Death is Defeated

 

Today is the last in our series about worldviews, of which there are only two possible choices. One is pagan wherein people convince themselves and others there is no absolute truth or absolute authority. The other is Biblically based, wherein people know they must live in accordance with God’s inerrant and timeless truths as revealed in the pages of Scripture.

It is from either of these worldviews that men and women examine and interpret everything pertaining to life, such as morality, politics, education, entertainment, relationships, and so on.

Both worldviews ask and answer three basic questions: 1) Who are we? 2) How did we get here? and 3) Where are we going? And I want to again be clear about this: ONLY a Biblical worldview can save us from our own personal, family, and national social disasters.

 

The first element of a Biblical worldview we briefly examined is this: The God of the first chapter of Genesis is the ONLY true God. He has revealed Himself to humanity as a triune Being: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person is coeternal, coequal, and coexistent with each other: Three Persons, three Natures within the One God and Creator.

 

The second element of a Biblical worldview we briefly examined is this: The same God who created everything and everyone has also given us a series of love letters that describe His passionate affection for each of us. We call those letters the ‘Bible.’

The THIRD element of a Biblical worldview is the recognition that God's love letters are framed by His commandments. The God who loves us wants to protect us from self-destruction and, ultimately, eternal agony in the Lake of Fire.

The FOURTH essential element of a Biblical worldview is this: The Creator of the universe identified Himself to Moses as the Great ‘I AM’ – which is precisely how Jesus identified Himself to the religious leaders of His day.

Today we will look at the fifth essential element of a Biblical worldview which is this: DEATH IS DEFEATED

I know you feel about death as I do. You hate it. Don’t you wish life was like it was in the Genesis Garden? No death. No loss. No separation.

 

As most of you now know, we lost yet another member of our little congregation last week. Merlyn went to her Lord Jesus last Monday morning – He who was her God, her Savior, her Redeemer, her Friend.

 

I know He was all those things to her because she told me so at different times and in many ways – most recently three weeks ago when I visited her and asked if she knew Jesus is almighty God in the flesh, and that He died in her place. She smiled at me and said, “Of course.” I then asked how often she confesses her sins to Christ. She looked at me as if it was a silly question. “Every day,” she said.

 

Don’t you think Merlyn’s family hates death? But do you also know that Jesus hates death?

 

Yes, of course, He does. He knows what it’s like to lose someone He loves. He lost a beloved father. He also lost His beloved cousin, whom we know as John the Baptizer. And I’m glad for the report in the 11^th chapter of John’s gospel. It’s the record of His beloved friend’s death. Many of you know the story.

 

When the Lord learned of Lazarus’ illness, He stayed a few more days with His disciples where they were before leaving for Bethany to visit Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. John tells us that when Jesus and His disciples arrived, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. And when Jesus witnessed the grief of Mary, Martha, and the other mourners, John tells us in two simple but profound words what happened next: (John 11:35) “Jesus wept.”

We must never gloss over those two words. They overflow with evidence of God’s passion and compassion for you and for me – “Jesus wept.”

 

But there is so much more in this vignette at Lazarus’ tomb. John also tells us in verse 33 of that chapter: “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled.”  

 

The Greek word John used here for ‘deeply moved’ can also be translated as ‘very angry. The New Living Translation of the Bible renders the verse this way: “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within Him, and He was deeply troubled.”

 

Why was Jesus, the Lord of Life, so angry? Perhaps these texts from the intertestamental Jewish book of Wisdom will help answer that question:

 

Wisdom 1:13 “For God did not make death, nor does He delight in the death of the living. (NCB); And in the next chapter of that book, the writer continues: (Wisdom 2:23-24) “For God created us to be immortal and formed us in the image of his own nature. But as a result of the devil’s envy, death entered the world . . . .”

