Vicarious or Substitutionary Atonement:

Straight AheadThis is the season when we celebrate the coming of God in the flesh to dwell with us, to "tabernacle" with us. We sing, "Emmanuel," by which we mean, "God with us." God came to earth in the flesh, in the form of a baby. He was called Jesus because He saved His people from their sins. Exactly how did Jesus save His people from their sins? The birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus are all closely connected. Jesus lived a sinless life; yet, He was crucified. He suffered the death of a criminal--the innocent, suffering for the guilty. This offends some people--even some who call themselves Christian. They don't like the idea that God caused an innocent man to suffer punishment on behalf of guilty sinners. The vicarious, substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for the sins of those who call upon Him in faith doesn't make sense to a lot of people. It doesn't square with their idea of fairness. It doesn't seem like a process that would be designed by a loving God. To these people, the substitutionary atonement is just one possible theory of how salvation could work--and not a very satisfying theory at that! To them, it's just one possible image of the atonement. I wonder if the Christians who are skeptical of substitutionary atonement have any better ideas of how the sins of a fallen race can be reconciled with the holiness and justice of an absolute and perfect God! I wonder if they are prepared to hold their own views accountable to the actual teachings of Holy Scripture and not simply design a scheme of salvation according to their own liking. The penalty for sin had to be paid. God had to design, in His infinite wisdom, a plan that would both satisfy His holiness and justice, yet also exercise His perfect love toward His fallen creation. He sent His Son, the Second Person in the Godhead, to earth. Jesus was God in the flesh--fully human and fully divine. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, yet voluntarily, in accord with God's holy will, gave Himself up to suffer death on a cross. Christmas makes no sense without the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for the sins of His people. If you want to go to Bethlehem, you have to go through the river Jordan, into the wilderness, and eventually wind up at the cross of Calvary. The substitutionary atonement of Christ is the perfection of the Old Testament sacrificial system. How can someone claim to be a Christian and yet question the biblical pattern of atonement which is foreshadowed in the Scriptures from beginning to end? Without the atonement, there's no merry Christmas!