BALANCE OF POWER

             The term ‘balance of power’ tends to speak of conflict. In Cartesian ‘dualism’ there supposedly is a tug-of-war between mind and matter or mind and body. In morality the supposed conflict is symbolised by Taoist ‘yin and yang’ representing good and evil. In Federalism the term ‘balance of power’ expresses the tension between the federation and the states or provinces, such as in America, Australia and Canada. Among other things, the American Civil War or The War Between the States illustrates this conflict. In physics we can watch magnets with positive and negative charges attract and repel iron filings. In Chemistry acids and alkalis illustrate the same. In Anthropology there is the male and female tension. And on it goes.

Pompeii

All conflict in every realm of existence is resolved by looking to God. ‘In the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit’ (Westminster Confession of Faith). Notice that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are equal in unity. The Three are One and the One is Three. The One does not lord it over the Many, or the Many over the One. There is no conflicting dualism or ‘yin and yang’ in the Godhead. Theologians refer to this perfect balance of power as ‘equal ultimacy’. The One and the Many, Unity and Diversity, are kept in perfect balance in, by, and through the Triune God.

My old college professor, the late Dr Francis Nigel Lee, was fond of paraphrasing the opening verse of the Bible thus: ‘God Triune, at the beginning, created the tri-universe.’ Dr Lee would point to the fact that God created two heavens and one earth – a tri-unity! Indeed, the Triune God, the original One and Many, is reflected throughout creation. The Creator keeps everything in His creation in perfect tension. Therefore all dualistic conflict is resolved by introducing a third party, i.e., God. He holds the balance of power. As Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, ‘You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above’ John 19:11a. ‘Power’ is often used interchangeably with ‘authority’ in the New Testament.

Since His resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ now holds the balance of power. He says, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth’ Matthew 28:18b. Jesus, as you know, is God and Man in one Divine Person forever. Therefore, His divine nature does not lord it over His human nature or vice versa. ‘Two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without confusion. Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.’ (Westminster Confession of Faith). Notice the use of the word ‘distinct’ when describing the two natures of Christ. No dualism here. No conflict. This is because the two natures are distinct, not separate. For example, the current conflict over the so called ‘separation of Church and State’ in Western Society is resolved by exchanging the word ‘separation’ with the word ‘distinction’. Both are one, (i.e., one nation), under God. We make distinctions when discussing the Godhead, the two natures of Christ, or the nation. However, each distinction is sovereign in its own sphere. The State ought not lord it over the Church or vice versa. In Scripture the Church does not hold the sword of justice. The State does. The State does not hold the keys of the kingdom. The Church does. They are distinct. Yet both are one under God.

God holds the balance of power because God is the balance of power. Introduce the Triune God into the equation and all conflict, even between good and evil, light and darkness, Heaven and Hell, is resolved. For each of these, when distinguished, remains sovereign in its own sphere.  In other words, they derive their power or authority from God, which is to say that they serve the purpose for which they were designed by God. Yes, ‘The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever’ Deuteronomy 29:29a. Therefore, even when we struggle to understand suffering and evil in the ‘tri-universe’, we know that because God holds the balance of power ‘all things work together for good’ Romans 8:28a. 

LUGGING LIFE’S LUGGAGE

                                                        LUGGING LIFE’S LUGGAGE

I love that place where Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Isn’t this a piece of good news for anyone humble enough to admit that life is a struggle? Here is someone willing to carry the weight of your baggage, and even go that extra mile with it! This is the calm that is in the midst of the chaos, the oil that is on the troubled waters. This is a load off your mind. This is the gospel!

Oh sure, for the gospel to be the proper gospel it needs to be about Jesus dying on the cross, and then rising from the dead. But what does the gospel mean? What does it mean to me and to you? To ordinary people? Well, in short, it means peace and rest from life’s labors.

Much like refugees on foot fleeing from a war zone with their whole life’s possessions in a single suitcase, we wonder where to turn, and who to turn to. Peter sums up our plight best where he says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). So, we approach the Prince of Peace and listen to His words of life. The gospel.

What are those precious things that we hurriedly pack into our suitcases? Photos of loved ones? A change of clothes? Toiletries? But what is it that makes our bags feel so heavy? Is it perhaps all those idols we carry around with us? Are we not like Rachel? “Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them” (Gen 31:34a). To our own detriment, we try to hide our sins by sitting on them instead of simply confessing them. “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Prov. 28:13).

