The resurrection of Messiah Jesus from the dead was the supreme judicial act of Yahweh, the Creator, to justify him before the world by displaying true, authentic public justice on his behalf. The crucifixion of Jesus was the supreme, culminating sin of ancient Israel. Yet God Himself intervened to show justice to Jesus by raising him up from the dead, exalting him to Heaven, and enthroning him as Sovereign over the entire created universe. Accordingly, God could justly pardon even the extreme crime of his crucifixion, because His power had mercifully reversed its fatal effects. Any lesser sin is likewise forgivable, provided we repent and trust in Jesus, demonstrated to be the only-born Son of God. As due restitution from God, Jesus did not merely remain the Messiah of Israel, but also became Lord of all nations, even of all heaven and earth! God used that evil for good, making peace and conciliating us by the crime of the cross!
The seemingly strange fact that the Creator of the universe generated a Son before the ages of time and created all else through him–His very Wisdom and Reason for all things!–had to be kept largely secret during earlier ages in order to prevent Satan from knowing God’s unsuspected and gracious plan for human salvation. This Adversary was quite capable of sabotaging that plan if he had understood God’s extraordinary strategy and ultimate intention.
So, how did this vindicating judgment—the graciousness of resurrection—benefit anyone other than Jesus? Due to the faithful obedience of the Son to his birth Father’s will, even unto death by dread crucifixion, God awarded him a stupendous super-compensation! God showered him with the promised blessings of the ancient covenant because he endured throughout this excruciating trial without sinning. He resisted the most severe temptations to revile or threaten his tormentors, or even to summon legions of angels pre-emptively to rescue him and destroy them outright (which he had the right to do). But instead of avenging himself, Jesus waited expectantly for his Father to judge the crime and rescue him even from Hades! Thereby, he set an example for us to emulate, of enduring in faith even to the bitter end, awaiting God’s award.
Accordingly, the Lord Jesus asked God to forgive the tormenting Roman soldiers for their sins of ignorance, while warning his fellow Judeans of the impending ruin of Jerusalem and its proud temple within a generation, on account of their heinous crime against God. They, unlike their pagan occupiers, possessed the testimonies of the ancient holy prophets yet chose to disregard them and, like their ancestors, to silence them by any means possible, even assassination!
Moreover, after vindicating Jesus from their wrongful accusations, dishonor, humiliation, and condemnation, by bestowing on him everlasting immortal life and exalting him to His universal throne in Heaven far above all his enemies, God then awarded His exalted Son the promised blessings of the ancient covenant as his personal possession, to dispense at his royal discretion!
In his graciousness, drawing from the Holy Spirit bequeathed him richly by God, the Lord Jesus proceeded to redistribute his possessions as presents, in solidarity with fellow human beings. Whoever believes he is the Son of God whom God “begat after His own kind” (hence, Deity), repents of sins, and gets baptized in water, is begotten as a child of God. As we obey God’s will by keeping Messiah’s commandments, we grow mature in love and holiness by the Spirit of sonship within us. Whoever has the Son knows the Father also, and thus has everlasting life!
To repeat, whoever believes this Proclamation of God about Jesus of Nazareth being executed unjustly yet coming back from the dead by the power and glory of God’s restorative justice, will be saved from their sins, raised from the dead, given everlasting bodily immortality, and receive an inheritance with Christ in God’s coming Kingdom from Heaven on the renewed earth. There, only justice, peace, and joy will exist, in the absence of sin, evils, and death. Our down payment of that future inheritance as co-heirs with the Lord Jesus is the Gift of the Holy Spirit of God, given at baptism, to proclaim God’s love and perform the works of Christ, plus greater works!
Jesus’s singular flawless fulfillment of all the directives of the ancient covenant with Israel, in perfect faithfulness to all its divine promises, inaugurated a much superior New Covenant after his innocent blood was wickedly shed at the cross and justly repaid by God. According to its provisions, the risen Messiah Jesus is authorized to redistribute the blessings he rightfully possesses among all who obey him as Master. Such exuberant bounty is impossible for us sinners to acquire by our best efforts, yet Christ even graciously rewards our imperfect labors!
This divine plan of salvation ushered in the most gigantic giveaway program in human history and continues unabated to this day! All who exert faith in the God Who raised Jesus from the dead can receive Christ’s hard-won blessings for free! We get adopted as daughters and sons of God with full rights and privileges and can ask God for whatever we wish, in accord with His desire expressed in the Gospel, confident that He will hear and answer us for our Master’s sake.
Yet whoever refuse to be persuaded by the abundant evidence and testimonies in holy Scripture regarding this gracious Proclamation about the Lord Jesus Christ being God’s chosen and resurrection-endorsed Savior of the world, must face the fearful indignation of God their Creator, plus the future Judgment of their sins by His Son Jesus, through whom all was created. They will suffer God’s mercifully delayed avenging justice and be condemned, sadly, to a second and final death—exterminating destruction of both soul and body in Gehenna, a lake of fire.
The joyous News about God’s restorative justice to Jesus in the face of savage abuse and brutal execution exemplifies how we also ought to behave. God did not retaliate with immediate vengeance when people mistreated Jesus, who was, after all, God’s own dearly loved Son, to whom every knee must eventually bow, whether in heaven, on earth, or under the earth! Thus, Father and Son jointly demonstrated as graphically as possible how we, in turn, should treat one another. Jesus even commanded, “Love your enemies,” then showed what that means at the Cross. Jesus “practiced what he preached.” Now it’s our turn to do the same, for the glory of the one and only true and living God–holy is His name! You are invited to repent, believe, get baptized, accept the Gift of the Holy Spirit, then go, show and tell others how God loves us!
(Jan. 23-25, 27-29, 31, Feb. 1-6, 9-10, 2022)
The Premial Atonement 