THE SUBSTITUTION MYTH

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit..." (1 Peter 3.18, NIV).

The work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God's elect is far past natural understanding and always frustrates man's attempts at description. Once God spoke to Jeremiah and said, "...Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1.9-10). In very much the same way the Holy Spirit is given us to root out all of our pre-conceived ideas about God, to pull down the dreadful dogmas and traditions of darkness invented by man, and to cast out the moribund doctrinal errors of churchanity.

And having "cleansed His temple", US, He begins to build IN US, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, the truth which is bringing us into His more abundant life. It's not an easy conversion, for most of us were bred in the darkness of the church's fear and fury, but it is truly a blessed quickening as we begin to see the loving hand of Our Father in the processes that lead to maturity.

For nearly 2,000 years the carnal mind, ably assisted by various church "fathers", has conceived, brought to birth, and nurtured teaching which spares the flesh and dulls the mind with a false security. Such is the web of "substitutionism" with its inherent delusion of escapism, its blight of "I'll fly awayism", "pre-post-mid-maybe-so-trib rapturism" and other myriad ways and means to avoid the Father's discipline -- a discipline and training which produces SONS whom Christ is not ashamed to call His brethren.

So let us rejoice in the Lord's divine illumination which destroys the darkness and relieves us of vain creeds and concepts, and brings us into the Way: the Way that is the Truth and the Life. We don't need any kind of escapism in our walk with Him, and we should carefully avoid proclaiming such false doctrine to God's creation. What IS needed is personal participation in His life that works in us the fulfillment of His PURPOSE, and the experiential knowledge of that purpose for each of us. This having happened, we shall truly be found to His praise and glory.

From early childhood's Sunday School and Catechism classes upward into adulthood most of Christendom has been taught that man fell and, because of that fall, the terrible wrath of God and a curse were placed upon all -- FOREVER! Then God decreed a grievous penalty which must be paid for the fateful plunge into selfhood -- and this penalty is EVERLASTING DEATH, which death is then explained to be an endless life in some extreme intensity of torment.

So, this death isn't death at all, but is a form of eternal life in a place of most horrible corporal torture and endless suffering, and God provides each "sinner" with a body that lives on and on so that it may undergo continual application of that torture. Then the teaching goes on to explain that our omnipotent God would like to save man from this mess, but justice must be fully satisfied -- and there is no pardon, no penalty fully remitted, no end to punishment. And that punishment doesn't accomplish anything. No, say our flock-fleecers, the penalty must be paid by someone or God can't be pacified and the demands of justice met.

If man must pay his own penalty it is absolutely his utter undoing, because the penalty is endless torture and no man can go beyond this "eternal" state and deliver himself from the living hell promoted by the holy holocausters. SO -- we are next told that the SON OF GOD offered Himself as a substitute for man.

(This word "substitute" is out of harmony with scripture but must be plowed into in order to plow under its mythological theology in relation to God's purpose.)

Next, the doctrinaires declare, since the Son offered Himself, God poured out all of His wrath on that innocent Son, and we are able to go scot-free -- because of what this Son has done for us.

The substitution gimmickers then go on to say, that really, (although the preachers will deny saying so), Christ didn't pay the penalty because He didn't die eternally, and though He was supposed to "pay up" for us, He didn't have to suffer eternal torment. His death only lasted three days. What have we now? A substitute penalty and a substitute penalty-payor.

When He "paid it all" for us, He paid a different price than what we would have had to pay.

The payment demanded of man is "eternal death", but from the Son of God it was only three days.

The clever-Dick clerics proceed to clarify this maze of confusion by explaining that the reason for the substitution of penalties is because Jesus of Nazareth is Divine in nature -- and the quality makes up for the lack of quantity. Of course this has muddied up the springs of sacerdotal sophistry even more, so then we are told it isn't His divine nature that died, but His human nature, and that it is His divinity that made His human death full payment for the penalty.

Let's see now: According to the foregoing, the Son of God has been substituted for all of sinful creation, the penalty has been substituted, and His flesh has been substituted for His divinity, and His divinity has made His flesh sacrifice acceptable.

Clear?

When all that is said and done, the whole wonderful scheme hatched in the theological cess-pit of man's muddled mind only works in part, and in great measure will fail -- because the Adversary will lay hold, eternally, on most of mankind, while the Son of God escapes through the back door and "raptures" back to heaven a handful who choose to believe Him. But the rest of creation, (for whom He died), because they are dead in their trespasses and sins, (having no life wherewith to accept His salvation) are lost forever. You see, God can't save them against their will because man's will is stronger than His will.