Life’s luggage loses weight when we leave our idols of sin behind and forget all about them. It is only then that our energy is renewed. And it is then that we discover how light a clear conscience is. For this is what it is like to know personally the mercy of God’s forgiveness. There’s that gospel again. Yes, the gospel is simple, yet it is profound. Jesus tells us to repent and believe in the gospel, i.e., to turn our backs on our sins by turning to face Him as He is revealed in the Bible.

How did I know where to lay down my load which gave me calm in all the chaos, life in the midst of decay, living water for my dried-up soul, spiritual food for my dead spirit, forgiveness for my sins? My burden had become too hard to bear. But I had heard about Jesus, so, as His Spirit enabled, I begged Him to lift life’s luggage from me. Yes, I had heard the gospel. And now like the proverbial beggar telling every other beggar where to find bread, I want everyone to know where to find Jesus, the Bread of Life.

RESURRECTION

Our Resurrection (in Jesus’ Resurrection)

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what is so special about the resurrection of Jesus Christ? I mean, it’s an amazing thing for someone to be raised from the dead. There’s no getting away from that. Yes, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a miracle – but Jesus is not the only human being who has ever been raised from the dead, is He? The Lord’s Prophet Elijah raised the widow’s son from the dead. And that was way back in the days of the Old Testament somewhere. And the Apostle Paul brought that fellow back to life – the one who fell asleep listening to one of his sermons. His name was Eutychus. And not only did he fall asleep, but he nodded off a third story window to his death. Paul raised him! And the Apostle Peter raised Dorcas – or Tabitha as she’s called – from the dead. And Jesus raised Lazarus from the tomb, and he had been dead four days! He also stopped a funeral procession and raised the widow from Nain’s son. Then there was the 12-year-old daughter of Jairus whom Jesus raised from the dead. I’m sure if we looked we could find others in the Bible who have been raised from the dead.

What then, makes the resurrection of Jesus Christ so special? For He’s certainly not the only person ever to have been raised from the dead! Well, that’s what we’re going to be looking at in the following. We’re given a clear statement of what makes the resurrection of Jesus Christ so special in Romans 4:25. “[Jesus] was delivered up for our offenses, and was raised for our justification.”

Of this verse Geoffrey Wilson says, “In this brief sentence of profound import and eloquent simplicity, there is distilled the very sum of saving knowledge.”

Now, above we already have had a look at the first half of this verse. Among other things we saw that our offenses, i.e., sins against God were imputed to Christ on the cross. And we saw that His righteousness is imputed or accredited to us. The cross was the place where the Great Exchange took place. That’s briefly what is meant by “[He] was delivered up for our offenses”. Let’s now focus on the second half of Romans 4:25, “[He] was raised for our justification.”

His Resurrection

Jesus was raised because of our justification. The New International Version puts it like this, “[Jesus] was raised to life for our justification.” So, there was a reason Jesus was raised from the dead. He was resurrected to justify us. That makes Christ’s resurrection unique, doesn’t it? No one else was raised to justify us, only Jesus! Therefore, not one of all those other people whom God raised from the dead, whom you read about in the Bible, was raised for our justification – only Jesus! But let’s not miss a very important point: God IS able to raise the dead, even you and me!

Now then, what else is so special about the resurrection of Jesus? Well, it’s a really remarkable thing to raise someone else from the dead, isn’t it? But how much more remarkable would it be to raise yourself from the dead? Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” John 2:19. He was of course talking about raising His own body from the dead, wasn’t He?  Although it was definitely God the Father who raised Him, He still raised Himself. As He says in John 10, “No one takes [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.”

So again we see the uniqueness of His resurrection. His was a self-raising resurrection. Think about it, we can’t even pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. But Jesus could raise Himself from the dead, remarkable! But let’s not lose sight of the fact that Jesus’ resurrection is usually ascribed to God the Father in the Scriptures. To be sure, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all three Persons involved in the resurrection of Jesus. However, in Acts 2:24 it says that God raised Him. Acts 2:32 says: “This Jesus God has raised up.” It’s the same in Acts 3:15; 3:26; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30,33,34,37; 17:31. We could go on and on rattling off verse after verse where it says that God raised Him up. E.g., 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:15; 2 Cor. 4:14; Gal. 1:1; Eph. 1:20; Col. 2:12.

Hang on to the fact that God the Father raised Him, for it is important. But the point that also needs to be made is that God the Father must have been satisfied with the work of Jesus otherwise He wouldn’t have raised Him! So we see then that Jesus’ resurrection is the proof that God the Father has accepted the perfect life and death of Jesus Christ as payment for our sins.

