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In this message we shall cover more aspects of Christ’s work in His death.
First John 2:2 says that Christ is a propitiation concerning our sins, and 4:10 says that God sent His Son a propitiation concerning our sins. The Greek word for “propitiation” in these verses, hilasmos, means “that which propitiates,” that is, a propitiatory sacrifice. Hence, 1 John 2:2 and 4:10 indicate that the Lord Jesus is the propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. Christ offered Himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins (Heb. 9:28), not only for our redemption but also for God’s satisfaction. Through His vicarious death and in Him as our Substitute, God is satisfied and appeased. Hence, Christ is the propitiation between God and us.
Hebrews 2:17 reveals that Christ has made propitiation for our sins. Here the Greek word rendered “to make propitiation” is hilaskomai, which means to appease, to reconcile one by satisfying the other’s demands, that is, to propitiate. Hence, in Hebrews 2:17 the Lord Jesus makes propitiation for our sins to reconcile us to God by satisfying God’s righteous demands on us. Through His work on the cross Christ made propitiation for our sins. This means that He appeased God for us. By appeasing God’s righteousness and all His requirements on us, Christ has settled every problem between us and God.
John 1:29 speaks of Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This means that Christ as the Lamb of God takes away sin from the human race. The phrase “of the world” in this verse actually means from mankind. Through Satan sin entered into man, for Satan injected sin, his poisonous nature, into the human race. But the Lamb of God has come to take away this sin from the world, from mankind.
Christ as the Lamb of God is the representation and fulfillment of all the offerings to accomplish God’s full redemption. Christ is the totality of all the offerings. He is not only the sin offering but also the trespass offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the wave offering, the heave offering, the free will offering, and the drink offering. With Christ as all the offerings we have God’s full salvation and full redemption. Through Christ as the Lamb of God representing all the offerings we may enter into God and participate in the divine life and nature (John 3:14-15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Because of Christ as the Lamb of God, we are well able, even enabled, to enter into God. We have full redemption in Christ, and thereby we are enabled to enter into God to enjoy all He is.
During the last three hours the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He bore the load of the sin of mankind. As the Lamb of God He took away the sin of mankind as a whole. A great deal of work was required to remove the sin of the world. The Lord did not simply command the sin to go away. On the contrary, while on the cross He worked to pay our debt, to appease God, and to remove sin. As He was working to take away the sin of the world, He was forsaken by God economically. The Lord as the Lamb of God did a great work in His death to take away the sin of mankind.
On the cross Christ bore our sins. According to Isaiah 53:6, when Christ was on the cross God took all our sins and put them upon this Lamb of God. Hebrews 9:28 says that Christ has been “once offered to bear the sins of many.” Christ died once to bear our sins, and He suffered the judgment for us on the cross (Isa. 53:5, 11).
First Peter 2:24 tells us that Christ “carried up our sins in His body onto the tree, in order that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness.” The tree in this verse denotes the cross made of wood, a Roman instrument of capital punishment for the execution of malefactors, as prophesied in the Old Testament (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13). Sins here, as in Hebrews 9:28, refer to sins we commit in our outward conduct, whereas sin in John 1:29 refers to the sin that is in our nature by birth. Christ died for our sins, carrying up our sins onto the cross, that we might be forgiven by God.
Literally, in 1 Peter 2:24 “having died to sins” means being away from sins; hence, having died to them. In the death of Christ we have died to sins (Rom. 6:8, 10-11, 18) so that we might live to righteousness. This living to righteousness is in the resurrection of Christ (Eph. 2:6; John 14:19; 2 Tim. 2:11).
When Christ carried up our sins onto the cross and died, that death accomplished many things. The death of Christ terminated us, and this termination can keep us away from sin. Through Christ’s death we can be kept away from sins so that we may live to righteousness. As fallen human beings, we were dead and full of sin. But Christ put our sins upon Himself and carried them up onto the tree, the cross, where He suffered God’s righteous judgment for all our sins. Christ’s death on the cross was a bruise, and that bruise, that death, has healed our death. Now we have become alive. On the one hand, Christ’s bruise that heals us keeps us away from sins through His death; on the other hand, this healing enlivens us so that we may live to righteousness.
The subjective aspect of the cross of Christ continues in our experience today by the Spirit. The life-giving Spirit is working within us continually to carry out the subjective aspect of Christ’s cross in our living. Christ’s death has drawn a separating line between us and sins. Now through His death we are being kept away from sins. This is the objective cross becoming subjective to us in our experience through the working of the life-giving Spirit within us. When we call on the name of the Lord and have fellowship with Him, the life-giving Spirit operates within us. Spontaneously we experience the subjective working of the cross to make a separation between us and sins so that we automatically live to righteousness.
In His work on the cross Christ became a curse on our behalf and redeemed us out of the curse of the law. “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because it is written, Cursed is everyone hanging on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). Christ as our Substitute on the cross not only bore the curse for us but also became a curse for us. The curse of the law issued from the sin of man (Gen. 3:17). When Christ took away our sin on the cross, He redeemed us out of the curse. Because the problem of sin has been solved, the problem of the curse has been solved as well.
