| The Apostles' Creed, Part 10:"...crucified, dead, and buried..." |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, December 19 2011 00:00 |
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Jesus’ death on the cross fulfilled the Old Testament statement that everyone hanged on a tree was cursed (Deut. 21:23). He literally became a curse for us. He bore the curse of God for all the sins of all His people. The law curses everyone who does not do all that the law commands. Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law, and His righteousness is imputed to us by faith. Yet the penalty for our failure to keep the law must be paid. Thus Jesus paid it by becoming a curse for us that we might be the righteousness of God. Read carefully Paul’s argument in Gal. 3:10-14. He had to be killed on a tree to carry forth completely the substance and symbolism of the curse. His crucifixion resulted in His death. A Roman spear in His side confirmed it. Pilate sent His soldiers, who knew well a dead man when they saw one, to confirm that indeed He was dead. He did not faint and later revive in the tomb, as some unbelievers have asserted. His suffering for us resulted in His death. The penalty for sin is death (Rom. 6:23, Ezek. 18:4). Nothing short of a real death of a real man would fulfill the penalty. St. Anselm in the eleventh century pointed out in his famous book on the atonement Cur Deus Homo? (Why did God become man?) that because man sinned, only man could pay the penalty. But no sinful man could satisfy the justice of God. Thus only the sinless Lamb of God, the Son of the Most High, could meet the requirement. Indeed He was dead. And He was buried. The death was confirmed by the fact that he underwent the traditional Jewish burial procedure of being wrapped in cloths and spices. He was placed in a tomb as a dead corpse and left for three days. There is no doubt of what happened at Calvary. It is an historical event, witnessed by many people, people who could testify in the early days of the preaching of the gospel. Here we encounter the very focal point of God’s eternal redemptive plan! |
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