When I first arrived in Australia we used to hear people in shops talking about “dockets”. A “docket” as I discovered, was another word for a “bill of sale” or a “proof of purchase receipt”. Anyway, I was happy to stop talking about “receipts” and start talking about “dockets” like everyone else in Australia. But the point I make is that we believe that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, don’t we? That, “[Jesus] was delivered up for our offenses, and was raised for our justification.” Therefore Jesus Christ has already purchased our redemption.

Well then, our faith that God has raised Him from the dead is our “proof of purchase”. Therefore, our belief in Christ’s resurrection is our “docket”. If someone asks us how we know we have everlasting life we can say “I have a docket. Jesus Christ purchased my salvation upon Calvary’s cross. And His resurrection proves that I have been saved. And my faith, i.e., my belief that God has actually done this is my personal proof of that purchase!” So, the Christian carries this docket in his pocket with him wherever he or she goes, which is to say that the day has dawned and Christ the morning star has risen in our hearts. Therefore, make sure you have the docket in your pocket – don’t leave home without it!

How do you check to see if you really have faith? Well, as the Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” Romans 10:9. Your belief in God’s raising Jesus physically from the dead, then, is your docket. This belief, this faith that God is able to raise the dead, and has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, indicates that you are among the saved. For, as Charles Hodge positively puts it, “The resurrection of Christ … authenticates the whole Gospel. As surely as Christ has risen, so surely shall believers be saved.”

So, it goes without saying that if the resurrection of Christ is not real, then neither is your docket! If Christ was not raised, then your docket is useless. And it would mean that Christianity is a hollow religion – empty as a cheap Easter egg! If we don’t believe in a literal raising of the crucified, dead, and buried Jesus, then we have no docket! Therefore, your faith in Christ and His resurrection is your docket. It’s your proof that Jesus purchased everlasting life for you. It’s your proof that all your offenses, all your sins have been paid for. So, no docket, no refund on the Last Day! That’s God’s policy! Therefore the raising of Jesus Christ from the dead is directly related to our justification.

If Jesus is still in a tomb somewhere then we have not been justified and our faith is futile and we are to be pitied more than any! And if we have not been justified we are dead along with Jesus – if He has not been raised. But God’s Word spells out in the clearest of terms that God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And, since Jesus has been raised, we have been justified. Therefore, His resurrection IS our justification. So let’s look at a bit more closely at our justification.

Our Justification

As we’ve seen, our faith is our proof that we have been justified. The Apostle Paul in the passage of Romans we read earlier demonstrates this. There he shows us the direct link between our faith and Christ’s death and resurrection.

As you know, faith must have an object outside of us. We don’t believe in ourselves, for that’s self-centeredness, not faith! The object of our faith,  just as it was for Abraham, is God – the God who is able to raise the dead. In Romans 4:19 the Apostle says of Abraham, “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.” Could you imagine meeting a centenarian and saying to him, “Och! You’re a dead man! You may as well count yourself dead, a hundred years old! You’re already dead!” Well, that’s what Paul under inspiration is doing here with regard to Abraham!

But how did Abraham feel about the fact that being a hundred he was as good as dead? Well, the LORD had made a promise to Abraham that he’d be the father of many nations. And, included in this promise was Christ and His work of redemption. For as Jesus Himself says in John 8:56, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So, as good as dead or no, Abraham believed in the LORD! He trusted in Him. He put His faith in Him. As Paul says in Romans 4:21&22, “And [Abraham] being fully convinced that what He had promised He was able to perform. And therefore ‘it was accounted to him for righteousness.’”

The faith Abraham had in God is even more remarkable when Sarah is taken into consideration. She’d be about ninety if Abraham was about a hundred. And just as the hundred-year-old Abraham was reckoned as dead, so was Sarah’s womb! Yet the LORD had told them that she would be the one to bear Abraham his offspring! That’s why the Apostle in Romans 4:17 speaks of God as Him “who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.”

So we see then, that Abraham believed in the promise of the LORD and it was “accounted to him for righteousness”. And then in Romans 5:23ff, we see that these words were not written for Abraham alone, but also for us, which is to say that, “Righteousness shall be imputed [or credited, accounted] to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of justification” Romans 4:24&25.

Have you got it? God had given Abraham (who was as good as dead) a docket. And on that docket was written God’s promise to him of everlasting life.