As descendants of Adam, all sinners are under the curse. In Romans 5 we see that Adam brought us all under the curse. However, the curse was not made official until the law was given. Now the law declares that all the fallen descendants of Adam are under the curse. Whereas the law condemns us and makes the curse official, Christ through His crucifixion has redeemed us out of the curse of the law. On the cross He was even made a curse for us. Therefore, the curse that came in through Adam’s fall has been dealt with by Christ’s redemption.
The origin of the curse is man’s sin. God brought in the curse after Adam’s sin, saying, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake” (Gen. 3:17). The sign of the curse is thorns. For this reason, after Adam’s sin, the earth brought forth thorns. Furthermore, the curse is carried out through the law. This means that the law administers the curse. Therefore, the curse is related to the law of God; it is the demand of the righteous God upon sinners.
When Christ bore our sins, He also took our curse. The crown of thorns indicates this (John 19:2, 5). Since thorns are a sign of the curse, Christ’s wearing a crown of thorns indicates that He took our curse on the cross. Because Christ was cursed in our place, the demand of the law was fulfilled, and He could redeem us from the curse of the law.
Not only did Christ redeem us out from the curse; He even became a curse on our behalf. This indicates that He was absolutely abandoned by God. God forsook Christ economically and also considered Him a curse. On the cross Christ accomplished the great work of bringing us out from the curse of the law, working to bear our sins and to remove the curse.
The book of Hebrews reveals that Christ suffered the shame of death (2:9; 12:2; 13:12b). When Christ tasted death on behalf of everything, He suffered and endured shame. To be shamed and insulted is to suffer in such a way as to be tired out. The suffering of insulting shame always wears people out. On the cross Christ suffered the greatest shame — the shame of death. This also was part of His work.
In His death Christ not only bore our sins but even became sin for us. “Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf” (2 Cor. 5:21). This indicates that God made Christ sin for us. Christ did not know sin in an experiential way by contact or personal experience (cf. John 8:46; 1 Pet. 2:22; Heb. 4:15; 7:26). In experience, in direct contact, the Lord Jesus had nothing to do with sin, and He did not know sin. Nevertheless, He became sin and took away the sin of the world so that the problem of sin might be solved.
Sin came from Satan as the rebel against God (Isa. 14:12-15), entered into man (Rom. 5:12), and made man not only a sinner but sin itself under God’s judgment. Hence, when Christ became a man in the flesh (John 1:14), He was made sin (not sinful) on our behalf to be judged by God (Rom. 8:3) that we might become God’s righteousness in Him. During the last three hours He was on the cross, Christ was made sin in the sight of God. It was during that time that God condemned sin in the flesh. As the One who was made sin for us, Christ as our Substitute was judged by God once for all.
In His death Christ as a man in the flesh caused sin to be condemned in the flesh by God. Romans 8:3 says, “God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” The flesh is of sin, and the Son of God did indeed become flesh (John 1:14; Heb. 2:14; 1 Tim. 3:16). However, He was only in the likeness of the flesh and had no participation in the sin of the flesh. According to Romans 8:3, God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin so that God might condemn sin in the flesh.
Concerning sin, God sent His Son in the likeness, in the form, of the flesh of sin. This indicates that sin dwells in a certain element, and this element is man’s flesh. Our flesh is thus the habitation of sin. Sin dwells in our flesh. Furthermore, sin has actually become one with our flesh, making our flesh virtually the incarnation of sin. Incarnation refers to one thing which was formerly outside another thing entering into that thing and becoming one with it. One day the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, was incarnated. In this way man became Christ’s incarnation. In the same principle, sin has become one with our flesh, making it the incarnation of sin.
When God the Father sent God the Son concerning sin and to deal with sin, even to abolish it. He sent Him not in the reality of the flesh of sin but in the likeness, in the appearance, of the flesh of sin. This means that God sent Christ in the likeness of the flesh that had become sin’s incarnation. In the likeness of the flesh of sin, God sent His Son concerning sin and to deal with it.
Romans 8:3 clearly reveals that God has condemned sin in the flesh. In whose flesh did God condemn sin? The answer is that God condemned sin in the flesh of Jesus Christ, the One who was sent in the likeness of the flesh of sin. In this flesh God condemned sin. According to John 1:1 and 14, the Word, which is God, became flesh. In this flesh, the incarnation of the eternal Word, God condemned sin through crucifixion. When the Lord Jesus was crucified in the flesh, God condemned sin in the flesh. Therefore, in the flesh of Jesus Christ and through His work in His death, God condemned sin in the flesh.
Christ was a man in the flesh, and He died on the cross as a man in the flesh. As such a man in the flesh, He had only the likeness of the flesh of sin, not the sinful nature of the flesh of sin. There was no sin in His flesh. Christ’s humanity does not have sin, but nevertheless His humanity was in some way related to sin. Therefore, His dying on the cross as a man in the flesh caused sin to be condemned in the flesh by God. In other words, God condemned indwelling sin through Christ’s work on the cross. Christ accomplished a work in His death through which God condemned sin in the flesh.
