Knowing God Study - Lesson 22 Ý
Copyright 2004-5 by William Meisheid

Chapter 18: If God be for us... The Heart of the Gospel Part 2

Today’s theme: Where Jesus’ death becomes the centerpiece.

Scriptural background: Romans 2:23-25 "...for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;  being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God;"

Quotes for the week

The famous painting of The Death of Socrates by David ..., if set aside as a crucifixion picture, brings out a way in which Socrates’ death was quite unlike that of Christ. While his disciples are in agonies of grief, Socrates himself remains calm and poised; his philosophy has saved him from pain and passion. Christ, on the contrary, dies after hours of torment and doubt. Socrates imperturbably takes the cup of hemlock: Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane cries out, “Take this cup from me.” Oliver Taplin, British classical scholar. “Ideas: The Uneasy Marriage of Minds,” Greek Fire: The Influence of Ancient Greece on the Modern World, Atheneum (1990).

Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,
And did my Sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred Head
For such a worm as I
Isaac Watts (1674–1748), British hymn-writer. “Godly Sorrow Arising from the Sufferings of Christ ,” l. 1-4 (1709).

Concern: That even when we understand the importance of propitiation, and God’s wrath over sin, we still will not understand the centrality of Jesus’ death to everything he was and did.

“The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death.” Proverbs 14:27

1.  Do you fear death? If so why? If not why not? Maybe the best time to answer this is in the middle of the night after you have been awaken and have to get up for something.

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;” 1 Corinthians 15:56

2.  Do you think our culture insulates itself from death? If yes, then how? If no, then how does it make itself intimate with it?

Interacting with the text

Goal:.To understand the centrality of Jesus’ death and how it relates to man’s rejection of God, as well as God’s extension to us of peace, love, and his glory.

1.  In what other ways is the death of Christ depicted in the NT other than as propitiation? How do you normally think of the death of Christ?

2.  What kind of impressions do you get of Jesus by reading the New Testament? Are yours in any way different than Packers observations?

3.  How do you explain the necessity of Jesus' death? (re: Isaiah 53: 4ff, Mark 8:31, Luke 9:18, Luke 13:33)

4.  What does propitiation say to those who reject the sacrifice of Jesus?

5.  What is peace with God? How are peace with God and propitiation intimately tied together?

6.  How are God’s love and glory served by the death of Jesus Christ?

What To Do Next

Read Chapter Nineteen: Sons of God. This chapter will take three sessions to complete. We will be investigating the very nature of what it means to be Christian. Prepare yourself for some important insights as you interact with Packer’s arguments.

Goal: To never lose sight of the centrality of Jesus’ death to who he was and what he did.

Remember, what Jesus experienced was so horribly difficult that as a man he shrunk back from its difficulty while praying in the garden. Yet, he embraced his role in redemption despite its painful requirements. We too should accept the painful requirements of our redemption and sanctification and never shrink back from God’s discipline in our lives. You can’t take your cross and follow Jesus if you are unwilling to bend down and pick it up..