Now Adam broke the law, the penalty for breaking the law was DEATH. Spiritual and physical death. God could have set aside the law, but that would have defrauded the law of its rights, and been unjust, more, it would have been an impeachment of the integrity of God's word. The Penalty therefore must be paid by Adam or by a substitute. But as Adam was unable to provide a substitute, God, in His love and justice, at once took steps to provide one, and at once notified Adam and Eve to that effect. The substitute was to be Himself in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. Genesis 3:15. This substitute however was not provided at once. It was not until 4000 years later that Jesus bore the penalty of Adam's sin, and the sin of the race, on the cross. But during those 4000 years, by the shedding of the blood of bullocks, goats, and innocent lambs, whose bodies were laid smoking and quivering on Hebrew altars, God, in one great "Object Lesson," kept before the people the fact that without the SHEDDING OF BLOOD there could be no remission for sin. The sprinkling of the blood of every Passover Lamb was a reminder of Him who was to be the "Lamb of God" who should take away the sin of the world. John 1:29. And when the hour had come for the offering up of THE SACRIFICE, we see Justice and Mercy standing on the Hill Calvary, and hear Justice saying to Mercy - "Where is He who, over 4000 years ago, in the Garden of Eden, offered Himself a SUBSTITUTE for the sin of the world?" "Behold Him," said Mercy, "Coming up the hill bearing His cross." When He reached the top of the hill Justice presented the"BOND," executed centuries before, and demanded its payment. The Son of God replied - "I will this day cancel it." Soon all the preparations for the sacrifice were complete, and the "Lamb of God" was laid on the ALTAR OF THE CROSS. As Jesus laid His hand upon the crossbar of the Cross, He held in it, invisible to human eyes, the "BOND" to be canceled, and when the Roman soldier drove the nail through that hand, there was fulfilled the words of the Apostle Paul;
"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; BLOTTING OUT THE HAND WRITING OF ORDINANCE that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took IT out of the way, NAILING IT TO HIS CROSS." Col. 2:13-14.
By the cancellation of the "BOND" the law and Justice of God were satisfied, and it was possible for God to - "Be JUST and the JUSTIFIER of them who BELIEVE IN JESUS." Rom. 3:26. The penalty of "Spiritual Death" was paid when Jesus cried - "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and the penalty of "Physical Death" when He cried "It is Finished," and yielded up the Ghost.
The efficacy and "Substitutionary" character of the Atonement of Christ on the Cross is beautifully illustrated in the story of Barabbas. Barabbas was a robber, who had been arrested, tried, found guilty of insurrection and murder, and had been condemned to die, John 18:39-40; Matt. 27:15-26; Mark 15:6-15. It was the "Feast of Passover," at which time it was customary to liberate some notable criminal, and when the multitude demanded the death of Jesus, Pilate gave them the choice between Jesus or Barabbas. They chose Barabbas, and Jesus turned over to the officers of the law for death by crucifixion; and by His death, as a SUBSTITUTE for Barabbas, Jesus, who was innocent, satisfied the "Law" and Barabbas was freed. The "Barabbas" or "Substitutionary View" of the Atonement is the Scriptural View of the Atonement. If Barabbas, after his liberation, had gone out to Calvary to witness the crucifixion, and had informed himself as to who it was that had taken his place on the central cross, he would have known five things;
1. That he was a JUSTLY CONDEMNED SINNER.
2. That Jesus was an INNOCENT SUFFERER.
3. That that "Innocent sufferer" had taken HIS PLACE.
4. That he HAD DONE NOTHING TO MERIT THAT SUBSTITUTION.
5. That Christ's substitution in his place SATISFIED THE LAW.
If Barabbas had thus gone out to Calvary to witness the crucifixion and had been recognized and some one had threatened to point him out to the Centurion as an escaped convict, Barabbas could have said - "Oh, the Centurion cannot arrest me. It was he who set me free this morning and told me that Jesus of Nazareth was to take MY place on the Cross, and His death SATISFIED THE LAW FOR ME, and I am free." Barabbas was the first man to have a practical experience of the Atonement. If Jesus had not hung on that central cross Barabbas would have had to. There was at least one man in Jerusalem that day who understood the meaning of Jesus' death, and experienced its saving power, and that man was Barabbas. As believers our position is that of Barabbas, free from the law.
As sinners we were under the "Curse of the Law," but as believers "Christ hath redeemed us from the CURSE OF THE LAW, being MADE A CURSE FOR US; for it is written CURSED IS EVERYONE THAT HANGETH ON A TREE." Gal. 3:13. The "TREE" that Christ hung on was the "CROSS." As we inherited our sinful state from Adam, we now by faith in Christ, the second Adam, inherit all that He did for us on the cross, and our position now is that of having been crucified, dead, buried, risen and ascended with Christ, so we can say with the Apostle Paul -
"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but CHRIST LIVETH IN ME; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20.
In the preceding verse (Gal. 2:19) Paul says - "For I through the law am DEAD TO THE LAW, that I might live unto God." Now Paul does not mean that he was physically dead, but that he was JUDICIALLY dead. That is, that the penalty of the law, which was death, was paid for us by Christ when He died on the cross, and cannot be required of us, for "He was wounded for OUR transgressions, He was bruised for OUR iniquities; the chastisement of OUR peace was UPON HIM; and with HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED." Isa. 53:5.
It follows therefore then, that if our iniquities are UPON HIM, they are not UPON US.
But some one may say, how could an innocent person assume the guilt of another? This can only be done by the innocent person entering into "CORPORATE ONENESS" with the guilty person, and thus becoming IDENTIFIED WITH HIM, for illustration the debts of a poor widow could not be justly charged up to a millionaire neighbor, but if he entered into "corporate Oneness" with her by marrying her, and thus assuming all her obligations, then he could justly and legally be held responsible for her debts. Now this is just what the Apostle says -
"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become DEAD TO THE LAW (our first husband) by the body of Christ (that is by Christ's death); that ye should be MARRIED TO ANOTHER, even to Him (Christ) who is RAISED FROM THE DEAD." Rom. 7:4.
This union with Christ results in a "LEGAL ANSWERABLENESS" by Him for all our debts to the law, and Jesus recognized the justice of all His sufferings on the Cross, when He said to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus - "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: OUGHT NOT CHRIST TO HAVE SUFFERED THESE THINGS, and enter into His glory!" Luke 24:25-26. We see then that the Atonement of Christ means more than mere "Substitution," it means a "CORPORATE ONENESS," a union in which it was perfectly just for God to exact from His Son the penalty of "Spiritual" and "Physical" death in satisfaction of the broken law. We are to believe and act as those who have been freed from the law, for "there is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to them who are in Christ Jesus," (Rom. 8:1), for we were judged for sin in Christ on the cross, and our judgment for SIN IS PAST.
We see then that Christ's work was to make an Atonement for Sin, but did this work end at the cross? or are we judged for what we do after we receive Jesus works on the cross? What is Christ doing now for us? These and many other question will be answered as we continue our lesson on the Atonement in a brief lesson on the Tabernacle.