Now, you’ve all been on a train or a bus or whatever when the inspector has come along and asked to see your ticket? The inspector takes your ticket and he validates it, doesn’t he? Well, in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son to validate the faith of His people. Abraham’s docket, his faith was validated, ratified, confirmed, i.e., declared to be legally valid when God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

Jesus Christ personally signed every faith docket in His blood. That’s why Christians talk about having faith in Christ’s blood. It’s His shed blood that seals our faith and His resurrection declares it valid. So, in a word, Abraham was justified by faith. The object of His faith was the God who gives life to dead things – even the as-good-as-dead hundred year-old Abraham, including his ninety-year-old wife Sarah with her dead or barren womb!

One can only imagine how difficult, humanly speaking, it must have been for Abraham to believe. We have the easier task of looking back to something that has already happened. But Abraham had to strain to look forward to something that was only promised by God. The Apostle says in Romans 5:20 that Abraham was “strengthened in faith, giving glory to God.” Therefore, even though it all must have looked so impossible to Abraham, it was God who was working faith in Abraham.

Abraham believed that God was able to raise the dead. The Scriptures testify to this. For the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 11:17&18, “By faith Abraham ... offered up Isaac … accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead.” This faith then was “accounted to Abraham for righteousness” by the LORD. So this means that God accepted Abraham as righteous on account of his faith, which is not to say that that Abraham’s faith was the ground of his justification. But rather that his faith was the condition of his justification. Therefore if we would be justified we too need to exercise faith – a living faith. And our faith needs to be directed to the God who raises the dead, even Jesus Christ. God raised Jesus for our justification. Therefore we need to believe that Jesus was brought back to life by God in order for us to be justified.

All that’s left now is to have a look at the meaning of that word “justification”. And as we do so, we need to keep in mind the fact that we are the same as Abraham. Yes, Abraham was a hundred years old, “already dead” as the Apostle puts it. However, before our justification we too in a sense are “already dead!” For not to be justified by God is to be accounted dead in your sins, isn’t it?

To not have your offenses against God forgiven is to be already dead, which is to say that you are reckoned as dead by God. Therefore, Christ’s resurrection is also our resurrection. For if God never raised Jesus, we would still be dead – dead in our sins, wouldn’t we? Therefore, as Abraham was already dead, so to speak, so are we until we by God’s grace believe that God can raise the dead!

Can a man actually pull himself up by his bootstraps? Can a dead man pick up the phone and ring the doctor? Well, neither could Abraham (who was already dead) believe God could raise the dead, unless God took the initiative and did something.

Do you see what happened with Abraham? He knew he was already dead. When you get to be a hundred you know you’re on borrowed time, right? Your next breath could very well be your last. Yet God had made a promise to Abraham, and Abraham kept on believing in the LORD. Even though Abraham got to be a hundred, even though his wife was ninety and had never given birth, Abraham kept on believing in the LORD. He kept on believing that the LORD would provide him a son, a Saviour! For make no mistake, Abraham’s family line would have died unless he produced a son. For the LORD did not recognize Ishmael as Abraham’s son. So, Abraham kept on believing in the LORD that he would produce a son. And this belief, this faith that the LORD could give life to the dead was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. Therefore the righteousness Abraham had, came to him through faith. It did not come by trying to be good. So, we see then where we today fit in, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” Romans 10:9.

Do you believe that God is able to give life to the dead? And do you believe that God has given life to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified, dead, and buried? Well then, as He did for Abraham, so God credits your faith in Him for righteousness. Therefore, when we look at the words of Romans 5:25b, “[He] was raised for our justification” we know what is meant. We know that God is able to raise people from the dead. We know that God raised His Son, Jesus Christ from the dead. We know that if we truly believe this, God declares us righteous. Therefore, Christ’s resurrection is God’s proof that He has purchased life for me. And, as a docket, as proof of purchase, God has given me faith in Him.

Put another way, the question is this: How do I know I’m a Christian? Well, like Thomas, I confess that Jesus is my Lord and my God. And I believe in my heart that God has raised Him from the dead! Therefore, His resurrection is my justification.

Conclusion

We have seen that God has raised Jesus Christ for our justification. So let me just remind you what it means to be justified. To be justified is to be acquitted by God. It is to receive an acquittal for the guilt of your sins. God therefore pronounced the acquittal of all believers to the whole world when He raised Jesus from the dead. For the Gospel is to go out to all the ends of the earth. And as it spreads, so does the good news of your acquittal, doesn’t it? The whole world knows that Easter is the day Christ rose from the dead. Therefore, the whole world is getting to hear about your acquittal! For God raised Jesus because of OUR justification – i.e., the justification of those who, like Abraham, believe that God is able to raise the dead and actually did raise Jesus!

