(August 14, 2012 at 6:56 am)pgrimes15 Wrote: This is a question that I asked a few months ago at an Alpha course and got no sensible answer.
“What was the actual sacrifice that God made?. I said “ If Jesus is the Son part of the holy trinity then he is co-eternal in Christian doctrine (I've done my homework) so he has existed for all eternity. Therefore he has always known that he will come to earth and occupy a human body for 30 years and then be crucified, go to hell for 3 days (a place which he himself had made) re-animate his dead crucified body and ascend to heaven to be Lord of the universe for eternity again – where's the sacrifice?” Apart from the undeniable agony of a crucifixion death doesn't seem much else."
Perhaps the theists on this forum can answer this for me.
Regards
Grimesy
Hi Grimesy,
What a great question. I am familiar with the Alpha course. Generally it’s a great place for discussion and asking questions, so I am sorry that you were unable to receive a sensible answer during your experience.
I also connected with your later comments regarding the emotional response of family members when they reflect over what Christ has done for them. It seems one cannot escape the overwhelming gratitude they feel when they come to realise the power of Jesus’ work and what it means for them.
However in response to your question,
‘What was the actual sacrifice that Jesus made…?’ I must explain that Jesus’ sacrifice only makes sense in light of what he fulfilled. It cannot be separated from the entirety of God’s salvation plan. Let me unpack this for you.
It is first clear that Jesus, being God, who is all-knowing and has existed eternally, most certainly knew what the plan of salvation required of him. The Father sent him, yet being God himself,
Jesus also enacted a willingness/obedience to be sent.
Imagine a group made up of three people who have collaboratively devised a plan to save others; yet this plan requires
one of the three to sacrifice themselves. While all three people created and knew the plan from the beginning, one of the three had to willingly accept to be sent (to be sacrificed) in order for the plan to be fulfilled. Such an analogy (while flawed in its representation of the Trinity) aids us in understanding the truth that, yes, although Jesus knew he would be sent as a human to die and to be raised to life again, he also willingly accepted the task. Therefore, sacrifice was involved.
Where’s the sacrifice if he’s all-knowing and knew the end result of the plan though? How is it a sacrifice if he knew he’d return to Heaven again? These are questions you may ask; yet I suggest that such questions do not lessen the need or the event of sacrifice. Usaine Bolt knows he can win the 100m race, therefore he knows the reward or outcome of the race before it begins. However this doesn’t lessen or discount the sacrifice he makes to get there; the time and energy in years of training and the numerous social functions he’s had to sacrifice in order to ensure his physical capability. Likewise, Jesus knew the outcome in advance, but he also knew the sacrifice involved to make the outcome possible. Without his sacrifice, the end result could not be achieved.
Still, what was the actual sacrifice that was so necessary for the fulfilment of God’s salvation plan? Let me address this from another point of view for you…
Being acquainted with Christian doctrine, I’m sure you are familiar with the creation account, correct? So if in the beginning God created the universe, land, animals and humans, etc., the important thing for us to realise here was that
in the beginning man was without sin. Therefore humankind was in perfect relationship with God, each other and the rest of creation. Furthermore, it is clear
humanity was created for life, not death. Yet the opportunity for mankind to go against God’s will and to experience death (Genesis 2:17) was still made available.
It was therefore man’s decision whether to obey or disobey God.
Unfortunately mankind decided to disobey, resulting in the entrance of sin and death to the world…
through one man; Adam. What were the effects of sin? Creation now experienced:
separation from God (we were no longer blameless or pure and therefore could no longer partake in perfect relationship with a perfect God),
separation from one another (blaming each other for our wrongdoing and acting upon wicked/selfish motivation),
death instead of eternal life, and
fractured relationship with the rest of creation (we no longer cared for the earth as we had been created to do). It is evident by looking at the world around us that sin and death have surely taken their toll. We cannot ignore the fact that destruction and brokenness are prevalent throughout history.
Three things stand out in this account: (1) we were created sinless, (2) life was intended for mankind, but (3) the sin of one man brought the curse of sin and death to all of creation.
