Title: The Cross and God's Plan
The Cross and God's Plan
“It is fitting that the Lord of their salvation should be perfected through sufferings to bring many sons to glory, of all things and of all things” (Hebrews 2:10).
I. Text Commentary
Christ is the culmination of all the plans He had in God from eternity. The plans that God had in Him became concretely revealed through Christ. The text says that it is appropriate that Jesus suffered and died for that purpose, since many people entered the glory of God through the method of the cross of Christ.
II. Christ's Cross and Salvation
No Christian would deny the question whether it was necessary for our salvation that Jesus Christ bore the cross for us. However, there are two opinions here.
A. Two opinions
But if we think this way, we come to the conclusion that Jesus did not need to be crucified to die, but because God ordained it that way.
The second opinion is consequential absolute necessity. This is the view that this method was absolutely necessary for God as well. The words of this text tell us that it was necessary for God to receive forgiveness of our sins and salvation through the sufferings of Jesus Christ. We consider this view to be biblical.
Because of the greatness of human sin. Sin has a relative character, and the size of the sin also varies depending on who the person who committed the sin is. A wrongdoing to a friend is not a big problem, but a wrongdoing to the emperor becomes a big problem that threatens one's own life. So how great is the sin against God? Sin against God is infinite and infinite. In order to atone for the infinite and infinite sin, the punishment and sacrifice must also be infinite and infinite. But if it is not the suffering and sacrifice that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, suffered on the cross, what could be infinite atonement?
In addition, the Bible directly or indirectly expresses the fact that God could not show us a greater love than this in many places. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This is obviously an allusion to Jesus' death for people in this world, including his disciples. “God demonstrates his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). These words prove this.
And if this must have been a great pain for God, why would you have sent your Son down into this world in a human body? How could you have caused your Son, who lived in perfect fellowship with you, to cry out, “Have you forsaken me?”
So, we come to the conclusion that it was absolutely necessary for God to send his only Son into this world to be crucified for our salvation. This is not a coercion by anyone, but a tension that comes from God's disposition itself. Because God is extremely just and loving, and because he is a perfect God in which love does not disregard justice, and justice does not disregard love, he wanted to solve all these problems by nailing Jesus Christ to the cross . Therefore, it should be considered that Christ's death on the cross was the necessary way and there was no other way.
B. Completeness of the work of the cross
Jesus Christ accomplished the work of the cross, and this work is a perfect work. This is the completeness of the plan for the salvation of man and the consummation of the world, which God had in mind from eternity through the cross of Christ. This can be broadly divided into four categories.
The first is historical objectivity. The fact that Jesus died means that he came into history and really died. You have to believe that this event really happened in Israel 2,000 years ago. Our beliefs are our beliefs about what actually happened. The fact that Jesus Christ came in a human body, served in public life, and died on the cross is actually something that happened in history.
The second is the atoning finality. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, he said, “It is finished.” This fact is that the merit of this atonement accomplished by Jesus was sufficient. It is a mistake to think, as in Catholicism, that we must seek the help of saints or that we are saved through human good works. There is nothing more to be added than the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He paid a sufficient price for our salvation. Therefore, we should believe and be thankful that this cross, which He accomplished for our salvation, has accomplished everything for our redemption.
The third is intermediary uniqueness. Jesus said: “No one comes to me but through me” These words were fulfilled in reality by Jesus carrying the cross. If Jesus had ended his life just by teaching us the truth and performing miracles, we would never have been saved. He accomplished the intercessory work that only Jesus could accomplish through the cross. The essence of faith in Jesus Christ is to believe that the possibility of salvation is nowhere else but the cross of Jesus Christ. Here we are not only talking about the salvation of the soul, but it also includes salvation as happiness in this world. There is no possibility of salvation for all of this except through the cross.
Finally, the fourth is intrinsic efficacy. There were those who thought that crucifixion had no effect and was merely our example. The crucifixion of Jesus is actually a sin that we cannot control, and the punishment that each one of us will receive, so that we can be saved. This intrinsic efficacy is demonstrated as follows. We live in sin, but at some point, through the illumination of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, we desperately realize that we are sinners and confess our sins. We feel the holiness of God, realize that Jesus died for our sins, and believe in Jesus completely. At this time, a wonderful change takes place in our souls. A revolutionary change is taking place in our hearts, not just the determination to live a good life. The wonderful grace of the Holy Spirit is poured out, the wonderful sense of God's love, forgiveness, and glory arises, and the transformation of self-disruption takes place. This is the intrinsic efficacy of the cross.
III. Conclusion: Our Pride, the Cross
Therefore, we sing that our pride is only in the cross. Two thousand years ago, it was just a terrible death penalty for killing horrendous sinners, but today we are able to do all these things and because it is a precious calling called by the love of God the Father, we are not ashamed of the cross at all, but rather boast. There is only one way to return to God, the cross. The cross is God's most central way of revealing God's eternal plan. 2009-04-06