That there is unmistakable cooperation involving all three members of the Triune God in the creation of the world is unchallenged by any serious student of the Bible. In fact, such three-fold activity is evident at numerous historical events in the history of the world. Among these are what we should think of as the most critical of all, at least as regards human welfare and eternal destiny. And, obviously, we speak of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. His mission is spelled out in 1st John 4 and couldn’t be clearer. It reads, The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World. But, did Christ really do that? Or, was His mission a failure? The world certainly doesn’t look like it is saved, does it? Yet, the idea that Christ somehow failed in His mission is repulsive and impossible to entertain, simply because of who He was. And, add to that His own words, “It is finished,” that He uttered while dying on that Cross.
So, precisely how, then, did Christ accomplish the mission of saving the world as the Father sent Him to do? He redeemed the world in that He took the penalty for the world’s sin upon Himself thus reopening the way of access to God that Adam’s sin had closed. Both figures, Adam and Christ, were federal head representatives of the human race… Adam, as the progenitor of all humankind, and Christ, as the last Adam, who referred to Himself as the Son of man. And, as the Son of man and the Son of God, He fully carried out the mission He was sent to accomplish. The task was a monumental undertaking, the most monumental ever engaged because it involved the entire world, that is, every human being who ever lived or would live. And that same world was what Adam’s fall impacted in such a devastating way it resulted in human alienation from the Creator, involving the sentence of death to every member of humanity. It was this sad reality of alienation and death for which the Father sent the Son to save, or redeem, the world. And this reconciliation that Christ accomplished gave Him the exclusive right to the title of Savior. No one else has ever claimed that right or that title. The exclusivity of salvation being through Christ alone is predictable and logical since no one else has ever assigned to complete that task, nor has anyone else claimed to have done so.
Having rendered all mankind as being savable, or able to be saved, man need only acknowledge his own sin, repent of it, and embrace, by an act of his will, this Jesus whom the Father sent to be the Savior of the world. And, by a person doing so, Christ becomes a personal Savior. The Father, through Christ the Son, made the provision for forgiveness and salvation through death, burial, and resurrection. Man, as an individual, responds to what Christ accomplished through the exercise of his will. He responds to what Christ accomplished by putting his trust and confidence in Christ. Have you done that?
CC 10-17
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