Imblessed said:
Ok, can you explain just why it is so important that Jesus died for the "rest"? Why die for them and not redeem them? Especially if he "knew" they would reject Him? '
This here gets close to the heart of what I was prayerfully pondering yesterday. I was pretty quiet around here yesterday, so that I might take some prayerful time to consider what I should say. Now, hopefully, I can communicate the thoughts I have clearly.
Jesus is our personal Lord and Saviour, I'll be one of the very
first to advocate that. That being said, however, I believe we tend to
over personalize what He did to the fact where we get to, "He died specifically for so-n-so." I don't see that His death was about specific individuals, but moreso that He died to break the curse of
sin on behalf of all of mankind. IOW, He didn't do it for us individually (though individually, we are precious to Him!). He did it on our
behalf. I believe He did it
for the destruction of the power of sin. That makes it
all about
Him in
every way, and
not in any way glorying to/about
us. He is a propitiation for sin, and when we lose sight of this very important truth in the gospel, we start to get to the place where it becomes all about the individual people (who) and not about the need and reason (what and why).
Now, that's
not to nullify our importance to Him, or the the Father. Indeed, were it not for mankind, who is made in the image of our mighty God and whom God loves so very deeply, He never would have come. Yet, I don't believe He came just to save me, and this one, and that one, and the other one...I believe He came for this purpose:
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Heb. 10:17, 18 All to break the curse of sin, on our behalf, praise be to God!
He came to be a propitiation for SIN, not for individual people. This is why 1 John 2:2 can boast:
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Individual people have committed individual sins, and while the sins I committed may not be the very same sins that
all of my fellow brethren have committed (indeed, we all are unique in the sins we've committed), His death was the propitiation for SIN, so that regardless of what sins we may have committed, they are
all covered, and none need be left out, feeling as though they have "sinned some sin that is unable to be forgiven."
When we personalize it to the point that it's about this one, that one, and the other one, we begin to nullify the real reason of why He came. We begin to make it more about "who" (US) verses "why" (our need to be saved from the deadly curse of sin). He didn't come just to save certain individuals (though through that, certain individuals
will be saved), He came to break the bonds of sin that SIN should not have dominion over us. That is how, again, in 1 John 2:2 can say, not
just for our sins, but for those of the whole world.
I just can't understand why it's so important that Jesus should have died for all the people who reject Him if the death on the cross was to redeem for the sins of those who are His.......
That's because we look in terms of His death as being for individual people (whether it be for "some" or "all"), instead of the fact that He came, lived, died and rose again break the curse of SIN, that we might believe by faith and be saved from the curse. And
that is not just of eternal purpose, but for our lives here and now!
If Jesus truly came to break the curse of sin on behalf of mankind, then it matters NOT that some will reject Him. For those that are saved fall under sin, just as all those that do not believe fall under sin, and depending on which sin they committed, they will be redeemed by His righteousness, for His death is able to atone for ALL sin.
In this, I see how limited atonement and election reconcile with the sacrifice Christ Jesus made on behalf of
all of mankind. Now, you may disagree, and I'm good with that, but does it help you to understand at least
my view of what proved to be an excellent question? I hope it helped.
Love o' Jesus, HITR