God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Hebrews 1:1-3
The cross was the central purpose of Jesus in coming into the world. The payment necessary for our sins could not be paid by anyone else. Only a fully human Savior could refuse sin so that He owed no debt for Himself. And only a fully divine Savior could pay the penalty for all those who would believe. On the cross Jesus fulfilled both the role of the high priest who offered the sacrifice, and the role of the sacrifice. Only in this way could God’s justice be satisfied and God’s mercy be extended. “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).
Seventeenth-century pastor, Stephen Charnock, wrote, “To accept so willingly of such hard conditions for us, and die so ignominiously upon the cross we had deserved! He knew the burden of sin, He knew the terrors of hell, yet He did not shrink from the imputation of the one, or the sufferings of the other; it was not a willingness founded upon ignorance, but upon a clear-sighted affection. He was willing to be reproached, that we might be glorified; He would be like to us, that we might be conformed to Him; and took our human nature, that we might in a sort partake of His divine.” The transaction of our sin for Christ’s righteousness that takes place when we are saved changes more than our eternal destiny. If we properly understand and appreciate it, it changes everything about the way we live in this world.
