The Life of Christ

• Today, our source of healing is the same. We must recognize the source of our healing is the cross where the promise of Isa. 53:3 was made: 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

• We “look up” when we believe that the healing promise of Isa. 53:3 is for me, just as our sins were also forgiven by the same cross.

• Ps. 103:2-3 also adds: “ Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.”

Jn. 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Once one understands the significance of the serpent upon the pole, we can better appreciate the most famous of all New Testament verses.

• The only begotten Son means “one of a kind; there is none other like Him.”

• The word “ gave ” in the Greek emphasizes a “one -time giving.” Heb. 9:28 says He was offered “once.”

Because of our sin, the primary reason why God sent His Son was to absorb the wrath of God that was upon the world as the result of Adam’s sin.

• If God were not just, there would be no demand for the Son to suffer and die.

• And if God was not loving, there would be no willingness for the Son to suffer and die.

• But because God is both just and loving; therefore, His love is willing to meet the demands of His justice.

Sin is not small because it is not against a small Sovereign.

• The seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the one insulted.

• The Creator of the universe is infinitely worthy of respect and loyalty.

• Therefore, failure to love him is not trivial — it is treason.

Since God is just, He does not sweep the crimes under the rug of the universe.

He feels a holy wrath against them.

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• They deserve to be punished, and He has made this clear: “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

• John Piper writes, “There is a holy curse hanging over all sin. Not to punish would be unjust. The demeaning of God would be endorsed. A lie would reign at the core of reality…But the love of God does not rest with the curse that hangs over all humanity. He is not content to show wrath, no matter how holy it is. Therefore, God sends his own Son to absorb His wrath and bear the curse for all who trust Him.” “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). 11

11 John Piper, The Passion of Jesus Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004), 20-21.

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