 

Of course, the Jewish writer of Wisdom was likely very familiar with the Hebrew Prophet, Ezekiel, who wrote: (Ezekiell 33:11) ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’”

 

And certainly, St Peter was likely aware of both the text in Ezekiel and in the Book of Wisdom when he wrote: (2 Peter 3:9) “But [God] is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

 

Yes, God HATES death. Death was never His plan when He created the heavens and the earth. But when sin entered the human race in that most tragic and mournful scene in the Genesis Garden, death has been with us ever since.

 

And it is BECAUSE death is ever with us that the Biblical worldview – which is the view God wants us all to have -- BECAUSE death is ever with us, the Biblical worldview provides great comfort because of its immutable promise of everlasting life. Forever life. Eternal, never ending life – which ONLY those who know and love and serve the AUTHOR of life will receive.

 

Isn’t that what Jesus promised a mourning Mary and Martha at that tomb of Lazarus? If you haven’t yet memorized this passage, I urge you to do so this week: (John 11:25-26) “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

 

In other words, the Biblical worldview tells us that those who are born once will die twice; But those who are born twice will die only once.

What does that mean? Well – and not considering the Rapture of the Church at this point, meaning the ‘Taking away’ of all true Christians in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at that last Trumpet – not considering the Rapture now, we know everyone who is born through the natural process of birth will eventually die. That’s a100% reality.

 

Those who are born only once will die when their heart stops, but they will ALSO die a second time in the eternal lake of fire. Here is only one of several Biblical texts that speak of that 100% reality:

Revelation 20:11-14 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”

But those who are born twice – once through the natural birth process and once again through their faithful obedience to Messiah Jesus – those who are born twice will never, ever experience the second death. Here are some Biblical texts that speak of the 100% reality:

Jesus said to the Pharisee Nicodemus, (John 3:3) “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

Here also is 1 Peter 1:22-23: “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”

 

And finally, for the sake of time, here is 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

 

And so, here it is once again, the Lord said to Mary and Martha at the tomb: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. (John 11:25-26)

Listen, please. THIS promise of God is ONLY and exclusively true for those who have put their faith in the atoning sacrifice of the incarnate God, whom Christians know as Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. The promise of escape from the second death is only true for those who have committed their lives, their lifestyles, their full obedience to Christ’s commandments.

 

The promise of escape from the second death is NOT applicable, it is NOT true for those who die without Christ’s precious and sacrificial blood covering their sins.

 

Paul wrote these words of encouragement to the Christians at Corinth – AND because God and His word are eternal, these words apply to all Christians today:

 

(1 Corinthians 15:50-57) – “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Christian, listen: “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through,
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue; The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.  O Lord, You know I have no friend like You, If heaven’s not my home, then, Lord, what will I do? The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”

 

Five years ago, on August 1, 2018, my mother was dead from a ruptured brain aneurysm before she fell to the floor of her apartment. Six weeks earlier, mom was visiting my sister in Pennsylvania. A few days before she was to return to Georgia, she left a voice message. I still have it on my phone. Among the newsy things she told me in that voice message was this: “Before you know it, in the blink of an eye, I’ll be standing before you.”

 

Mom NEVER, ever used that expression, “In the blink of an eye.” I thought it odd at the time, but brushed it off as curious, but insignificant. It was not until we buried her that I thought about what she’d said. And to this day I believe God was telling me through her odd remark that He was going to soon take her to Himself.

 

But what of her remark, “In the blink of an eye”?

 

For me, it has been more than five years since she went to her savior. But for her – because she now exists in the eternal present – it has NOT been five years. It is irrational to even think in terms of days or months or years when we speak of those who were born twice, as my mother was, and not live in that eternal present with all the saints in glory – as my mother now does.

 

That means when my body dies and I immediately stand in the presence of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and He reunites me with my mother – for her it will have only been a ‘blink of the eye.’

 

And this is also the good news for you who are listening to my voice: When YOUR body dies and you immediately stand in the presence of YOUR Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, you also will be reunited with your loved ones who have gone before you to glory.

