No Meekness Without Might: What We Learn from Christ’s Gentleness

By David Mathis

“Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Rev. 6:16–17).

It’s a stunning glimpse of divine judgment. A sixth seal is opened. The earth quakes, the sun goes dark, the moon turns to blood. Stars fall, and the sky is rolled back like a scroll. The earth’s kings and “the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful . . . hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains” (Rev. 6:15). So terrified are they at “the wrath of the Lamb” that they call to the mountains and rocks to fall on them. They would rather be crushed to death than to face omnipotent wrath.

Did you do the double take? Excuse me, “the wrath of the Lamb”—the Lamb being Jesus Christ? How’s that? We know Christ to be gentle, meek and mild. Who would cower before him like this? Before God the Father, of course, we expect that. But Jesus?

Those of us who love that he is gentle and lowly need not be afraid to rehearse that his wrath is horrific. To know the sovereign power and unmatched strength of Christ—and the sheer terror of those who realize they have opposed him—will both keep us from misunderstanding his gentleness and make his remarkable gentleness all the more impressive.

Gentle and Lowly

We dare not minimize the portrait of Christ in Matthew 11:28–30 simply because many are at home with this emphasis today. This is a penetrating self-revelation from Christ himself—and all the more if he is sovereign and strong, and his wrath is terrifying:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matt. 11:28–30)

It’s no accident that these words have been greatly celebrated. Such an invitation, from such a person, is precious beyond words.

And his gentleness toward his people is all the sweeter as we learn what sovereign strength lies beneath it. His gentleness doesn’t replace his sovereign strength; rather, it cushions the application of his great power as he marshals it in service of his weak people.

In a day when we seem increasingly aware of the danger of other people’s power and strength, it’s vital that we see this in Jesus, and throughout Scripture. The answer to the dangers of strength isn’t its loss, but the godly exercise of power in gaining the Christian virtue called gentleness.

Gentle Rain

Take rain, for instance. Hard rain destroys life, but “gentle rain” gives life (Deut. 32:2). Violent rain does harm, not good. The farmer prays not for weak rain, or no rain, but for gentle rain. The means of delivery is important. We need water (to support and give life) delivered gently, not destructively and not too meagerly. Gentle doesn’t mean feebly but appropriately—giving, not taking, life.

The answer to the dangers of strength isn’t its loss, but the godly exercise of power, in gaining the Christian virtue called gentleness.

So also, “a gentle tongue is a tree of life” (Prov. 15:4). Gentle doesn’t mean weak but fittingly strong, with life-giving restraint—giving something good not in a flood but in due measure. Or consider wind for sailing. A gently blowing wind answers a sailor’s prayer (Acts 27:13), while a violent wind spells trouble (Acts 27:18).

In the Old Testament, the virtue of gentleness is best seen in God himself, who “comes with might” (Isa. 40:10). How does he wield this “might” toward his people? Next verse: “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young” (Isa. 40:11). Violence is the destructive use of strength (Isa. 22:17); gentleness its life-giving exercise.

Strongest Men Are Gentle

When the apostle Peter contrasts good power with bad, just rulers with unjust, he describes noble leaders as “good and gentle” (1 Pet. 2:18). This is no celebration of puniness. The opposite of a crooked master isn’t a weak one—who wants the protection of a weak lord?—but “good and gentle.” We want gentle leaders, not weak ones.

We want leaders with strength and power not used against us but wielded for us. Which is what makes the image of a shepherd so fitting, and timeless, in both the Old and New Testaments. Sheep are manifestly weak and vulnerable. So they need shepherds who are good and will use their power to help them, not use and abuse them. We need strength in our shepherds, with the added virtue of gentleness.

Weak men are often preoccupied with feigning and talking about their strength. Truly strong men give their energy and attention not to parading their strength but to demonstrating gentleness to those in their care. They’re able to rightly exercise their manifest power for others’ good. Insecure men flex and threaten. Men who are secure in their strength, and the strength of their Lord, aren’t only willing but eager to let their gentleness show (James 3:13), and even be known to all (Phil. 4:5).

Weak men are often preoccupied with feigning and talking about their strength. Truly strong men give their energy and attention not to parading their strength but to demonstrating gentleness to those in their care.

It should be no surprise, then, that Christ requires such of the leaders in his church (1 Tim. 3:3). Gentleness isn’t optional but essential in Christian leadership. “As for you, O man of God, . . . pursue . . . gentleness” (1 Tim. 6:11). True gentleness in the pastors not only gives life to the flock but also models for the flock how it can give life to the world (Titus 3:1–2). How different might our discourse have been in 2020 if our strongest voices had been gentle?

Gentleness Himself

In the end—whether as congregants or pastors, whether as men or as women, husbands or wives, fathers or mothers, bosses or employees—genuine biblical gentleness is formed and filled by God himself in Christ. When we admire his gentleness, we don’t celebrate that he is weak. Rather, as his feeble sheep, we enjoy that not only is our Shepherd infinitely strong, but he is all the more admirable because he knows how to wield his power in ways that give life to, rather than suffocate, his beloved.

Mighty and meek, Christ came not as a domineering and abusive King but as a good and gentle Lord. He descended gently into our world in Bethlehem, grew in wisdom and stature in Nazareth, taught with toughness and tenderness in Galilee, and rode into Jerusalem “humble, and mounted on a donkey” (Matt. 21:5) to lay down his life.

Mighty and meek, Christ came not as a domineering and abusive King but as a good and gentle Lord.

And he summons us still today with the invitation that takes nothing from his power, but only adds to what makes him remarkable: “I am gentle and lowly in heart.” So, we, like the apostle Paul, both receive and also seek to imitate “the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1).

