What Did Jesus DO On the Cross?
I am in process of learning everything like for the first time. I am only 3 years out of Adventism that I was born into over 50 years ago. It is hard to know sometimes if everything I see through my personal continual studies is correct. So I appreciate bouncing my new understandings off of others every now and then. I watched Colleen’s presentation on Colossians 2v13-14 in this video at least 4 times today as it sounds like she sees what I see, which is both sin record and the Law (including the 10) being taken out of the way.
—VIA YOUTUBE (in reference to the Former Adventist Podcast “Death Can’t Separate Us” this week)
Response: The law identified sins. It also declared that anyone who broke even one command (meaning from the whole law—not merely from the Ten) was condemned. The central heart of the law was a death sentence. Sin meant the sinner had to die. The law provided for temporary atonement through the sacrifices of animals, and Israel lived in a ceaseless succession of animals being slaughtered for sins. The nation was always confronted by the fact that their sins meant death was deserved.
The law also showed them that God provided them with a substitute sacrifice so they wouldn’t have to die, but they were always confronted with the fact that their sins deserved death. Jesus came as the Living Word (and the “logos” of John 1—“the Word”—is the same meaning as the Hebrew word “Torah”—both meant God’s WORD), and as the Living Word, Jesus took in His own flesh the requirements of God’s Word/Torah.
The Lord Jesus, the Living Word of God—all of God’s will and ways were in Hm—also became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). He went to the cross having “become”, by imputation, our sin. He was the only One qualified to be our Substitute because He was both God—the actual living Word and will of God—and the bearer of our human sin. He, the one Mediator between God and Man (1 Tim. 2:5, 6) was IN HIMSELF both the offended party (God) and the offending party (man). In Himself He took our sin, bore God’s wrath, died the death sentence He Himself ordained, and shed human blood as payment for our sin.
Because His sacrifice was sufficient to pay for all humanity, He fulfilled the requirements of God that sin had to be atoned with human death. Because His blood was sufficient, the death sentence that is the natural state of all humans by birth in Adam was overturned, and He rose from the grave. When we believe and trust Him and His finished atonement, we are imputed with His personal righteousness, and we pass out of our spiritual death and our death sentence, and we enter eternal life!
This article by R. K. McGregor Wright is very helpful in understanding the ways tradition has divided and misused the law over the centuries, and he discusses what Jesus did on the cross:
https://blog.lifeassuranceministries.org/2018/12/07/the-unity-of-the-law/
A Shadow Obstructs the Light
I’ve been ruminating on Old Testament shadows and New Testament Light in Christ:
A shadow is something that obstructs the fullness of light but indicates its presence. The light is seen clearly when the thing casting the shadow is removed.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Yes! This fact is why the Law is called “a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things” (Hebrews 10:1).
God gave Israel a very real hint of His plan and purpose by giving them a shadow of their Christ and Savor. No other people had a shadow of Christ; the law was God’s gift to them. It identified their sin and their need of a Savior; it graphically kept them aware that their sin demanded death—and the vicarious animal deaths kept Israel constantly facing the fact that their sin would kill them if there weren’t substitute sacrifice on their behalf.
Furthermore, the law gave Israel a shadow of His rest which He intended for them when He would finally reveal their Savior. Their sabbaths—yearly, monthly, and weekly—provided them a tangible system of being legally required to STOP WORK and to rest completely—trusting God to provide all they needed, just as when He kept their manna fresh on the Sabbath if they trusted Him and gathered it on Friday.
When the Lord Jesus came, He fulfilled ALL of the shadows of the law! It’s amazing that the glory of God has been revealed to all who believe and trust Him, and Israel was given the first hint, the first shadow, of all the Lord Jesus would do when God gave them the law!
In the Bible, the source of the shadows MUST be removed in order to clearly see the Light!
Thank you for your succinct summary of what a shadow is and how we see the full light when the thing in front of the light is removed! †
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