Romans 8 tells us that the law's requirements have been accomplished in us by Christ. Oh, let this reality sink into your heart and mind! God views each of His children as having fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law perfectly in His Son! He sees me, and you, if you believe, as having lived a perfect life, as sinless and spotless (Colossians 1:22), having obeyed the law down to its smallest jot and tittle.
Those who want to put people back under the Mosaic law are called "Judaizers" and "legalists" in the Bible. Scripture defines them as those who eat special diets for religious reasons and who keep "special days" (Romans 14:1-7; Galatians 4:8-11). Sadly, these legalists do not understand the inflexible demands of the law (perfection) or the horrible consequences of disobeying even a tiny portion of it (eternal death!). They do not understand that they, themselves, are under a curse:
"For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." Galatians 3:10
Through His perfect life, Jesus Christ fulfilled the demands of the law for all who believe (Matthew 5:17), and through His substitutionary death, He removed the curse of the law for us. Oh, how this should move our souls to praise Him, Who died for us!
Hymn writer Philip Bliss was rejoicing in this truth when he wrote the lyrics, "Free from the Law, O happy condition! Jesus hath bled, and there is remission, Cursed by the law and dead by the fall, Grace hath redeemed us, once and for all.” Are you beginning to grasp why Jesus yelled out His victory cry? On the cross, Jesus was at war, and He won! The cross was the culmination of a lifetime of perfect obedience for our sakes. His single word from the cross, meaning “It is finished!” is life-transforming for us because it set us free from the power of sin and the law (see 1 Corinthians 15:55-56)!
Isaiah 53:10-12 gives us a fuller understanding of Jesus’ work on the cross:
“Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.”
Question 5. According to Isaiah 53:10-12, what was the work Jesus was given to do?
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Before Christ came to this earth, a specific job was entrusted to Him. He was to be crushed, put to grief, an offering, the bearer of our sins, poured out to death for us. When we put our faith in Jesus’ sacrifice of His own body on the cross, we are counted as righteous!
Hebrews 10:4-5 tells us, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me…”
Jesus' final word of victory, "It is finished!" assures us that His offering was completed on our behalf. Our sins have been atoned through Jesus who did God's will perfectly! God's wrath for our sin has been satisfied by the blood offering of the perfect Lamb of God, His own Son. Hebrews 10:10 confirms, "And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Question 6. According to Hebrews 10:10, what happened to us through Jesus’ offering on the cross?
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