Project 119: Heaven and Nature Sing | Galatians 4:1-7
| Project 119 | Joel Burks
Reading for Tuesday, December 22: Galatians 4:1-7
Christ by highest heav'n adored,
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a Virgin's womb.
-"Hark! the Herald Angels Sing"
What is the law? What does it mean that Jesus was born “under the law”? To the Jews, the law was the guiding light to help God’s chosen people live in covenant relationship with Him. God is portrayed throughout the Bible as so holy and just that sin cannot be brushed aside, and Scripture presents sin as so horrendous that it merits death, so if the law was broken, the children of Israel were required to offer a sacrifice to atone for their sin.
Sin. Sacrifice. Sin. Sacrifice. This is the basic human predicament, and this was the way of life for many generations. In essence, sacrifices offered took the penalty of sin on behalf of the people. In fact, once a year on the Day of Atonement, priests would cleanse themselves and go into the Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice for the entire nation of Israel. They would also choose one goat (where we get the term scapegoat) to send off into the wilderness, symbolically carrying off the nation’s sin (Leviticus 16:10). As one theologian explained, “When the Israelites participated in the ritual of this day with genuine faith, they were made acceptable to God ... [b]ut they knew that it was a temporary provision, for it had to be repeated the next year, and every year after—until in the fullness of time God would resolve the problem once and for all” (Allen Ross, Recalling the Hope of Glory, 236).
The situation might seem bleak, but the good news of Galatians 4:1-7 is that, in the fullness of time, God did bring a permanent resolution by sending forth His Son, who was also born under the law. Notice how the hymn puts it: “late in time behold Him come.” The people had been waiting for thousands of years to see their redemption, waiting for God to send a Savior to forever defeat sin. And now, on that night in Bethlehem, a tiny baby, the offspring of a virgin’s womb, was born under the law for our sakes—all in God’s perfect timing.
What does it mean that Jesus was born under the law? He was now subject to all of the punishments required of those who broke that law; however, Jesus was perfect and knew no sin. When Jesus died on the cross, He became our substitute. As Spurgeon explained in a sermon, “Now, you will readily perceive that if one is to be a substitute for another before God, either to work out a righteousness or to suffer a penalty, that substitute must himself be free from sin. If he hath sin of his own, all that he can suffer will but be the due reward of his own iniquity. If he hath himself transgressed, he cannot suffer for another, because all his sufferings are already due on his own personal account” (Charles Spurgeon, “Christ—Our Substitute,” https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/christ-our-substitute/#flipbook/).
When Christ died in our place, God gave us a way to become reconciled to Him without having to suffer the penalty of sin. In fact, when God looks at Christians, sinful as they are, God the Father instead sees His Son. We have been adopted into His family and have become heirs with Christ. This season I encourage you to take time to thank the Lord for His Son Jesus, who suffered in our place, and made a way for us. Amen.