16:2). This veil that hung in its place hundreds of years announced that the door to God is closed for mankind because of their sins, yet it could not remain even for a moment after Christ had said, "It is finished." Instead, it was torn in two immediately from top to bottom. Of course God would not tear it in that moment unless the atonement of Christ met all the requirements of divine justice and holiness. By rending the veil God seemed to be saying to the people, "Christ has atoned for your sins completely; therefore I opened my door wide for you to come in and enjoy being in My presence with no barrier or hindrance."
2.) Not breaking Christ's legs:
It has been already mentioned in chapter seven that the reason for not breaking Christ's legs was that He died before sunset. If the breaking of the legs is looked at as an insult to the crucified one, we see that God did not allow Christ's legs to be broken so as to honour Him. And of course there would be no reason for honouring Him then unless His atonement had met the requirements of divine justice and holiness.
3.) The issue of blood and water from Christ's side:
After Christ's death one of the soldiers stabbed Him in His side with a spear, which caused blood and water to come forth immediately. This issue of blood and water, even though it could be accounted for physiologically, attests to the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. Water, among other things, stands for the divine means of purification and spiritual fulfilment (John 4:10-14; Revelation 22:17). Blood stands for redemption and atonement, because without the shedding of blood there is no remission (Hebrews 9:22). This truth attracted the apostle John's attention, so that he said about Christ, "This is He who came by water and blood-Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood... And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree [in respect to Christ] as one" (1 John 5:6-8). The Holy Spirit reveals in the world that redemption and eternal life are in Christ, which testifies to the sufficiency of Christ's atonement.
4.) Christ's burial in a new grave:
It may never occur to anyone that Christ's burial in a new grave had something to do with the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. Yet, since nothing happens in life, whether big or small, except it be according to God's will and predestination, we should not let our minds pass over the burial of Christ in a new grave without asking: "Why did God want Christ's body to be buried in such a grave, although He should have been buried together with the two thieves, with whom He was crucified, in the public cemetery, according to the laws of the Roman state at the time?!"
As an answer, we say: If Christ's atonement had not met the requirements of God's justice and holiness, Christ would have been no more and no less than any other man. Consequently, He would have been buried in the public cemetery. So, not being buried in such a cemetery attests to the sufficiency of His atonement to fulfil the requirements of God's justice and holiness. It also indicates the perfection of His purity.
God let mankind crucify Christ, not because He was unable to rescue Him from their hands, but because it was His will to fulfil through Him His atonement for them all. Now, since Christ fulfilled it to the end, there was no need for His pure body to be insulted any longer. Instead, it deserved to be honoured and respected. Yes, He was about to be honoured and glorified by His resurrection from the dead with no corruption, but this did not preclude being honoured during His death. He had to be covered in a costly shroud, and He had to be anointed with the most expensive ointments, and He had to be buried in a brand new grave, surrounded by a garden (John 19:39-41).
5.) Christ's resurrection from the dead:
Had Christ remained buried in His grave, there would have been some room for contesting His absolute perfection, on the grounds that He did not differ from anyone else who was ruled by death and remained in his grave till the Day of Resurrection because of his sins. This would also give room for contesting the sufficiency of His atonement to meet the requirements of God's justice and holiness. But His resurrection from the dead on the third day leaves no room for contesting against this or that.
6.) The resurrection of some saints:
In the wake of Christ's resurrection from the dead, some saints rose from their graves and were seen by many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Matthew 27:52). This incident has been recorded by divine inspiration and cannot be rejected as false. It is mentioned in the Bible very matter-of-factly, in a very simple, unexaggerated style and is not meant to be a personal comment or an interpolation. Only man-made books are prone to such things. Likewise, it cannot be a brain-child of the disciples. If they wanted to honour Christ for His resurrection from the dead, it would not occur to them to honour some other saints who had died before Him, so as to make sure that He would be in the lime-light alone. Moreover, this episode was written and published in the same area where Christ was crucified, and He rose amongst the same people who witnessed His crucifixion and heard of His resurrection, yet none of them objected to it. It must have been a true account of what took place in their presence.
When God let those saints rise again from their graves after the resurrection of Christ, He furnished proof of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. He declared also that the inexhaustible power of life, which raised Christ from the dead (Hebrews 7:16), is able to raise all the saints who died and who will die, in the same manner in which Christ rose from the dead into eternal glory.
