The Curse Motif of the Atonement

Today on Renewing Your Mind with RC scroll incredible moment when Isaiah beheld the unveiled's holiness of God. He understood who God was in for the first time in his life. He understood who Isaiah was and he cursed, not God, but he cursed Isaiah flow is me, the prophet creased himself because he realized unholy people cannot stand before a holy God is for that reason that the Bible tells us that we are under God's curse.

Many people would rather not talk about that. They'd rather focus on God's love and mercy that we cannot understand the gospel. Apart from the curse is Dr. Spruill I like to read from Paul's letter to the Galatians chapter 3, beginning at verse 10 and reading through verse 14 for all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written curse and be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them now. It is evidence that no one is justified before God by the law for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith. Rather, the one who does them shall live by them.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written curse said is everyone who is and on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through face. Beloved, when we go to the New Testament, then we read not only the narrative events of the cross but the many didactic expressions that explain to us its meaning and significance.

I think we are soon aware that there is no one image or one dimension that can comprehensively explain the cross but there is one MH, one aspect of the atonement that has receded in our day.

Almost into total obscurity. We heard earlier of those attempts to preach a more gentle and kind gospel and in our efforts to communicate the work of Christ more kindly we flee from any mention of a curse inflicted by God, upon his own son.

When we speak of the idea of curse the day when we think of we think perhaps of a voodoo witch doctor who places in his inmate replica of the hall of his enemy. We think of an occultist who was involved in witchcraft putting spells and taxes upon the people literary work curse in our culture suggests some kind of superstition, but in the biblical categories. Dear friends, there's nothing superstitious about it on the idea of the curse is deeply rooted in biblical history.

We need only go to the opening chapters of Genesis to the record of the fall of man that provokes from God is anathema on the serpent was cursed to go on his belly and the curse that is then given to the earth itself. That would bring forth thorns and brought making it difficult for Adam to live by the tutorial of his, and it brings the excruciating and I choose that word carefully paying given to the woman who would bear a child.

But not only do we find this idea of curse there early in Genesis. But if we fast forward to the giving of the law under Moses. We understand that with the covenant God makes with his people at Sinai that he attaches to that covenant to the stipulations of that law do all sanctions a positive sanction and a negative sanction the positive sanction is articulated. There in terms of the concept of blessedness may quickly jump back to Deuteronomy chapter 28 that we rate this let me of blessings. And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. Listen to this and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God blessed shall you be in the city. Blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb. The fruit of your ground. The fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading both blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed show you be when you go out to hear what God is saying to Israel if you keep my word that I'm going to bless you in the city bless you in the country.

Bless you. When you rise up publishing when you're lined up I'll bless you in the kitchen. I bless you in the bedroom. I'll bless you in the living room. I'll bless your feelings about your goats of G publisher, bless you all of the plaques that your life will be nothing but an experience in divine benediction and blessed but God goes on to say that if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statues that I command you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you curse and show you be in the city curses into showing you be in the country. Curses shall be your basket and your kneading bowl curses shall be the fruit of your womb. The fruit of your ground increase of your herds, the young of your flock curse, and shall you be when you come in and curses shall you be when you go out in the kitchen and the living room and the bedroom in the garage curse well with this at me like to take some time to explore the meaning and the significance of this idea of God's divine curse and I want to look at it next couple of different ways. First of all when the prophets of the Old Testament spoke not their own opinions but the word that God placed in their mouth so that they can preface their announcements by these words. Thus saith the Lord that the favorite method did the prophets use to express the word of God was the method that was called the Oracle.

It seems that sometimes the only place we hear the idea of the Oracle is in Greek mythology will be here of the Oracle of Delphi where people would go and consult the Oracle to ask how the future was going to turn out. Will we be victorious will we be defeated in battle. Will I marry Susan, Betty or Jane and they were looking to these self-appointed prophets.

There at Delphi to give the divine pronouncements. While there were Oracle's before there was an Oracle of Delphi was one called Isaiah 1: Jeremiah Amos, Hosea, Ezekiel, Daniel, and they would use this oracular form to communicate the word of God, and there were basically two kinds of oracles known to the prophets, there was the Oracle of wheel which was an Oracle of good news and announcement of prosperity coming from the hand of God. And then there was also the Oracle of 10 which Oracle would be an announcement of doom brought from the hand of God in the normal way in which the Oracle of wheel would be honored was by the use of the term. Bless by the pronouncements of a divine benediction. David begins the Psalms.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand us in the way of sinners were sits in the seat of the scornful.

