The meaning and blessings of Salvation! #1

An introduction: Substitution and Redemption

1 Peter 3:18

The doctrine of our salvation by God is both simple and complex. The gnawing problem of one’s sin before our holy God, God’s just wrath toward one’s sin and oneself, and the love of God expressed to us in sending us His Son to die in our place and to pay for our sins on the cross, and we being granted as a free gift, the benefit of eternal life, is so straight forward even a child can grasp both the problem and God’s solution. Most of us can quote John 3:16 or Paul’s response to the Philippian jailer’s question about how to be saved in Acts 16:31.

On the other hand, who can understand and explain the astounding mystery of how a holy God/Man both would and could become sin itself and die for the sake and benefit of wicked, sinful, rebellious creatures like you and I? We can maybe apprehend the beginning of the thing, but I think it will take eons upon eons for us to begin to really comprehensively get the arms of our minds and hearts around the totality of it all.