There are three major steps in God’s salvation for man. Each step comes out of God’s love for man, and none of these wonderful steps has ever come up in man’s heart. The first step of God’s salvation is that God Himself became a man to be joined to man. There are millions of people in the world who have concepts about how to worship God, but no one ever had the thought that God became a man in order to be joined to man and to be one with man.
Without God entering into man and being joined to man, there would be no way for man to contact God and be saved by Him. Without being joined to man and becoming one with man, God could not provide man with a salvation that is subjective and real. God does not save man merely outwardly, nor does He want man’s salvation to be something apart from Him. Rather, God wants to enter into man and to inwardly carry out His work of salvation. God wants man to be joined to Him so that man can receive God as his salvation. Such a salvation involves a divine-human union and human-divine oneness that has never come up in man’s heart; this speaks of God’s incomparable love toward man.
The honorable, holy, and great God became a man to be one with the base, common, and small man. Jesus Christ is the union of God and man. He is not only man but also God; He is not only God but also man; He is God yet man and man yet God. We must realize that Jesus is a proper man, being both the expression of God and the pattern of man. In Him, people can see the God of glory; in Him, people also can see a perfect man. He is truly the union of God and man, man and God. As such a God-man, He was manifested both as the glorious Lord who created the universe and as a perfect man during His thirty-three and a half years on the earth. After this proving of Himself, He went to the cross and suffered death on our behalf.
The second step in God’s salvation involves His death on the cross. God’s becoming flesh is the first step in His salvation, and His crucifixion is the second step of God’s salvation. Everyone who studies history or observes current affairs has to admit that the cross is something special. It is hard to find a symbol among the human race that surpasses the cross. Although the cross is a simple symbol, consisting only of a horizontal line and a vertical line, it has become the most excellent sign in the six thousand years of human culture. However, although people in the world know about the symbol of the cross, very few know its true significance.
Some people regard the cross as a sign of self-sacrifice, whereas others regard the cross as a sign of victory. Some even regard the cross as a good luck symbol that will help them avoid bad luck. No matter how people interpret the significance of the cross, it is a very special symbol among the human race. People all over the earth recognize the sign of the cross. Countless people wear a cross as part of their jewelry, countless preachers speak about the cross every day, and countless Christian publications include depictions of the cross.
The apostle Paul, who endeavored to preach God’s salvation, said, “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). The subject of his preaching was Christ and His cross. He spoke of our glorious Lord and of His crucifixion. The cross is superior, wonderful, and excellent; consequently, we need to consider what makes the cross so excellent. Many say that the cross shows that the Lord Jesus sacrificed Himself for others. Others say that the cross shows that Jesus Christ was willing to be sacrificed for His beliefs. For those who hold these views of the cross, the significance of the cross is related to ethical teachings such as dying for the sake of some virtue or to sacrificing oneself for the sake of justice. These human interpretations, however, miss the significance of the cross as revealed by God. According to God, the cross signifies substitution; that is, the Lord Jesus died on the cross as our Substitute, suffering God’s judgment on our behalf.
As the Lord of the universe, God has rules, laws, and principles for everything. When we look at the universe and the things created by God, we can see many rules and laws. These rules and laws come from a God who is both disciplined and perfectly upright. However, man has transgressed against God’s law. For example, God requires man to honor his parents, but man rebels. God requires man to love others, but man hates. God requires man to be honest and not bear false witness to deceive others, but man is filled with hypocrisy and lies. Man’s outward conduct on the earth constantly violates the law of God. When a citizen violates the laws of a nation, there is punishment from the government of the nation. Similarly, when the laws of the Lord of the universe are violated, there is also need for punishment.
God is the sovereign Lord of the universe, and as His creatures we have the obligation and duty to obey His law. However, our outward conduct is completely contrary to His law. According to His righteousness and law, He must punish us and put us to death because our actions are contrary to His law. However, He also fervently loves us and is determined to gain us. Without us, He is not satisfied. Without us, He has no joy. Without us, He cannot accomplish His eternal purpose. Thus, there is a conflict. According to His righteousness and law, God must punish and condemn us, but according to His heart, He loves us and longs to gain us. Consequently, God’s way of salvation must reconcile His love with His righteousness.
