It would be wrong to finish this chapter on what Jesus suffered on our behalf on the cross without referring in more detail to what God the Father and the Holy Spirit also suffered for our sake. We rightly focus on the heroic feat of …
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A brief summary of six of the main aspects of what Jesus achieved for us through His atoning death on the cross
It is right and proper to refer to Jesus as having ‘died for us’ or ‘saved us’. Those are valid short-hand phases which sum up what He did for us. However, it is also right to say that when Jesus died on the cross many …
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Justification – this means being deemed to be as righteous as Jesus and having all his righteousness transferred to us or imputed to us
All the aspects of the atonement that we have looked at so far have been to do with forgiving our sins, taking guilt away from us and preventing God’s judgment happening to us. Justification, is different. It relates to receiving righteousness from Jesus and having it added to us. This aspect of what …
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Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement
This feast, ‘the Day of Atonement’, came only once a year. On this special day, and only on this day, the Jewish High Priest was allowed to go into the very most holy part of the Temple, the Holy of Holies. Once in there he would …
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Why is blood so significant?
When apostle Paul is speaking to the church leaders in Ephesus he refers to how God ‘obtained’ the church, i.e. saved it and brought it into existence, “with the blood of His own Son“. Paul puts emphasis on the blood: Take heed to yourselves and …
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The ‘atonement’
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Romans 5:11 (KJV) We could define this word, ‘atonement’, as the overall process by which Jesus Christ, through His sinless life and His …
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What Jesus did on the cross looks like foolishness to proud and worldly people. It only makes sense to the humble and lowly
To proud, selfish and worldly people who do not believe in Jesus, what happened on the cross seems foolish. God has deliberately made it that way so that Christianity can only make any sense to humble and lowly people. Proud or worldly people who are “wise …
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How can Jesus pay our penalty by dying in our place? How does it work, legally and practically?
Perhaps it will help to give an analogy to try and show the way Jesus paid our penalty. Think of an extremely wealthy man, such as Bill Gates. Imagine he was to stand outside a court with a cheque book or debit card and offer …
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Jesus decided the moment of His own death
It was Jesus Himself who decided the moment of His own death. No human being killed Him. Indeed, nobody was capable of killing Jesus. Nobody could take His life from Him by force. He laid it down freely, of His own choice, just as Isaac …
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Who actually killed Jesus?
Many blame the Jewish people for putting Jesus to death. That is unfair and inaccurate. The Jews did not do it. The Romans were more to blame, but even they weren’t really responsible for it and did not bring it about. They were not even …
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