The Pleasure of Obedience

Deuteronomy 11:1 - You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.

One thing we need to remember and tend to forget is that, not only did Jesus die for us, but he also lived for us.

Bridges in this Chapter, talks about the Law of God. The Law of God set forth in Scripture is a transcript of God's own moral nature. The Law contains both precepts and penalties. The precepts are to be fully obeyed, and the penalties are imposed for the least infraction of the precepts.

In remembering that Jesus lived for us, He was born under the Law because He came to perfectly obey it in our place. He came to do what we, as sinners, could not do. He assumed our obligation and liability, obeying and suffering in our place.

Bridges asks... "How can this be? How can Jesus take our place both in obeying God's Law and in suffering the consequences of disobeying it? How can the innocent suffer for the guilty? How can consistently disobedient people be treated as if they were perfectly obedient?"

Jesus was appointed by God the Father as our legal representative. I think it is safe to say that Adam was appointed as our representative for the entire human race (except for Jesus), and because of that we all suffered the consequences of his disobedience. In the same manner Jesus was appointed as a representative of all His people, and He suffered the consequences of our disobedience.

Romans 5:18 - Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.