I believe the simple answer to the question above is yes. Scripture is clear that God ‘shows’ His love toward us in the death of Christ.
“…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. Romans 5:8 ESV
“This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” 1 John 4:10 NLT
It is clear from reading these two verses that God was showing His love towards the world when He sent His Son to suffer and die for it.
God is love and He wanted us to experience that love which is seen in the crucifixion of Christ. This was an act of love. It wasn’t some meaningless death or God the Father allowing the Son to suffer without any say. The whole of the Triune God was involved in what happened on that awful and yet great day. God (Father ,Son Holy Spirit) is love).
Jesus’ death unlike any other happened because, not only would we know God as love, but something would ‘happen’ to us. The Romans 5:8 verse tells us that we are sinners. The 1 John 4:10 verse tells us that in Christ’s death, His sacrifice on the cross, our sins would be taken away. The Gospel of John also declares…
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” John 1:29 NKJV
We have a powerful image (a foreshadowing of Christ’s work) in the OT of a goat having sins confessed over it and then being released into the wilderness to carry, take away the sin.
“But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement by sending it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.” Leviticus 16:10 NIV
“The goat will carry on itself all their iniquities into a solitary place, and the man will release it into the wilderness.” Lev 16:22
Paul tells us that the wages of sin is death. Rom 6:23. “If Christ takes away sin at the same time He also deals with death.”
Death is separation. When sin entered the world death came into the world. In other words when Adam sinned he became separated from God. Their union was broken. What we inherit from Adam is death/separation.
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2 ESV
We are all separated from God and therefore need someone to bring us back (reconciliation) to God. That’s what Christ has done in His death.
One of the things we have lost in this generation especially, is what sin is and indeed the gravity of it. Sin isn’t just the bad things we do. Sin is a predicament we are in. We have all sinned, not just Adam. Rom 3:23. ESV
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Rom 5:12. ESV
Notice it says ‘because all sinned’. It doesn’t take long for a newborn child to begin to do what is wrong. The older the child becomes the more they will sin. It’s a part of being in a world that is broken. That’s not to say that we don’t have any inclination whatsoever to do anything right or good, because I believe we do. But we are also inclined to do what is wrong.
When we realise the enormity of what sin is and how it enslaves and separates, then and only then will we realise the enormity of what the crucifixion of Christ accomplished. “So catastrophic a remedy demands a catastrophic predicament” writes Stephen Westerholm. Sin is the predicament we are all in and the suffering and death of Jesus is the remedy.
The Christus victor model of atonement sees Christ’s work at calvary as redeeming us from the powers of sin, death and especially the devil.
However, it doesn’t take long to look at this world and indeed our own lives to realise that we are not immune from any of these because the presence of sin is still very much with us. Ultimately when Christ returns even the presence of sin will be eradicated.
The majority of suffering in the world is caused by human sin. But also happenings such as natural disasters, accidents and trauma outside of us that aren’t a direct result of a human sinning. It’s important to note that creation was affected by the disobedience of Adam as creation is also groaning for its redemption. Romans 8:22
We are greedy, we are jealous, we are covetous, we are liars, we are haters we are unjust and so forth. Not me you say. But we all have the potential to be any of these and more. Wars, family feuds, rape, murder are all around us and therefore suffering is seen widely.
The amazing thing is that the iniquity of us all has been laid upon Him at the cross.
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 53:6 NIV
Newness of life is to be had in Christ. As in our own situation with our son’s accident, suffering, grief and trauma will be part of the journey but it does not annul what Christ has achieved in His death and the life we can have in him.
Let us finish with the powerful statement for the Apostle Paul who says…
“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 15:56-57 ESV
We can see from this short blog on the work of the cross the images that come through. Scapegoat. Reconciliation. Victory. The love of God is seen in all of these. The cross shows us God’s love but it is also the place where God has done something amazing about the predicament of sin that we are all bent toward because of the fallen world that we live in.
Dare I say it but it’s possible to have victory even in the midst of suffering and I don’t say that lightly.
Prayer: Dear Lord, Thank you that you loved us so much that you came to this world that you created to suffer an humiliating death on a roman cross in order to take away our sin so that we could be reconciled back to you. Even in our own suffering we can look to you as the One who suffered for us all. Amen.
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