Jesus Became a Curse for Us?

R.C. Sproul

The key to understanding the cry of Jesus from the cross is found in Paul's letter to the Galatians: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13, NIV).

To be cursed is to be removed from the presence of God, to be set outside the camp, to be cut off from His benefits. On the cross, Jesus was cursed. That is, He represented the Jewish nation of covenant breakers who were exposed to the curse and took the full measure of the curse on Himself. As the Lamb of God, the Sin Bearer, He was cut off from the presence of God.

On the cross, Jesus entered into the experience of forsakenness on our behalf. God turned His back on Jesus and cut Him off from all blessing, from all keeping, from all grace, and from all peace.

How Does the Death of Jesus Save?

Chuck Swindoll

One way to understand the meaning of the death of Jesus is to imagine a courtroom scene in which we are on trial for our sins and God is the judge. Our sins against God are capital crimes. God Himself is our judge, and according to divine law our crimes deserve the death penalty. Death, in a spiritual sense, means eternal separation from God in unending torment. That's a very serious judgment.

By shedding His blood on the cross, Jesus took the punishment we deserve and offered us His righteousness. When we trust Christ for our salvation, essentially we are making a trade. By faith, we trade our sin and its accompanying death penalty for His righteousness and life.

In theological terms, this is called "substitutionary atonement." Christ died on the cross as our substitute. Without Him, we would suffer the death penalty for our own sins....

BARABBAS : The Man Who Had a Substitute

Barabbas [Bārăb'bas]—son of a father or son of return.The notable prisoner, 

committed to prison for 

robbery and murder, but preferred to Christ (Matt. 27:16-26).

Barabbas should have died for his crimes but Jesus occupied his cross, along with the two other thieves. What a night Barabbas must have spent before Christ was selected in his place! 

The thief and murderer had visions of a terrible death. All the torture of crucifixion came up before him. Then as the light of morning looked in through the bars of his prison he hears the march of soldiers coming to take him out to his horrible death.

Did Jesus Claim to be the Only Way to Heaven?

Charles Stanley

One of the best ways to understand someone is to find out what he thinks about himself. Jesus said many, many things about who He was — He said that He is the Son of God (Matthew 16:16-17), that He and the Father are one (John 10:30), and that the Father is the One who sent Him (John 5:37). 

He also announced that He did not come to be served, but to serve and that He came to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). He came as a substitute payment in behalf of humanity. He agreed with His accusers when they called Him "King of the Jews." 

His "I am" statements from the book of John reveal that He claimed to be the Good Shepherd who loves the sheep (10:11), the Bread of Life who can prevent hunger (6:48), and the True Vine who abides in us as we abide in Him (15:1).

Jesus also said He was the Door to Heaven (John 10:9), and in John 14:6, He expanded on that thought: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." 

How is Jesus Our Substitute?

John Barnett

On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He had committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe. 

Did you get that? God treated Him as if He committed, personally, every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe though the fact is He committed none of them. 

That’s the great doctrine of substitution. And that’s the first side of imputation. God imputed our sins to Him. He was guilty of none of them. God treated Him as if He committed all of them. And He just unloaded His fury for all the sins of all the people who would ever believe in Him in the history of the world. He unloaded all His fury against all their sins on Christ.

To borrow the language of Leviticus 16, Jesus became the “scapegoat.” The scapegoat was guilty of nothing. But the High Priest, as it were, laid all the sins of the people on the scapegoat and sent him away. He was without sin. But sin was credited to His account as if He had personally committed it and then God punished Him though the fact is He never committed any of it. That’s imputation.

LIMITLESS FORGIVENESS

 "Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?"  Matthew 18:33

MATTHEW 18: 21-35

Peter thought he was being very generous by offering to forgive his brother seven times in one day, but Jesus said he should forgive him 490 times in one day. It would be impossible to have someone sin against you 490 times in one day. Jesus is actually saying that there should be no limit to our forgiveness.

When we are offended or hurt, we often feel justified in holding a grudge. The Old Testament law expressed this when it stated, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Ex. 21:23-25). Until the offense was paid, we did not feel free to forgive. However, God dealt with all men's offenses by placing sin upon the perfect Savior who was judged in place of every sinner of all time. To demand that others now earn our forgiveness is not Christ like. Jesus died for every man's sins, extending forgiveness to us while we were yet sinners, and we should do the same.

How Does the Death of Jesus Save?

Chuck Swindoll

One way to understand the meaning of the death of Jesus is to imagine a courtroom scene in which we are on trial for our sins and God is the judge. 


Our sins against God are capital crimes. God Himself is our judge, and according to divine law our crimes deserve the death penalty. Death, in a spiritual sense, means eternal separation from God in unending torment. That's a very serious judgment.


By shedding His blood on the cross, Jesus took the punishment we deserve and offered us His righteousness. When we trust Christ for our salvation, essentially we are making a trade. By faith, we trade our sin and its accompanying death penalty for His righteousness and life.


In theological terms, this is called "substitutionary atonement." Christ died on the cross as our substitute. Without Him, we would suffer the death penalty for our own sins....

Jesus Became a Curse for Us?

R.C. Sproul

The key to understanding the cry of Jesus from the cross is found in Paul's letter to the Galatians: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'" (Galatians 3:13, NIV).

To be cursed is to be removed from the presence of God, to be set outside the camp, to be cut off from His benefits. On the cross, Jesus was cursed. That is, He represented the Jewish nation of covenant breakers who were exposed to the curse and took the full measure of the curse on Himself. As the Lamb of God, the Sin Bearer, He was cut off from the presence of God.

On the cross, Jesus entered into the experience of forsakenness on our behalf. God turned His back on Jesus and cut Him off from all blessing, from all keeping, from all grace, and from all peace.

