“When Thou shalt make His Soul an Offering for Sin”

Isaiah 53:10

Why did the Lord of glory endure such a horrible, shameful, ignominious death for us upon the cross? The Lord God bruised His Son and put Him to grief upon the cursed tree because He made “his soul an offering for sin.” Christ died as He did, He had to die as He did so that He might be a suitable Substitute and Sin Offering to God for His people. Here are four reasons for the crucifixion, four reasons why the Lord Jesus Christ died the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross.

1.     Christ died the death of the cross because He must bear the curse of the law in His death if He would save us (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

2.     The Lord Jesus died the horrid death of the cross to fulfill the Old Testament types as a sin offering.

Those sacrifices were always lifted up upon an altar before God. The brazen serpent was lifted up on a pole. Even so, God’s great Sin Offering, the true Sin Offering had to be lifted up (Numbers 19:9; John 3:14; 12:32).

3.     Our Savior died as He did upon the cursed tree to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies concerning His death (Psalm 22:16-17; Zechariah 12:10).

4.     The Lord Jesus endured the death of the cross for us, as our Substitute, that God might be both just and the Justifier of all who trust Him (Romans 3:24-26; Psalm 85:10-11; Proverbs 16:7; Isaiah 45:20).

            I repeat myself on this point deliberately and frequently because this is the crucial issue of the Gospel. Christ did not die merely as a moral example to display the love of God. The Son of God died because that is the only way God could save chosen sinners. It would not be a display of divine wisdom, but of utter barbarism, if God sacrificed His Son without a necessity!

The fact that our redemption by the blood of Christ is a matter of justice satisfied also assures us that all for whom justice has been satisfied are forever freed from the claims of justice! The law required two goats on the Day of Atonement. The name of the Lord’s goat was Truth. The name of the scapegoat was Mercy. In the redemption of our souls by the blood of Christ, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

            Today we are told that the sacrificial blood of the Lord Jesus Christ does not, in itself, secure the salvation of anyone, but that it only makes salvation possible for everyone. We are told that the blood of Christ becomes effectually operative by man’s faith, by man deciding to believe on Jesus, by the act of man’s great, imaginary free will. Nonsense! Such doctrine is utter heresy! That is not the teaching of Holy Scripture!

Redemption upon the grounds of justice satisfied is of necessity a particular and effectual redemption. Those for whom justice is satisfied cannot be condemned (Galatians 3:13; Romans 8:1, 33, 34). The Lord Christ is not our helper. He is our Savior! He is not an accomplice in salvation, but the Accomplisher of salvation! All for whom He died are redeemed, effectually, eternally redeemed! He who entered into heaven with His own blood and sat down because His work was finished actually obtained eternal redemption for His people (Hebrews 9:12). He did not just make it a possibility!

Don Fortner

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