Devotional Guide
For the week of November 28, 2004
THE COMING OF CHRIST
How we became sinful
To Read: Jeremiah 22-24
To Know:
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor. 5:21)
Did God save sinners by becoming human or by becoming sin? You and I became
sin by becoming human. Our parents, all the way back to Adam and Eve,
transmitted their human nature. Jesus goes back not to Adam, but to God.
Christ did not result from the rebellion of Adam in Eden but from the glory
of God in heaven. The virgin birth introduced a sinless human being into the
world.
We became sinful when we became human. This biblical doctrine is both the
most offensive and most easily proven. The Bible declares the sinful nature
of the human race on almost every page; it is also on almost every page of
the newspapers around the country. If all evidence of sin and guilt were
blotted out of the scriptures, we would be left with only a pamphlet. If all
evidence of sin were edited out of the newspapers we would be left with the
weather report and the crossword puzzle. Did Jesus bring divine forgiveness
by becoming a sinless man? Did Paul have the incarnation or the crucifixion
in mind when he wrote, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."? Did Paul mean
that at his incarnation the sinless Son of God received a sinful human
nature? This interpretation makes the virgin birth meaningless.
On the eve of Jesus' conception the angel of the Lord said, "Joseph, son of
David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name
Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Matt. 1:20,21) It was
Jesus' sinlessness that qualified him to be the sinner's substitute.
To Do:
If we would understand the love of God, then we ought to set ourselves to
study the cross of Christ and all its implications.
11294$-11294
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