“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” 2Corinthians 5:21.
LIGHT FOR THE NOW: All that happened on the cross was for us and not for him.
The love of God is seen not just in his promises, but the love of God is seen in his promise fulfilled; meaning that we can define God’s love by what he did for us in the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Truly, the love of God is not just seen in his words, but in his actions. The giving of Jesus on the cross is a proof of his love for us. It is clear that on the cross, Jesus became our substitute; he identified with us (who were spiritually death), so that we can be spiritually alive by our identification with his resurrection. Jesus became sin, he became poor and he became an accursed thing on the cross just for us. And because of the state in which he died, he went to hell because of us. Peter in Acts 2:25-27 echoed this, “For David speaketh concerning, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved: therefore, did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”.
So, Jesus went to hell because of us. The question which is good news in itself is, was he left in hell? Jesus was not left in hell (Acts 2:27 clarifies that). He went there but he never remained there. The question now is if he did not remain in hell, then what happened? The same context of Acts 2 gives us the answer: “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God hath sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:20-32). So, Jesus did not remain in hell, he rose from there; he fully identified with man. Jesus had to bear the punishment in all of judgment’s wrath and fury. Jesus died the death he did not deserve, and gave man the life man did not deserve. Jesus was not spiritually dead until he identified with man.
And by identifying with man in spiritual death, he died the death of man and then went to hell (which is a place spiritually death people go). But the good news in the gospel is not that he went to hell, the good news is that hell could not hold him captive; the good news is not that he died; the good news is that on the third day, the grave could not hold him captive. This means that the good news of the gospel is not in his death, but in his resurrection. That death was not his death, it was man’s death, but he took our place in death and in his resurrection, we have his life. This is the love of God manifest. Jesus did not deserve death because he was not responsible for sin. Man sinned, so man deserved death; sin was man’s effort, so death was man’s payment for his effort. But Jesus yielded to sin (that is, he became sin) so that man can have his life in resurrection. He did not deserve death, man deserved death, but Jesus took the place of man in death and died the death he did not deserve, giving man the life he (man) did not deserve. Truly, the love of God is beyond speech; God did not love man in words, rather he created an enabling environment to back up his love with action. Jesus, therefore, is the action of God’s love.
INSTRUCTION: You are unconditionally loved, think about this.
PRAYER: Lord, I grateful for the love you have for me. Your love for me is everything for me, thank you for this unconditional love, in Jesus Name, Amen.
FOR MORE LIGHT, get the message ‘The Love of God’
QUOTE: Your identification with his resurrection equals the salvation of your soul.
DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: JOHN CHAPTER 4; EVENING: ROMANS CHAPTER 1
LIGHT FROM THE WORD 