“9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 ESV)
Theologians have long plumbed the depths of Scripture to understand the nature of the atonement. They have discovered that the Bible reveals many significant things about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Scriptures teach that Jesus died as a ransom to free us from slavery to sin, Satan, and death (Mark 10:45). Other biblical passages tell us that Jesus’ death and subsequent victory defeated the devil and his demons (Col. 2:15). These truths are too precious to ignore, but we will miss the full significance of the atonement if we neglect another truth about the cross—namely, that Jesus died to bear the wrath and curse of God as our substitute.
When our Creator entered into a relationship with sinners, He did so by means of a covenant (Gen. 12:1-3; 15; 17; Exodus 20; 2 Samuel 7:14-20; Jer. 31:31-34). The LORD promised to be God to His people while demanding their faith and obedience. God gave promises of blessings and curses in His covenant with Israel. The blessings can be summarized as long life in the blessed presence of the Lord. The curses can be summarized as death outside of God’s presence.
Keeping the covenant brought blessings; breaking it brought curses. Those who sought the Lord to obey Him, while repenting when they fell short and offering the prescribed sacrifices, were blessed. Those who flagrantly violated the terms of the covenant and remained impenitent were cursed. Such individuals could be cast out of the nation, and as a nation they could be sent out of Canaan into exile (Lev. 24:10–23; 26; Deut. 27 & 28). The blessings and curses, as the book of Hebrews indicates, pointed beyond themselves to an even better country for those of faith and an even worse punishment for the impenitent—eternal life for believers, eternal death for those who reject God’s grace (Hebrews 10).
Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the sins of Israel were to be placed on a goat. The high priest then had the goat driven outside the camp to its freedom in the wilderness (Lev. 16:20-22). The goat bore the curse of God, but the blood of bulls and goats cannot truly atone for sin (Heb. 10:4).
Jesus came to bear the curse of God in our place. All of us, except Jesus, are covenant breakers who God cast out of His blessed presence. God ejected Adam and Eve from Eden, and Israel repeated Adam’s failure and God cast the nation out of the Promised Land (Gen. 3; 2 Kings 25:1–21; 2 Chronicles 36:17-21). This curse could only be removed by the Messiah who received God’s curse on His people so that they would return to His blessed presence. Jesus died as a penal substitute, taking our place under God’s wrath so that sinners can receive God’s eternal blessings.
The penal substitutionary view of the atonement that we have looked at in today’s study stands at the center of our salvation. If we reject this view, then we reject the biblical teaching that God’s justice must be satisfied. We end up with an unjust Judge. However, if God is an unjust Judge, He cannot be trusted to always do what is right. By affirming penal substitution, we affirm that the Judge of all the earth is righteous. By affirming penal substitution, we affirm the Gospel.
“The view of Christ’s death presented here has frequently been called the theory of penal substitution. Christ’s death was ‘penal’ in that he bore the penalty when He died. His death was also a ‘substitution’ in that He was a substitute for us when He died. This has become the orthodox understanding of the atonement held by evangelical theologians, in contrast to other views that attempt to explain the atonement apart from the idea of the wrath of God or payment of the penalty for sin.” – Dr. Wayne Grudem
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 