To Die For

You are not an afterthought and you are not a patch-fix. You are to die for.

April’s Awakening, Day 17

Jesus Christ’s claim of divinity is the most serious claim anyone ever made. Everything about Christianity hinges on His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. That’s what Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter are all about.

 -Luis Palau

If Christ is not the Substitute, He is nothing to the sinner. If He did not die as the Sin-bearer, He has died in vain. Let us not be deceived on this point nor misled by those who, when they announce Christ as the Deliverer, think they have preached the gospel. If I throw a rope to a drowning man, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more than that? If I cast myself into the sea and risk myself to save another, I am a deliverer. But is Christ no more? Did He risk His life? The very essence of Christ’s deliverance is THE SUBSTITUTION OF HIMSELF FOR US—HIS LIFE FOR OURS! He did not come to risk His life; He came to die! He did not redeem us by a little loss, a little sacrifice, a little labor, a little suffering; “He redeemed us to God by His blood” (1 Peter 1:18,19). He gave all He had, even His life, for us. This is the kind of deliverance that awakens the happy song, “To Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Rev. 1:5).

 —Horatius Bonar  

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:18–21 NIV 

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 9:22, 26b NIV

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Revelation 1:4b–6 NIV

            Your salvation and reconciliation to God was not an afterthought or a software patch to fix an unforeseen problem. God’s plan of salvation and the sending of Jesus Christ to be the atoning sacrifice on the Cross and to be raised again to everlasting life was in the mind of God before creation itself. The entire Old Testament points to Christ on the Cross. The Ten Commandments were given to show us the sinfulness of sin. The animal sacrifices were to show us that only the shedding of blood could purify one of sin, and that was only temporary. It would take the shedding of the blood of the God-Man, the unblemished Lamb of God, to once for all and forevermore take away sin and death from this world. Christ came for one reason. Christ came to die for you.