Just for us

DEVOTION

PROPHESIES AND FULFILLMENTS CONCERNING CHRIST

JUST FOR US

Deut 21:22-23

22 If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, 23 you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

NIV

Although officially verse 23 is the singular prophetic verse, but it would seem to us the guilty of a capital offense fits us very well and we are the ones who should be put to death. When we consider sin, even the smallest is really a capital offense against God.

Gal 3:13

 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

NIV

There it is, he became the curse for us. He took all our capital offenses upon himself and was hung on the tree, that old rugged cross, for us. He was put to death, in the most agonizing method for us. This is how much God loves us, to die in such a manner so that he might redeem us from the wages of sin. We also see that because it was the day of preparation his body could not be on the cross overnight. We already visited that prophecy regarding not having any bones broken and the other two on crosses had to have theirs broken to hurry up their death so all bodies could be taken down the same day. We know Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who both became disciples of Jesus at some point in their lives, after getting permission from Pilate took Jesus down from the cross and buried him. The full account is recorded for us by John. Although we are familiar with the complete account, this prophesy is aimed at him becoming a curse for us. How could God become a curse to himself? We know Jesus is God and yet he did in fact become a curse. The basis has to be in the fact that Jesus was also fully human. This is the only way that whole truth works. God satisfied his own need for justice. Since the time of the fall of man, God required some kind of sacrifice from man. We see this in the narrative of Cain and Abel, both bringing sacrifices to God. Man had been bringing sacrifices after sacrifices for years, but not one could redeem them. He gave them laws to abide by to show them they could not, that nothing they or we could do would be enough. It was a complete set up so we would see that Jesus was the only way we could regain entrance into the paradise we were banished from, because of sin. What a wonderful God we have, to do all this so that we can, through faith, and faith alone, in Jesus eat from the tree of life and become eternal beings, as God intended when he created man. But man failed to eat from the tree of life because he disobeyed God. Now we can because of Jesus. So there he was on that cross, a curse, just for us.