God is too holy to even look at iniquity. God the Father turned His back on the Son, cursing Him to the pit of hell while He hung on the cross. Here was the Son’s “descent into hell.” Here the fury of God raged against Him. His scream was the scream of the damned. For us.

Reflect on what Jesus did for you on Calvary. Give thanks for the Lamb of God who bore your sin.

Taken from “Treasuring Redemption’s Price” by Ligonier Ministries (used by permission).

http://www.jesus.org/death-and-resurrection/the-crucifixion/jesus-became-a-curse-for-us.html

The Importance Of The Cross

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV

By Tom Westwood

In the context of this verse, Paul is presenting the antidote to contentions and divisions among God’s people. He has been setting forth in sad perspective the spectacle of a divided Church and, under the Spirit’s guidance, he is suggesting to us the one sure, unifying influence in Christianity – the Cross of Christ.

Paul stated that Christ sent him “to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of none effect” (1 Cor. 1:17). Notice that the emphasis is on the Cross here rather than the Person of Christ. It is not because the Cross is more important than the Person, but rather that we cannot reach the truth of His Person without coming by way of the Cross.


The Cross has been used through the ages as a symbol of Christian faith. The importance of the Cross is that it brings us to realize that we can never become followers of Jesus in the same way that we might follow a leader among men. The Lord has not inaugurated a political system, social order, or intellectual cult, wherein we bring our ideas into conformity with His, and thus become supporters of His cause. Unfortunately, sometimes we look at Christianity that way, but Paul indicates that the Christian faith touches something much deeper than that.


It is by the Cross that we make our first contact with God in His divine dealing with us. That is what John meant when he wrote of the Lord coming “by water and blood” (1 Jn. 5:6). It was at the Cross that the soldier pierced Christ’s side, and “forthwith came there out blood and water” (Jn. 19:34). The Lord Jesus reaches us in our need by the cleansing of water by the Word and by the release from sin by His shed blood.


The Cross stands in the center of two eternities – the dividing point of all time. The ages, from the world’s foundation, rolled onward with every milestone a finger pointing to Calvary. The cycles of time of the Old Testament were measured prophetically in view of that time when the Messiah would be cut off. Moreover the tide of time in the last twenty centuries has rolled forward in every receding ebb from the high mark of Calvary. The Cross is the apex of all time.


Moreover, if we go beyond the span of time itself, we find that, in a bygone eternity, the Godhead took counsel together regarding the vast plan of everlasting bliss that should be inaugurated. It was decreed that the foundation of the universe of bliss that was planned should be laid at Calvary’s Cross. Then, as we look forward into the limitless expanse of eternity to come, we see the Lord Jesus not merely as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but also as “a Lamb as it had been slain” (Rev. 5:6). We see Him riding forth to establish His kingdom in power and great glory with His vesture dipped in blood. Both the millennial and the eternal kingdom are built upon the foundation laid at Calvary’s Cross.


Thus our attention is riveted in 1 Corinthians 1:18 on the preaching of the Cross. It is not the preaching of the Christ as an example, leader or even as martyr. It is the preaching of the Cross. It is the symbol of that which was the cutting off of everything of the first creation, and the beginning of everything of a new creation. The Lord Himself said, “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” And then He said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me” (Jn. 12:24,32).


We who are Christians do not begin to estimate the tremendous importance of the Cross. It is not simply the death of Christ, because death might have been inflicted on Him in some other way. The Bible says, “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8).


Crucifixion was the worst form of death for an arch-criminal, and it is the expression of man’s estimate of the Son of God. Disgrace, reproach, and shame are involved. It, therefore, signifies the calamity of the ages. The Cross of Christ plunged the universe into hopeless gloom during those three hours of darkness when Jesus was the sin-bearer under Jehovah’s hand. The light of the sun was shut out, and the universe was plunged into black night. It was the climactic focal point of all time and eternity.


Think of what was transacted at the Cross. God was there in the Person of His beloved Son, who had taken a place so lowly, and in such magnificent grace, that He “endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2). Jesus, in the supreme sensitivity of perfect Manhood, underwent the agony of physical pain, mental anguish, and heart sorrow. His soul was troubled. He was grieved in spirit. His body was bruised. And He suffered the agony of thirst. Then the holocaust of divine judgment descended upon Him, and He cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Mt. 27:46). That was done on the Cross.


But not only was God there, Man was there too – representative of all mankind. The Just One was taken and condemned. The Jews and Gentiles joined together to crucify the Lord of Glory. You and I were represented there, because those who took part in the awful pageant of Calvary’s drama behaved just as you and I would have, under the same circumstances. They were demonstrating what was in man’s heart, namely, hatred against the God who had made him.


Satan was there also, for he and his fallen legions had mustered all their reserves to make one last assault upon the Son of God, and they were using men as their own foolish instruments to perpetrate their diabolical deeds.


The angels were there, for were there not twelve legions of them poised on the horizon of heaven ready to come to the aid of Jesus, their Creator, had He breathed a prayer for their assistance (Mt. 26:53)?


God the Father was present also at that climactic scene, beholding with divine and infinite satisfaction His beloved Son bringing glory to His Name in the putting away of sin forever. Before the Savior yielded His life, He said, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (Lk. 23:46). Never was Jesus nearer and dearer to His Father than He was on the Cross (Jn. 13:31-32.)


The Cross is the eternal symbol of Satan’s wicked might and man’s slavery to the power of evil. But it is also the eternal symbol of the endless and unfathomable love of God: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16).


“The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.” By the Cross of Christ, you and I stand or fall before our Creator.

http://www.gtpress.org/gtweb/gtmag/mag06/apr06/feature2.html