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”. Our faith is valid because God raised Jesus from the dead! No resurrection, no justification, and our faith is invalid. But He is risen!

And if you meet anyone who asks you for proof of Christ’s resurrection you just show them your docket! You tell them in your own words that Jesus is your Lord and your God – confess Him. Tell them that His Father really did raise Him from the dead. Believe in His resurrection. Tell them that on account of His resurrection, the Triune God has acquitted you of all your sins. And don’t forget to tell them that they too will receive God’s acquittal if only they would confess Jesus as Lord, and keep on believing that God has raised Him from the dead. 

THE GREAT EXCHANGE

 The Great Exchange in the Death of Jesus

Introduction

What could be stranger than celebrating someone’s death? It might be understandable if people celebrated the death of a tyrant. But Christians celebrate the death of an innocent Man! An innocent Man died at the hands of wicked men, and Christians rejoice! So what does that make us? Well, that’s what we need to look at. We need to look at what the death of Jesus Christ means for us.

Romans 4:25, “[Jesus] who was delivered because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” Commenting on this verse Charles Hodge says: “The two great truths of the Gospel are, that Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins, and that He rose again for our justification.”

In the following we’ll look at the first of these two truths. I want to talk about how the death of Jesus Christ has affected us. We can see that His death is quite different to other deaths. We mourn the passing of others. Yet we rejoice at the death of Jesus Christ. Why? First off, His death means that God no longer holds us guilty for our sins.

The Guilt Exchange

“[Jesus Christ] was delivered because of our offenses.” We need to ask the question: Delivered by whom and to whom? Well, the New International Version offers us a bit of a commentary on this verse where it states, “He was delivered over to death for our sins.”

So, we see then that Jesus was handed over to death on account of our sins. If the Grim Reaper actually were death personified, Jesus was placed into his hands. However, it was Jesus Himself who handed Himself over to death, which is to say that He did the Father’s will and sacrificed Himself. But why was it the Father’s will to offer up His Son as a sacrifice? And why did the Son offer Himself as a sacrifice to the Father? Well, we’re told that it was all because of our offenses.

God did it so that He could justly forgive us our sins, didn’t He? So there’s an exchange of sorts taking place here, isn’t there? Jesus is ransoming Himself. He’s paying the ransom God requires for our sins. What is the price of that ransom? “For the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23a. So that’s what Jesus was doing. He was making an exchange.

At Calvary, He, as they say in the movies, “made the drop!” To make the drop is to make an exchange. Usually a brief case full of money is “dropped” somewhere for the release of a hostage. However, in the case we’re investigating, Jesus switched Himself for the hostages. He became the substitute for the hostages. But we need to be careful here, don’t we? We need to be careful not to make out that it was the Devil who held us hostage. I mean, there is a sense in which this is true. But Jesus never sacrificed Himself to satisfy the Devil! No, He was delivered because of our sins – but sins against whom? What is it that King David said, “Against You and You only have I sinned” Psalm 54:3. So, Jesus was delivered over to death because of our sins against God. Therefore, it is God who received the payment for our sins, not the Devil.

As you know, God is a just God, and therefore His justice needs to be satisfied. And the death of Jesus Christ is the proof that God is a just God. Jesus Christ was willing to offer up His life as a ransom for us, and God was willing to receive it. But how much was the life of Jesus Christ worth? His was a perfect life, wasn’t it? His life was worth a whole universe and more in the eyes of God.

What would you give for the life of your son or daughter? Would you give everything you have? Well, we can see that the life of Jesus Christ was sufficient to pay for the sins of the whole world if need be. His life is of infinite worth on account of who He is. God and Man in One Person, thus, He is a Divine Person. Therefore He is the perfect ransom for you and me.

So, the great exchange took place when Christ faced death, when He died. He went to the cross to make the switch – the Great Exchange. His sinless life for our sinful lives. Our guilt for His innocence. The Apostle Paul puts it like this in Romans 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Did you see the switch? Don’t miss it! God made Christ sin so that we could become right with God in Christ. So the great exchange that took place is this: God made Jesus our sin. And as He did so He made us Christ’s righteousness. As Isaiah says, “And the LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all” Isaiah 53:6b. So, the place where the Great Exchange took place was at the cross of Calvary. It actually took place upon the cross for all to see. It was done in the open. But it wasn’t until Christ had breathed His last that His end of the bargain was sealed. For remember that the ransom price owed was His perfect life.

