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Word for Today - August 20th, 2008
Truths About Calvary.
"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John 12:32.
CHRIST spoke these words a few days before Calvary. They teach us some important truths about Calvary. These words tell us about the requirement, reproach, and rebuke of Calvary.
Requirement of Calvary. "If I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." Was Calvary really necessary? Some think it was not necessary, but our verse says otherwise. It says that Calvary was absolutely essential if Jesus Christ was going to provide salvation for men's souls. Some talk of the saving life of Christ; however, it was not His life that provided salvation; rather it was His death on the cross that provided salvation. If salvation was dependent only on the life of Christ, then Calvary was not necessary, it was a mistake. But Calvary was not a mistake or an event in which God lost control. It was planned before the creation of the world (I Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8). Without Calvary, Christ could not be the Savior of our souls.
Reproach of Calvary. "If I be lifted up from the earth." Christ was speaking of a specific form of death, namely, crucifixion. This was a very ignominious way to die. Paul spoke of Christ humbling Himself to "even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8); and in Galatians Paul spoke of the curse of the cross: "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23). The death of Christ was a great reproach because it was by crucifixion.
Rebuke of Calvary. "Will draw all men unto me." Calvary is a rebuke to mankind. It says that men have gone away from God and need to come back to God. The fact that our verse says man has to be drawn to God rebukes man's waywardness. One would not have to be drawn back to God if he had not left God. But man left God. God did not move; it was man that moved away from God. We have "all gone astray" (Isaiah 53:6). But through Calvary we can be drawn back to God. And the fact that Calvary "will draw" men back to God shows the grace and power of God in saving sinners.
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