Why Christmas? Answer: To save sinners. How did Jesus save us

In yesterday’s blog, I looked at what Jesus saved us from, and today I would like to reflect on the question, how Jesus saved us?

The simple answer to this question, is that Jesus saved us from the wrath of God (which we saw yesterday was the big threat from which we needed to be saved) by taking on himself, and thus taking away, the penalty and punishment for our sins.

Matthew 1:21 said that Jesus would ‘save his people from their sins’. In John 1:29 (ESV), we read of how John the Baptist ‘saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”’. Jesus saved us from our sins, or from the penalty deserved for our sins, by dying as the sacrificial “Lamb of God”. His death was the death that our sins deserved. On the cross, Jesus offered the real sacrifice that "takes away... sin", to which all the OT animal sacrifices had pointed.

In Romans 3:23-25 (ESV), Paul explains that the cross was a wrath-removing sacrifice. This amazing passage says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” That word, 'propitiation' means ‘a wrath removing sacrifice’.

Isaiah predicted it hundreds of years before the cross. We read in Isaiah 53:5-6 (ESV): “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

To avoid confusion, we need to note that because Jesus is God (John 1:1, 14), the second Person of the Holy Trinity (Matthew 28:19); Jesus is not saving us from a reluctant, angry Father God. No, in the mystery and resolution of God's love and justice, God, in Christ, was Himself, saving us from Himself. God taking our sin upon Himself in the person of his Son. 2 Cor. 5:19 (ESV) says that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”

This saving act of Jesus involved what might be called the saving transaction, described in 

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV), which says: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Our sin was transferred to Jesus, who was 'made ... to be sin', and punished on the cross; and Jesus’ righteousness, or perfect life of obedience, was transferred to us and we get saved from the wrath of God.

In tomorrow’s blog, I will discuss who gets saved by the work of Jesus.

Why Christmas? Answer: To save sinners

I am currently preaching a sermon series on this topic, ‘Why Christmas?’; and have looked at how the Christmas story displays the two sides of reality, the natural and the supernatural. Then I shared on how Christmas and the becoming flesh of the immortal Son of God was so that Jesus could die and so defeat evil. (You could listen to these messages on our church website, www.clcbchurch.com). This coming Sunday, I will look at how Christmas reveals God and then on Christmas day, will examine how Jesus came to earth to save sinners.

The Scriptures are clear on this saving message of Christmas:

Matthew 1:21 (ESV) – “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Luke 19:10 (ESV) – “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

1 Timothy 1:15 (ESV) -  “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

In this blog, I would like to look at what it is that Jesus saves us from.

Another way of thinking about this, could be to ask: What or who is our greatest threat or danger? What is it that could so destroy us, that Jesus needed to come to earth to save us from it?

·     It was not a lack of education, loneliness, poverty, sickness, suffering.

   

·     It was not some human threat, like violence or war, or even ourselves, who can really mess up.

·     It was not even the Devil.

All these are dangers and threats, but according to the Word of God, none of these is our greatest threat.

Surprisingly, the Bible reveals that our greatest threat and danger is from God Himself. And, in a very real sense, Jesus came to save us from God. Or from the Justice of God. Or, because Jesus is God (John 1:1), the second Person of the Holy Trinity (Matthew 28:19), God (in Christ) was saving us from Himself.

We might say that God was conflicted within Himself. As to his justice, demanding the punishment of sin; and as to his mercy seeking the pardon of sinners. And that the message of Christmas is that God solved this inner conflict between His justice and His mercy by coming to earth Himself, in the Person of His Son, Jesus, and satisfying the demands of His justice by taking our punishment upon Himself so that he might offer us His mercy. 

Let’s not misunderstand what we mean by our needing to be saved from God; and let's also not miss this fact, that we need to be saved from God, or from the threat of His wrath. 

Romans 2:5 (ESV) says: “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.”

Our greatest and ultimate threat is the God of "wrath" who will one "day" execute His "judgment".

"Wrath" is the fiery, purity and judgment of God.

Here are two important passages that describe this coming wrath of God:

Hebrews 10:26-27 (ESV) “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

Hebrews 10:29-31 (ESV) 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Jesus came to earth to save us from the wrath of God.

1 Thess. 1:10 (ESV) speaks of 'Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.'