Fifteen years ago I met a man who claimed that penal substitutionary atonement was just an invention of the apostle Paul. He challenged me to find just one example in the gospels where Jesus himself spoke of his death in that way. At the time I was stumped! I wish I could have that conversation again: I would point him to Jesus’ Last Supper.
Why did Jesus go to the Cross? If you are looking for an encouraging exercise this Good Friday, you might like to try to make a list of all the different reasons you can think of. If you can’t wait, here is ours: 1. To satisfy God’s justice By coming forward as our representative and substitute, and by enduring the penalty for our sins, Jesus not only made us right with God, he demonstrated God’s mercy and justice. God put [Jesus] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because...
At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’. When some of those standing near heard this, they said, ‘Listen, he’s calling Elijah.’ Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ‘Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,’ he said. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from...
On the 5th June 1989, a University student stood in front of a column of four tanks in Tiananmen square in Beijing. As the tanks advanced, the student remained in front of them. And as they moved to manoeuvre around him, he moved to block them. One young man was willing to stand against the almighty power of the Chinese army, just before the brutal massacre of his fellow protestors that followed. A person has only discovered something worth living for if they have discovered something worth dying for. What would you be willing to die for? Where did that...
I recently saw Ian Thorpe interviewed on TV and I was reminded of how he was disqualified from the Olympic 400 metres freestyle back in 2004. He overbalanced on the blocks and fell into the water before the start of his qualifying heat. As a result, he was unable to defend his title. The discussion that followed served as a beautiful example of why Christ needed to die on the cross on that first Good Friday. Let me explain. First, the law brought down by the swimming authority (FINA) was clear: no false starts are allowed in swimming competitions. Ian...