7.) The destruction of the Jewish Temple:
The temple was the greatest object of glory among the Jews. The erection of this temple cost about a billion gold pounds. It was the only place they turned to in times of trouble, to offer sacrifices according to the law God gave to Moses. It was there that they repented and sought mercy and forgiveness for their sins. In addition, the temple was the public witness of their relationship to God, apart from all other nations of antiquity, since the latter worshipped idols. In the past God used to fill that temple with His glory, reveal His will and meet the people in it in the Spirit. This temple, however, was demolished some years after Christ's Ascension into heaven. Titus, the Roman commander, surrounded it and burned it down, thus causing it to sink from its previous glory. Titus was not satisfied by this; he also pulled its foundations from the ground, fulfilling Christ's prophecy that not one of its stones shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down (Matthew 24:2).
The Jews tried to rebuild the temple several times in the last two thousand years, but all their attempts were doomed to failure. This shows that their sacrifices were only figures and symbols for the atonement of Christ, and that Christ's atonement is an eternal atonement with everlasting effect.
2. The results of the sufficiency of God's atonement in Christ
Firstly- The external blessings
The external blessings are those that God gives true believers. He sees them enjoying these blessings before Him by virtue of Christ's atonement, regardless of the condition of their souls at any time. These blessings may be summed up as follows:
1.) Forgiveness:
One thousand years before Christ, David sang, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven" (Psalm 32:1). Six hundred years before Christ, the prophet Jeremiah wondered how God pardons the sinners (Jeremiah 5:7). Yet, the blessedness of which David spoke only materialized through the sufficiency of the atonement of Christ. The only way God could pardon sinners was revealed through this same atonement. God said through the apostles, "Let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man [that is, Christ] is preached to you the forgiveness of sins" (Acts 13:38). He also said, "... that they [namely, people] may receive the forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those that are sanctified" (Acts 26:18), also, "... through His [namely Christ's] name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43). He also said to those who truly believed, "... your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake" (1 John 2:12).
When God pardons sins, He does not remember them at all, as if they have never been committed. The prophet David yearned for such complete remission and said to God, "Do not remember the sins of my youth" (Psalm 25:7). But this complete forgetting of sins could never be realized except through the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. It is the only thing that fulfilled the requirements of God's justice and holiness, on the basis of which God said to the believers, "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
2.) Justification:
Justification for the believers means to be cleared of the stigma of sin that has stuck to them, and become righteous before God as though they have never committed any sin at all and did all the righteousness that God wanted. This is not unusual, because just as Christ took our place so that all our sins were imputed against Him, in the same way His immeasurable righteousness was imputed for us.
In the past, the righteous Job and the prophet David searched for such righteousness, but found no way to it. Job wondered, "How, then, can man be righteous before God?" (Job 25:4), and David said to God, "In Your sight no one living is righteous" (Psalm 143:2). Yet, this justification, which these two men regarded as impossible to obtain, became possible through the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. The apostles said, through divine inspiration, to true believers, "... being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24-28). They also said, "But now the righteousness of God is revealed... through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe" (Romans 3:21-22). Thanks be to Christ, who "was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised because of our justification" (Romans 4:25), for "by Him everyone who believes is justified" (Acts 13: 39).
Now there is a difference between legal and practical righteousness. Legal righteousness is what God imputes on us by virtue of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement when we truly believe in Him. Practical righteousness, however, consists of the good, flawless works which we who believe do by virtue of God's effect on our souls. Legal righteousness is absolutely perfect and cannot be increased or added to by any of us. It is also the only basis for being accepted by God, for we cannot atone for one of our sins by all our good works. Practical righteousness, however, differs in amount from one person to another, because we ourselves work it out. It is according to this righteousness that we get our additional reward from God, which is along with our enjoyment of being accepted eternally before Him on the basis of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement.
3.) Purification:
Hundreds of years before the coming of Christ, righteous Job said about himself that, even if he washed himself with snow water and cleansed his hands with soap, he would still be guilty (Job 9:30). The prophet Jeremiah said about mankind that even if they wash themselves with lye their sins will not be blotted out before God (Jeremiah 2:22). [Lye is a strong alkaline liquor rich in potassium carbonate used in making soap and washing. Soap and lye are used here figuratively to say that sin cannot be removed by any human means.]
The prophet Ezekiel said about mankind that they were not purged and would not be purged (Ezekiel 24:13). The prophet David cried out to God, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:2). Yet, this purification they yearned for and regarded as unattainable was realized by virtue of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. The apostles of Christ said of Him, "He had by Himself purged our sins" (Hebrews 1:3), and that He "loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood" (Revelation 1:5). They said that His blood cleanses from all sins (1 John 1:7). Thus we have been washed, sanctified and even justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).
