200414.ser
“The Substitutionary Nature of Christ’s Death”
CLBC March 14, 2004 a. m.
Subject: Christ: Death of
Theme: His Death as a Substitute
Passage: John 11: 45 - 57
They were not pleased!
Word had just reached them through a group of informers that Jesus had raised a man named Lazarus from the dead. There was no doubt about it. Lazarus had been dead for four days,and this Jesus had brought him back to life and called him out of the tomb. As a result, many more people had believed on him as the Messiah, and the Jewish leaders were not pleased.
As a result they called an emergency meeting of the Sanhedrim, the ruling council of the Jewish nation to consider what could be done. I get the feeling that they were almost in a panic. “What shall we do? If we let him alone, everyone will believe on him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” John 11: 47, 48
It was silly, of course. Where was the evidence that Jesus was planning a political revolt
that would bring down the wrath of Rome? Where was the evidence that Rome was watching the situation, ready to destroy the nation because of Jesus? Their fear and hatred only showed the desperate wickedness of the human heart. In the face of overwhelming evidence they shut their eyes to the reality of the miracle; they refused to consider that these miracles proved Christ’s
claim that he had come from heaven, and was their Messiah, the Saviour of the world.
But the high priest Caiaphas had the answer. Looking down even on his fellow priests and Pharisees, Caiaphas announced that “You know \nothing at all... it is expedient that one man die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” And John makes a comment: “Now this he said not on his own authority, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather
together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.” 11: 49 - 52.
Imagine that! In his wicked heart there was only murder, but in giving this verdict, he was
serving as a prophet of God. Like Balaam in the Old Testament, intending to curse Israel, but instead pronounced God’s blessing on Israel, so Caiaphas, in pronouncing Jesus death sentence was actually predicting the very thing that God had determined in the counsels of eternity. “God makes the wrath of man to praise Him!”
Now I would like you to see in this unwilling prophecy
1. The Substitutionary Nature of Christ’s Death. Christ died for the nation.
That little word “for” may mean “instead of” “in place of” “on behalf of”
Little did Caiaphas know that he was fulfilling the words of Isaiah 53.
Isaiah 53:4 “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 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. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to
his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all....8 ...For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.”
Did you hear that word “our”? - our griefs; our sorrows; our tansgressions; our iniquities; our peace. It is us who have gone astray; it is us who have turned to our own way; He was cut off from the land of the living, not for anything in Himself, but for our iniquity or sin; for our transgressions.
One of the problems of the scribes and pharisees of Jesus’ day was that they had no idea of the enormity of sin. They had a formal religion. They believed that washing their hands in a certain way or keeping the Sabbath in scrupulous detail, or wearing particular kinds of clothing, somehow made them holy. But while they were particular about formal purification and keeping free from defilement, they were plotting foulest murder in their hearts and they did not realize that it is not outward appearance but the state of the heart that God sees.
It’s the same problem of people today. People still have no idea of the enormity of sin. When King David confessed his crimes of adultery and murder, he pronounced the truth “Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight!”
Dear ones, that is the truth. All sin, sin in our thoughts, sin in our speech; sin in our actions is not just against our fellow man, but all sin is against God, and if you want to see God’s estimate of sin, look at the cross. Look at Jesus on the way to the cross.
People have been deeply moved by the beating and the crucifying of Jesus in Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”, but dear ones the greatest suffering of our Lord and Saviour was not the physical suffering. If you want to see infinite suffering, listen to Jesus on the cross crying out, “My Lord and my God, why have you forsaken Me?” There is suffering such as we can not even imagine. Over and over again, the Lord Jesus had said, “I come to do my Father’s will; all that He
has given to me I will do; I speak that which I have heard from my Father...” Perfect obedience, a sinless, spotless, holy life; and now to feel the weight of human sin pressing down upon His righteous soul, and to sense for the first and only time in all of eternity, the withdrawal of His Father’s love and grace and mercy;
Oh, dear ones, that was your sin which was separating Him from His Father; that was my iniquity for which He was giving His life.
I say, we do not even begin to understand the true nature of our sin to a holy God. Look at the cross! Look at Christ dying there in your place, as your substitute. That is God’s estimate of your sin!
Do you have any true idea of the awfulness of Hell? Then think of what Christ bore to save you from your sins. Think about the terrible sin of unbelief. Unbelief is more wicked than adultery and murder and homosexuality. In fact the only sin that can not be forgiven, and that cuts off all hope of forgiveness and eternal life is the sin of unbelief. Hell is to be left in your sin, unprotected by the blood of Christ.
2. For Whom did Christ die?
Caiaphas said, “it is expedient that one man die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” But Caiaphas was terribly wrong. He thought that Christ’s death was necessary to protect Israel from the wrath of Rome, but in fact the death of Christ brought upon the nation the wrath of God. After a grace period of 40 years, to allow the elect remnant to be removed, the nation of Israel perished at the hands of Rome. Jerusalem was taken, the temple was destroyed, and multitudes of unbelieving Jewish people lost their lives.
No, the death of Jesus Christ was not to protect the nation from perishing. The death of Jesus Christ was for the salvation of the true Israel, the holy remnant who were led by the Holy Spirit to place their trust in Jesus, their true Messiah.
But not only for them. As Matthew Henry says, “he meant by that nation those in it that
obstinately adhered to Judaism, but God meant those in it that would receive the doctrine of Christ, and become followers of him, all believers, the spiritual seed of Abraham.”
In his commentary on the words of Caiaphas, the apostle John gave us the rest of the prediction: “and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.”
As Isaiah says, “It is a light thing for the Son of God to go through so vast an undertaking only to restore the preserved of Jacob, and the outcasts of Israel); no, he must be salvation to the ends of the earth, # Isa 49:6.
From the Day of Pentecost onward, the apostles and all true believers were scattered abroad carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ with them to every place they went. In every place God opened the hearts of His chosen people, not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles. As God clearly foretold in Matthew 21: 43 “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”
And so it happened. Wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ has spread, in that first century and down through the centuries since, there God’s people have been gathered together. The death of Christ has done its work. His atoning sacrifice has been sufficient for the cleansing away of the sins of all those who have repented and placed their trust in Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 3:18 ¶ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
Hebrews 2:14 ¶ Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the gospel that saves the soul. This is the gospel
which brings us out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God.
Not everyone will be able to agree with me on this matter, but I see in this the salvation of the true Israel; the salvation of all those with the faith of Abraham, the salvation of all who are part of the true church of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion:
Tell me, dear ones, have you really accepted the fact that Jesus died in your place, as your substitute, in order to bring you into His family?
Amen.
