No individual perfectly adhered to God's law, for indeed, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). Thus, everyone was judged under the law as a sinner and a rebel. As a result, all fell under the divine curse and faced eternal condemnation and death. However, God's compassion and love would not permit humanity to remain under the curse or witness its destruction. God’s truth and mercy demanded fulfillment. His righteousness needed satisfying, just as His mercy required reconciliation. In His perfect wisdom, God orchestrated a way to fulfill both His holy truth and His mercy. He favored His Son, the Hypostatic Wisdom of God, to take on flesh. The Son of God manifested in human form, took on the curse of the law for us, was declared one "blessed forever" (Rom. 9:5), and redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse on our behalf (Gal. 3:13). He perfectly achieved the law’s requirements for those who could not, so that "the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:4). Therefore, the law of God found its purpose and perfection in Christ, which it could not achieve through us. Thus, both God's righteousness and mercy were fulfilled in the Hypostatic Wisdom—Christ. The truth was manifested as He "was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities" (Is. 53:5; Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:3), and His mercy was evident as a condemned person could "receive blessing from God through faith in Christ and be saved" (1 Pet. 3:9; Gal. 3:9, 14; Rom. 5:9-10). What humanity was unable to find in the law due to weakness is attained through faith in Christ. This led to a union of "grace and truth", where truth and peace embraced. As "truth springs out of the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven" (Psalm 84:11-12). From this wellspring of living water, believers, looking to Jesus, who bore our sins on the cross, and faith in His wounds leads to healing (Heb. 12:2; 1 Pet. 2:24). "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness," it is fitting that "the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). In this, believers assert with the apostle: "We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous; He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world" (1 Jn. 2:1-2). He perfects their incomplete obedience with His flawless compliance, covering their failings and weaknesses. "From His fullness, we have received grace upon grace" (John 1:16). He "became for us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). As Christians, we must turn to this refuge for the impoverished and the wounded, the Healer of our human frailties, who has taken away sins, and seek Him in faith. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, who gazed upon the serpent lifted by Moses and were healed (Num. 21:9), we also, by faith in the exalted Son of God, have been healed from the venomous bites inflicted by the devil. Christ, the Son of God, serves as our consolation, praise, and glory who "died for us, and who rose again, and is at the right hand of God, interceding for us" (Rom. 8:34)—the One who graciously observes "the humble and contrite in spirit" (Is. 66:2) and who "will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick" (Is. 42:3; Matt. 12:20). He declared, "It is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matt. 9:12-13). "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Heb. 4:16).
THEOSIS