Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Christ, Our Substitute (Galatians 3:10-14)

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13).

As the spotless Lamb of God, Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, to reconcile us to God, and to make intercession for us at the throne of heaven. All of this work falls under the priestly office, which Christ has fulfilled in His life, death, and in His continual intercession as our advocate before the Father. Like the doctrine of Christ’s divinity, the doctrine of the atonement has undergone constant attack by the critics. Today, we will define Christ’s work and explain why it was necessary for our salvation.

We are moving from an examination of Christ’s nature to a look at His work. Of His own free will, Christ came to earth as a priest, to offer up a sacrifice to God and to make intercession for sinners. As our High Priest, Christ lived a perfect and righteous life, thus fulfilling the requirements of God’s covenant with Adam. Unlike any other human, Christ alone was sinless and able to obey God’s law. He also received punishment for mankind’s transgression of God’s law. Christ accomplished these things by acting on our behalf. He stood in our place as our substitute to meet the demands of divine justice.

Christ’s life and death are not merely examples of selflessness, as some claim. His complete obedience in life and death is absolutely necessary for our salvation. Unless God had provided a substitute, we would have died. Therefore, Christ’s priestly work of satisfying divine justice is supremely gracious. God was not morally obligated to provide a substitute for fallen men. Nor was the Son duty bound to fulfill the office. God would have been perfectly within His rights to exercise the full letter of the law upon fallen man, sending us all to eternal punishment. But He chose to send His Son to bear the penalty in our place.

As Charles Hodge says, “It was an act of unparalleled love that the Son consented to assume our nature, bear our sins, and die, the just for the unjust, to bring us near to God. All the benefits, therefore, which accrue to sinners in consequence of the satisfaction of Christ are to them pure gratuities; blessings to which in themselves they have no claim. They call for gratitude, and exclude boasting.”

Meditate today on Isaiah 53. What has Christ done for you? Are you grateful for His sacrifice? Think about the fact that you did not deserve His mercy. It was an act of pure grace. What should your response be? Thank Christ today for His willingness to die in your place and to intercede for you even today at the throne of grace.