For us to receive eternal salvation and God’s gift of eternal life we must believe in the right person (i.e., Jesus Christ as God) and believe in the right thing (i.e., His ‘atoning’ sacrifice that He offered by dying on the cross).
Right off the top I want to recognize that some of you will love the ‘theological discussion’ in this blog. Others of you will need to ‘press’ through. I humbly ask you to press through. This is important stuff.
There are two words that, sadly, are quite unfamiliar to many Christians – they are the words ‘Atonement’ & ‘wrath’ (God’s wrath).
‘Atonement’ refers to the needed reconciliation between sinful human beings and a holy God. This reconciliation is possible through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as expressed in Romans 5:25 – 26, Romans 5:11–12, and Romans 5:19. The phrase ‘atoning sacrifice’ is a reference to the sacrificial death of the ‘Lamb of God’ – Jesus – which sufficiently and fully paid the sin debt that was previously ours.
Please read Romans 3:25–26 (NTL): “For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.”
The ‘wrath’ of God the Father, over sin, was poured out on the Son at the cross and His judgment for sin was satisfied, so that the guilty sinner, who trusts in Jesus and applies His sacrifice to their individual lives, goes free to live eternally with God. The substitutionary atonement of Jesus on the cross absorbed the wrath of God for sin and makes the way for the sinner to be justified and placed in right standing before a holy God. Because Jesus took our place, as our substitute, bearing the penalty for sin, we go free eternally – that’s INCREDIBLE!
Alisa Childers (author of ‘Another Gospel’ – which I highly recommend to you) says this about God’s wrath: “I’m actually thankful for God’s wrath towards sin. It’s because He has wrath toward sin that He can keep His promise to wipe away every tear from our eye and essentially quarantine those who love Him and trust Him away from evil and sin forever.”
oth Alisa Childers and Dr. William Craig (Scholar of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology and Professor of Philosophy at Houston Christian University) say some very important things about these two important biblical words, ‘Atonement’ & ‘God’s wrath’. Please listen carefully to the good teaching that comes through this 5-minute conversation between Childers and Craig.
Forever Grateful,
Pastor Marlo