4.) Reconciliation and peace with God:
Righteous Job looked for someone free of sin and at the same time able to fulfil the requirements of God's justice, so that he could reconcile him to God. Yet, he never found this person, so he said in despair, "Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both. Let Him take His rod away from me, and do not let dread of Him terrify" (Job 9:33,34). The prophet Jeremiah used to say that no man has peace (12:12). Isaiah the prophet asked God to establish peace for him and for others (26:12). Nevertheless, the reconciliation and peace that these virtuous men yearned for and regarded as unattainable have come true by virtue of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. Driven by divine inspiration, Paul said, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1,2). He also said, "We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation (Romans 5:11). "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Again he said that God reconciled all things to Himself by Christ, "through the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:20-22).
5.) Salvation from eternal condemnation:
The most pious people used to fear death and weep bitterly if they happened to know that they were about to die (2 Kings 20:3). They dreaded standing before the justice of God (Psalm 143:2) and cringed at the eternal fire which God appointed for judgment (Isaiah 33:14). But by virtue of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement, we no longer dread the judgment; instead we have full confidence that we have the privilege of enjoying God in heaven forever. Christ said that he who believes in Him will not be condemned before the divine judgment (John 3:18). He who believes in the One who sent Him will have eternal life and shall not come into judgment, but has been translated from death into life. Christ said that whoever believes in the Son will have everlasting life, and the Son will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40). Driven by divine inspiration, the apostle Paul said about the salvation from this condemnation, "... when the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:4-5). He also said, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). Finally, he said of himself, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief" (1 Timothy 1:12-15).
Secondly- The internal blessings
We knew already from chapter two that we not only need forgiveness, but also a spiritual life that qualifies us to be harmonious with God in His exalted qualities. If we get this forgiveness without a spiritual life, we escape the eternal condemnation but we remain unable to live in harmony with God. This inability is misery itself. Therefore, the results of Christ's atonement do not stop at the external blessings mentioned above, but also extend to internal blessings that qualify the soul for the desired harmony with God in His character. These blessings are:
1.) Spiritual birth from God:
The following points aim at introducing this birth, its importance and indispensability.
(A) The inability of human methods of self-reformation:
It became clear for us in chapter two that religious acts such as fasting, prayer and genuine repentance are incapable of absolving sinners from the punishment for their sin, and qualifying them to be harmonious with God in His lofty moral character. Moreover, the attempts of social reformers at destroying sin have all failed. One group of them said that poverty, ignorance, emptiness and the revolution of the youth are the factors that lead to committing sin. A poor man, they said, would be led into it in order to get something to eat; an ignorant man for his lack of estimation of its consequences; an unemployed man for being unable to remain jobless; and the youth for their recklessness and impetuosity. Therefore, they took pains to provide the necessary means for the poor, knowledge for the unlearned, jobs for the idle and discipline for the youth. Nonetheless, all these methods, as experience has proven, are not beneficial in turning people away from sin, because, needless to say, many wealthy, educated and busy folk together with many who are well beyond their youth, still commit iniquities and atrocities just like anyone else.
Another group claimed that physical punishment is apt to turn the wicked away from their wickedness; so they recommended punishment, either by imprisonment, whipping or hard labour. Nonetheless, all these methods also, as experience has proven, are useless. They caused the wicked to work on new ways of hiding the evidence of their crimes and commit them without attracting the attention of anyone. Yet, granting that they would give up this wicked life for any reason, still the inclination to commit them remains in their souls. They simply remain as wicked as before!
A third group maintained that religion has a great impact on people when they receive religious instruction from their early childhood. So they enforced the teaching of religion in schools and commanded children to commit to memory many religious texts, especially those that speak of God's greatness and how necessary it is to obey Him. But does not a religious man who has been instructed since his early childhood in religion commit the same sins any other man does?
(B) The reasons these methods failed at self-reformation:
(1) The inclination toward sin is not incidental to mankind, due to their circumstances or the social state in which people live. If it were, then it could be removed by these methods. But it springs from their nature itself, which does not change at all, no matter what people do to assume new characters. Nature is stronger than nurture! Although tamed and trained to do the tricks that are expected of them, ferocious animals often attack their trainers and kill them. The same applies to the human soul; it can be refined, and men seem to be much more refined now than when they were back in the jungle. Yet, they are possessed of the same nature. The civilized man may sometimes rise above sin under the influence of religious or social factors, but such an abstinence is merely an artificial one because it goes against one's nature and tendencies. True abstinence, however, is the natural one. It is like the steam rising in the air due to its lighter weight. This rising above sin cannot be natural unless one gets a new nature that is characterized by it. Man cannot have this nature on his own or through the efforts of other people, because of his innate deficiency. Only God can offer it to those who are ready to have it, because He is the Creator of everything, whether material or spiritual.
