Over the years humankind has tried to comprehend Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. Despite this, there are certain things that are quite clear, according to Barclay 1) Jesus went willingly 2) He also voluntarily accepted the Cross and looked at it as a necessity, and 3) It is his own choice.
Furthermore, Barclay introduced several doctrines pertaining to Jesus and his sacrifice on the Cross. The first one is the docrtrine of Atonement. Atonement is the doctrine where Jesus' death on the Cross enabled humankind to be "at one" with God (at-one-ment).
Another doctrine is re-capitulation. Re-capitulation is the thought that Jesus recapitulates, re-enacts, reiterates the whole course of human history in himself, however, with a huge difference--without sin. Where the first Adam failed in Genesis, the Second Adam in Jesus redeems it by living a life successfully without sin.
In addition, Barclay also mentioned the doctrine of incarnation. Incarnation is the embodiment of John's the "Word" being made "flesh" and "dwelt" (or lived) among us. This act of God became His ultimate revelation to humankind.
More so, Barclay mentions the act of Jesus on the cross served as a ransom for us all. This is because Adam and Eve's actions in the Garden of Eden caused humankind to dishonor God. God's honor had to be restored. So Jesus paid the price with his blood. He ransomed us from the penalty of sin. He took our place on the Cross by being a substitue. With Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross he satisfied this requirement.
Looking at all of this I can't help but think about the words ransom, sacrifice, satisfaction, and substitution. Nowadays we don't normally think about these words. We don't know what it means to be ransomed. We don't know what it means to live sacrificially as we get things easily these days. We don't know what it means to satisfy God as we only want to satisy ourselves and no one else. We also don't know what it means for someone to take our place (be our substitute) on the Cross. These and many more Jesus did for us. He gave his life and shed his blood so that we can be partakers of eternal life. In a sense, he gave us the ultimate bail out from sin, through his death on the Cross, by taking our supposed punishment.
Question now becomes, does this change the way you look at life? What about the way you live your life?
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