Satisfaction of Christ
Jesus
By Nick Bibile
www.sounddoctrine.net
Isaiah 53:11 He
shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for
he shall bear their iniquities.
There are many
meanings on the word of satisfaction, someone is satisfied when his wishes are
met, and when your appetite is met you are satisfied. Also, if you look
in an old Webster’s dictionary it says ‘atonement’ fulfill
conditions, rightful demands are met. God the Father is satisfied because
someone met his demands.
I want to show
you this subject from a courtroom setting, from a legal perspective. In this
court, settings there are three parties involved. The one who
is offended. The one who is guilty and the attorney.
The one who is
offended is God almighty; the guilty party is man, the whole humanity. You
cannot charge someone and bring any guilty charges to that person, unless that
person has broken a law. If there is no speed limit on the highway, the police
officer cannot give a ticket for speeding. Who is the lawgiver and who was
offended? The lawgiver was God almighty and the offended person is
God. Meaning of Adam is mankind; the fountain of mankind broke the law of
God in the garden of paradise.
Ro 5:12
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Now man is
brought to the courtroom, before the judge. Who is the judge? God is the judge,
who is the lawgiver, God is the giver. Who is offended, God, the Judge is
offended, the judge and the lawgiver is the offended party. How did man offend
God?
Adam the
fountainhead of mankind broke the law of God in disobedience. Man also violated
the moral law of God; he is guilty in violating the Ten Commandments. Man
is guilty of breaking the laws of God. All have sinned against God; sin is
attacking God’s righteousness by becoming above the law, challenging God’s
authority. If you are breaking the laws of the country, you are challenging the
authority of the law by becoming lawless. When someone kidnaps a little girl,
the authorities are looking for the convict and the parents are hurt, when the
little girl is found the parents are satisfied and the convicted person be
penalized for the crime. How much more you have broken the laws of God and come
against the authority of God. God needs satisfaction.
If you are
brought to an earthly court of a crime that you did not commit, yet when you
look at the judge there is a fear. How much more when we
appear before the Judge of the universe. How much more when we are
aware the offended party is the Judge himself. We are facing us our Creator,
the Almighty God, the lawgiver and he is charging you as “Guilty.”
Rom
You are
speechless, as your mouth so prideful and boastful on this earth now cannot
utter a single word; your mouth is stopped, guilty, guilty and guilty. You are
speechless and stand absolutely guilty.
Jas
Now in the
courtroom, we see the Judge, the lawgiver is a
righteous and holy judge will punish the guilty party. The punishment is
against an infinite God and the punishment is infinite in hell. Is there
a righteous man on earth who can help us? No not one. Is there anyone on the
earth who can rescue mankind? No not one as all have
fallen short of the glory of God. Man is in a hopeless condition.
Man is in deep
trouble, speechless before God, guilty of violating the laws of God. God is
angry with man (Ps
1Ti 3:16 And
without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory.
In
1098 A.D a theologian by the name of Anselm, completed the greatest of his
works, called “Cur Deus Homo” meaning “Why did God become man?” It was a
treatise on the atonement of Christ, which he rejected the theory at the death
of Christ a ransom paid to the devil, but Christ’s death was to satisfy the
offended God the Father. God did not owe anything to the devil to give him a
ransom. Anselm saw the natural depravity of man, his guilt before God and man’s
inability to satisfy the Father God, but Christ coming to this earth and his
work on the cross was necessary for man’s salvation.
Let me ask you
some questions. Why he had to be born through a virgin and come as a man? Why
is it that Christ had to become a man? Was it possible for Christ to save us
without becoming a man, but coming in his divine nature, like how Christ
appeared to saints in the Old Testament? If Christ came in his divine
nature only and said, “I am God”. Can he provide salvation? Absolutely
no. Why? Because divine nature is not capable of obedience, obedience is
always subject to a higher authority and God is not subject to another God as
there is only one God. And the other thing is divine nature or God cannot
suffer as he is above suffering.
God became man,
a savior is born, his name Jesus, who shall save his people from their sins.
Remember through Adam death came to all as all sinned. But Christ came to
destroy the devil and the power of death. Also to deliver us from the wrath of
God, he was our high priest, the high priest who is the mediator between God
and man, and man and God. He is not only the High priest but also the victim
and the sacrifice.
Heb
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, 15 and deliver all
those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the
offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in
every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in
the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help
those who are being tempted.
The word
propitiation means to appease and to calm the anger of someone, also we saw God
is angry with the sinners daily and we were enemies of God. Christ Jesus came
as a mediator to appease, calm the anger of God. Christ satisfied the Father.
How did he do?
He redeemed us.
