Jesus, the perfect atonement

When we say, “Jesus paid the price I could not pay” or “Jesus died for me, that I might be set free” – what do those “phrases” mean to you? Do we really understand what we are saying? Have we, even remotely, grasped what this cost and meant for Our Saviour Jesus Christ?

Today I read this meaning of “propitiation = ‘a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end and in so doing changes God’s wrath toward us into favor’ Grudem, Systematic Theology”. I’ve also heard that justification is not only as if we had never sinned, but as if we had always obeyed – Wow!

We cannot save ourselves. We cannot maintain our salvation. We cannot earn our salvation. We are saved by grace alone. It is a free gift. However, this salvation cost an incredible price. One that, this side of heaven, we cannot even begin to comprehend nor grasp.

Once again, the LORD has been having me revisit Greg Harris’ book, The Darkness and the Glory. We are studying the book of Romans in our church (Women’s Bible Study). We are dealing with salvation by grace alone. I believe that there are those times that with our “familiarity” of certain terms or phrases we don’t grasp the fullness of that statement.

Only Jesus Christ could pay the price we could not pay.

Let me quote from the book:

The mere thought of the aggregate burden of one’s own sin – let alone the weight of every sin ever committed from Adam onward – overwhelms us…We possess neither spiritual nor mental capacities to understand it completely. We could more easily fathom numbering the sands of all the beaches in the world, giving each granule a specific name, and then recalling each grain of sand by name. Multiply this by billions, and you will begin to understand some of the depth of God’s love through Jesus Christ. We cannot even begin to seize it in thought – the magnitude of such a proposal rests only within the Godhead. No wonder angles fervently desire to look into the things related to salvation. No other event in history past or present even remotely compares to the divine love demonstrated that one dark day – as the Servant of Yahweh had His form altered and His appearance disfigured more than anyone who ever has or ever will live.

God did not look away from Jesus as the Lamb atoned for sins. During the darkness the Father looked fully on the Son. Each knew what the Other was doing during this unique second aspect of the cup that the Father had determined that His Son must drink. Is it any wonder that He was marred more than any Son of Adam ever had been (Isaiah 52:14)? How could He possible not be?

For three hours – divine wrath inflicted and received by the One alone able to do so.

For three hours – silent, willful submission by the Lamb of God, the Servant of Yahweh.

For three hours – the Father smote the Son with the full wrath He alone could render.

And then – He stopped.