Admire His Mercy—and Might

The day is coming when the wicked would far rather quietly pass out of existence than stand before the omnipotent Christ they’ve scorned and rejected. His sheer strength and power will terrify them. But not so for his people. We’ll love his strength and admire his power.

We’ll glory that he has made us his own and wields all authority in heaven and on earth for our deep and enduring joy—and he will lavish it on us forever in the life-giving proportions of true gentleness.

David Mathis is executive editor at desiringGod.org, pastor of Cities Church, and adjunct professor with Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the author of The Christmas We Didn’t Expect. You can follow him on Twitter.

posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/christ-gentleness/

The Incarnation

By Alex Croutworst

During Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ! This is the incarnation: God coming to earth as fully man and fully God. In Matthew chapter 1:18-21, we read about the birth of Jesus Christ. The angel appears to Joseph to tell him that Mary’s baby will be named Jesus, because He will save people from their sins. The name Jesus means “Savior.” This is what Jesus DOES for us. Jesus saves us from our sins.

As we continue reading in Matthew chapter 1, we see in verse 23 a quote from Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The name Immanuel means “God is with us” or “God with us.” This name shows us that Jesus is WITH us. He is guiding and helping us. Even at the end of Jesus’s time on earth before He ascends into heaven, He promises to give His followers the Holy Spirit. That’s why He says in Matthew 28:20, “ ‘And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ ” We receive the Holy Spirit of God when we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

So, why is the incarnation important for followers of Jesus Christ? The writer of Hebrews says it clearly in Hebrews 2:17, “Therefore he [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”

Jesus became human in every way (expect He did not sin) in order to represent us as our high priest, the final high priest! If the incarnation did not happen, Jesus could not have died for our sins on the cross. He could not have risen from the dead on the third day to defeat sins and death SO THAT we can have a relationship with a holy and righteous God. He could not have ascended into heaven and be seated at the right hand of God. And because He ascended into heaven and left earth, He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us so that we can carry out God’ work on earth!

The incarnation is essential. That’s why we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the one who saves us and is with us!

Take some time to meditate on these scriptures that focus on the character of God:

· Humility of God – Hebrews 2:5-7

· Generosity of God – John 3:16-17

· Plan and Purpose of God – Colossians 5:15-20, Galatians 4:4-5

The Crucifixion of Christ

By Kaitlin Young

Years ago, I sat in the back of a Maundy (Holy) Thursday service in Le SacréCoeur in Paris, taking in the architecture, art, and music of this famous Catholic church while also attempting to listen to the service (and only successfully catching about every third word). For those who do not know of this celebration (I didn’t, until that day), it precedes Good Friday and commemorates the Last Supper and Jesus’ washing the disciples’ feet. It’s the beginning of the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth. While sitting in that pew, I reflected on what Jesus showed us during His ministry on earth, as well as what He endured as he prepared for the cross. As He sat and washed the filthy feet of the one who would betray Him. As He broke bread with His closest friends and knew it would be the last. Looking at the faces of those around the table who did not yet fully understand what would take place in the course of the next 24 hours.

Many of us have, at the very least, seen photos or clips of the crucifixion scene reenacted. The physical torment of lashings, thorns imbedded into his scalp, the burden of a 30 to 40-pound tree hauled to the place of his death, thick nails drove into his hands (likely, wrists), and feet (likely, heel bones). Being stripped of clothing, spit on, mocked and cursed, abandoned by some of those closest to Him, slowly suffocating. Dying devoid of human dignity in a manner saved for the lowest of society, adjacent to two convicted criminals. This man who did nothing wrong.

However, as we look back to what some now consider “Holy Thursday,” as an account in Scripture, there is even more to the crucifixion that must be considered. “And being in great agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44). Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives to his heavenly Father that night, with whom He had never known anything but right relationship. He knew He was about to endure the full wrath of God for our sins. He was about to experience the fullness of separation from God.

“What happened at the cross, for those of us who claim to be its beneficiaries? It is beyond comprehension, of course. A three-year-old cannot comprehend the pain a spouse feels when cheated on. How much less could we comprehend what it meant for God to funnel the cumulative judgment for all the sinfulness of his people down onto one man…What is physical torture compared to the full weight of centuries of cumulative wrath absorption? That mountain of piled-up horrors? How did Jesus even retain sanity psychologically in absorbing the sum- total penalty of every lustful thought and deed coming from the hearts of God’s people-and that is one sin among many?” (Gentle and Lowly, pg. 199-200)

Remember that Christ endured all of this to display His glory and perfect love. As Pastor Koby reminded us on Sunday, this is the epitome of a demonstration that God FOR you. He is for you! “The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It’s a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God.” (God is the Gospel, pg. 47). Only through Him can we understand our true identity, purpose, and have a right relationship with our heavenly Father.

For this week, stop and take some time to meditate on the cross and all that it encompasses:

The Gospel accounts of the crucifixion can be found in Matthew 27:32-54, Mark 15:21-39, Luke 23:26-49, and John 19:16-37.

“…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:6-11

“who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:6-8

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

1) Thank God for what He has done for you. Don’t do this flippantly – consider the weight of your sin and what it cost Him.

o “You will never make yourself feel that you are a sinner, because there is a mechanism in you as a result of sin that will always be defending you against every accusation…There is only one way to know that we are sinners, and that is to have some dim, glimmering conception of God.” (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

§ Spend time reflecting on who God is. By knowing Him, we see ourselves more clearly. • Resource: Verse Study on the Attributes of God

2) Following Christ also means counting the cost to your own life. For those who know Him, you make a choice each day to follow Him.

o What areas of my life am I surrendered fully to God and living and desiring His glory?

