Dr MJ du Plessis Reformed Church Bellville Date: 22 August 2004 (evening)

Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Psalm of praise 84:2, 6
Prayer
Scripture hymn 15-7:1, 6 (43:1, 6)
Scripture reading: 2 Corinthians 5
Scripture text: 2 Corinthians 5:21; Catechism Lord’s Day 6

Because God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (NLT – New Living Translation)

In Ephesians 3:10 we learn that we may ask the Lord to reveal his wisdom to the congregation.

From this point of view the Catechism has many whys about the Saviour.
It’s not to question God’s plans and his power, because that would be sinful. We do not ask the Lord to account for what He does. We simply look into his plans.
But then, at the same time, we should be very honest: the Lord does not reveal all of his plans to us. We can therefore only look into what He reveals to us, and the rest we should accept in childlike faith.

In the entire matter of salvation the Lord reveals the magnitude and magnificence of the salvation. This He reveals in the very first thing that we cannot understand but simply have to believe:

Our Saviour is a true man,
but He is also true God.

How? We do not know, but God could accomplish it.

The Lord however reveals why it should be like this. It concerns God’s justice and punishment that has to be executed.

God’s justice is perfect.
But, at the same time, God’s justice and his holiness are closely related. In fact, He upholds his honour through his justice.

The Lord’s justice consists in blessing on the one hand, but also punishment and judgement on the other hand.

The Lord’s justice requires that sin committed against his majesty be punished.
The Lord’s justice also requires that his plans be executed. This concerns the issue of punishment in respect of the fact that the Lord determined that He wanted certain people to be with him, but that He would destroy Satan and all people like him.

And this is fair, because a person who cannot distinguish between right and wrong is an infamous person and cannot partake in God’s honour and holiness. Such a person deserves to be put into a place where God’s glory is absent. This is God’s eternal punishment.

The Lord’s justice is one of his most outstanding attributes.

The Lord’s justice not only requires punishment; it requires fair punishment.
Therefore anyone sinning should receive the Lord’s punishment.

Let us consider the so well known history of sin. Adam en Eve introduced sin to the human race. Therefore the Lord cannot but punish the people for the sin they commit.

The entire system of offerings in the Old Testament proves it. Offerings are brought to reconcile God with man.
- But none of these offerings could bring about reconciliation and that is why it had to be done repeatedly.
- However, these offerings foreshadowed the eventual offering that would be absolutely adequate.
- Furthermore, they indicated that it would have to be a human offering as they preached the inadequacy of the repeated offering of animals.

From a human point of view, this made the reconciliation very difficult.

The person who had to bring the offering could not be anybody.
He had to be head of a covenant such as Adam. Because Adam was head of a covenant we inherited sin and the taint of sin.
The Saviour therefore had to be Head of the Covenant so that we could acquire salvation the same way as Adam’s descendants acquired death.

In 1 Corinthians 15 we read that death came into the world through a man (Adam) and resurrection from the dead has begun through another man – Christ. After all, one sinner cannot make satisfaction for the sins of another, because a sinful man cannot even make satisfaction for his own sins.

The Saviour had to be of such ability that he could live without committing sin so that there would be absolutely no sin or taint of sin that had to be punished.

But there was another requirement. The Saviour had to be able to decide when He wished to die, and also when he wished to rise from the dead.

He had to prove his power over Satan in a calculated way.
He could not fight death indefinitely and conquer over a shorter or longer period.
His omnipotence is in fact revealed by the fact that He decided exactly when He would die.

Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!

Death does not overcome Him. He enters death. And early on the third day He had already risen from the death. Man cannot make such decisions, because we cannot decide when we are going to die.

We die when our physical strengths lose the fight.
And no human being has ever returned from beyond with body and soul.
Therefore we also cannot bring anybody back from there.

This explains why Christ had to be God. He had to be able to bring us back from the death with Him and give us eternal glory such as his.

Our Saviour had to be able do even more.

He had to bear the wrath of God for the sins of every human being that is going to heaven.
This was no ordinary wrath Christ had to bear. In fact, He had to sustain the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin. And this only God could do.
Then the Saviour also had to ensure that his redemptive ministry would hold forever for the people He had saved. He could not only die and leave and with that all was over and done with.

But this Saviour has another side.

With his life and his death on the cross He was treated as being sinful so that we could receive righteousness from God. But that part is over now. At the Second Coming He will return as Judge.
When we see our Saviour again, He will ensure that nobody He died for ends up with Satan. This is the final judgement.
Then He decides and collects. He then carefully puts away his sheaves in his barns! Then his redemptive ministry is final and perfectly fulfilled.

Just look at how much you and I receive from the Lord! We deserve nothing of this salvation.

Jesus Christ is sent by God and through his work and the work of his Holy Spirit we receive salvation.
This was not done in secret. The Triune God teaches it to us very clearly.

The Holy Spirit teaches us through the Bible, through preaching and also through talking to our spirit.

This is why attending church services and our family devotions are so extremely important.
The Holy Spirit really speaks most clearly to us and teaches us on these occasions.

Here we learn that we should never doubt. We never have to wonder about our salvation. We already have it, and all we have to do is to llive according to the will of God, convert daily and serve God gratefully and with love.

Surely we are bothered by the knowledge of our sins.

But then it is such knowledge that actually drives us into the arms of God, because we realise that only the justice of God through Jesus Christ can redeem us from our sins.
This knowledge again leads to obedience – obedience in gratitude but also obedience to the honour God.

When we understand the justice of God, and realise who Jesus Christ really is, en what He has done and still does then we do not want to do anything willfully to injure his honour.

Brother and sister, know that you are redeemed. Jesus, who is true God and man, forgives. He lives and prepares a place for you in his kingdom.

Let us have a look at what we confess about all these things in Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Day 6:

16. Q. Why must He be a true and righteous man?
A. He must be a true man because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should pay for sin.[1] He must be a righteous man because one who himself is a sinner cannot pay for others.[2]
[1] Rom: 5:12, 15; I Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:14-16. [2] Heb. 7:26, 27; I Pet. 3:18.

17. Q. Why must He at the same time be true God?
A. He must be true God so that by the power of His divine nature[1] He might bear in His human nature the burden of God's wrath,[2] and might obtain for us and restore to us righteousness and life.[3]
[1] Is. 9:5. [2] Deut. 4:24; Nah. 1:6; Ps. 130:3. [3] Is. 53:5, 11; John 3:16; II Cor. 5:21.

18. Q. But who is that Mediator who at the same time is true God and a true and righteous man?
A. Our Lord Jesus Christ,[1] whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (I Corinthians 1:30).
[1] Matt. 1:21-23; Luke 2:11; I Tim. 2:5; 3:16.

19. Q. From where do you know this?
A. From the holy gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Paradise.[1] Later, He had it proclaimed by the patriarchs[2] and prophets,[3] and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law.[4] Finally, He had it fulfilled through His only Son.[5]
[1] Gen. 3:15. [2] Gen. 12:3; 22:18; 49:10. [3] Is. 53; Jer. 23:5, 6; Mic. 7:18-20; Acts 10:43; Heb. 1:1. [4] Lev. 1:7; John 5:46; Heb. 10:1-10. [5] Rom. 10:4; Gal. 4:4, 5; Col. 2:17.

Amen.

Closing prayer
Closing hymn: Psalm 90:2, 9
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.

Dr MJ du Plessis
Reformed Church Bellville
Date: 22 August 2004 (evening)