As I said in yesterday’s post, I created a paper/outline for a men’s meeting on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Here is the final section to that paper of my own personal reflections on the doctrine of Christ’s person and his atoning work:
The doctrines of the atoning work of Christ and the person of Christ cannot be separated or pitched against each other, as Paul clearly indicates when he resolved to preach nothing “except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Without a clear identification of who Jesus Christ is, there is no clear identification of what Jesus Christ did. So, to climb the mountain of God into a clearer understanding of the Cross is to grow in a clearer understanding of Jesus Christ, the revelation of God to us. This happens with time, each foot standing on one as the other becomes clearer. As my Jesus becomes clearer in who he is, my perception of my own weakness and depravity is clarified, and his ability to be the only sufficient savior and rock for me is magnified all the more. If Jesus Christ were not hypostatically unified God and Man, then being saved by him would mean nothing for the security of my soul in his hands: He is a man like me, yet perfect, able to stand as one beside me; he is God, and thus able to securely hold me in my frailty. We are not merely saved from God’s wrath, but saved to joy in God; this dual reality kisses in Jesus Christ. Hence, the atonement and the person of Christ are required to go hand in hand as a single doctrinal unit.
This is my favorite topic to think about. I love the person and work of Jesus Christ. How difficult it is to express fully and gather into words his glory seen in these doctrines! That he was a man like me, filled with weakness and frailty, but that he was God, full of love and condescending grace to atone for my sin steals my heart. He is the sun of righteousness that captures my affections and love. Because he is filled with glory, my love is filled with glory. The heart reflects in its form the object of its desire and adoration, and so, what glory is in this, my heart conforms to Christ and all his magnificent worth and beauty because he has set his love upon me. Oh, the awesome, staggering glory of how he stooped so low so as to became like what he loved so that I climb into the heights of Him by his unshakable victory.
The full and victorious atonement of Jesus Christ means that at every given moment, we are receiving God’s best for us at that time because Jesus Christ has taken God’s worst for us. I know that every moment is filled with love from our Savior. Amidst the confusion of circumstances, the dark fog of desires and emotions, the pain of disappointment, suffering and loss, the head-spinning turn of words and events, I know that history and my life are defined and changed because God the Son took on flesh, spoke to us face to face in a man while yet maintaining his distinct deity, and died his victorious death over sin, propitiating on himself the wrath of God the Father that was aimed at his people, thereby giving them all the spiritual benefits of his righteousness, evidenced in them by faith in his name. In this time of not conceiving children when we would like the doctrines of the atonement and the person of Christ mean that I know that God has his best for us because the Gospel says two things: 1) Punishment for sin is satisfied in Jesus Christ so I know God isn’t punishing us, and 2) I have a loving Savior, not merely a court-room contract, that speaks rich, deep, soul-satisfying love across the expanse of time and space and is aimed at me and Michelle in this time. In this time of feeling the tremors from the Fall, I know that I have a loving hand of providence upon us because (and only because!) of the work and person of Jesus Christ.
The Strasbourg Inn 