- versus -

o What areas of my life am I living for myself? Some key questions to reveal this might be: § What sentences (either out loud or in your head) begin with, “I deserve…” or “I must have…” or “I have a right to…” or “I need…” (etc.)

3) Pick a verse listed above and commit to memorizing and meditating on this verse this week.

o Use a dry-erase marker to write it on your bathroom mirror – read 4- 5x while brushing your teeth, or each time you wash your hands.

§ Bonus: erase a couple words each day and see how much you remember.

o Make it your phone lock screen and read it every time you pick up your phone (before you do anything else with it!)

o Write it on an index card and tape it to your fridge – read every time you get a glass of water or make something to eat.

o Fighter Verse is a great app for memorizing.

o Pray through the verse each night

§ Do more than just memorize words – while it’s great to have God’s word stored in your heart, you need to use it.

Take time to ponder what you are reading, ask God to make this personal to you, and ask yourself what you need to change in your thinking, believing, and/or actions as a result of what you are learning from Scripture.

For further reading:

• God is the Gospel (John Piper)

• Gentle and Lowly (Dane Ortlund)

• The Attributes of God (AW Pink)

• None Like Him (Jen Wilken)

• Booklet: The Attributes of God (Brad Hambrick)

The Resurrection

By Jon Walker

A Devotion on 1 Corinthians 15

I Corinthians 15, sometimes known as the “resurrection chapter”, is Paul’s beautiful and logical explanation of the hope found in the resurrection of Jesus. A chapter that speaks to both head and heart. Making the appeal for the historical truth of the resurrection while showing its immense meaning for those who trust in Jesus for their salvation. It’s one of the longer chapters in the new testament but well worth the time read. Before going any further, read through 1 Corinthians 15, asking that God would give insight and understanding of His word.

Read 1 Corinthians 15

Context.

I Corinthians is a letter Paul wrote to a church he helped start in the Greek city of Corinth. This city was known in some ways as an ancient Las Vegas or Amsterdam where you could have “experiences” not available in other places. The phrase “to live as a Corinthian” was used in the ancient world to describe someone without moral rules. In short, it had a reputation. Plant in the middle of that: a church. From the letter Paul wrote it’s clear they really struggled to grow up in their faith and live holy amidst their culture. For most of the letter Paul is addressing how they treat one another, their bodies and their church. But he is now addressing a belief that was creeping into their church. It was being taught and believed by some that resurrection doesn’t happen. They still wanted Jesus but without His being raised from the dead. Paul’s point: that doesn’t work. At all. You cannot have a meaningful Jesus without the resurrection. That belief doesn’t logically hold together and it undermines every hopeful element of trusting in Christ. Without the resurrection all of Christianity falls apart and with it is held together. To better understand this there are three larger truth that we can see in an overview of 1 Corinthians 15.

The resurrection of Jesus happened. (verses 1-11)

To be a Christian is not to merely adhere to a set of ideals or teachings. Yes, we follow Jesus but we follow a resurrected Jesus. The claim of scripture that we all must make a decision about is that the resurrection happened. A real event, at a real moment in human history, witnessed by real people who saw the real resurrected body of Jesus with their own eyes. Touched him with their hands and trusted with their hearts. The resurrection sets Jesus apart and above any other. Merely our good teacher and He’s just another among many religious voices. But the resurrection proves the promise that His death does what scripture says: that it is the payment for and cleansing of the sin of anyone who believes.

Question: Do you trust the resurrection as a real event that means what God says it means?

The resurrection is our hope. (verses 12-57)

This is longest section and primary thrust of this chapter. Did you notice all of the “if/then” language when you read it? Paul uses a bit of compare and contrast to drive home just how different life is with or without the resurrection. Without it we are hopeless, stuck in our sin, pitiful and make God out to be liar as we await the (as one writer put it) “bully that always wins, death.” But with the resurrection it could not be more opposite. We have hope in the forgiveness of our sin, no fear of death and joyful expectation beyond this life. Hope in a biblical sense is not some empty sentiment to say to ourselves when times are hard. No, it’s the certainty of the fulfillment God’s promises based upon His perfect character.

Action:

1. Take a moment and make two columns. On the top of one write “If No Resurrection…” and the other write “If Resurrection.. Then fill in these two columns using verses 12- 57. For example “If no resurrection…then we only have hope in this life (v19)” or “If resurrection then…death does not win (v 55).

2. Take a look at the resurrection column and spend a few moments thanking God in prayer for all He does through it.

The resurrection gives our life meaning (v 58).

The resurrection means that we have boundless hope in death. But it doesn’t mean that we mentally escape here and now. If you are reading this then God still has you here for a reason. Part of what compels us to press on in this life, seeking to glorify God in all we do is the fact that this life isn’t all there is. What happens now does have eternal impact. This is shown in the final verse of the chapter when it begins with a “therefore”. Meaning that the instruction in verse 58 is the natural outpouring of the hope explained in verses 1-57. As C.S. Lewis said “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” Yes, it is good that we trust the historical account of the resurrection and grow to understand the hope it provides but if we simply shelve those truths in our mind without it moving our heart to action then we have still fallen short.

Be encouraged that because of the resurrection of Jesus, this life isn’t the end and may that strengthen you to live for Him, in the difficulty of the here and now because one day you will see Him face to face.

Question: Do I treat the resurrection like an intellectual fact only, has it led me to live out what it says in verse 58?

The Ascension

By Wendy Wood

The Ascension shouts “Jesus is Alive!”  The ascension is the most overlooked aspect of the gospel but is vital to our faith.  After His death and resurrection, Jesus took His rightful place at the right hand of God.  As the Exalted One, Jesus continues to uphold and fulfill every aspect of His atoning work. Jesus is alive and actively completing the work that redeems God’s people as His own possession.  We need to remember and meditate on the living Christ in heaven.