Yes, according to what is taught in the greater part of the Church world, the whole complicated scheme of substitutionism is going to fail, anyway. And there's not a thing God can do about it.

To continue, we are told that God is very angry with all of mankind because of man's terrible rebellion and sin, BUT, the Son is all love and He stands before the Father begging Him to have mercy on us. The confusion is thus compounded and most foul slander committed against the nature and character of our merciful and loving heavenly Father.

Let's turn away from these distorted excretions of the present dead church and return to God's blessed truth of the Scripture; let's believe the truth for truth's sake, as the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds and quickens the written word to our hearts.

God has never been angry, nor is He now, angry with His creation, even though men sometimes impute that base emotion to Him, and liken Him to, and restrict Him to, the confines of the creature He created. "GOD IS NOT A MAN ... neither the Son of man..." (Numbers 23.19). Benighted, unregenerate mankind too often limits the Holy One of Israel to the vicious nature of stiffnecked and rebellious humanity ...and suffers the consequences.

God's nature is one of LOVE, MERCY, and unrestrained COMPASSION. It's true that there are scriptures which say, "The Lord was angry with me because", et cetera, but always this is the thought and viewpoint of man witnessing God's actions in judgement and correction, and such viewpoints lay on God the emotions and the weaknesses found in man. What man doesn't become emotionally involved in reaction to rebellion?

We must view God's actions in comparison to the WHOLE WORD OF GOD -- which reveals His wonderful nature of love, the motivation of all His work. (From which work He has rested, by the way.) God's ways are not man's ways, neither are His thoughts man's thoughts, but as the heaven's are HIGHER than the earth so are His ways and thoughts HIGHER than man's, and it is HIS LOVE FOR US WHICH IS THE MOTIVATION OF ALL HIS ACTIONS.

It is not now and never has been God against His creation! Read 2 Corinthians 5.19: "...God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them..." (NASB). God Himself planned the salvation of His entire creation, and Jesus Christ (who is NOT Plan B) is the manifestation which completes God's purpose. And remember: Jesus was and is GOD MANIFEST IN THE FLESH -- the visible expression of God the Father accomplishing this reconciliation.

The man Christ Jesus plainly declared, "I can do nothing on My Own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgement is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him who sent me" (John 5.30, NASB). And "...I tell you truly, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does" (John 5.19, NIV).

It was AND STILL IS THE FATHER'S DOINGS WHICH THE SON WAS AND IS MANIFESTING! -- a revelation of the Father's love for His creation.

Man has attributed vile emotions and mean actions to God so that man will have an excuse for such in his own behavior, but when we find that all of God's works in us have love as their "prime mover" then we desire to manifest only what He's doing in us. Then our actions towards others will be motivated by Godly love. To be completely conformed to His image and become a partaker of His divine nature is to reveal Him as He is.

As the Son, Jesus the Christ, ever righteous, shows forth the nature of His Father, so shall the Sons of God in Christ's Body manifest that same nature of lovingkindness and tender mercies WHICH ENDURE FOREVER!

"Jesus said ...`I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also...'" (John 14.6-7, NASB). The entire Father-heart of God is revealed in the Son, and if you want to know what our Father-Saviour is like, take a good look at THE SON. Whatever you see in the Son is a true and exact portrait of the Father -- and will become a portrait of us.

"In the beginning was the WORD, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1.1). I'm sure it's readily understood (and surely must be believed) that the "WORD" is Christ. He is the LOGOS, and includes the whole intent and purpose of that which is expressed in our God. The WORD is the visible manifestation of the Divine will in purpose, thought, and action -- and "...the WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us..." (John 1.14) -- a revelation of God to His creation. Jesus wasn't (and isn't) an expression in contra-distinction to the Father; it wasn't Jesus acting on His own apart from the Father -- but THIS WAS AND IS OUR FATHER-GOD IN GLORIOUS EXPRESSION.

Our Father is "a just God and a Saviour", according to the declaration of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 45.21. He's a SAVIOUR because He's JUST. Our salvation is not solely an appeasement of justice, BUT the RESULT OF JUSTICE; God is absolutely just, therefore He is also our Saviour, bringing His salvation to all of His creation. His justice REQUIRES Him to BE our Saviour, not just an executor of vengeance.

