Filter by: Products Articles
Filter by:

Bible Questions with Michael Pearl
Episode 015: Did God turn his back on Jesus on the cross because of sin or for another reason?

By Michael Pearl

Episode Transcription:

Michael Pearl:  Well, here we are, Mike Pearl and Jared. Jared is sitting there behind the camera with the little earphones on and I'm sitting here with my old King James Bible, and I'm going to answer some of your Bible questions. I've not seen them yet, so Jared, put them to me. What have you got for today?

Jared:  Did God turn his back on Jesus on the cross because of the sin that God placed there, or for another reason? I ask because in my Bible study, I'm still unable to understand why Satan could enter the presence of God, but when Jesus hung on the cross, God the Father could not look upon him because of the sin.
Michael:  First Corinthians 5:21, "For God made him to be sin from him who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God, in him." Even Isaiah 53 said "He bore our sins, he carried our inequities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we're healed." So there is plenty of scripture that points out that God made Jesus to be sin. Now, when God made Jesus to be sin, he didn't cease to be righteous. In other words, he didn't change in character. What it's saying is, that Jesus Christ came for the purpose of representing the human race in the trial of judgment and death and damnation. He came to be a substitute. The very thing that qualified him to be that substitute was his perfect righteousness, "Him who knew no sin."

So the Bible said, "It pleased the Father to bruise him." So the Bible is very clear, when the fullness of time, God sent forth his son made of a woman. It was the plan of God from ages past, that Jesus Christ should be the perfect man. When Adam sinned, he pulled the whole human race out of the program of God. Adam divorced the human race from God and his program. So Adam as the forerunner, as the federal head, as the first man, failed and took the whole human race with him.

So when Jesus Christ came, He came as a man. That was essential, that was necessary. Because as a man he would become the mediator, the go between. Jesus Christ formally, as God, had full grasp of God, but no grasp of man. What the human race needed, was an overcoming man. The human race needed a man that would succeed where the first man failed.

So he took upon him the form, the likeness of man. Being in made in the likeness of man he took upon himself, the Bible said, "the likeness of sinful flesh and conformed, " it said, "unto death." So as the substitute man, Jesus Christ became an Adam, a forerunner for the human race, a "captain of salvation" as it says in the book of Hebrews.

And he did that, by first of all, living the life that we should have lived under the law. He lived it perfectly. Having lived the life we should have lived under the law perfectly, he established himself as the perfect man. Now as the perfect man he qualified to ascend in Heaven, and be seated on the right hand of God. But rather than ascend into Heaven and be seated on the right hand of God, the perfect man then presented himself before the bar of justice and said "I will die as if I were the sinner. As if I were all sinners, I will die, and I will take the place in judgment." So Jesus Christ submitted to the judgment of God.

The judgment was pronounced upon him and he died like he was me, he died like he was you, he died like he was a child molester. And he died willingly and freely, our sin being carried judicially by him. And he went into the grave like we should go into the grave. And then he went into Hell like we should go into Hell. Not in the fire, Abraham's bosom, but he went into Hell. And he abode there for three days. And on the third day he did what all men want to do. What the aspirations of all men...he resurrected from the dead to eternal life.

So this man, this Adam man, this human man, has now born the penalty of sin, died, been resurrected, is in a glorified body, and now will live forever. That's one man, has over come. One man, has submitted to sin, submitted to the law, submitted to the temptation, the Devil, and overcome in every way, and is now resurrected in a glorified body. That one man, then, ascended into Heaven, set down on the right hand of God.

So what I have right now is an attorney. I have an attorney who understands my case because he lived my life. I have an attorney who understands God because he is God's son. He is God. That attorney now has me by one hand and God by the other. That attorney is there to reconcile me to God, to bring us together. And he has the full knowledge, the full experience to do that based on his death, his burial, and his resurrection.

So he is made sin, only judicially, but it was sufficient to bare the penalty of my sin. And now he lives in human righteousness, and God righteousness, for eternity. And he has gifted me with that gift of righteousness, which now qualifies me to enter into Heaven as his son.

Great passage, great question, I love it.

Announcer:  If you would like to ask a Bible question, email us at [email protected] or call at 931‑805‑4820.

Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter & stay updated