In His death on the cross Christ was the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45b) causing the old man to be crucified (Rom. 6:6). Adam, the head of all mankind, made himself with his descendants a fallen man in God’s old creation through his fall. Christ, as the last Adam, as the conclusion of the old man, brought the old man to the cross to be crucified. When He was crucified, our old man was crucified with Him.
Although Christ crucified the old man, He did not do this directly. Rather, He crucified the old man by dying as the last Adam. His crucifixion as the last Adam caused our old man to be crucified. Because the Lord Jesus died as a man in the old creation, our old man was dealt with through His death. Romans 6:6 says, “Our old man has been crucified with Him.” Similarly, Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ.” Because the marvelous death of Christ was all-inclusive, it included us. We were put into Christ by God, and we were in Him when He was crucified. Hence, we were included in His all-inclusive eternal death. Galatians 6:14 says that through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ the world has been crucified to us and we to the world. The world has been crucified to us and we to the world not directly, but through Christ who was crucified.
Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. Because He is the Firstborn of all creation, in His death on the cross the Lord Jesus terminated the old creation, dying as the Firstborn of all creation. With respect to His humanity, Christ was the first item of God’s creation. When He died on the cross, He died as this first item of the old creation. Hence, through His death on the cross the entire old creation was terminated.
The redemption accomplished by Christ is not only for man but also for creation. Chapter one of Colossians tells us not only that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation but also that through Christ’s redemption all the created things in heaven and on earth were reconciled to God (v. 20). Christ’s redemption is for all things. Hebrews 2:9 says clearly that Christ tasted death not only on behalf of every man but also on behalf of everything.
If Christ were only a man and not the Firstborn of all creation, the first item of all the creatures, He could not have accomplished redemption for all the creatures. In the same way that it was necessary for Him to be a man to accomplish redemption for man, it was necessary for Him to be a creature to make a redemption for all the creatures. It was necessary for our Redeemer to be the first item of all creation in order for Him to redeem all creation; therefore, He is in the first place as the Firstborn of all creation. In the same principle, He is the last Adam, the head of all mankind, and as such He is qualified to be the Redeemer of mankind.
In His work on the cross Christ also cast out the ruler of this world and judged his world. “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). This indicates that Christ’s work in His death included the casting out of Satan, the ruler of this world. Satan thought that he was wise in having the Lord Jesus crucified. Actually, by doing this Satan caused himself to be cast out. The cross was the way used by God to cast out Satan.
The New Testament reveals that Satan has formed an evil, satanic system called the world. Through the world, the satanic cosmos, Satan has systematized fallen mankind under his usurping hand. Satan uses the world to keep people from the purpose of God and to distract them from the enjoyment of God. But this evil world system, the kingdom of darkness, was judged through Christ’s work on the cross.
Because the world system is connected to Satan, when he, the ruler of the world, was judged, the world was judged as well. The ruler of this world was cast out when Satan was cast out by Christ’s work in His death. Simultaneously, the world system related to Satan was judged.
When the Lord Jesus was crucified, the entire old creation and the satanic world were crucified with Him. Hence, the Lord’s crucifixion was the termination of the satanic world. Therefore, in Galatians 6:14 Paul could declare, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.”
When Christ died on the cross, He died as the brass serpent destroying the Devil, who had the might of death. In John 3:14 He said concerning this, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” Here the Lord Jesus applies to Himself the type of the brass serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness (Num. 21:4-9). When the children of Israel sinned against God, they were bitten by serpents. God told Moses to lift up a brass serpent on their behalf for God’s judgment so that by looking upon that brass serpent all may live. This is a type. Applying this type to Himself, the Lord Jesus indicated that when He was in the flesh, He was in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3), which likeness was the form of the brass serpent. It had the form of the serpent but not the poison. Christ was made in the likeness of the flesh of sin, but He had no participation in the sin of the flesh (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15).
The brass serpent in Numbers 21 was a representative of the people bitten by the serpents. In the sight of God, those people had become serpents. For God to forgive them, save them, and recover them, they needed to be judged by God. Nevertheless, they themselves were not judged, but they were judged in and through their representative, which was the serpent made of brass. In the sight of God that serpent lifted up on the pole and judged there was the representative of all those people who had become serpents, but the brass serpent possessed only the form of the serpent and not the poisonous nature of the serpent. Likewise, in His death on the cross the Lord Jesus was crucified as a serpent in form.
No doubt, the Lord Jesus was crucified as the brass serpent in order to deal with Satan, the Devil, the old serpent. It was through being crucified as the brass serpent that He crushed the head of the old serpent (Gen. 3:15). In this way the Lord Jesus destroyed the Devil, who had the power of death (Heb. 2:14). In His humanity and through His work in His death Christ has destroyed Satan. Therefore, Christ died not only as the Substitute of fallen men, who had been bitten by the serpent, but also to destroy the Devil.
