THE GROUND OF SALVATION | SUBSTITUTION

1. The ground of Salvation

a) God wanted to save man from the effects of sin. Man surely needed to be saved. But how could God do it?

b) In a word, God can save man only because of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

c) To understand better the importance of this event, we must think about four words: Propitiation, Substitution, Atonement, and Redemption. These words sum up a great deal of the teaching of the Bible on the meaning of Christ's death.

2. What is Substitution?

a) To substitute means to put a thing in the place of another. Even though God is love, His righteousness says, The soul that sins shall die, Ezekiel 18:20. God cannot set aside His own laws. To save man, seven things are necessary.

i) There must be a substitute, one who will die in the place of the guilty man. If there is none, the guilty must die for his own sins. There would be no salvation for him.

ii) The substitute must be acceptable to God. Some other plan might seem very good to me, but that is not important. God is the Judge and He must be satisfied.

iii) The substitute must be equal. In other words, he must be a man. An animal would not do, Hebrews 10:4. An angel is pure spirit and cannot die. The substitute for a man must be a man.

iv) He must be innocent, without sin. If he were guilty, he would have to die for his own sins and would not do a substitute for another.

v) He must be willing to die. It would not be right for God to force some innocent person to die for another.

vi) He must have an infinite life, without any limit. If not, his death would be sufficient for only one man. God's law is, "Life for life", Deuteronomy 19:21.

vii) The Perfect Substitute must be God Himself. Plainly only the God-Man could fulfill the conditions listed above. But even apart from this, only Christ would do. If a creature died for men, the Accuser (Satan) could say God allowed another to do what He Himself would not do. More still, God wants our thanks and worship and love for Himself, Exodus 20:5. Love desires love.

b) Throughout the Bible we learn that a Substitute must die for man. At first God accepted animal sacrifices. These were not sufficient in themselves to take away sin, but were pictures of Christ. When an animal died, blood was shed.

i) For example, God accepted Abel's lamb, but refused Cain's bloodless offering, Genesis 4:4-5.

ii) God provided a sheep to die in the place of Isaac, Genesis 22:13.

iii) The people of Israel offered thousands of animals to God to pay for their sins, Leviticus 1:4.

iv) The truth of substitution is brought out in Isaiah 53:

@1. "for our transgressions", verse 5;

@2. "for our iniquities", verse 5;

@3. "for the transgressions of my people", verse 8;

@4. "an offering for sin", verse 10;

@5. "for the transgressors", verse 12.

@6. The Lord Jesus spoke of His body given for us, and of His blood shed for us, 1 Corinthians 11:24, Mark 14:24.

@7. Paul taught this truth, Romans 5:8, Galatians 3:13.

@8. So did Peter, 1 Peter 3:18.

c) How wonderful! Christ died for sinners, that is, for their benefit. He died for sins, and took on Himself the punishment which the sinners should have born. Christ, the Son of God, the Perfect Man, the sufficient and only Substitute! 

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