CHRIST BORE OUR SINS. 1st Peter 2:24
Jesus was personally involved in paying the price for our sins. It was Jesus “himself” who patiently endured the suffering for our sins on the cross. He was in our place and died to pay the “wages of sin,” so we would not have to suffer the eternal punishment our sins deserved. His substitutionary atonement satisfied God’s holy justice and made it possible for us to be brought to God.
The penalty of death for sin was paid by the Lord Jesus Christ when He gave His life as a ransom price to deliver us. We have been delivered from the power, guilt, and penalty of our sins and, because we are a new creation in Christ Jesus with a new nature, are able to “live unto righteousness.” Righteous living by redeemed people is one of the testimonies on earth today that God uses to represent Him and declare the saving power of the Gospel. It is possible for us to live here on earth to please our Lord.
When He "bare our sins in His own body on the tree," He was sacrificed for us for us as our substitute. His suffering serves as our substitute. His suffering work for us was that which saved us from the righteous wrath of God. This was a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment that never had to be repeated. The result is that we are separated from our sins by love and loyalty to Him in a practical, ongoing way. The motivation is so great that when we appreciate what he did for us, how could we go on sinning when He has done such a great work for us? Now the goal of life is to "live unto righteousness.
The redemption Christ provided goes far beyond being merely an example, because He was the Lamb of God’s provision who alone could bear away the sin of the world. He died, the innocent victim for guilty sinners. In God’s holy eyes, the justice the law demands has been satisfied, and we are positionally dead to sin so we can live righteous lives for the glory of God. Positive benefits for us include being spiritually healed from “the wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores” that characterize the results of sin in our past sinful nature.
The point of this passage of scripture is that those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ can make progress in righteous living and avoid returning to the sins for which Jesus died. The spiritual healing that the death of Christ provided was that He died for our sins and that we might die to our sins, be forever done with them. We can follow Christ’s example in suffering and death, which provide salvation and guide and protect us here until He comes for us.
Deliberately bearing a load not His own, the Lord Jesus Christ was a righteous Redeemer who atoned for my sins. Suffering all alone on the tree, He bore the wrath of God for me. In His body on the tree, the excruciating weight for our terrible sins, He took the punishment. He made full payment for all legal claims when He died on the cross for me. Because He died for me, then I am dead. The proof of death was in the blood He shed. The work was done when He said, “It is finished.” He was the Substitute before God for me. Now, I am dead to sin, settling all legal claims. All charges are erased by the authority of His name. God sees the Substitute and the redeemed sinner the same way. He appears in the presence of God for me. He is alive now, so I have a new life too. Payment for sin is complete; there is nothing else to do. Even while living in this world, He will see me through every event, good or bad, and God is waiting for me in heaven. I was dead, but now I am alive forevermore.