Speaker: Rev. JOHN A. BOUWERS • FEBRUARY 13, 2016

“But God, who is rich in mercy, does not leave us to ourselves at this point. Article two goes on and says: [God] has been pleased of His infinite mercy to give His only begotten Son for our Surety, who was made sin, and became a curse for us and in our stead, that He might make satisfaction to divine justice on our behalf.

We must see the whole of Christ’s life as a life of suffering and at the same time a life of perfect love and obedience to the Father, on our behalf. Christ lived the life of perfect love that we would not and could not live, and paid the price of the sacrifice of love that we would not and could not pay. Look at Christ on that night before He was crucified, sweating drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane, as He faces with horror the fact that He must drink the cup of God’s wrath against our sins. Nevertheless, He presses on saying “not My will but Thy will be done, Father.” That is to say: “I will go to the cross, I love you Father, and I love all the ones you have given Me.”