There are two amazing truths that I want to focus on in this devotion.

First, Jesus intercedes for us.

“Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through

 him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”    Hebrews 7:25

Jesus saves to the uttermost!  Uttermost means to the highest degree.  Jesus’ mercy and grace and forgiveness are to the highest degree. It’s not that we are just barely saved or that there is just enough grace to cover our sin.  Jesus’ sacrifice and on-going application of His grace is to the highest degree, more than enough to save us!   Jesus’ death on the cross took our punishment and removed the wrath of God from all who put their faith and hope in Him.  But He also continues His work as our Savior and Lord.  He always lives to make intercession for us.  Jesus prays for us.  Jesus pleads to God the Father on our behalf as our Savior and Lord. Dane Ortlund says, “Intercession is the constant hitting ‘refresh’ of our justification in the court of heaven”.  This is the on-going work of applying the saving grace He provided on the cross.  He is continually applying the grace we need moment to moment as He talks to the Father on our behalf.  He always is praying for us.  

How does this apply to your daily interactions?

• How does this change your thinking in the difficult moments of the day for you?  

• How might it change the way you think and feel about a disappointing conversation or a difficult moment with your spouse, child, boss, or friend?

• How might you respond differently when you are tempted to be angry or anxious?

• How does this encourage you when you are alone?

Second, Jesus is our advocate.

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”     1 John 2:1

Jesus not only prays for us all the time, but when we sin, He is also our advocate. Where an intercessor stands between two parties, an advocate takes one party’s side and they approach the other together.  An advocate is someone who speaks in favor of you or recommends you publicly.  Jesus continues the on-going work of salvation every single time we sin.  It’s not that God the Father continues to need His wrath removed from His children, but the heart of Christ (and God the Father) is so for His children that He continues to work on our behalf.  Jesus continues to extend the mercy and grace we need actively throughout our lives.  When we sin, Jesus is right there speaking in favor of us as His own.  We are encouraged to grow in our holiness at the beginning of 1 John 2:1.  “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.”  But God wants us to truly know His heart for us.  God continues to rescue and move toward us even in our sin.  God the Father continues to provide for us.  When we sin, “we have an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous.”  If you are in Christ, you are covered by the Righteous One and He speaks on your behalf.

How does this apply to your everyday life? 

• When you sin, do you realize Jesus is your advocate, right then and there?

• Are you tempted to try to hide sin and not run to His throne for grace and mercy?

• How does this encourage you to repent quickly when you sin and to work to put off that nagging sin in your life?

• How might this change your response when your spouse, child, boss, or co-worker sins against you?

Jesus always lives to make intercession for  you.  And when you sin, Jesus is your advocate.  Celebrate how much Jesus loves you and the way He saves you to the uttermost because He is alive today and forever!

Jesus Prays for Us

John Piper: Solid Joys Devotionals

He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

It says that Christ is able to save to the uttermost — forever — since he always lives to make intercession for us. In other words, he would not be able to save us forever if he did not go on interceding for us forever.

This means our salvation is as secure as Christ’s priesthood is indestructible. This is why we needed a priest so much greater than any human priest. Christ’s deity and his resurrection from the dead secure his indestructible priesthood for us.

This means we should not talk about our salvation in static terms the way we often do — as if I did something once in an act of decision, and Christ did something once when he died and rose again, and that’s all there is to it. That’s not all there is to it.

This very day I am being saved by the eternal intercession of Jesus in heaven. Jesus is praying for us and that is essential to our salvation.

We are saved eternally by the eternal prayers (Romans 8:34) and advocacy (1 John 2:1) of Jesus in heaven as our High Priest. He prays for us and his prayers are answered because he prays perfectly on the basis of his perfect sacrifice.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/jesus-prays-for-us

The God of Heaven Became Human WHAT WE STILL AND WILL BELIEVE

Article by David Mathis

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. (Apostles’ Creed)

Just one brick in the wall of Christianity. That’s what the young pastor claimed about the virgin birth. No need to stand by unnecessary barriers to the Christian faith. If someone takes that brick out, he said, it doesn’t mean the whole wall falls.

Indeed the wall may not fall right away. But who starts taking bricks out of walls he wants to stay standing? The wall may stand for our lifetime, but what about the generations that follow? Why bequeath them a faulty wall? And besides, this pastor, now a former pastor, went on to prove that abandoning the virgin birth is rarely the end of one’s removing of bricks.

It is, in fact, vital that the church affirm, as it has throughout the centuries, that Jesus “was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary” because the Gospels so plainly teach it. Believing in the virginal conception is essential, as believing anything God tells us is essential. He could have brought his Son into the world in a different way, but he didn’t — and he’s told us how he did it. Will we pretend to cry, “Lord, Lord,” and not believe what he says?

“Believing in the virginal conception is essential, as believing anything God tells us is essential.”

The Apostles’ Creed confesses, “We believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” Who Jesus is — according to the Scriptures, and captured in this time-tested, careful summary of the early church — is not disconnected or unrelated to the virginal conception. Yet before getting to his birth, the creed makes three massive claims about Jesus that may sound so familiar we’re prone to overlook their significance. Consider the simplicity and depth of the church’s long-standing confession of Jesus as “Christ, his only Son, our Lord.”

Jesus, the Christ

“Jesus Christ” — his given name and his messianic title have been associated so closely now for two millennia that we often treat them like his first and last name. “Christ,” of course, is Greek for Anointed One (Messiah in Hebrew). For a thousand years before the first Christmas, God’s people waited for a coming Messiah — the Christ — who would fulfill God’s promises to and through the great king David.