Only God’s way of salvation can solve this problem. His way involves coming as a man to stand in the position of a man to receive God’s punishment as man’s Substitute. Although man violated His ways and deserves to be punished and condemned by God, He stood in the position of a man and bore the sins man committed. He bore the sins of man and became the Substitute for man on the cross. When He was punished on behalf of man, He expressed His love for those whom He was about to save, and He proved and satisfied His righteousness. If we could write two words on the cross, one would be love and the other would be righteousness.
If we look at the cross, we will understand how much God loves man, and if we look at the cross, we will understand the righteousness of God. The Lord Jesus was crucified because God so loved the world and because God is righteous. If God had no love for man, He would not have died for man, and if God was not righteous, He would not have borne the sins of man. Through the Lord Jesus’ death on the cross, God’s love for man was demonstrated, and God’s righteousness was satisfied.
Anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus will be moved to say that His death on the cross is the expression of God’s love. God so loved us that He became a man and gave up His life on the cross, shedding His precious blood for us. When we look at the cross, we should sense His love, but when we consider the cross, we should also think of His righteousness. If God forgave us without the shedding of blood, He would have put Himself in an unrighteous position, a position that would have annulled His ways and His righteousness. In order to keep His ways and preserve His righteousness, He became a man and gave up His life, perfecting His love and His righteousness toward man. The substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus on the cross was not just a matter of virtue or sacrifice to obtain justice; it perfected the love of God and the righteousness of God toward man so that God’s love and righteousness could be fully accomplished on man.
This wonderful death was prophesied and described in the Old Testament, including His crucifixion on the cross and the shedding of His precious blood (Psa. 22; Isa. 53). When He was on the cross, He bore our sins because God put the sins of the world upon Him. As He was dying on the cross, darkness fell over the land for a period of time, and during this time, He felt deeply distressed, even separated from God. He cried out with a loud voice, saying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). If Christ was dying only as a martyr for the sake of some virtue or for the sake of justice, God’s presence would surely have been with Him. However, God forsook Him during His crucifixion because He was bearing the sins of man at that time. At that very moment, in God’s eyes the crucified Jesus was the greatest sinner because He was bearing all the sins of man. When He was on the cross, He was bearing the iniquity of the world. God executed judgment upon Him because He was bearing the sins committed by mankind.
The cross is mysterious. First Peter. 2:24 says that Christ “Himself bore up our sins in His body on the tree.” When He was crucified on the tree, He bore up our sins. We committed the sins, but He bore the judgment for our sins. We committed the sins, but He suffered the consequence of death. We committed the sins, but He tasted the suffering of sins on our behalf. He was not merely sacrificed on the cross; rather, He stood in the position of our Substitute in order to bear God’s judgment for us. He bore God’s punishment for us, and He suffered the pain of death for us. He suffered death on the cross to satisfy the righteous requirement of God. Without the cross the sins of man would not have been removed before God. Without the cross there would have been no way for God to forgive man despite His desire to do so. Because of the cross God and man can contact each other.
Because of the fall there was a barrier of sin between God and man. Through the cross, however, this barrier has been removed. Although God and man were separated by sin, God can reach out to man, and man can come to God through the cross. Sin created a separation between God and man, but the cross bridged this gap. The cross speaks of the union between God and man, and it issues in fellowship between God and man. Through the cross God is joined to man and communicates with man. The cross has removed the sin that condemned man, and the cross has removed the demand of death upon man. The cross has removed the barrier between God and man, causing man to be reconciled to God, bringing man back to God, and joining man to God. Through the cross, man can draw near to God, pray to God, and receive God. Through the cross, God can forgive man, accept man, justify man, enter into man, and be joined to man.
God’s salvation does not require that we be virtuous or do good in order to pay for our sins. Instead, as our wonderful Substitute, He became a man in order to bear God’s punishment on our behalf. Hence, the cross speaks of redemption through substitution. Because of the cross, we can communicate with God. We can approach God, and God can draw near to us. This is the second step in God’s wonderful salvation.
God’s salvation comes out of His great love. He was willing to become our Substitute because of His love. He became a man and died on the cross because of His mercy and love toward us. This wonderful salvation is something that could never have come up in our heart. He became a man to be joined to us. He was crucified for us so that we could contact Him. These things never came up in our heart, and they are above all that we could ask or think.