The central theme and message of both the Old Testament Scriptures and the New Testament Scriptures is the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. His atoning, or sacrificial, death on the cross is the watershed of all history (cf. Luke 24:25-27; Acts 8:32-35; 1 Cor. 2:2). It is no accident that even the secular world divides history as it relates to the birth of Christ. All men and events are recorded as being either BC or AD. Christ is not only the center of the Bible; he is also the center of history and all creation. The central concern and singular purpose of the mission of the Son of God was the work of atonement (cf. Matt. 1:21; 20:28; Luke 2:11; 19:10; 1 Tim. 1:15; 1 John 4:14). God’s character of holiness and truthfulness demands that sin cannot be merely overlooked or ignored, but it must be punished by death. Either the sinner bears that punishment of death himself, or an acceptable substitute must be provided. It is safe to say that one will understand the Word of God to the same degree that one understands the person and work of Christ. To be ignorant about the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be ignorant about salvation by grace.
The following principles should be carefully remembered and put into practice in all of our thinking and discussion of this vital subject. First of all, the doctrine of the atonement is a subject known only by special revelation. We do not learn about this truth in any place except the Bible. We are not looking to philosophy, psychology, science, sentiment, etc., to teach us the meaning of the death of Christ. We are looking to the Scriptures alone. No human mind could dream up the doctrine of atonement by the blood of Christ. This great truth is foolishness to the carnal mind.
Secondly, a right understanding and application by faith of the glorious truth of the atonement will cause us to see (1) the nature and depth of the sin out of which we have been redeemed, and (2) the amazing love and power of God that accomplished our salvation. As we look at the sufferings of Christ on the cross and understand what he really accomplished on that horrible instrument of shame, we will be led to adoring worship and praise.
Thirdly, I want it clearly understood that sincere Christians disagree about the biblical meaning of the nature and purpose of the atonement. Some godly believers think Christ died and “redeemed” all men without exception. In their view, Christ died for Judas in exactly the same way that he died for Peter. Judas perished, not because his sins were not paid for, but only because he was unwilling to claim by faith the redemption Christ had provided for him and all other men. We had a special speaker in my first pastorate who declared, “The worst drunk and immoral person in the gutter tonight is just as redeemed as you and I. He only need be willing to claim his redemption, and he will be saved. Whether he believes or does not, he is still redeemed by the atonement of Christ.” This view is called universal or unlimited atonement.
Other Christians, and I am in this second group, believe that Christ died for the sheep (cf. John 10:11), that is, those given to him by the Father (cf. John 17:2, 6, 9), in a way that he did not die for the goats. We believe that Christ died and paid Peter’s debt in a way that he did not die and pay the debt of Judas. We believe that Judas, and every other lost sinner, will suffer in hell for their sins. If Christ died for Judas in the same sense that he died for Peter, then Judas would also have been saved.
We insist that the heart of the issue is this: did Christ on the cross actually redeem and make certain the salvation of some sinners, or did his death merely make it possible for all men without exception to be saved if they would contribute faith with their free wills as their essential part in salvation? Is the only real and vital difference between Peter and Judas the “willingness” of Peter and the “unwillingness” of Judas? Is Cowper’s hymn correct, or incorrect, when it says:
Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power,
Till all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved to sin no more.
The hymn writer clearly saw “being saved,” or coming to faith in Christ, as a sure and certain result of “being redeemed,” or having Christ die in one’s place. He saw the power of the blood of Christ as truly a redeeming power. The blood did not make all men redeemable, but that precious blood actually made salvation sure, not for all men, but for “the ransomed Church of God.” Cowper could not conceive that some of those who had been ransomed (redeemed) by the blood of Christ could ever perish because of their unwillingness to claim the redemption “provided” for them and all others. All of the ransomed people of God will be brought to believe and be saved.
Fourthly, let’s be absolutely certain we understand what we are, and are not, saying. In no sense whatever are we even remotely implying that there are some poor sinners who sincerely want to be saved, but God refuses to save them because Christ did not die for them. Every sinner in the whole world who comes to Christ will be received and accepted. Revelation 22:17 means exactly what it says:
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
The problem is not with “whosoever will;” the problem is that all men, without exception, are “whosoever will-nots.” None are willing to come until God opens their hearts and brings them. We believe and fervently preach the words of our blessed Lord in John 6:37:
…him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Can anything be more true and certain than these words that guarantee that every sinner without exception who comes to Christ will be saved? We preach that. We do not, however, do what some preachers do and begin in the middle of the verse. We also preach the first half of the verse. The first part tells precisely why the second part is true. All who come to Christ will be received because they, and they alone, are the elect for whom Christ died:
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and [it is just as true] him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
The “coming ones” and the “given ones” are one and the same people. All who come will be saved, and all who have been given by the Father and redeemed by the Son will come.
It is at best a caricature of our position to suggest that we believe that some sinners go into heaven kicking and screaming. They do not want to go, but since they are elect and Christ died for them, God throws them into heaven against their will. This was discussed when we covered the doctrine of election. We insist that the most willing thing any sinner ever did was to freely repent and believe the gospel. The question is never, “Must we repent and believe?” but rather, “Why do some sinners repent and believe and other sinners refuse to do so?” The biblical answer is not, “because of their free will,” but rather, “because of the sovereign purpose of God in the death of Christ.”
The essence of God’s being is holiness. “Holy, holy, holy” is the theme of heaven’s worship (cf. Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8). Those perfect beings in God’s immediate presence do not say, “Love, love, love,” but “Holy, holy, holy.” A holy God, by his very nature, must not only hate sin, but he must also punish sin. All the love in the world, including all of the love in the heart of God, will not, because it cannot, forgive one single sin. Sin must be paid for by an atoning sacrifice. Grace and mercy are optional with God. He can, and does, show mercy to whomever he chooses (Romans 9:15), but righteousness and justice are not optional. God may choose to either act in mercy or choose to withhold mercy. Nonetheless, he must always act in righteousness. He may choose to love some sinners and not others, but in both cases he must act righteously. This is why the cross is so essential. The death of Christ does not make God love us, but Christ’s atonement was essential so God could love us righteously and in true holiness.