Through the prophet Nathan, God announced to David, “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). David’s throne established forever meant either one descendant after another, with the dynasty never ending, or one singular offspring in David’s line ruling forever. David, through divine guidance, came to take it as the latter, and even spoke of a descendant who would be his superior, his lord, to whom God himself would say, “Sit at my right hand” (Psalm 110:1). God would not only make this descendent king without end but, shockingly, also “a priest forever” (Psalm 110:4).

Through Isaiah and the prophets, God’s people grew in their anticipations and longing for this great child to be born, this son to be given, on whose shoulders would be their government and whom the people would call, remarkably, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore. (Isaiah 9:7)

How they might call him “Mighty God” would be discovered in time, but to pine for a long-expected, coming Christ was doubtless to anticipate one who would be human, and no less. Like his forefather David, he would be a human king. To be born in David’s line would mean to be born of a woman. When we attribute Christ to Jesus, while implying far more, we are not expecting anything less than one who is truly man.

FULLY HUMAN

And so he was. He was no spirit pretending or just seeming to be human. As the Gospel of John captures it so memorably, “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). He was human, all the way down. Born of a human mother, he was swaddled as a frail infant, exposed to danger in this fallen world, grew in strength and wisdom and stature (Luke 2:40, 52), and “learned obedience through what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). He ate, drank, and slept — grew tired (John 4:6), became thirsty (John 19:28) and hungry (Matthew 4:2) and physically weak (Matthew 4:11; Luke 23:26). He died (Luke 23:46). And he rose again with a truly human, now glorified, body (Luke 24:39; John 20:20, 27).

“‘Jesus is Lord’ is at once both the most basic and highest of declarations.”

But not just human in body; also in soul. He plainly exhibited human emotions, marveling (Matthew 8:10), being troubled (John 11:33–35; 12:27; 13:21), and being “very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38). So also he demonstrated a human mind as he grew in wisdom (Luke 2:52) and acknowledged nescience (Mark 13:32) — and a human will in his lifelong submission to his Father’s (John 6:38), culminating at Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39).

The true and full humanity of the Christ was never in question for his disciples and those who walked with him on the streets of Galilee and Jerusalem. They saw him, heard him, touched him (1 John 1:1). He plainly was nothing less than human. Yet those strictest of monotheists, who would eventually worship this man, came to see, in time, that he was more.

Jesus, God’s Only Son

Christ is one thing; God’s “only Son” is quite another. This Jesus is not only true man, the church came to confess, but also true God. But not as modern cynics might assume. Confessing Jesus as God’s own Son — as God himself in the triunity of the Godhead — was not a project undertaken by his apostles and subsequent generations as their veneration of a great teacher grew out of proportion.

Rather, when this true man rose from the dead, as an objective fact of history, with more than five hundred witnesses (1 Corinthians 15:6), the final piece was now in place. From centuries of prophecy and a life of intimations and shocking revelations came the verdict: this man was not only Christ but indeed truly God, God’s own Son.

FULLY GOD

Long had God himself pledged to come (Psalm 96:11–13; Micah 5:2). Isaiah, as we’ve seen, saw “Mighty God” in this child born and son given. And now, with eyes open by his resurrection, we see it “in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27, 44), and on every page in the Gospels, from the litany of unexpected details surrounding his birth, to the surprising authority of his teaching, to the growing whispers with each sign he performed.

The Jewish religion maintained a clear ontological divide between God and man. Only God was Creator; only God deserved worship; only God stilled the seas; only God would judge the world. Yet again and again, the words and acts of Christ demonstrated that this man’s true identity defied the categories. Not only was he manifestly man, but he was demonstrably divine. Somehow the one true God himself had come among them as one of them, as man. He was indeed one — one essence the church would come to say — and also three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus, Our Lord

One towering last mark of the divine identity in the Jewish mind was the title Lord. The first and foremost confession of their faith was that Yahweh is Lord. Yahweh — that holiest of names, God’s own personal, covenantal name, revealed to Moses at the bush. So holy was the name that for fear of mispronouncing it, or somehow dishonoring it with unclean lips, the people would supply Lord (Hebrew adonai) when reading aloud God’s name in the scrolls.

This makes the early attribution Jesus is Lord — by Jews, of all people — so stunning. Jesus is Lord is at once both the most basic and highest of declarations. And not only, against the backdrop of the Hebrew Scriptures, is this a clear and resounding confession of Christ’s deity but also a testimony to his singularity of person.

He is the one Lord of his people. And their one Lord is a singular person. As both truly man and truly God, he is not two persons. Rather, he is one spectacular person with two full and distinct natures, divine and human — as the great creed of A.D. 451 would claim, “without confusion, change, division, or separation.”

One Spectacular Person

This singular person — fully God and fully man, in one spectacular person — is the one who dwelt months in Mary’s womb, and was born in Bethlehem. Unlike any other man, he is God. And unlike any other man, he was “conceived by the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:31, 35; Matthew 1:18, 20).

God could have chosen to bring his Son into the world in another way. But he didn’t. He saw fit in his unsearchable wisdom, for our joy and for the glory of his Son, to do it the way he did it at that first Christmas. And we marvel. Wayne Grudem captures what many have observed throughout the centuries,

God, in his wisdom, ordained a combination of human and divine influence in the birth of Christ, so that his full humanity would be evident to us from the fact of his ordinary human birth from a human mother, and his full deity would be evident from the fact of his conception in Mary’s womb by the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.

The glory of his virginal conception is no brick to remove and toss away. This is not only a stubborn, objective fact of history and divine revelation, but also a precious glimpse from the Father as to who this Jesus is. He is the Christ, and fully man, and he is God’s only Son, and fully divine, and all in one united, unconfused, and undivided person, who is our Lord.

The servants of their Lord happily receive it, and gladly proclaim it, along with a host of other surprising truths an unbelieving world finds just as unpalatable.