(2) Men of God, like Job and Jeremiah, realized how unable people are to reform themselves, so that Job asked, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" Then he answered himself, "No one!" (Job 14:4). That is, no one amongst men. Jeremiah asked, "Can the Ethiopian (namely a negro) change his skin or the leopard its spots?" [The answer is: Of course not!] Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil" (13:23). The apostle Paul said about human nature, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24). Many philosophers and scholars have come to realize this. Plato said, "There is no gradual advance from wickedness to goodness," for a wicked man cannot progress of his own accord to become good. Aristotle said, "I am completely unable to rectify human souls and make them become good." Wilson said, "Science has failed at accomplishing the primary reformation and providing people with an earthly paradise. True, it profited them in the material realm and freed them from superstitions and rescued them from the clutches of diseases, but it failed to change human nature and rid it from its innate vices, such as malice and malevolence." He also said, "Ethics has failed at eradicating the inclination toward evil from the soul, and supplanting it with the inclination toward goodness." Beetcher said, "Put whatever you like on a zebra. Put a bit of gold in its mouth, and a saddle of raw silk on its back. Would that change its [wild] nature?! Adorn it with all the adornments you want, would that do away with its wildness? Thus is human nature; it cannot be changed, regardless the efforts reformers and religious people may make." Seneca said, "Men are engulfed in a sense of their own weakness and inability in relation to moral development; they hate their vices, yet they are drawn to them. What they need is a hand to be placed under them to lift them higher," which can be nothing else but the hand of God.
(3) Now as this is the case, men of religious standing and reformers, whose attempts we mentioned in the previous point, are like a group of people who saw a man about to drown. So they started to shout at him, saying, for example, "You have made a mistake by going to the sea. You should not have risked your life so long as you do not know how to swim. Now that matters have reached such an extremity, you must strive and endeavour so that no water should come into your stomach or you would drown." Does this rebuke or advice help any?! Of course not. What should be done then is to first save the man who is about to drown, then rebuke or advise him. This is what Christianity does with the sinner; it does not require him to live a life of holiness and purity to start with, but to come with all his heart to Christ the Redeemer. Then, not only his sins would be forgiven, but he would also receive a spiritual nature from God that should qualify him to rise above his innate sinful nature. This way he can carry out all God's commandments in the best way. This act is called "being born of God".
(C) What is the meaning of "being born of God"?
(1) First, it is not the reformation of the old human nature by fasting, praying, preaching or instruction. Neither is it opening a new page in life through repenting of sin and trying to keep away from it, joining a religious group and practicing some religious or moral activities among them, or studying the holy books and seeking to act on them (even though all these things are good in themselves). Being born of God means getting a spiritual nature that qualifies oneself for being in harmony with God in His exalted character.
(2) The apostles have referred to this spiritual rebirth when they said, "But as many as received Him [that is Christ], to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12,13). "Not of blood" means not a certain race or stock. "Nor of flesh" means not by self- or human effort. "Nor of the will of man" means not through natural reaction or intercourse, or not by a religious man, so to speak. They also said, "Whoever [truly] believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1), that "God... has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures" (James 1:18). They also said that true believers have been born again "not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever" (1 Peter 1:23), and that God has given them all things that pertain to life and godliness, that through these they may become partakers of the divine [moral] nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:3,4). The Lord Christ had highlighted the indispensability of this rebirth when He said to one of the great Jewish teachers, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again'" (John 3:6-7).
(3) Being born of God is also called "the new creation". The apostle said, "Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthian 5:17). As he also said of himself and the believers, "For we are His workmanship, created [a second time] in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
(4) So then, this rebirth is no stretch of imagination, as some believe; it is an established fact with enough evidence backing it up. Many psychiatrists were interested in studying it, especially in the lives of former drug-addicts or criminals. They were really amazed at what they found and confessed that it exists. When he saw its effect upon such people, Drummond was convinced of its existence and recorded his findings in his books. When the scientist Storbook {I am not sure of the spelling} studied the effects of this birth, he said it had to do with a great change in the soul. Browning found that re-birth does not take place in the soul gradually, but at once. Jowett said, "Being born again is not subject to the laws of psychological treatment, but to another law; the law of God." Savonarola also said, "When one is born of God, a new creative life begins," because he found that those born of God live a lofty spiritual life that no one else but they can live.
