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Transcript 227D
The Nature of Christ's Suffering for Our Sins
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Hi. I've got some questions concerning what Jesus Christ actually accomplished in paying for our sin. The Bible says that no flesh would be able to survive the fires of hell. If a man were to go into hell, that would be his state forever. And he would have no hope of getting out of there. And of course the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ took our sins on Him. And yet He was able to survive the fires of hell. In Hebrews 1:3 it says, ''He purged Himself of our sins." And I wondered if you would bring out a little bit of why He was able to survive that, where no other flesh would be able to survive that.
HC: The question is, How could Christ endure the equivalent of an eternity in hell and survive it, whereas we would have to spend an eternity there? The reason is that Christ is the God-man. Christ was man in order that He might be a legitimate substitute. It is man who sinned, it is man who must pay the penalty for his sins. But He was also Eternal God.
And so God could so intensify sufferings that Christ endured that it became the equivalent of an eternity in hell, and Christ was not consumed in the attempt. He was Eternal God, and Eternal God is infinite, you see.
CALLER: I guess really what I'm looking for is: In the resurrection Christ could take up that body of flesh that had suffered, you know when He was on the cross He cried out, because the Father had forsaken Him, turned His back on Him because He saw Him there with our sins on Him, the man Christ Jesus, even though He took out sins, He Himself was still perfect righteousness in the flesh, as the man still. And so does He have a right to the life, to be able to be refined and purified through the fires, without actually suffering destruction?
HC: No. That's not possible. You can't separate the man Jesus from the God-man. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, who stripped Himself of His glory in order that He might be the Lamb that was slain. And He took upon Himself our sins. So when He faced the judgment throne, He was as guilty as guilty could be, as guilty as all of those who, He was totally identified with our individual sins. And He deserved to go to hell at that point. Not for His own sin, but for our sins. He became sin for us.
Now had He sinned, in his own life, that would have proved He's not God. He could not be a substitute for our sins because He would have to pay for His own, and He would have proven He was only a human after all. And He would have had to spend an eternity in hell for his own sins.
CALLER: I know that in the New Testament where it speaks of the fires of hell that it means everlasting condemnation, and so on, but is there an Old Testament passage that teaches that someone who is in hell will remain there? You know, it's not like purgatory, where you can go in and come back out. It's a place of no return.
HC: Yes, there is. And I'm not sure that I can put my finger right on it quickly. But the Bible does teach that. For example, I think in Jeremiah 17, or thereabouts. Let me just turn to that a minute, and see if I can put my finger on it. Yes. Jeremiah 17:4. "You shall loosen your hand from your heritage which I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know. For in My anger a fire is kindled which shall burn forever." Now that's speaking pretty plainly, isn't it?
And there are other passages of this nature, particularly in the Book of Jeremiah. God really gets into this matter of His punishment of hell for the sins of Israel.
CALLER: Okay. I appreciate your explaining Christ's resurrection, in that it's the power of God that He's back to life. But I have some problem with how that sinful, well, it's like you say, I guess. You can't separate the two.
HC: You can't separate them, really. And secondly, we don't know how Christ suffered. We have no idea. We see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He's crying out with loud cries, we read in Hebrews 5. And He's throwing Himself to the ground, and the sweat is pouring off His body like great drops of blood into the ground. Now no one had laid a hand on Him. There was no one whipping Him. And yet here He's carrying on in a tragic and a terrible way. Whatever that is, that punishment, it was beginning to hone in on Him. And only within the Godhead would we know exactly how this all went together.
CALLER: He's a wonderful Lord. That's all we can say. I praise Him for that. Thank you very much, Mr. Camping. God bless you. Good night.
HC: You're welcome. Good night.