Our debt was paid when the Lord Jesus died; what we owed God was eternal death, and the Lord Jesus went through that on the cross, so our debt is paid. But when he rose again, it’s like we have written proof that our debt has been paid.
Think of the Lord Jesus Christ; he died on the cross and then he was buried in the ground, and it’s like he’s gone to prison for the debt that we owe. That he’s there in prison and we think, “Well, has our debt really been paid? Will he stay in prison forever?” He was killed for the debt that he had to pay for us and we know he had to die; that’s what our sins deserve. But will he stay dead? Well, no, because on the third day we read that the Angel rolled away the stone from the tomb and said, “The prisoner is released.”
Jesus rises again, and this is a great assurance that we receive, that the debt has been paid, God’s payment has been made, what was owed to God has completely been paid, and God’s righteousness, which he required, has been met. God is satisfied.
So, that’s what Paul means when he says that ‘Jesus was raised to life for our justification’ (Romans 4:25). If Jesus had not risen from the dead, then we couldn’t have had the same confidence that our debt was paid, just why the resurrection is so important.
It is not our own works that justify us, but our completely trusting and depending on the Lord Jesus Christ and on his righteousness. That is the condition that we need to meet if we want to know that we will not go to hell, if we want to know that we’re going to be saved. It is the fact that Jesus rose again that we look to; he’s risen again for our justification.
That’s what Paul says that we can look to for our great comfort. Abraham already believed that; he already believed that God could do that. He believed that God could raise the dead; in him, his body was as good as dead, Sarah’s womb was dead. But he believed that God could resurrect. He later went on to willingly go about sacrificing Isaac, knowing that God was the God who raised the dead.
Do you believe that?
