Measure Upon Measure – Judgment And Condemnation – The Restoration Of God - Part 16 (Section 2) Series

MEASURE UPON MEASURE – JUDGMENT and CONDEMNATION – THE RESTORATION OF GOD - Part 16 (Section 2)

This is the second part of the great transformation from condemnation, having been declared guilty, to what we are in Jesus Christ. Jesus took all the condemnation for us and we have justification. It is a wonderful appropriation of righteousness. That is what we will look at now.

THE SAVIOUR’S ROAD

The bible explicitly asserts that the soul that sins shall surely die. Christ was without sin but became sin for us. Figuratively, as He took on our sins and appropriated the consequences of those sins, He stood before the bar in the courtroom of God. The holy and righteous Father judged the sin represented there, or in other words, His own Son, and the verdict was a guilty one. The Lord Jesus Christ was condemned by the Father for sin not His own. That condemnation was death.

Sin meant the sinner had to die; a death was required. Thus in condemnation for us, He was condemned and led to Calvary and there drank the cup we have already mentioned, the cup of God’s wrath. There the whole judgment of God against sin fell on Him. It pleased the Father to bruise Him but Jesus bore all the judgment for us. By His stripes we have been healed and the death that He died, He died for sin, once for all.

It would be difficult for a person of some conscience to watch as another, an innocent one at that, took the punishment that was correctly meant for the guilty one. What response would, or should that evoke in the guilty one? I know most are cowards, but there should be the sense of remorse or repentance, and of unreserved gratitude. Absorbing the truth of the following verse (already quoted), should produce the same result. {{Isaiah 53:5 “But HE WAS pierced through for our transgressions, HE WAS crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our wellbeing fell upon Him, and by His scourging, we are healed.”}}

When you speak with people about Jesus dying FOR THEM it means nothing to them. The conscience is devoid of gratitude and interest. They don’t want to know about “this religion stuff”, and that is because they have no sense of need; no conviction of sin and impending judgement for sin. They have no fear of God before their eyes. The god of this world has blinded their eyes. The only one who can get through to these people is the Holy Spirit for He brings the proper conviction.

Because the consequences of sin are so dire, so everlasting, the problem of sin could not be swept under the carpet by God into an unseen place. The matter had to be faced at the appropriate time, at the appointed time, and resolved. All sins ever committed must be punished, for the wages of sin is death. (Sin pays death for its wages). The continual sin problem had to have a resolution.

In Old Testament times the sins of the people were covered by their animal sacrifices and therefore could be overlooked, so the repentant people were accepted before God, for without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Even those people, along with us, had their sins remedied in the cross of Christ by one sacrifice forever. That work of the Lord was full atonement for the sins of His people, pre and post Calvary.

All the judgment from God was meted out that day and no more wrath remains for us, only cloudless skies after the passing of the lightning and the blackness of the storm. Noah experienced this similar condition. There was a window in the ark that permitted Noah to look upward, not downward. God’s judgment had fallen from the skies and had beaten heavily upon the ark which bore the full fury of His wrath, but Noah was safe in the ark and lifted up above all the judgment. That was God’s blessed provision.

He could look out from that window to the skies from where the judgment had originated and he could see there was no judgment for him - just the peace and serenity of a new life. So it is for us, but let us not forget it was the Saviour who was exposed to the whole judgment of God for our sins but we rest now calmly and safe in Him. The Lord Jesus was our Ark and weathered the judgment of wrath, but now protects all those in Him. For His saints there is no longer any wrath; judgment has emptied itself to the last drop. The storm of the cross passed to leave cloudless skies.

O Jesus, Lord, You stood once in my stead;

God’s holy wrath was poured upon Your head;