BIBLES * Bulldogs * & Beards

Chapter 5 Christ Our Ransom Toward the end of Jesus’ ministry as He made His way to Jerusalem, the disciples were struggling to understand the words Jesus was speaking to them. Mark 10:32-34 Do you think that Christians today fully understand the atonement? Within moments, the disciples were arguing about who would sit at His right hand. They were thinking about what was going to happen to them rather that what Jesus was going to do in their behalf. Do you think that Christians today tend to easily lose focus about the tremendous price that Jesus paid in their behalf? It’s in this context that Jesus said something very significant about our understanding of the atonement. Mark 10:42-45 What was Jesus trying to teach the disciples? Dr. Sproul says that many theories about the atonement have been set forth, because the cross is a multifaceted event. Ransom Theory: Ransom paid to Satan. Christus Victor: Is this a common belief? There are several problems with this view. First of all, the Bible does not speak of us owing Satan anything. Secondly, it gives Satan much more power and credit than he deserves. Finally, it neglects the biblical idea that any debt we owe is a debt owed to God. Sinners are in bondage to Satan. But they are only in bondage because God has allowed them to be. The bondage mankind finds itself in is part of the punishment for sin. Payment is owed to God, not the Devil. There is no negotiation between the Devil and the Lord for the release of the captives. Rather, we are redeemed by having Christ crush the head of the serpent after He pays the ransom to God. Our sin has made us debtors to God, not to Satan. Therefore, the ransom paid was paid to God the Father. At the Cross, Satan received nothing but the destruction of his power and the guarantee that his kingdom will be eliminated completely. Rejoice that Christ has destroyed all the power of the evil one. Hebrews 2:14 - Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 1 Corinthians 15:55 - “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Substitution & Satisfaction: How do we see this in the Old Testament? He made satisfaction for our debt, our enmity with God, and our guilt. He satisfied the ransom demand for our release from captivity to sin. The one sin offering of the Day of Atonement involved two goats. After the first had been sacrificed for the sake of its blood, the other goat was symbolically loaded with the guilt of Israel’s sins as the high priest pressed both hands onto the head of the goat and confessed those sins over the animal. Weighed down with the judgment-worthy guilt of Israel on its head, the goat was then driven eastward, far from the face of God into the wilderness—a demonstration that “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). The sin offering, then, offered the Apostles a profound understanding of the death of Christ. While the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins (Heb. 10:4), the blood of Jesus the God-man, shed on the cross and applied by the Spirit to those who trust in Him, cleanses sinners from their sins. When we look at the biblical depiction of sin as a crime, we see that Jesus acts as the Substitute, taking our place at the bar of God’s justice and satisfying our penalty. He didn’t lay down His life for Himself; He laid it down for His sheep. He is our ultimate Substitute. We don‘t use them as part of our day-to-day vocabulary, so we aren't sure exactly what they are communicating in Scripture. Expiation & Propitiation: What Do Expiation, Propitiation & Placated Mean? Expiation is the act that results in the change of God‘s disposition toward us. It is what Christ did on the cross, and the result of Christ‘s work of expiation is propitiation—God‘s anger is turned --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/biblebulldog/message