David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is a husband, father of four, and author of The Christmas We Didn’t Expect: Daily Devotions for Advent.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-god-of-heaven-became-human

The Resurrection Creates Reconciliation

by Jared C. Wilson 

As we search the Scriptures for insight into Jesus, we must never forget the primary reason why the biblical testimonies exist.

Look at what John asserts as the thesis statement for his gospel: “[B]ut these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31). He didn’t write his gospel just so you will understand, be convinced, or be informed; he writes so that you will believe with a life-giving effect, so that you will take in the power of the cross and be born again with a life with the quality of resurrection.

It is not enough to simply be convinced that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. You must be convicted of it. Your convincing has to lead to a conviction and a commitment. The influence of the work of the cross on your life must come full with the power of the resurrection, and that is not a power that will be content to settle in your mind. It is a power that gives new life. Just like the disciples mourning the death of Jesus believed his death had some meaning for forgiveness in their lives were set afire by the reality that Jesus lives, we must move beyond belief into a life—into a kingdom life—that buzzes and hums with the eternal quality of resurrection.

A resurrection gospel is a full gospel. What we are accustomed to is a simplistic, stripped down gospel, a gospel that suggests, “You have issues, but Jesus died for you; now be a good person.” The full gospel says, “The problem is a radical one no less serious than death and it requires a radical intervention no less powerful than resurrection.” The full gospel says the level and quality of your messed-up-ness is complete, exhaustive, irreconcilable, but the gift of God’s grace extends infinitely, eternally, covering it all. It reconciles us fully to God in a way that can only be described as bringing a dead person back to life.

As a matter of truly living out a resurrection life, we followers of Jesus have to re-focus our understanding of salvation from what we’re being saved from and place it on what we’re being saved to. That is the difference between the occupied cross and the empty tomb.

Look at the way Paul describes the fullness of salvation:

[E]ven as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ . . .  (Eph. 1:4-9)

There is a richness here, a full fledged act of rescue and reinstatement that goes so far beyond getting our golden ticket to heaven. This passage demonstrates the true fullness of salvation. Look at how mighty to save our Lord is:

He chose us before the world was created. He chose us to be adopted into his family. Consequently, we don’t just have forgiveness, we have the key to unlocking the mystery of God’s will. Because Christ’s resurrection is the firstfruits of our own, we can know that God is including us in his plans for the future, for his plans for the universe. We are not privy to all the details, and he certainly doesn’t need our help, but we have the assurance that our loving God has established for us a future and a hope. He is choosing us as partakers in the indescribable glory of God.

In our sin, this may not seem like such a big deal, but if we could grasp even a sliver of how much we don’t deserve such lavish treatment, we might behold the power of the resurrection in it. You’ve got to really get grace, that it really is all that Christ is in exchange for our complete and utter emptiness. The resurrection is not just about turning over a new leaf. It really is about being dead and then being brought back to life. It really is about being an enemy of God and being brought into the light.

In Colossians 1:21, Paul describes our state before salvation as being alienated from God. We were separated from him, far from him. We are images of God that are broken. We were in bondage to sin, we were dead and buried like Lazarus in the tomb, we were effectively disowned and dismissed, and like the prodigal son’s exile, it was self-willed. We were, for all intents and purposes, anti-God, even if consciously we were just ambivalent. But then the resurrection power of Jesus, he who is mighty to save, ushers us into new life—where?—“in him.”

Paul describes this wondrous reunion alternately here:

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.  (Rom. 5:9-11)

We are saved from many things: sin, Satan, punishment, death. But primarily we are saved from the wrath of God. And we aren’t just passed over for wrath; we are brought in, held close, covered up. We have received reconciliation. This is such a powerful way to talk about salvation, because it moves us beyond self-centered talk of being saved into a personal faith, as if Christianity is about self-improvement, and takes us right into being unified again with God, which posits salvation such as it is—Jesus the Savior taking dead strangers to God and transforming them into living friends.

We have been reconciled to God. We were alienated from him, effectively enemies, but in Christ’s death we were made right with God. In other words, the debt we owed has been paid and credited to us, and in Christ’s resurrection we have been made alive to God.

See, when Adam fell, taking the fruit he wasn’t supposed to and eating it, he marred creation by ushering death and division into it. By embracing sin, he invited death and he set up a dividing wall between him and God that could not be surmounted from his (Adam’s) side. So a new Adam has come, dying to fulfill the death owed by man, and rising to give new life to those who desperately need it. And therefore we are reconciled to God.

That is the meaning of life, by the way. It’s not being healthy and wealthy and happy and wise. It’s not being successful or achieving all your dreams. The meaning of life is moving from alienation from God to being adopted into his family.

But the reconciling work doesn’t stop there.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  (2 Cor. 5:17-21)

What happened at the fall? Not only did Adam and Eve create separation between themselves and God, they created it between each other as well. The Bible says there was then also enmity between the man and the woman. So the fall distances us, separates us, it makes us say to ourselves, “I am my own person.” And to fully embrace the fullness of the gospel, we can’t just say, “Jesus has saved me from my sins,” we have to confess, “Jesus has reconciled me to God . . . and to others.”

Thus ensues the ministry of reconciliation Paul talks about. As followers of Jesus, “Christ’s ambassadors,” we act out our reconciliation with God in our relationships with others. This is the foundational command Jesus gives as the Mission Statement of the life of discipleship: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength . . . and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The two are inextricably linked, because the saving reconciliation is a holistic reconciliation, a full reconciliation. Because he lives, we can finally, really live. The resurrection restores the entirety of our brokenness and division.

