"What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh." Romans 8v3
We come now to the third aspect of this verse why He sent him; the reason given is two-fold, firstly to meet the demands of God "to condemn sin in the flesh" and secondly to meet our needs "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." God can never do anything other than condemn sin. Sin cannot dwell forever in God's universe. This was the only way sinful man could be saved, only in sinless flesh could this be accomplished. The sinlessness of Christ was necessary towards this end. Unlike us, He was born to die, He came to put away sin, unlike all the rest of us (and this without exception), He kept the law from beginning to end. His very presence on earth was a condemnation to sin. He was light in the midst of darkness. For the first time the devil could not tempt a human being. Heaven acclaimed His perfection; earth acknowledged He was totally different from everyone else. When He went to the cross, unjustly condemned by sinful man, nevertheless God was in it and at Calvary in the flesh of a sinless man, God condemned sin in the flesh. At the cross human sin was exposed at its worst; the combination of rebellion, hatred, malignity, depravity, was there for all to see. All the main powers on earth were involved as seen by the inscription above His head written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. Not only was sin revealed at Calvary but God was revealed in His eternal and infinite hatred of sin. His eternal love for mankind was also revealed in that He would allow men to so maltreat His own Son.
In the sermon in Acts chapter 2 the Holy Spirit through Peter reduced the charge against humanity from murder to manslaughter, saying that it was through ignorance they did it. This brings in the idea of the Old Testament practice of cities of refuge for those who had unwittingly killed another person. The picture presented is marvellous in that Jesus on the cross has become a refuge for all who will flee to Him from the eternal wrath of God against sin. Jesus in a sinless body of flesh received from God in the three hours of darkness the penalty of sin for human kind. He blotted out sin's guilt and cleared the way for all men to return to God. He was the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world, there is now no need for anyone to meet God in their sins.
The two words in the middle of the verse "for sin" makes use of a very interesting Greek preposition; it is the word peri from which we get our word perimeter. A perimeter fence on a plot of land encircles the entire extent of the plot of land. At the cross God encircled sin in all its facets and in all its features and in all its power and in all its consequences, nothing left untouched, and God condemned all of sin in the flesh of Christ. On that sinless body on the cross in the words of the Old Testament prophet "the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53v6 The picture is very powerful; it literally means Jehovah caused to converge on Him every aspect of sin without exception. It was like in the hours of darkness when no human being was permitted to look, God poured upon His Son the world's iniquity. Sin has been dealt a death blow, God has condemned sin in the flesh of His Son, so why would anyone want to suffer the consequences of sin in their own flesh.
This is the most astonishing event the world has ever seen. Poets and songwriters and preachers have all attempted but failed to express the true meaning of this. God asks nothing from us because He has given it all to us and all we need to do is accept the gift of mercy.
Tomorrow d.v we will look at the second reason why God sent Him into the world.
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