Under God's curse (1)

Thursday 22 April 2021

Under God's curse (1)

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” Galatians 3.13

In 2008, R.C Sproul preached a memorable sermon at a conference in Louisville, USA, on the subject of the curse of God, which he believed was the crux of salvation. Paradoxical, do you think ? Sproul said right away : “One aspect, one central image in the doctrine of salvation seems to have been largely overlooked these days. Too many preachers seek to preach a gospel full of sweetness and love. In making the horror of the Cross acceptable to our ears, we have overlooked the reality of what Christ really went through to spare us the eternal divine curse. We avoid talking about the curse that God inflicted on His son whom He loved yet...” Paul writes : “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, since it is written : All a man hanged on a tree is cursed” (Galatians 3:13). We prefer to believe in a forgiving God, who is infinitely capable of blessing beyond what we can imagine, but we are loath to believe Him capable of cursing a man. We have relegated the concept of curse to stories of witches, to the realm of magic and superstition. We find it difficult to imagine how God might feel when He chooses to curse someone. To understand what it means to be cursed by God, take the blessing formula found in Numbers chapter 6 and say the opposite, which reads : “The Lord curse you and deny you His protection ! May the Lord plunge you into darkness and pursue you with His retribution ! May the Lord turn His back on you and take away all sense of peace from you forever." That God would have cursed Jesus hanging on the Cross in this way seems unimaginable to us and yet it is what our Lord had to endure to save us from falling under such a curse.

Source (His Word for Today)