So, the death of Jesus shows us Jesus really did have all our sins upon Him as Scripture says. Otherwise, Jesus could not have possibly died. For, as we’ve already stated, “The wages of sin is death.” But Jesus had no sin of His own. He was perfectly innocent of all sin. Therefore God would have no business taking the life of His Son. But we read these words in Isaiah 53:5&10, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him … It pleased the LORD to bruise [or crush] Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin.”

So, we might say that it was the guilt of our sin that was laid upon Him by God. Therefore, this was a legal transaction that was taking place upon the cross. Our guiltiness was exchanged for Christ’s guiltlessness. He received our guilt and we receive His innocence – His righteousness.

Do you see what happened on the cross? Jesus became a sin-offering when God placed our guilt upon Jesus’ shoulders. Therefore we have no sin because Jesus has taken all our sins away – past, present, and future sins.  This means that God can justly declare us innocent because of what He did with Jesus. In other words, God accepted the life of Jesus as a substitute for your life and my life. Therefore, because Jesus died for our offenses against God we no longer need to die for them. We are no longer guilty sinners because God has removed our guilt in Jesus Christ. And, because we do not need to die for our own sins, the Bible says that we now have everlasting life.

We need to look at this piece of Good News a bit more closely.

The Life Exchange

To say that you will not die because of your sins is the same as saying that you have everlasting life. For death is the reward or punishment for sin – sin’s wages. Whereas, everlasting life is the reward for righteousness, which is the opposite of sin, sin is the opposite of righteousness and righteousness is the opposite of sin.

Jesus lived a perfect righteous, i.e., non-sinful guiltless life. And He lived that perfect righteous non-sinful guiltless life for you and me, for all believers. Therefore, not only is the Great Exchange a “guilt exchange,” it is also a “life exchange.” At the cross God placed our sinfulness, our guiltiness upon Jesus. And He took Jesus’ righteousness, His non-sinfulness and placed it upon us.

Now, we need to take careful note that this was all simply a legal transaction at this point. We have to be very clear here. Jesus didn’t become a sinner on the cross. He didn’t go through a change of nature and start rebelling against God, and cursing Him as He hung upon the cross. No, Jesus was perfectly obedient to God even to His very last breath. Had He failed and sinned at any point then He too, like us, would need a Saviour to save Him from His sins!

So, we need to understand that the righteous nature of Jesus did not change. He did not become a sinner. He became sin, i.e., a sin-offering. It’s as Isaiah says, God made His soul a sin-offering by laying our sin upon Him.

Now, likewise, as Jesus had no change in nature during the Great Exchange, neither did you or I at the point where we are justified or declared right with God. This is important, as Jesus hung on the cross God was dealing with our sins, because He had imputed, or accredited, or transacted, or accounted our guilt to Him. It stands to reason that if Christ is your substitute with God, then Christ’s righteousness has been gifted to you because He keeps on representing you before God. Therefore since God imputed our guilt to Jesus, He has imputed Jesus’ righteousness to us. Thus the Holy Spirit is now in a position to apply all the benefits of Christ’s cross to us. However, the great exchange is a legal exchange in that it does not affect the nature of Jesus or the nature of you and me.

At this point it only affects our standing with God. Jesus, on account of our sins, did not become a sinner, but rather became a sin-offering. The Great Exchange is that He receives our wages (which is death) so that we can receive His wages (which is life). In Christ we share the death we deserve (but He does not deserve) with Him so that He can share the life He deserves (but we don’t deserve) with us. So the cross then is the place where the Great Exchange takes place. It’s the place where our death is exchanged for His life, and His death is exchanged for our life.

God cannot look upon sin without condemning it, whereas, conversely, He cannot look upon righteousness without blessing it. That’s the nature of a Holy and Righteous God. He curses sin and blesses righteousness. The Scriptures attest to this. Therefore our sin is cursed in Jesus who, because God has imputed our sin to Him, removes that curse from us by His death. Then He is free to bless us with the everlasting life Jesus deserved on account of His perfect righteousness. Therefore, Jesus received our death and we received His life – everlasting life!

What a turnaround! What a switch! This is the Great Exchange! Instead of giving us what our sins deserve God gives us the exact opposite! And instead of giving Jesus what His righteousness deserves He gave Him the exact opposite! It’s like the Governor of Texas saying, “Un-strap that murderer from that electric chair and let him go free with a pardon – now strap me in to pay the penalty for his crime.” But, the Governor of Texas does not become a murderer, even though he is dying the death that belonged to the murderer. And neither is the murderer no longer a murderer even though he has now received the life that belonged to the governor. The murderer has simply had his guilt removed and paid for – a free pardon. He is free to live his life knowing that he will not be required to pay for his crime. Why? Because his guilt has already been paid for.

