An Atoning Sacrifice

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:9-11

God’s love is so amazing! Jesus Christ died for us on the cross. He died for us not because we deserved His love, on the contrary, He died for us while we were sinners. That’s what makes His love so amazing — that it is so undeserved. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).

Christ died for ungodly sinners. What’s more — we all qualify, for we are all sinners. Paul writes the familiar words, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ). Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. He did it not because we were morally perfect. He did it not because we were doctrinally perfect. He did it not because we had cleaned up our act rid our lives of sin. Jesus died for us knowing of our sin. Jesus died for us to demonstrate God’s great love for us.

God created us to enjoy fellowship with Him, to be His friends. Yet our sin separated us from God. We became alienated from Him because of the choices we made to disobey Him. “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12 ). What is intended by God to be a story of loving fellowship between God and His people becomes a story of isolation and estrangement because of sin.

Jesus’ death on the cross was a sacrifice of atonement. Jesus was offered at a time when we were separated from God because of our sin. Jesus was offered to bring us back to God, so that we are again “at one” with Him. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13 ). Thank God for the atoning sacrifice of Jesus! Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves.

God’s love is so amazing! We need to take time to reflect on God’s love for us demonstrated by the sacrifice of Jesus. God’s love is so instructive! “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11 ). May God help us love each other as He loves us.

— Bob Clark

2/14/2001