The Death of Christ

STUDY 19: GOD’S GOODNESS AND THE DEATH OF CHRIST

In this study we focus on the death of Jesus Christ as the ultimate expression and demonstration of the goodness of God – the goodness of both his nature and his action.

A. GOD’S ETERNAL PLAN

In Section C of Study 4 we looked at the plan of salvation that God had in place before time began. There we saw the deep, deep goodness of God – that even before we sinned, even before he created us, God had already planned to redeem us through the death of his incarnate Son. So certain was this plan that God viewed it as already accomplished, already a reality – a salvation that already existed, was already real. God was not ignorant when he created us. God was not caught unawares when we rebelled against him. From the perspective of eternity, our salvation through the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of the Son was already in place.

In the incarnation of the Son of God, this eternal plan, this already existing reality, this amazing grace, was accomplished in human history – in the time/space environment, in the history and geography of this earth.

God, in the human life and human death of the Son of God, accomplished his eternal purpose, fulfilled his eternal plan. Here God himself came to us and saved us.

Reconsider these texts. How does this truth increase your understanding of the goodness of God?
Matthew 25:34 – Jesus spoke of ‘the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world’

1Corinthians 2:7 – Paul called the gospel he preached ‘God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.’

Ephesians 1:4 – Paul wrote that God ‘chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.’

2Timothy 1:9, 10 – Paul says of our salvation ‘this grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus ...’

Titus 1:2, 3 – Paul speaks of ‘the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light ...’

1Peter 1:19, 20 – Peter refers to Jesus Christ as ‘a lamb without blemish or defect’ who was ‘chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.’

Revelation 13:8 – where Jesus is called ‘the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.’

Revelation 17:8 – where we read about those ‘whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world.’

God, in his goodness, in his love, in his great mercy and grace, deliberately moved human history to this point: that ‘when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under that law ...’ – Galatians 4:4,5.

B. THE INCARNATION – GOD’S RESPONSE TO OUR NEED TO BE SAVED FROM OUR SIN AND HIS JUDGEMENT

The incarnation is thus critical for the saving mission of Jesus Christ – he was ‘born of a woman’, he was ‘born under law’: because only as a human being could he take our place as our substitute under the judgement of God, and only as a human being could he represent us as our Mediator/High Priest/Advocate in the presence of God. He simply could not do that as the Son of God. He had to be human to do this for us – to take our place, to bear our sins (and their guilt and their judgement).

Philippians 2:5 – 8 speaks of the compassion and humility of God (the goodness of God) at the back of the incarnation. If we understand, even in part, what this incarnation cost – what it meant to the Son of God to do this – we will not ever again doubt the goodness of God.

Read Philippians 2:5 – 8. How do these actions of the Son of God affirm the goodness of God? (To make this clearer, how would you feel if you were asked to do what Jesus did – if, for example, you were asked to become a grub to save other grubs?)

Only a God who is exceedingly good would contemplate and carry out such a self-abasing action.

Think carefully about what God is telling us here:
Verse 6 & 7: Jesus, who is God, did not hold tightly to that equality with God, rather, he ‘made himself nothing’.

Verse 7: Jesus, who is by nature the eternal, Almighty, sovereign, glorious Lord, took upon himself the nature of a servant.

Verse 7: Jesus, the Creator of humans, became a human being in such a way that that was all that people could see.

Verse 8: Jesus, who is the source of all life, deliberately died a human death.

Verse 8: Jesus, who is the Lord of glory, worshipped by angels, died the death of the lowest criminal, mocked and scorned by human sinners.

All of this, the completeness of this incarnation, speaks very loudly of the goodness of God. So great is God’s goodness towards us that God the Son did all of this – this putting aside of his obvious glory, this becoming incognito, this embracing of human life and the human lot, this abasement, this subjection to ridicule, to misunderstanding, this abuse, this rejection, this death – because all of this was essential for our salvation.

Standing at the foot of the cross, in the presence of this incarnate God, we can only stand in absolute awe at his incredible goodness towards us: that he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree – 1Peter 2:24.

Check these verses to see how John reported this amazing incarnation:
John 1:10,11,14

1John 1:1:1,2

John, writing about sixty years after the death of Jesus Christ, was still overawed and still excited by the whole concept of the incarnation – in which the invisible God became visible, in which he who is spirit became flesh, flesh that John’s hands had actually touched, flesh in which he who is the Lord of life, embraced human death.