What is the word redeem means? The meaning here is to buy back- to release from
captivity or bondage, to ransom, purchase.
To redeem someone, a price has to be paid. We are morally indebted to God, as
we have violated his laws, sinned against him. Morally indebted to him, a debt
must be paid to satisfy our obligation to God. How much is the price? God
is infinitely holy and righteous and the price is infinite, which we can never
pay!
Psalm 49:
7 Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God
the price of his life.
Now let us
return to the courtroom scene. Here we are in the Court of heaven, God is angry
with you and demanding satisfaction of a price as you are
guilty before him. God is just about to pour his wrath that you will be
eternally punished. Then comes an advocate in our
defense.
1John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that
you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not
for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
(Now as a
footnote on verse two, he not only appeased the wrath of God not for ours
means, not only for the Jewish believers as John a Jew writing to the Jewish
believers but also to the whole world, whole world means the believing
Gentiles. See the following scripture.
Acts
Oh, how precious
and comforting the word of God to the believer. Our advocate is Jesus Christ
and he is a righteous advocate, holy, sinless, blameless and righteous.
Our advocate
Christ Jesus is called righteous. From a human perspective
righteous means to be right with God. Before we were not right
with God, we were unrighteous.
Rom
Mt
Remember how the
children of
Ransom is to pay
a price by releasing someone in captivity, in bondage. We were bondage to sin,
slaves to sin; we were in darkness, lost. We needed a deliverer, a Savior who
can pay the ransom price to God the Father.
Christ Jesus
came to pay that ransom price. We know that Christ fulfilled all the
demands of the law and he fulfilled them by his obedience. Fulfilling the moral
law of God is absolutely necessary, (active obedience of Christ) yet the ransom
price is required to be paid.
If you go to the
store and steals some valuable items and when you come to the cashier you pay
only one item, then just as you are about to leave, someone come and arrest you
as they saw you on the camera stealing. Now you are caught, the value the
things that you stole come up to $3000, the police come and handcuff you, but
your good friend walks into the store and he discover what happened. He asks
the manager the damaged and he pulls out his wallet and pays $3000 to the
store. My question is, are you free to go now? No, why, because you still
violated the law being a thief and robbery, this is where the penal code comes
in, as justice has to be satisfied. Even though your friend paid the price for
the damage, still you need to be punished for violating the law.
What if Jesus
scratched his little finger with a nail and few drops of blood came. Will
he qualify to redeem us? Why not?
This is where
passive obedience comes in. Passive obedience means our mediator he paid the
penalty. There is a law word called penal code, it is a code of laws
relating to punishment of crimes. The word penal comes from the Latin word poena, meaning pain and punishment.
Isaiah 53:
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our
iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we
are healed.
Smitten
means to strike someone, to give blow with the hand, to punish, to slay and to
kill. Affliction has to do with great pain, acute pain, body or mind
or both.
Now back to the
courtroom, the Father sees Jesus a man, fully man but not a fallen man but a
glorious heavenly man who have paid the price for the believing sinner with his
own precious blood and who have conquered death.
Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take
the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you
ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
I Corinthians 6:
20 for you were bought with a price.
(A price was
paid; the ransom price was paid to the Father)
How much was the
price, what is the value of the price paid to the Father?
1Pet
1:18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from
your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without
blemish or spot.
It cost the life
of his Son, the blood of Immanuel. No minister can save you,
no priest can save but Jesus who is able to save to the uttermost, for he is
God as well as man. Jesus is almighty to save! That which was impossible with
man is possible with God. Nothing can remove sin but only the blood of
Immanuel, our beloved Savior, God with us, he paid the penalty, the price with
his own blood, beloved this is the good news!
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
We owe God an
infinite debt according to the legal demands of the law.
God the Father
was well pleased of His beloved Son as he satisfied him and the demands were
met.
Mt
John
Christ laid down
his life for the sake of his friends; he made complete satisfaction to offended
justice of God, presenting himself as a vicarious sacrifice, in our place. He
took the place of another, that is us, he became our
substitute, we are reconciled to God, and we are accepted in the Beloved.
It is the man
who sinned, but it is God who found the ransom. It is the man who is going down
to the pit of hell, but it is God who finds a ransom. His only begotten Son
came from the very bosom of the Father. God gave up himself to be punished,
bleed and die for unworthy mortal men like us. Oh, beloved, this is wonderful
grace.
If you are not a
Christian today and hearing the gospel message for the first time, put down
your pride and fall at the feet of Jesus, confess to him your filthiness of
sins, cry out to him asking for mercy instead of judgment and whoever comes to
him he will never cast you away. If you are enlightened by this ministry,
please write to us and we can send you free materials
for your spiritual growth.
May
the Lord’s light shine on your souls.