Therefore, how was this to be reversed and life reinstated to mankind? It would require both God and mankind to be in perfect relationship with one another for creation to be restored. Yet creation was riddled with sin and therefore no longer in perfect relationship with God. How then could God and man unite in order to restore creation? This was only possible
through one man; Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:21).
Jesus, being God, was without sin. He entered earth in the form of a man. However Jesus, being at the same time both fully God and fully man, was the ONLY acceptable candidate to take upon himself the entirety of our sin. For a period of time Jesus laid aside His divinity (meaning, while he was still fully God, he wilfully chose not to employ his godly power) in order to experience life and death as a human. Nevertheless he did so
without sin.
Why would a sinless man choose to take on the sin of everyone else? It is this very question that highlights why many respond to Jesus with such emotion, for his act of sacrifice demonstrates his overwhelming love for us. "He did not come to condemn us, but to save us" (John 3:17). In perfect timing, Jesus made it possible for us to live life in a way that restores us with God, with each other and with creation. It’s Jesus’ death and resurrection that makes salvation possible, not only in terms of creating a means for us to gain eternal life, but in terms of restoring all of creation to its original intent. We were created for perfect relationship with God, one another and the earth. Jesus makes this possible.
It is on this basis we may unpack Jesus’ actual sacrifice. Something that has spoken powerfully to me is the evidence of historical and medical studies concerning crucifixion. It has been shown that people can survive the torture of crucifixion for up to three days (you may wish to look at the following websites for example:
http://custance.org/old/seed/ch29s.html, or
http://www.frugalsites.net/jesus/medical.html).
Yet Jesus, according to the Bible, died after only six hours on the cross! The weight of our sin was so heavy upon him. There are speculations that he died not only from the effects of asphyxiation, but from heart failure. The blood and water that spilled from his side after being pierced are the liquids present in the event of a heart attack. Is it possible to say Jesus died of a broken heart? Maybe this was part of it. His love for us is so intense (the same as that of the Father, John 3:16) that he presented himself as a sacrifice on our behalf…even while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8)!
Jesus’ sacrifice consisted of willingness/obedience to the command of the Father, separation from the Father, and the imputation of our sin (meaning Christ took on our sin). Our sin could only be cast upon the perfect, sinless Lamb (an image often ascribed to Jesus as being the perfect sacrifice in the Bible) if the Father were to look away (to forsake his perfect and pure Son). Therefore the Father gave up his Son on our behalf, while Jesus gave up his life on our behalf (John 10:17-18,
"The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."). This is why it is only in his moment of death that Jesus does not call out to God as his Father (rather he says “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:34).
What a sacrifice, to be separated in relationship from his own Father…on our behalf! But it was not without purpose.
Sacrifice insists purpose. Why would one sacrifice if there was no purpose in the sacrifice? Again, Usaine Bolt would not sacrifice so much without purpose in mind, why then would Jesus, Lord and Creator of the universe? Rather Jesus’ sacrifice is an example of what we can partake in.
If it was our sin cast upon Jesus in his death, it was to sin that Jesus died; and if our sin is now dead in Jesus, our life is now available in his life and resurrection (see Romans chapter 6).
This is what makes Jesus’ sacrifice (his obedience to the Father, separation from the Father and taking on of our sin) effective. It is why Paul explains in his letter to the early church of Rome that we must consider ourselves “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11); for it is through Jesus’ sacrifice that we may die with Christ to sin, and through believing in Jesus we that have the hope of resurrection and eternal life. It is only through Jesus – the perfect offering, accepted by the Father for the atonement of our sin – that we may experience life, forgiveness, love, truth, freedom, hope, peace, acceptance, reconciliation, restoration and right-standing (to God, one another and the rest of creation)…the list goes on.
Therefore Jesus’ sacrifice (his wilful obedience to the Father, separation from the Father and taking on of our sin) is central to the good news he came to bring. This is the plan of salvation for which Jesus willingly laid down his life;
to offer life in its fullness again to mankind. Jesus is the only true hope of humanity to overcome sin and death, gaining the life we were intended to live. In retrospect Jesus’ sacrifice is huge; however the power of it can only be understood alongside the eternal effects of his sacrifice.