 

As St Paul wrote: (2 Corinthians 5:6-8) “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”

 

Let me close this message, and this series of messages this way:

 

Christian, I beg you to hold tightly to the Biblical worldview. The worldview that tells us God is a triune and eternal Being who has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each Person within that Holy Trinity is co-eternal, co-equal, and co-existent. Three Persons, three natures, but only One God.

 

It is the worldview that assures us God has given us an inerrant, infallible, and fully inspired set of commandment-framed love-letters, we call the Bible. It is the worldview that assures us that the Great I AM of the Burning Bush of Exodus Three and Jesus the Christ are the same Being. And it is the same worldview that tells us those who are born once will die twice. But those who are born twice will die only once.

 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, the Biblical worldview is the ONLY worldview that will take you to heaven. It is the only worldview that will give you hope – a confident expectation – of good things to come and which will last forever and ever. Amen.

 

Freedom

 

I'm reading again through Ephesians and the Holy Spirit stopped me at verse 7. Look at the verse, along with the first part of verse 8, with me: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” (Ephesians 1:7-8a)

I laid the Bible on my lap and checked my Greek lexicon for the meaning of the words, ‘Redemption’ and ‘Forgiveness.’

‘Redemption’ means to be released [from something or someone] as a result of the payment of a ransom.

‘Forgiveness’ means more than simple forgiveness. It means God has ‘remitted’ our sins. He has chosen to FORGET our confessed sins.
He has chosen to treat our confessed sins as if they had NEVER been committed. They have been utterly obliterated from our past. It means we will never again face any judgment or penalty for those sins because Jesus paid with His most precious blood our ransom in full. (See Mark 10:45)

“It was for freedom,” St Paul wrote, “It was for FREEDOM that Christ set us free.” (Galatians 5:1) Oh, yes! Freedom from guilt. Freedom from fear of death. Freedom from fear of Judgment. Freedom to live to the full because our past sins – all of them, ALL OF THEM – have been forgotten by Almighty God, cast as far from us as east is from west (see Psalm 103:10-12). They are all cast into the depths of the deepest ocean (see Micah 7:19).

Oh!  Christian! Meditate long on that ineffable truth! Never let it escape from your consciousness. No wonder God tells His children through the prophet Isaiah: “Fear not, I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are MINE.” (Isaiah 43:1b)

Jesus paid it ALL. Sin had left a deep, deep crimson stain, but His sacrificial blood on that cross made that stain white as snow.

Rejoice, Christian! You are free from all your past confessed sins.

Free.

God Himself says so.

Rich Maffeo
maffeo.richard@outlook.com

Blog: www.inhimonly.blogspot.com 

Hallelujah! What a Savior

 

We are now in the fourth week of our series examining the only two possible worldviews people can hold, either consciously or unconsciously. One is biblically based, meaning one’s view of the entirety of life is understood through the lens of God's inerrant and infallible revelation. The other view is pagan, meaning the person does not view life through the full and immutable lens of God's word.

 

We’ve seen that both worldviews ask and answer three basic questions: 1) Who are we? 2) How did we get here? and 3) Where are we going? And I want to again be clear about this: ONLY a Biblical worldview can save us from our own personal, family, and national social disasters.

 

The first element of a Biblical worldview we briefly examined is this: The God of the first chapter of Genesis is the ONLY true God. He is eternal. He has never been anything other than almighty God. He has revealed Himself to humanity through the entire Scripture as a triune Being: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person is coeternal, coequal, and coexistent with each other: Three Persons, three Natures within the One God and Creator.

 

The second element of a Biblical worldview we briefly examined is this: The same God who created everything and everyone has also given us a series of love letters that describe His passionate affection for each of us. Letters that tell us again and again – not only on paper between the covers of our Bible, but also in the most supreme and substantive way the omnipotent God could demonstrate it – on Calvay’s cross. We call those letters, the Bible.