Now, if you’re thinking: “Wouldn’t it be great if that kind of thing happened in the real world?”, then think again. This is exactly the kind of thing that happened in the real world. For Jesus Christ died a real death on a real cross at the hands of a real God! He died for murderers, homosexuals, sodomites, adulterers, drunkards, you name it. He even died for the goody-two-shoes of whom butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths! How do we know this? We know because Jesus died for sinners! And Scripture makes it very clear that all of us are sinners. The well-known verse, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But let me just read a few verses from Romans chapter five, “For while we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

So Christ then died only for sinners. Tell me of any true Christian, you know, who is not a sinner! You won’t be able to point to any Christian who is not a sinner. To be sure, God no longer sees the Christian as a sinner on account of Christ’s righteousness. However, this is vastly different to saying that you are not, nor ever were, a sinner! When Adam disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit all mankind became sinners with him. Therefore, all mankind was deserving of death – the wages of sin. But God, by His grace has sent us another Adam, a second Man, the last Adam to perfectly obey Him on behalf of sinners. Therefore, those who know themselves to be condemned sinners sitting on death row also know their need for a Saviour. Christ is the only Saviour. He is the only one who died for sinners. Therefore Christ is the only one who can give us life – life everlasting.

And how is this life, this everlasting life, received? Well, it’s been received the same way ever since our forefather Adam rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden. It’s received through the Great Exchange. Scripture uses Abraham as an example. Think about it, Abraham lived at least 1800 years before Jesus. Genesis 15:6, “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” This is what the Apostle Paul is writing about in Romans 4. In simple terms Paul is saying that Abraham’s faith is Abraham’s righteousness. The Great Exchange that took place was that the LORD revealed something to Abraham that was going to take place at a future point, and Abraham believed in the LORD.

It is through this “believing” in the LORD that the LORD accounts or accredits or imputes to Abraham righteousness. Do you see what’s happening? To paraphrase, the LORD is in essence saying, “Abraham, you know that I have revealed that I am sending a Saviour of sinners. Well, believe also this: He will come from your own loins.”

Paul informs us in Romans 4:20ff that Abraham did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief. He was fully convinced and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. So we see then, though Jesus died close to 2,000 years after Abraham, Abraham received everlasting life through faith. And so it is for us today, though we live 2,000 years after Jesus died, we too, like Abraham, receive everlasting life through faith.

Both Abraham and we look to the Great Exchange that took place on the cross. It was there that God took away our everlasting death and gave us everlasting life instead. But what good is everlasting life if you don’t know you have it? If you didn’t know you had everlasting life you’d be walking around in fear of judgment. You’d be walking around trying to avoid the whole issue of God and His judgment wouldn’t you? You’d be trying to deny the real God by perhaps inventing a replacement, i.e., a God who won’t judge sinners. Or you might be trying to convince yourself that you’re not a sinner! You might try any number of ways to escape the judgment of God. But the only escape is through faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross.

Conclusion

For us, as it is for all Christians, on account of what Christ did on the cross, we can now live life to its fullest! For Jesus says that He came to bring us life, life in abundance! Therefore we can get on with our lives knowing that all our offenses have been paid for.

So, for us, life has truly taken on a new meaning. We can see that there is a merciful and compassionate God at the helm of creation, guiding it forward. We can see that there is justice in this universe, because we can see the justice of God. He will not let sin, any sin big or small, go unpaid for.

And we see this most clearly at the cross. For there God satisfied His justice by pouring out His wrath upon His Son on account of our sin. And also there we see God expressly manifest His mercy by accounting Jesus’ righteous law-keeping to us. Therefore at the cross our death deserving guilt was removed and was exchanged for everlasting life.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”

The cross is the place of the Great Exchange. It was the place where Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses. That’s something to celebrate, isn’t it? Let’s all continue to glory in the cross of Christ and in nothing else! For we have everlasting life because of Him!

ADAM AND THE COVENANT OF WORKS (Review)

 Adam and the Covenant of Works (Review)

Christian Focus Publications Ltd, (Nov 25, 2021, 536 pages.

J.V. Fesko, in this flow-on from his The Trinity and the Covenant of Redemption, has once more done the Lord’s church a big favour by writing this book. Like its predecessor, it is academic in places, but the reader with a general knowledge of theology should not have too much trouble following the flow of the book’s discussion.