Posted at: https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/the-resurrection-creates-reconciliation/

The Surpassing Worth of Knowing Christ

Jim Elliff

Most do not understand the implications and ramifications of knowing Christ. It has a comparative value. Notice what one like Paul will forfeit to know Christ. I’m quoting only part of the long sentence, but it conveys what I want you to see:

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” ‭‭(Philippians‬ ‭3:7-8‬).

To Paul, this word, knowing, speaks of something very lofty and compelling which had a beginning and about which he has ongoing consuming interest not to be set aside throughout all of his earthly life and eons of time beyond. He calls it “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” 

Surpassing what? The answer: “whatever gain I had.” He had lots to boast about in terms of gain. He meant that he had status, reputation, accumulated superior knowledge among his peers, leadership . . . all of which he “counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” It was a wasted status, unfounded reputation, wrongheaded knowledge, and a leadership into a black hole of misunderstood data and religious practice. But it was potent to him. And he gave it up. He experienced the loss of everything in the world of his own comprehension (he counted them as “rubbish”) and among his once esteemed peers (“I have suffered the loss of all things”). 

All this happened in a moment of time, with a vision of Christ, on the road to Damascus. 

Be shocked by this. He didn’t know Christ; he hated all he knew about Christ. And driven by that perspective, he was pursuing in anger those who did know Christ on his way to the Syrian city of Damascus north of Israel. But, in a very short time, he gave up everything he had gained in the Jewish world for the Christ he sought to destroy. 

How do you explain this?

Only one explanation will work—he saw something that had more value. God revealed Christ to him in a vision. After that, he was as gentle and submissive as a newborn. Meeting Christ was just that powerful. It was the surpassing value that turned everything upside down in a moment.

You likely won’t have a Damascus road experience exactly like what God chose to give such a historical figure as Paul, but the knowing of Christ is just as necessary.  The form of the revelation of Christ is not the important thing. Knowing Christ is. And Christ is made known to you in his compelling beauty by the Father revealing him to you. That may come through normal cognition, but it is supernatural and will change everything.

Editor’s Note: This originally published at Christian Communicators Worldwide

Jim Elliff

Jim Elliff is the president of Christian Communicators Worldwide. Through this ministry Jim, and a team of communicators, train leaders, teach the Bible, and evangelize, both overseas and throughout the United States. He is the author of several books, and writes regularly for three CCW websites: CCWtoday.org, BulletinInserts.org and WaytoGod.org. Jim is also one of several pastors of Christ Fellowship of Kansas City, a network of congregations meeting in homes in Metro Kansas City.

Posted at: https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/the-surpassing-worth-of-knowing-christ/

He Died to Have Her

Marshall Segal

What happened for you at the cross?

Jesus died for my sins, many might rush to say (and rightly so). However easily those five simple and beautiful words come, though, they are often misunderstood and unexplored. Who was Jesus, and what had he planned to do? And if he is God the Son, the Word become flesh, what would it mean for him to die? And how do we understand sin, and what does it really cost?

“Jesus did not just die so that you might be saved; he died to save you.”

If we’re not careful, our gospel can easily become a shallow and superficial anthem to relieve guilty consciences and dismiss fears of hell. The cross is no longer really about reconciling us to God, but about calming God and skipping punishment. We end up clinging to a sentimental and superficial cross, not the cross of Christ. We need greater and greater clarity, through the eyes of Scripture, to know the real wonders of the cross.

Perhaps the most controversial word of the five, though, is my. What does it mean that Christ died for me? When he was pinned to that wood in my place, his lungs collapsing and blood spilling, what did he achieve for me?

What Did the Cross Achieve?

What happened for you at the cross? Jesus did not just die so that you might be saved; he died to save you. Christ did not die so that you might have him, but so that he would, without a doubt, have you. When he died, your salvation was not only made possible, but made sure. That is the beauty and promise of definite atonement. If it feels peripheral or unimportant, like theological hairsplitting, we have not yet felt just how dead and hopeless we really were in our sin.

Definite atonement (or limited atonement) says that Christ died for a definite people — a definite church, a definite flock, a definite and chosen bride. “Husbands, love your wives,” the apostle Paul says, “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). Not for everyone, but for her.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14–15). For his own, for the sheep, for his friends (John 15:13). For all those whose names were “written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain” (Revelation 13:8).

“I have been crucified with Christ,” the apostle Paul says. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Not just for anyone, but for me — and everyone who lives by such faith.

John Piper says, “You will never know how much God loves you if you continue to think of his love for you as only one instance of his love for all the world” (From Heaven He Came and Sought Her, 640). When Jesus received the nails, the thorns, the spear in his side, he was not saving everyone in the world, but securing those he had chosen from all over the world. He did not die wondering if you would believe; he died so that you would believe.

“Definite atonement says that Christ died for a definite people, a definite church, a definite and chosen bride.”

The doctrine of limited atonement arose as part of a five-part response (now remembered by the acronym TULIP) to a theological revolt four hundred years ago. In the Remonstrance, followers of Jacob Arminius falsely taught, “Jesus Christ the Savior of the world died for all men and for every man.” They sought to make the atonement “unlimited,” applying to all and not only those chosen by God for salvation. Ironically, by doing so, they limited the atonement far more than they realized. By trying to preserve, feature, and widen the glory of the cross, they unwittingly restrained and diminished it.

The Cross Purchases Hearts

Perhaps no better place exists to discover the certainty of God securing salvation for his people than by going to the heart of the new covenant promises, literally. These precious promises show that the cross not only makes salvation possible, but actually creates in us what salvation requires of us. Through the cross, through “the blood of the covenant” (Hebrews 9:20), God sovereignly forms the faith in us by which he saves us.