But is the light is in the law of the Lord and in that law he meditates day and night. He'll be like a tree planted by rivers of water, bringing forth his fruit in his season, but the ungodly are not so for like the chaff which the wind drive it away. How often did our Lord exorcise the function of the prophets and make oracular pronouncements such as he did on the sermon on the Mount 20 look to his disciples that he said to them, plastic are the Blessed are those who Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake, and so one giving us that section of the sermon that we call the beatitude where Jesus pronounces the blessing of God upon certain people, but the Oracle of doom. In contrast, was normally processed by the word 10. As you recall, I am mispronouncing the judgments of God on the nation was her tooth transgressions great. Well, what do you a series well into Damascus will warranty was incredible moment when Isaiah beheld the unveiled's holiness of God. He pronounced the Oracle of doom upon himself. He understood who God was and for the first time in his life.

He understood who Isaiah was an e-commerce, not God, but he cursed Isaiah flow is me I'm coming apart. I'm undone. I'm ruined because I have a filthy mouth and I'm not alone. Not only am I exposed to the wall, but I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips who are equally exposed to the judgment of God and so we see the statements in the Bible. These oracular statements of blessing and curse.

Wheel and will, but if you really want to understand what it meant to a Jew to be cursed. I think the simplest way is to look at them famous Hebrew benediction. In the Old Testament. You all know how it goes.

Those of you are clergy use it for your final benediction countless times.

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you his peace. Now what is so important for us to understand the curse is to understand first of all how the Jew understood blessing how the understanding may the Lord bless you what he meant by that is to be blessed by God is to be Bay in the prefall engine glory that emanates from his face.

May the Lord bless you means may the Lord make his face to shine upon you, is this not what Moses begged for on the mountain. What a set of God. I've seen what you mortals I've ever seen. I saw it they play is that you brought to Egypt. I saw the river turned to blonde I was there between McDonnell and the sea.

When you dried up the sea and let us walk the mall.

Let me have the big one, please let me see your face. You know what happened next in mitosis. You know what you're asking him as you read the book you wrote that no man can see me and live Moses out. I would also carve out a niche in the rock over here and I'll place you there in the cleft of the rock, and I will allow my backward parts to pass by and I'll give you an instantaneous glance of my backward parts but my face shall not be see and when Moses said that brief glance of the backside of God's face shown for an extended period of time with the Jew for was of God, just let me once this once see your face you see his ultimate hope is the same hope that is given to us in the New Testament. The final eschatological hope of the beatific vision behold what manner of love is this, Truman says that we should be called the children of God. We don't know yet what we will be. But this much we know that we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Don't you see the hardest thing about being a Christian is serving a God you've never seen. And so the Jew asked for that benediction of God blesses to the degree that you would make your face shine upon you last week probably has them die. Moses then heard how many of you ever saw Ben Hur, let me say almost everybody good. You remember that scene in Ben Hur where he's been reduced to slavery and he is being dragged behind his captive than they finally come to this well in the midst of the desert and he comes their knees in the sand them. His lips are parched and he's overcome with Thurston all of a sudden you see the shadow of the human brain. You never see this person's but whoever it is to mates Ben Hur stoops over and gifts to him a cup of cold water in the point of view of the camera is from the gains of Ben Hur who looks up into the face of the one who is giving him this drink of water and instantly Ben Hur's face begins to shine and you don't have to be told who it was who gave him the drink of water because the Lord Jesus made his face to shine upon this. May the Lord lift the light of his countenance upon you and give to you his peace. Every time I hear that benediction church I get chill bumps because it's so incorporates my highest dream to see his face but my purpose this afternoon is not to explain the blessing of God. But it's polar opposite its antithesis, which again can be seen in vivid contrast to the benediction. It would be the supreme malediction that would read something like this. May the Lord curse you and abandon you. May the Lord keep you in darkness and give you only judgment without grace. May the Lord turn his back up on you and move his piece from forever's Dr. RC Sproul in a message titled the curse motif of the atonement.

There is more to come in this message and we will hear the conclusion of a tomorrow we we left there on a very sobering thought what a terrible thing it is to be under the curse of God, but for the believer.

There is assurance that Christ has taken the full measure of God's wrath in our place, as the apostle Paul tells us in Galatians, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us and that will be our focus tomorrow as we pick up the remainder of RC's message. Thank you for joining us today for Renewing Your Mind.

I'm Lee Webb and we have been very portions of Dr. Sproles teaching series on the atonement this week throughout this series there is much to convict us but also much to encourage us in our Christian walk. That's why we like to make this message and the entire series available to you for your gift of any amount RC helps us consider important questions surrounding Christ's atoning work. For example, why did Jesus have to die. Did he die for all people and what does it mean that he gave his life as a ransom.

It's our prayer that this message and the entire series will help anchor your hope in the finished work of Jesus to request the teaching series at today's message connect with us online@renewingyourmind.org or call us at 800-435-4343 will here's another question for us to consider about the atonement. What exactly did God allow Jesus to experience on the cross, the light of his countenance is turned off all blessedness is removed. His son Jesus to become. He has to be utterly totally and completely forsaken. We hope you'll join us Friday for Renewing Your Mind