Archives For Atonement

Shadows of the Cross, Part 6: The Final Substitute (Select Scriptures)

March 26, 2012 — Leave a comment

Throughout our series we have seen the language of substitution. From the ram caught in the thicket in Genesis 22 to the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, one creature routinely takes the place of another. A firstborn Jewish son could say, for example, on the morning after the first Passover: “That lamb died for me. In every Egyptian home today, there is a dead son, but in our house, there is a dead lamb. When the angel of death came to our house last night, he saw blood on our doorposts—indicating that a death had already occurred. So he passed over us, and I was spared.” Substitution is the language and the rhythm of Scripture.  Continue Reading…

In Sermons , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Shadows of the Cross, Part 5: The Crushed Servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

March 18, 2012 — Leave a comment

In the 8th century B.C., the prophet Isaiah issued a series of visions about an extraordinary man he called “the Servant of the Lord”—a mysterious figure who would come in the future and bring the salvation of God. The last of these four visions is the most famous, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a passage that has captured the hearts and minds of Bible students like few other texts in Scripture.

Kyle Yates, an Old Testament professor, called it, “the Mount Everest of Old Testament prophecy.” Polycarp, a 2nd-century bishop and martyr, called it, “the golden passional of the Old Testament evangelist.” Charles Spurgeon, a 19th-century Baptist preacher, called it, “a Bible in miniature, the gospel in its essence.”  Continue Reading…

In Sermons , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Shadows of the Cross, Part 4: The Scarlet Worm (Psalm 22:1-31)

March 12, 2012 — Leave a comment

“God forsaken of God? Who can understand it?” And with that, Martin Luther threw his Bible across the room in frustration as he tried to get his mind around the opening line of Psalm 22, which Jesus quoted from the cross. But the mystery doesn’t stop there. The suffering king says, “I am a worm and not a man” (v. 6). Royalty could not sink any lower than this.

Yet the psalm is filled with hope, too. The suffering king recognizes that his God “has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help” (v. 24). He also believes that God is sovereign over, and is now superintending his entire ordeal: “You lay me in the dust of death” (v. 15c). He even envisions a worldwide revival in which all peoples bow down before the God he cannot find right now (v. 27).  Continue Reading…

In Sermons , , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Shadows of the Cross, Part 3: The Passover Lamb (Exodus 12:1-13)

March 4, 2012 — 2 Comments

“Why is this night different from all other nights?” Because even God counts to ten when he gets angry! After nine plagues of warning upon Egypt and its hard-hearted Pharaoh—whose ruling class has kept Israel in enslaved for more than 400 years—God finally puts an end to the oppression. He was reluctant to get to this point of judgment because he is “slow to anger, abounding in love,” not wanting any to perish. But after four centuries of bondage, things needed to change in a dramatic way.  Continue Reading…

In Sermons , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Shadows of the Cross, Part 2: The Atonement Goats (Leviticus 16:1-34)

February 26, 2012 — 2 Comments

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a drama must be worth a thousand books. And a drama from God must be worth an entire library of divine truth. In Old Testament times, God gave Israel seven “dramas” to perform each year—seven “sacred skits” that, when acted out, powerfully illustrated the grace, love, and holiness of God. They were known as the seven feasts of Israel. They punctuated the calendar of the Jews in order to penetrate the conscience of the Jews. Shakespeare said it well: “The play’s the thing wherein we’ll catch the conscience of the king.” And Israel had seven opportunities each year to be “caught” by her King.  Continue Reading…

In Sermons , , , , , , , , , ,
permalink

Shadows of the Cross, Part 1: The Ram in the Thicket (Genesis 22:1-19)

February 24, 2012 — 5 Comments

Skeptics often dismiss faith as just “a crutch for the weak.” Don’t try telling that to Abraham. On one occasion God gave the elderly patriarch this chilling challenge: “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.” Faith sometimes places great demands on its adherents, so it can hardly be considered a crutch. Sometimes it feels more like a club.

But isn’t this command from the Lord way over the top? Is God a blood-thirsty monster who places unethical demands on his people? Is he, in the end, all-powerful but not all-good? Does he like to “toy” with his people in order to inflict unnecessary trauma on them? Pastor Tim wrestles with these questions and others in this message from the famous “Binding of Isaac” story in Genesis 22. He contends that it’s precisely because Isaac’s life is on the line that something even more horrendous than child sacrifice is at issue—namely, the possibility that God could be a liar. Continue Reading…

In Sermons , , , , , , ,
permalink