Fesko interacts with many theologians pro- and even contra- the covenant of works, (and many nuances in between), showing from sound Scriptural exegesis that God made a covenant of works with Adam. He puts to bed many misconceptions and misunderstandings about the covenant of works.

This is a ‘must-read’ for all who wish to gain a deeper knowledge of what Christ has done for believers by His perfect life and atoning death on the cross.

 

The remedy for the broken covenant of works is the work of Christ. Christ’s passive obedience addresses the covenant’s transgression, but his active obedience addresses the fulfillment of the covenant of works.[1]

Without the clear understanding that Fesko provides through his logical spelling out and careful explanation of the covenant of works, we are only left to wonder from whence comes the righteousness that God imputed to believers when their sin was imputed to Christ. It came from Christ’s (as the last Adam) obedience to the covenant of works God made with Adam. Says Fesko,

 

Our redemption is all by God’s grace in Christ, the last Adam, but he accomplished this salvation entirely by his works. Christ fulfilled the covenant of works so that we take a step into the new heavens and earth the moment we believe. We receive a foretaste of the eternal eschatological rest each and every Lord’s Day as we celebrate the completed work of Christ – we first rest – and enter the remainder of the week in the knowledge and hope that the work has been done. We can only begin to enter this eternal rest solely by the completed work of Christ – His obedience alone – not our own.  To try to mix our good works with Christ’s as the means by which we enter God’s eternal rest is an alchemy doomed to failure.[2]

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[1] J.V. Fesko, Adam and the Covenant of Works, Mentor Imprint by Christian Focus Publications Ltd., Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, 2021, 346.

[2] J.V. Fesko, Adam and the Covenant of Works, Mentor Imprint by Christian Focus Publications Ltd., Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, 2021, 375-76.

MOODS

                                                                            Moods

Moods are strange things. When Scots are keyed up about something, they might say, ‘I’m up to high doh!’ The response is always, ‘Why?’ Moods are affected by outside stimuli: your team is about to lose/win the cup final, you’ve won the lottery, your car won’t start. The list is endless. Then there can be those mysterious mood swings we sometimes have that can’t be accounted for. Perhaps because your morning porridge was too hot/too cold/too salty/not salty enough? Not to make light of it, but things set us off because we are emotional beings. If you attend a gym, the music tends to be very upbeat. When fast-food restaurants are quiet, the music is soft and slow to help keep the customers there longer, fast and furious when busy to hurry them up. Yes, music plays a big part in creating moods. A point of interest, Scots/Irish music uses the pentatonic scale which only has five notes per octave, as opposed to the heptatonic scale with seven. High doh is the eighth note! Therefore, if a Scot says they’re up to high doh, then it’s more of a question of how they managed to get there with only five notes to play with!

To my knowledge, none of the original tunes that accompanied the 150 psalms in the Bible have survived. Some have headings such as, e.g., Psalm 4, For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David. Psalm 5, For the director of music. For pipes, A psalm of David. Obviously, strings set a different mood to the music than pipes, Some of the psalms give a title to the tune, which, in turn helps set the mood. E.g., the familiar words that Christ said on the cross, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?’ come from Psalm 22, For the director of music. To the tune of ‘The Doe of the Morning.’ A psalm of David. Having seen many a doe of a morning while I was growing up in Scotland, I imagine this original tune would have been quiet and contemplative, slow, sombre, and sad, (perhaps transitioning to something victoriously upbeat, with maybe a key-change towards its ending).

The Bible calls David, ‘The sweet psalmist of Israel; (2 Sam.23:1). He knew intimately the connection between moods and music. For, he was providentially assigned as a young man to ‘soothe the savage beast’ in King Saul. ‘And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him’ (1 Sam. 16:23). Yes, sometimes we are unaware from whence came our mood swing. God may send it directly, and easily remove it indirectly. Obviously, good music is good therapy.

Most students I studied theology with were male. One time a guest preacher agitated us by his poor choice of tune for his post-sermon hymn, O the Deep, Deep love of Jesus. Our deep voices usually echoed off the stone chapel walls. But we found it hard to sing a tune that made mockery of that wonderful hymn, usually sung to the solemn and majestic tune, Ebenezer. Service over, many of us gathered to sing it ‘properly’. We just had to calm our mood! The music must match the words and the words the music. Otherwise, we are in danger of ending up at high doh!

What we sing at church worship on Sunday is very important. For, it helps set our mood for whatever is coming next. Wouldn’t you love to know the hymn and tune Jesus sang before He went to the cross? ‘And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives’ (Matt. 26:30).