Let us consider some aspects of Christs death on the cross, it involved punishment, yes Christ was being punished, not for wrongs that He had done,the hymn writer asks the question,'Was it for sins that I had done He groaned upon the tree?. The answer is very simply yes,for Jesus never sinned ( Hebrews 4v 15 ).Because of sin the wrath of God is upon all of us John 3 v 36,that is the punishment for sinning against a holy God.The bible clearly teaches that after death there is going be a judgement,that will mean that all who are without Christ will go to hell, and that is an eternal judgement.Revelation 6 v 16- 17. That is a just punishment for sin, by a just God,on that day no one will suffer any injustice.In 1Peter 2 v24, we read,' He himself bore our sins ' in His body on the cross',It is A.M.Stibbs who points out,'To bear sin or iniquity means in the OT , to be answerable for it, and to endure its penalty', the penalty for sin is death. (Romans 6 v23).His death was a vicarious death,the meaning of this is,one who would act on the part of another. So on the cross He bore the punishment for sin, as the hymn wrote,' The wrath of God that the sinner due was led upon the lamb. So it is that the moment Jesus forgives a sinner ,judgement is removed,never to be enacted upon.
'O happy day when Jesus washed my sins away'
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