(D) The indispensability of the new birth:
(1) Sin has not only caused man's soul to be sick, but caused it to die as well. So, it needs, above all, a spiritual life that Christ Jesus came into the world to give to us. Christ said of Himself, "I have come [not to preach, teach, instruct or work miracles, even though he did all these things] but that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
This life is not simply a moral power, as some people assume, but it is life with all that the word contains. It is the same as the life that flows into a dead man, making him rise up from his death and do what he wanted to do. By means of it a man who is dead in sins and trespasses becomes a spiritual man, who can rise above all sins by the grace of God, as well as being able to harmonize with God in His exalted moral qualities. The apostle Paul, who experienced this in himself, said, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).
Just as we acquire from our parents their qualities and characteristics and start our life on earth with them, having also the right to enjoy them and all the goodness they stand for (that is, if they do), we acquire similar things through our spiritual rebirth from God. Only through this do we acquire His moral nature, and then we can begin our true relationship with Him and are able to enjoy Him in all His glory.
(2) In natural life we can see how it is impossible for an inanimate object to move from a state of lifelessness to a state of life and vitality; and in like manner a man who is dead in sin and trespasses cannot make his spiritual life on his own, try as he might. Whoever wants such life has to turn his heart to God directly, having a true faith in Christ, and God will give it to him. However, those who are content with doing what they call "good works" to cover their sins are exactly like a person trying to stop the stench of a dead body by pouring perfume on it. Perfume has never raised a dead man to life! They are also like a man who makes artificial flowers to the highest degree of perfection but is never able to make the flowers produce their own fragrance.
2.) Receiving the Holy Spirit:
(A) The relationship between the coming down of the Holy Spirit and Christ's atonement:
The Holy Spirit, God's Spirit, used to come down upon the prophets of old at certain times to communicate the word of God to them. Yet He did not dwell any of them because sin had not yet been removed from them before God. The evangelist John referred to this fact by saying, "The Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39). But when Christ was glorified by His resurrection from death and His Ascension to heaven on the basis of the sufficiency of His atonement, the Holy Spirit came down upon His disciples and dwelt in them (Acts 2). This was the fulfilment of His promise to them in Acts 1:4. From that time on the Holy Spirit comes down on the true believers, to whom the apostle said, "... in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13). He said to them on another occasion, "You are the temple of God and... the Spirit of God dwells in you" (1 Corinthians 3:16).
(B) Preparing true believers for prayer:
It has been mentioned in chapter two that owing to their deficiency, human beings are unable to lift up acceptable prayers to God of their own accord. However, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit they become able to. This fact has been referred to by the apostle when he said, "For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26,27).
(C) Teaching and giving true believers victory over sin:
Christ said to His disciples concerning the Holy Spirit that "He will teach you all things" (John 14:26). The apostle said to the believer about the same, "But the anointing which you have received from Him [that is from God] abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things..." (1 John 2:27).
This Spirit is the Spirit of God who gives victory over sin. For the believers "by the Spirit... put to death the deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13). He rules over them and binds them to God, transforming their nature into His heavenly one, thus ordering their thought-life and preparing them for walking in God's way at all times. So they walk in His way as the planets run in their orbits regularly owing to the force of attraction between them and other planets and stars.
3.) Sonship to God:
There is a difference between the sonship of true believers to God and the sonship of Christ to Him. Believers are considered children of God by grace only from the time they start having true faith in Christ. Christ, however, is the Son of God in truth and love from the beginning of time (2 John 3). He, and none other, is "the only begotten Son" of God (John 1:18).
(A) In the past, the prophet Jeremiah searched for the way through which man could have such a precious privilege, but he learned that is was impossible to attain it by his personal effort. He wondered, "How can I put you [O man] among the children?" (3:19). But this privilege, which Jeremiah considered as unattainable for man because of his deficiency, has become available by virtue of the sufficiency of Christ's atonement and His spiritual work in the hearts of true believers. Thus the apostle could say in retrospect, "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!'" (Galatians 4:6). [Abba is an Aramaic word meaning "Papa" or "Daddy". It has been recorded in the Bible as it was because it was commonly used at the rise of Christianity, and its meaning was written down in the target language. Therefore, this verse should be read, "... crying out, 'Father!'".] Also it became possible for the apostle to say, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father!' The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:15-17). To "inherit God" means that He Himself would be the eternal lot of life of true believers, because they do not desire to enjoy the glories of heaven (as precious and priceless as they are), but they desire to enjoy God Himself. He is much greater than these minor glories for them. Therefore, the apostle said in amazement, "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1). Paul addressed true believers in Christ by saying, "Now, therefore, you are no longer s