The prophet Jeremiah declares,

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31–33)

What is different about this new covenant? God will not merely give his people the law to obey, but he will write his law on their hearts. He will put it within them. He continues in the next chapter,

I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. (Jeremiah 32:39–40)

God will not wait for them to fear him, but he will put the fear of himself in their hearts. Or, as the prophet Ezekiel says, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:26–27).

“Jesus did not die wondering if you would believe; he died so that you would believe.”

These are not pictures of a God waiting for us to let him in by faith, but pictures of a God who levels all the walls of our resistance to cause us to repent, believe, rejoice, and obey. And this spiritual heart surgery happens because of the blood of the new covenant (Matthew 26:28) — the death of Christ for his bride, his sheep, his church. Those who argue for unlimited atonement, far from extending the atonement, rob the atonement of its deepest, most vital purchase: the gift of faith for all who would believe.

Savior of the World?

But didn’t Jesus die for the whole world? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Arminians base their argument for unlimited atonement on a handful of familiar verses in the Bible, verses we dare not set aside or minimize. No debate over Scripture should be settled by which proof texts are more true, but instead by what holds the utter truthfulness of every verse together.

So, while John 3:16 may seem to contradict definite atonement, we must stop to ask what Jesus means by “the world” and what he means by “love.” Does world really mean every person everywhere at all times, or might he simply mean people from everywhere in the world (and not only Jews)? The same question applies to other similar texts: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people” (Titus 2:11). “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).

Paul may provide the key for some texts like these when he calls Jesus “the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:10). Jesus does love all in some real sense and offer himself as the only possible Savior. If it were not for the death of Christ, we all, without exception, would have been immediately buried in wrath. If it were not for the death of Christ, we could not genuinely offer the gospel to all people everywhere. Jesus is the Savior of all in some sense, but not in the same sense. There is an especially: “especially of those who believe.” He not only covers them in common grace, as he does with all people, but he also raises them with saving grace. As J.I. Packer says, “God loves all in some ways” and “God loves some in all ways” (From Heaven He Came, 564).

Does God Love the World?

God does love the whole world, though, and everyone in it. He desires, at one level, that all would be saved (Ezekiel 18:23; Matthew 23:37), even if he decrees that only some ultimately are. The world in John 3:16 is the world without exception. In giving his own Son, God loved the world, the whole of sinful humanity. And because he crushed his Son, whoever believes in him, without exception, is covered by the blood of Christ. Through Christ and only because of Christ, God is offered to all.

And yet, even in that very same chapter, we learn that we must be born again (John 3:7) and that the Spirit blows where he wishes (John 3:8). God loves all, and desires all to be saved, and yet he chooses some (Romans 9:18). He loves them more — in all ways. Jesus is the Savior of the world, especially of those who believe.

“In the end, the most serious danger of unlimited atonement is that it appears to divide God.”

Whatever texts like the ones above mean by world or all, they cannot mean Jesus truly dies for everyone in the world. Otherwise, no sin would ever be punished in hell. If Jesus died for those who reject him in the end, how then could they be sent to hell? What more is there to pay? While his death, as the sinless Son of God, surely could have hypothetically covered the sins of the whole world (and many more worlds beside), his death could not have literally covered all sins in this world, or all would be saved.

And if he meant to cover the sins of all, did he then fail in his mission? Or, if he meant to cover the sins of all, did that set him against the Father, who elects some to salvation (Ephesians 1:3–4), and against the Spirit, who regenerates some to new life (John 3:3–8)? As Jonathan Gibson writes, “The works of the Trinity in the economy of salvation are indivisible. That is, the works of Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct but inseparable. Each person performs specific roles in the plan of salvation, but never in isolation from the others” (From Heaven He Came, 366).

In the end, perhaps the most serious danger of unlimited atonement is that it appears to divide God, to put the Godhead at odds with himself, to separate what God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — has planned, executed, and achieved, from before the foundation of the world, together.

Does This Harm Evangelism?

But if Jesus only died for the elect, can we tell anyone and everyone we meet, “Jesus died for you”? In some ways, this is where the rubber of this debate meets the streets where we live. Many Arminians and Amyrauldians (those who affirm the other four points of Calvinism, but reject definite atonement) simply want to preserve the freedom to preach the gospel to all people. They want to preserve a “universal offer” of forgiveness and eternal life. Again, while trying to unleash the atonement, so-called unlimited atonement strangely limits it, because unlimited atonement shortens the saving arm of God — first for us, and then for all we love and want to come to Jesus.

When we go to the lost, believing that Jesus not only bought the opportunity for them to believe, but bought the very faith of all who would believe, we can have far greater confidence in our sharing — and far less insecurity and anxiety about rejection. This person’s salvation does not ultimately hang on our persuasiveness, but on Christ’s purchase. Not on our argumentation, but on his propitiation. Not on their decision-making, but on his life-creating, soul-overturning, death-defeating, joy-producing love.

The definite atoning work of Christ is a significant part of the glory of God’s grace. And to know this, by the working of God’s Spirit, inflames the cause of world missions and enables us to preach in such a way that our people experience deeper gratitude, greater assurance, sweeter fellowship with God, stronger affections in worship, more love for people, and greater courage and sacrifice in witness and service. (Piper, 637)

If Christ died for all in the same way, we forfeit one of the most precious blessings he purchased — the faith by which we are saved — and we rob God of the full glory he deserves. Definite atonement, far from dulling love or blunting evangelism or blurring assurance, sets each ablaze with new confidence and zeal. The blood he spilled “is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). For many, even you, if he has made you his own.

Marshall Segal (@marshallsegal) is a writer and managing editor at desiringGod.org. He’s the author of Not Yet Married: The Pursuit of Joy in Singleness & Dating. He graduated from Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Faye, have two children and live in Minneapolis.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/he-died-to-have-her