Not Just Any Manner of Execution

Q. Does it have a special meaning that Christ was crucified and did not die in a different way? 

We must deal with the manner in which Christ died. 

• It was not just any manner of execution. 
• No, Christ died on the cross, which seems to portray complete rejection by man and God. 

He who was crucified hung suspended between earth and heaven. 

• Men would not allow him life on earth, and God refused him entrance into heaven. 
• Perhaps we read more into the cross than is warranted. 
• One thing is certain; that God’s curse was laid upon the one who was crucified (cf. Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). 
• Thus we are assured that Christ, by dying on the cross, bore the curse that lay upon us.

Now in all this we have been stressing the fact that Christ suffered in order to deliver us from suffering. 

• Nevertheless, believers suffer in this world just as the unbelievers do. 
• Why is this? 
• If Christ suffered the wrath of God for us, why do we still suffer?

First of all, we should never consider the sufferings of Christians as a judgment of God. 

• If we become seriously ill, we should not immediately think that God is punishing us. 
• It is true that some actions bring with it their own punishment. 
• For example, those who practice homosexuality are subject to the disease called AIDS (cf. Romans 1:27). 

Yet each time we become ill, or something terrible happens to us, 

• we should not immediately seek the cause in something we did. 
• As Christians we are no longer subject to the wrath of God. 
• Christ has paid for our sins in full.

Nevertheless, we are still subject to the consequence of our sins as long as we live. 

• Sometimes God uses suffering as a means to humble us if we become arrogant. 
• Sometimes God uses suffering to test faith or to build character (cf. Psalm 119:71; Ecclesiastes. 7:2-4; James 1:3; Romans 5:3-4).

Whatever the purpose God has in mind, 

• we must never think that God is angry with us, 
• or that we have to pay for sins. 

Christ has done this once for all. 

• Full payment has been made. 
• We may be assured that whatever evil God sends us in this life is for our good and for our salvation. 

Adapted Excerpt From Only By True Faith by Van Delden

From the Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 15

Q. Does it have a special meaning that Christ was crucified and did not die in a different way? 

A. Yes. Thereby I am assured that He took upon Himself the curse which lay on me, for a crucified one was cursed by God.

For the Bible tells me so...

Deuteronomy 21:23 “…his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. 

Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.”)