Last week looked at the THIRD element of a Biblical worldview. We kept our focus on God's love letters but came at it from a different perspective – the perspective that tells us His love letters are framed by His commandments. The God who loves us wants to protect us from self-destruction and, ultimately, eternal agony in the Lake of Fire.

 

These three elements of a biblical worldview now bring us to the fourth component of a biblical worldview. That essential component is this: The almighty Creator of the universe, who exists outside of creation, time, and space – the One who identified Himself to Moses as the Great ‘I AM’ (see Exodus 3) – this same “I AM” took on human flesh and lived among us for 33 years before His creatures crucified Him.

Here is that text from Exodus (3:13ff) “Moses said to God, “If I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me to you,’ but they say to me, ‘What is his name,’ what should I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” Then he said, “You will say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM sent me to you.’  . . . This is my name forever. This is the title with which I will be remembered from one generation to the next.”

Let’s pause briefly at this critical point for emphasis: Almighty God told Moses His Name is, “I AM.” It is THAT name by which He would be remembered from one generation to the next. Now look at what Jesus said of Himself when speaking to some Pharisees: (John 8:56-59) “Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, ‘I Am.” Therefore, they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and left the temple grounds.”

 

We HAVE to catch the enormous weight of this scene. The Pharisee knew precisely what Jesus was saying about Himself. They knew He was claiming to be the One who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. They knew He was telling them HIS NAME is the great ‘I Am.” They fully understood Jesus was claiming to be Almighty God. THAT’S why they picked up stones to execute Him – for blasphemy.

Now then, if Jesus is NOT almighty God incarnate, then the Pharisees had every good reason to want him dead. Furthermore, if Jesus is not God, then we ALSO should also applaud his crucifixion. And furthermore once again, if Jesus is not God in the flesh, then every God-fearing man and woman should also indict Him as a blaspheming demonic-inspired teacher who was leading people away from God.

 

We really have no other alternative. None.

 

Listen to C.S. Lewis on this point: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (In ‘Mere Christianity’)

 

Said very simply and clearly so as to not cloud the point: The religious leaders understood Jesus far better than many so-called theologians understand Him today – they knew Jesus was claiming to be the Almighty Creator, the Almighty Jehovah God who took on human flesh and was living among them.

St Paul speaks of Jesus this way: (Colossians 1:15-17): “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

In the next chapter of that letter he continues: (Colossians 2:8-9a) “See to it that there is no one who takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception in accordance with human tradition, in accordance with the elementary principles of the world, rather than in accordance with Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”

Some might ask why this point about the full divinity AND simultaneous full humanity of Jesus is such an important element in our worldview? It is crucial for at least two reasons. First, if He is NOT almighty God in flesh and blood, then He AND all the writers of the New Testament have lied to us on a pivotal, most fundamental point of our faith. And if they have lied to us about such an essential truth – then what else have they lied to us about? His resurrection? The forgiveness of sins? Eternal life? Heaven? Hell?

And second, if Jesus is NOT God incarnate, then His sacrifice on the cross is completely and fundamentally ineffective as an atonement for our sins. Therefore, we are all without hope of eternal life.

I will say that again, if Jesus is not God incarnate then His sacrifice on the cross can NOT have become an atonement for our sins. And we are ALL without hope for eternal life.

For those two reasons alone this point about the full divinity and simultaneous humanity of Jesus is NOT an insignificant question. Our eternal destiny rests squarely on the shoulders of our answer.

Let’s take a few moments to look more closely into the words of the New Testament writers that establish the infallible and inerrant historical reality of Christ’s full divinity and humanity.

Here is John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word [i.e. Jesus] was God.”  

And now John 1:18 - “No one has ever seen God; the only God [i.e. Jesus], who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

Listen to John 20:28: “Thomas answered Him [i.e. Jesus], ‘My Lord and my God!’” – And we must note that the Lord did not rebuke Thomas for calling Him ‘God.’

Here now is Titus 2:11-13 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously . . . ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.”

Now Hebrews 1:8, quoting from the Old Testament (Psalm 45): “But of the Son he says, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.’”