C. ONLY A REAL HUMAN BEING COULD BE OUR REPRESENTATIVE AND SUBSTITUTE

The writer to the Hebrews spends a great deal of time affirming both the real deity and the real humanity of Jesus Christ. In affirming the true humanity of Christ the writer emphasises that only a real human being can take on the role of high priest to represent us in the presence of God, and only a real human being can die as our substitute.

What do these verses from Hebrews teach about the reality and necessity of the humanity of Christ?
2:9b

2:10

2:11

2:14-15

2:17

2:18

4:15

10:4-10

In these verses we learn that because of the love, mercy and goodness of God:

Jesus was made ‘perfect through suffering’ – Hebrews 2:10. Jesus was already morally perfect, but by experiencing a real human life (which since Genesis 3 is a life of suffering) he qualified to be a perfect substitute and representative for us. He could not take our place or represent us unless he had done the hard yards of human life. So that is what he did.

He shared our humanity – 2:14 – with the deliberate purpose of dying our death: ‘he shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death’ and set us free.

He had to be made like us in every way – 2:17 – so that he could be our merciful and faithful high priest and so that he could make atonement for our sins. Only a human can do this. So God, who is the only Saviour (Isaiah 43:11), became human so that he could die for our sins. As our high priest/representative, Jesus, the Son, entered the presence of God once-for-all-time with his own blood, having by that blood obtained eternal redemption for us, and cleansing our consciences for us (Hebrews 9:12, 14).

In his human body he accomplished the will of God by which humans are made holy – cleansed through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ once for all (10:4 – 10).

God, in his great goodness, sent his eternal Son, the Lord of glory, to do what we could never do. It involved doing the hard yards of a real human life in the midst of sin and suffering, and it involved putting himself under the judgement of God that was due to us sinners.

How is your understanding of the goodness of God enriched by thinking about the Son of God becoming human?

D. THE DEATH OF CHRIST – A DEMONSTRATION OF GOD’S LOVE FOR US

The New Testament teaches us that the incarnation of the Son of God, and particularly his death, was a demonstration of God’s great love for us. God demonstrated his love for us in sending his Son to save us sinners.

What do these verses teach about the love of God towards us demonstrated in the death of Jesus?
John 3:16, 17

Romans 5:6 – 8

Galatians 2:20, 21

Ephesians 1:4b – 8

Ephesians 2:4 – 10

Ephesians 3:16 – 19

Ephesians 4:32 – 5:2

Ephesians 5:25

Titus 3:4 – 7

1John 3:16; 4:9 – 19

In these verses we learn:

That it was because of God’s love that he sent his Son so that instead of condemnation, instead of perishing, we have eternal life.

That the death of Christ for us – us who are powerless, ungodly, sinners and enemies of God – is a demonstration of God’s amazing, unexpected, love. By this death we are saved from God’s wrath and reconciled to God in a way that is permanent, unshaken by any past, present or future unworthiness of ours.

That this love of God is personalised – that Jesus, the Son of God, loved me, and gave himself for me. That his death, his crucifixion, is counted mine; and not only that, but his life is reckoned mine. In this grace, in this totally undeserved, unmerited goodness of God, we live – accepted and guilt free – in his presence.

That in his great love for us God, who is rich in mercy, has lavished his glorious grace upon us richly, immeasurably, super-abundantly, incomparably – more than we will ever need. Not even our sin can out-reach the grace of God; no sin of those who believe in the Son can annul the grace of the Father.

This grace, this love, this goodness of God is so immense that our human minds can never grasp it fully; it is beyond our wildest imaginings. It is not at all like our limited and conditional human love and goodness. But God, in his goodness, empowers us to believe it, and believing it, to increasingly understand this love that surpasses all of our other experiences of love and goodness.

That God’s love for us is a self-denying, self-sacrificing love – a love that sought our well-being, a love directed at our salvation. Because of God’s great love for us, because Jesus, sent by the Father, fully bore our sin, our guilt and our punishment, we no longer fear God’s judgement. His perfect love so dealt with our sin that it has cast out our fear of God’s wrath. There is none left – no wrath, no condemnation, because Jesus, the Son of God, bore it all – he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

REVIEW QUESTIONS
How does the incarnation of Jesus Christ – his taking on our humanity so that he could die for us – help you to better understand how incredibly good God is?

How could you use the truth about Jesus Christ – who he is, how he lived, and why he died – to help someone understand that God is good?