Praise be to the LORD, to God our Saviour,

Who daily bears our burdens.

Our God is a God who saves;

From the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.

(Psalm 68.19-20, NIV)

If any great characteristic is needed to distinguish our God from all others that are called gods and worshipped as such it is this: HE IS THE GOD OF SALVATION -- a Saviour. NO other god can produce salvation.

We read how the heathen nations around Israel worshipped all sorts of gods, of wood or stone or some other created substance, or a place in nature in which the dead pagan mind was led to believe there lived a demonic genius. Such worship continues today, even among those naming themselves Christians. But no matter how zealously these false gods are worshipped they could not then nor can they now bring salvation. 1 Kings 18 of the sacred record witnesses that the prophets of Baal screamed, whooped, hollered, stomped, gashed themselves with knives, and raised a really raucous ruckus but got no word or action from their Baal. Baal couldn't do anything -- he was as dead as any false god -- BUT OUR LIVING GOD IS THE GOD WHO SAVES!

"They have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idol, and pray to a god who cannot save" (Isaiah 45.21, NASB). Neither is there much wisdom or knowledge in a theology wherein God is dependent upon the will of man and linked to the weakness of the flesh in execution of His purposed salvation.

If your God is able to SAVE TO THE UTTERMOST, worship Him -- but if He can only save a handful and let the enemy have the rest!!! -- what kind of saviour is that? Surely our nation and all that is named Christendom needs a revelation of our God who is the GOD OF SALVATION.

God loves us, and He planned from before the beginning to save us, "for Christ died and lived again for this very purpose, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living" (Romans 4.9, Amplified). This is His will, this is His plan: to be unveiled and plainly perceived by all creation as LORD over all realms, both of the dead and of the living. He is "the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the first born from among the dead, so that in EVERYTHING He might have supremacy" (Colossians 1.18, NIV).

Jesus said in Matthew 22.31-32, citing Exodus 3.6, "But about the resurrection of the dead -- have you not read what God said to you, `I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is NOT the God of the dead BUT of the living". It's apparent that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been "gathered unto their fathers", in the invisible realm, and were sustained by HIS LIFE, living unto HIM -- and the cited words were spoken by our LORD BEFORE the advent of Calvary and the resurrection. AFTER those events He has become LORD of the dead and the living -- all of the dead in trespasses and sin, the dead of ALL ages, now are gathered under HIS LORDSHIP. Christ has entered the strong man's fortress and has taken away the armor he trusted in. "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives" (Hebrews 2.14-15, NASB).

Jesus Christ alone is in possession of the keys to death and hell. He disarmed powers and authorities, made a public spectacle of them, and triumphed over them by the cross. (See Colossians 2.15).

Fear of punishment is the adversary's principal weapon against the believer who doesn't know that mature love "casts fear out". Fear of the punishment God may inflict has, for nearly 2,000 years, kept mankind in bondage to religious leaders and their programs, with threats of curses and judgements. Those wizards of woe tell people that God will "visit" them, get very angry at them and hurt them if they don't adhere to the precepts of a particular religious system or support some pet program.

I once visited a church where the pastor (a real lu-lu) told his congregation that unless they paid their tithes by a certain time each season God would "visit" them with a sickness and they'd probably lose their first-born children. (I never went back.)

Thus, with fear and some perverted creeds straight out of the satanic abyss, the false shepherds of the apostate church restrain and enslave people, -- the very people for whom Christ died. Fear of punishment, of torment, of judgement -- what dire and base things to hold over the flock! How terrifying is the distorted picture of God and His Christ that is presented to congregations by these stentorophonic slubberdegullions!!

How very different is true fear of the Lord, a fear that brings release and is the beginning of wisdom.

So -- our adversary uses fear -- the terrible fear of death and pain, because man doesn't know how to avoid them. But now Christ has taken those weapons away, and slavish, negative, restraining fear is now turned, by Him, into a positive reliance on God and "The fear of the LORD leads to life: then one rests content, untouched by trouble" (Proverbs 19.23, NIV).

Yes, the enemy used fear of death to torment man but our LORD has taken that tool and He uses it to bring us into life. So, whereas the "death tool" and all its process seemed to separate us from the life of God, now God uses it to bring an end to the carnal realm; we become alive to His more abundant life and victory.