Two verses later in Hebrews 1, the writer again attributes the Psalmist’s words to Jesus: “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; They will perish, but You remain.”

The evidence for Jesus’s divinity is hardly limited to these examples, but for the sake of time, look with me at just one more – 2 Peter 1:1 “Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Do you remember the text in Isaiah’s prophecy which promises one of Messiah’s names will be ‘Emmanuel’ – meaning ‘God with Us”? Let’s then take a few more minutes to look at the role God-with-Us plays in the forgiveness of our sins.

 

The Pharisees challenged the Lord with this accusation: (Mark 2:7) “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And they rightly challenged Him because ALL sin is ultimately sin against God. The example of David comes to mind. In the incident of Bathsheba and Uriah, David against them both when he committed adultery and murder, but notice what David said in his prayer recorded in Psalm 51:3b-4:

 

“Against You, You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak, and blameless when you judge.”

We understand from our own experiences the principle of forgiving someone for their sins. For example, if Joanne commits a sin against Melba, only Melba can forgive that sin because it was committed against her. That means that Richard cannot forgive Joanne’s sin against Melba. Only if Joanne commits a sin against me, only THEN do I have a right and the authority to forgive that sin.

 

Now look at this text in Matthew 9:2-6 - “And they brought to Him a paralyzed man lying on a stretcher. And seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man who was paralyzed, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!” And Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He *said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your stretcher and go home.”

 

When Jesus forgave the paralytic his sins, He forgave his sins against God – for, as we have just seen – ALL sins are ultimately sins against the Almighty. No wonder the Pharisees went ballistic. How can a mere man forgive sins?

 

How, indeed!

 

Do you see how belief – or DISBELIEF – in the deity of Jesus will alter our worldview?  As St Paul told the Christians at Ephesus that before they put their trust in Jesus as their Lord, their God, their Savior (Ephesians 2:12-22), they were “separate from Christ . . . having no hope and without God in the world.”

 

Why were they without hope? Why were they separated? As Isaiah tells us:

(Isaiah 59:2) “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

 

Our sins – your sins, the sins of Jews and of Gentiles – our sins have made an irreconcilable rift between us and almighty God – irreconcilable until and unless God Himself brings us together. And since all sins are ultimately against God, only He can forgive those sins. We are all without hope unless His initiates that forgiveness. Which is another reason St Paul continues his promise to the Ephesians (2:13) “But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

 

My brethren, please hear this: There is a mysterious, mystical, incomprehensible truth that God sacrificed Himself in the person of Jesus, so you and I would not suffer His wrath which we all richly deserve.

 

And since God took on Himself in the incarnation a body just like ours, a body that feels pain, that bleeds, that suffers physical agony – since Almighty God loves us SO MUCH that He took on a body just like ours to suffer and die for me and for you – then how can anyone question His incomprehensible love for us in all circumstances and in all situations – even when we find ourselves carrying our own heavy cross?

 

Listen, I do not understand all of what God has done for us. What the Triune God has done for us in God-incarnate is utterly inconceivable and incomprehensible.  

 

BUT just because it is inconceivable, just because it is incomprehensible doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. No, no – we should EXPECT the inconceivable and incomprehensible from God because He Himself IS inconceivable and incomprehensible. If He was not, He would not be God.

 

The full deity and simultaneous humanity of the incarnate God will change our worldview because those who trust Him know that we know that we know our sins – all of them – are forgiven in Christ Jesus’ bloody sacrifice.

 

Scripture tells us again and again that with confession and repentance our sins are GONE. OBLITERATED. We will never, ever face the penalty for any of them.

 

“Man of Sorrows!” what a name/For the Son of God, who came/
Ruined sinners to reclaim/Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude/In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood/Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;/Spotless Lamb of God was He/”Full atonement!” can it be?/Hallelujah! What a Savior!

 

Yes, indeed, what a Savior, our Lord and our God – Jesus Christ.