The Double Blessing

UV 4138/10000 The Double Blessing He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross ( willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice), so that we may die to sin ( becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin) and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you ( who believe) have been healed. I Peter 3 v 24 Jesus by dying on the cross was not making a token payment for man’s sin but an absolute payment. He paid the cost by being separated from God during His time nailed to the cross. This is the reason the only time Jesus addressed God as God or Eli and not Father as was His custom is on the cross. He was separated in time and space for the first and only time from God, the Father paving the way for our union, our fellowship, our reconciliation, our personal relationship with God. God is no longer the fearful judge but our Father in heaven who relates to us on earth as a Father has compassion on His children. By the blood price paid by Jesus, the ultimate price, we were ransomed or freed from the enemy’s control. It was a willing and wholesome sacrifice, sufficient to pay for every act of absolute evil of man. Jesus made no attempt to defend Himself, to stave off the cruel punishment. As a result, we are freed from the penalty and power of sin though not from the presence of sin as long as we live in this body. We are united with the presence of God. God is present with us and in us. We are now a new creation with a new purpose and power working in us so that we live for righteousness even in the midst of sin. We are a race called out of all races to be perfected in Christ. We are called to declare the many excellencies of God. We are called out of darkness into His marvelous light. We are clothed with salvation. Since salvation is described as clothes, it is something we can take off us or keep on us. We are to maintain the cleanness of our clothes of salvation- that much is our responsibility. We should not return to the shame of nakedness since Christ became naked for our sake. His robe was also sold by the soldiers as a symbol of His having exchanged His glory for our shame. The crown of thorns that tore into His scalp is a symbol of the glorious crown He purchased for His own, those He chose and those who chose to believe in Him and live in Him. It is not an uneasy crown, a heavy crown that we wear but a crown that is easy for us to bear. It implies that leadership comes easy and naturally to the people of God, the children by faith in Jesus. The back of Jesus was as if it was ploughed. It was lacerated by the spired balls tied to the leather whip with which He was flogged, intended by Pilate to be a lesser penalty than death that could exculpate the One who was not guilty of any sin, any crime, who only lived righteously, the Only righteous One in human history. It turned out instead to be double jeopardy that the Lord God turned into a double Jesuspardy, a fountain, an eternal spring of blessings for mankind. The death on the cross obtained salvation for all who truly believed . The wounds on the back obtained healing for all who truly lived for righteousness in His name.