All the keys to death and hades are in HIS hand and He is LORD of all. He shall use His process unto complete victory and "in Christ shall ALL be made alive. But every man in his own order" (1 Corinthians 15.22-23). He is the GOD OF SALVATION -- OUR SAVIOR GOD. I don't think that can be repeated too often, for man needs this truth to become a part of his being, ever present in his consciousness, so that he might have hope and confidence until he sees the consummation of our Savior's plan for His creation.

Yes -- now He is also God of the dead -- even those dead in trespasses and sins. It doesn't matter if death has carried through to the complete dissolution of the physical body, because He shall bring forth every man into His life, drawing them to Himself, and conforming them to His image. He said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL MEN UNTO ME" (John 12.32). It is God who works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. Look it up! HE places in us the desire, and then gives us the power for fulfillment of "His good pleasure". Every good gift and every perfect gift comes from God, so we say with the Song of Solomon 1.4, "DRAW ME, we will run after Thee". He must do the drawing before we can run after Him. "No man can come to me, except the Father who sent me draw him" (John 16.44).

"Come to Jesus -- now -- it may be your only chance at salvation! You never know what Satan has planned for you!", whine the preachers -- and then they mewl and wail dejectedly because some sinner or sinners in the audience don't come. Should the play-prophets really believe as they wish others to believe they'd expect the Father to do the drawing, and then the "sinners" would gladly come, because the Father placed the desire in them. Yes, Jesus is the WAY, but it's THE FATHER who draws mankind to the Son -- God in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. It's NOT the Son trying to smother the wrath of His Father, desperately trying to quell His vengeful, awful rage, lest He lose control and utterly destroy His own creation. BUT it is the CREATOR HIMSELF who is drawing all men back to Himself through the agency of His Son whom He sent for that very purpose.

How often we quote John 3.16! "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...", yet little has it taken root in our consciousness until we come to realize its truth: LOVE is the motivation and GOD IS THE MOVER. The Son isn't in opposition to His Father, but He is actually a true revelation of the Father for all creation. It was God who so loved us that HE gave, -- and it is the will of God to complete the salvation plainly expressed in His Son, a Son who has balanced mercy and judgement in order to bring all men to that salvation. He uses what may seem to be wrath (His energy released for purposes of His own), but that apparent manifestation of wrath is simply a means through which we are disciplined. We receive and respond to this discipline so that we may walk the paths of righteousness and receive more of His goodness. We are never beaten just for beating's sake, but for God's purpose of saving us -- and His chastenings are actually revelations of His great Love for us.

Hebrews 12.5-6 says, "And have you forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

`My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,

Nor faint when you are reproved by Him.

For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines.

And He scourges every son whom He receives'".

I have said many times before, and I say again; all the judgements of God are remedial and corrective in nature and are administered to reconcile us to Himself. Remember -- all things are delivered into the Son's hands, and He administers judgement according to the need so that He may freely give us His salvation. So exact an expression of the Father is the Son that He said, "I and My Father are One" -- so the manifestation of one is the manifestation of the other and Christ is declared to be "the radiance of His (God's) glory, and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1.3, NASB).

So we see that the Son's love is the Father's love, and the Father's love is expressed through the Son. Shall not the same be said of us when we BECOME ONE IN HIM? "...he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (1 Corinthians 6.17). When He pours out His spirit on all flesh are not we to be a part of that which is poured out? Think about it!! If it's the Father's will, it'll be our will -- not two wills at variance, "my will and God's will" but when "my will" becomes "Thy will" and "Thy will" becomes "my will" then there's only one will to be exercised.

Thus, whether we say it is the Son or the Father, they are BOTH IN ONE bringing to perfection the work of complete redemption.

"By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him" (1 John 4.9, NASB).

We don't need a doctrine of substitution or escape, but we do need to rightly understand what our own participation in this tremendous and ultra-glorious working of redemption really is.

It is HIS LIFE for our living because HE planned it so -- and He died FOR us, not instead of us; He suffered FOR us, not instead of us; He overcame this world FOR us, not instead of us. He went beyond the veil FOR us, not instead of us and He rose from the dead FOR us, not instead of us. HE SHOWED US THE WAY AND HE'S WITH US ALL THE WAY, PARTICIPATING IN OUR HUMANITY AS WE PARTICIPATE IN HIS GODLINESS. He is the pioneer of our journey to completion, and He is also the end, the goal, the very substance of God's plan of salvation.

We shall explore this further.