God’s Plan Through Jesus and the Cross

We have been discussing Jesus’ words on the cross.  God had a plan all along.  Jesus proclaimed that He accomplished it.  God spoke through Isaiah nearly 800 years earlier about this time.  Daniel mentions the coming of the Messiah over 400 years earlier and gives a specific date.  God’s message gave hope, and that hope was through Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53:4-12

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 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.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked—but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

God’s plan all along was for His people to be reconciled to Him.  He loved us so much that He made the sacrifice to pay for our sins, to wipe away our sins so that we may obtain eternal life in His presence.  This came at a high cost and He was willing to pay it.  And He did.

Hebrews 9:28

…so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus came to this earth to reconcile us to God.  He came to take our sins away.  He came to offer salvation to the world.  He gave His life so that we may live.  He suffered so that we may be released from the bondage of sin.

Romans 6:17-23

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Only Jesus can save us from our sins.  He is the prefect sacrifice.  He is sinless yet took our sins to the cross.  He suffered so that we may be healed.  We were spiritually dead.  Now we are alive and free.  Through His death and resurrection, we are declared righteous and He has given us eternity in heaven.

1 Peter 2:21-24

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

Romans 5:8-11

That is how much Jesus loves us.  He became flesh and offered Himself for the redemption of our souls.  We are now justified, not by what we do or have done, but by His blood.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Ephesians 1:7

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

We are forgiven because of what Jesus did for us.  Isn’t it worth surrendering to Him?  When we are in Christ, we have abundant life.  We have joy.  We have assurance.  We have hope.