Because We Were Rescued

It’s springtime here in Texas. The bluebonnets are coming out, everything is turning green, and the temperature is just perfect. Though Dallas doesn’t really get a winter per se (certainly not like the ones I grew up with in Erie, Pennsylvania), this past winter seemed longer and greyer than most. So this spring does feel like a breath of fresh air.

There is something about “newness” that gives us hope, excitement, and anticipation. A fresh new morning. Getting to know a new friend. Buying a new car. And some new things have an even deeper impact: a new marriage. A new baby. A new life.

To experience newness often requires sacrifice. We may experience the hope of a new morning after falling into bed the night before, exhausted from a difficult day. Becoming acquainted with a new friend requires a sacrifice of time and energy. Buying a new car may come through the long, hard sacrifice of working one or two jobs. A new marriage takes enormous sacrifice on the part of both husband and wife to make two into one. A new baby is born through the tremendous pain and suffering of childbirth.

And a new life in Christ is made possible only through His death.

As we at Human Coalition continue to explore the concept of justice in 2018, we cannot let Easter pass us by without reminding ourselves of the divine justice that Christ satisfied on the cross for our benefit.

There are two sides to the idea of justice – punishing the oppressor and rescuing the oppressed. In America, institutions like the courts mete out punishment on those who commit crimes. Victims of crimes are rescued from harm by individuals, families, and organizations that intentionally seek out the vulnerable in order to restore them to safety.

We often talk about Christ’s work on the cross as “satisfying God’s justice.” Through the act of dying on the cross, Christ completed both sides of justice – He was punished for our sins, and He rescued us from the domain of darkness. He was bruised for our iniquities and, at the same time, restored us to a right relationship with our Creator.

What an amazing grace that propelled Him to BE our justice!

It really is something to ponder this Easter season. Christ, who knew no sin, took our place and He took our punishment. That punishment, the cross, was the most horrific, awful torture device ever invented. Not only did Chris suffer unimaginable physical pain, but He experienced a spiritual pain unlike anything the universe has ever known – being separated from God while He became sin for us. God’s wrath was satisfied through this act of divine justice – Christ dying for our sins.

Those who claim God cannot possibly be good because He provided only one way to salvation clearly misunderstand the holiness and wrath of God, and the depth of our own sin. We should not blame God for providing only one way to a right relationship with Him. We should marvel at the fact that He provided any way at all.

While Christ became our punishment, He also became our Rescuer. Through Christ, we are redeemed. We are restored. We are safe. We are sons and daughters of our Creator – part of an enormous family of victims rescued from ourselves and from eternal death.

Christ is the embodiment of justice. And when He sprang from the grave three days after His death on the cross, He not only completed the act of justice, but He conquered death once and for all. He is our Justice. And He is our Conqueror.

This is why we work so diligently to end the abortion genocide in America. Christ, who fulfilled God’s wrath while becoming our Rescuer, commands us to rescue others in return. We do so spiritually by proclaiming the Good News of His Kingdom. We do so physically by identifying those who are most in danger of death and destruction, and by working tirelessly to “deliver those being taken way to death” (Proverbs 24:11).

We rescue because we were rescued. We deliver because we were delivered. We save because we are saved. So this Easter, while we celebrate and rejoice in our Conquering King who came that we “may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10), may we redouble our efforts to honor our King by rescuing others – spiritually and physically.

He Is Risen!