Three verses teach us what our Lord Jesus Christ has done to abolish the law and make an end of sins for His people.
First, in Daniel 9:24, God tells what Jesus would do by His death in answer to God for His people. One of these is that He would "make an end of sins."
Secondly, in Colossians 2:13-14, we have this glorious revelation of what Christ accomplished in His death. "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross".
Thirdly, in Romans 4:15, we see that because the law was abolished, God's people have no more sin. "For the law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression."
Consider carefully each phrase of Colossians 2:14.
Blotting out. The handwriting of ordinances that was against us is blotted out so that it cannot be seen. God does not see the demands of His law against His people because Christ satisfied those demands by His death in their name and in their place. God sees all that the law requires of His people fulfilled by Christ their Representative, their Substitute. He has received from Christ full satisfaction and perfect, everlasting righteousness for them (Romans 3:24-25; 10:4).
The handwriting of ordinances. Christ blotted out the entire law of God for His people. God wrote the law with His finger on two tables of stone and gave it to Moses. All men are under it (Romans 2:14-15; 3:19; 5:14; 1 Timothy 1:9). Breaking only one command makes us guilty of breaking them all (James 2:10). If we love God we keep His commandments. But we do not keep them; we have broken them all. So we do not love God. In fact, we hate God (Romans 1:30; 8:7-8). By God's own testimony, we all have sinned. All men are therefore haters of God. Our minds and wills are hostile to Him (Romans 8:7-8). Our wicked works are rebellion against Him (Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3). We are so corrupt that we know nothing but what we were born in, what others teach us and what we teach others: sin. Unless God convinces us of our sin, we will go on in it, constantly hiding from what we know in our conscience, pretending we can escape God's judgment.
That was against us, which was contrary to us. The law is against us because we are guilty. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 2:10). The law is contrary to us because we are ungodly and sinful in our nature. We are not subject to God’s law, and we cannot be subject to it, because our nature and minds and habits are hostile to God. Our thoughts are carried out in our wicked works (Romans 8:7-8; Mark 7:20-23). We will not, and therefore we cannot, do what God requires (Romans 8:7-8). This rebellion extends to faith (John 5:40). No man understands; no man believes God by nature (Hebrews 11:3,6; Deuteronomy 32:20; Romans 11:32). We fulfill what God forbids. The law is therefore contrary to us because we are contrary to it. Being contrary to God’s law, we are contrary to God. If God merely leaves us to ourselves we will perish in our sin and unbelief under the wrath of God, the curse of His law.
Took it out of the way. Christ bore the curse of the law that was against His people (Galatians 3:13). The law of God no longer has any force to condemn them. Christ has magnified it in His death (Isaiah 42:21). For them, it has been abolished.
Nailing it to his cross. The cross of Christ is the blotting out of God’s law for His people. The cross is where and it is when the law was blotted out. By nailing the law to Christ’s cross, God showed that the debt His law reckoned against His people was cancelled, remitted, fully paid. A complete reckoning was made in God's accounting by the payment of Christ’s death at the cross, at that one moment in history (Hebrews 9:15,22; Hebrews 10:18). God received full payment in the ransom price of Christ’s death (Acts 20:28; Matthew 20:28). For His people, therefore, the law is abolished (1 Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 8:13).
Do you ever wonder in amazement at the power of Christ to render to the court of heaven an answer for sin that satisfies the very nature of God? If I am offended, my nature rises up in opposition to that offense. I can't help it. That's just the way I am. Now, God is offended by our sin. But Christ argues to His justice with the obedience and offering of Himself. God's justice now defends the one for whom Christ died; justice justifies the sinner for whom Christ rendered satisfaction in His death (Romans 8:30-34). In the death of Christ, God said, "It is enough!" Because of Christ, God pours out pardon in abundance (Isaiah 55:7) on sinners against whom His justice formerly had cried for eternal death (Romans 3:25; Psalm 85:10; Isaiah 12:1-2; Isaiah 53:10-12). God, in His very nature, hates sin. Yet God justifies the ungodly. These two things are incompatible and impossible. But in the death of Christ, God is both just and the justifier of everyone who believes in Jesus, because these are they for whom Christ died and to whom He therefore gives life and faith in Himself by His Spirit. By His wisdom, God’s righteous servant justified many (Isaiah 53:10). By His power as our Advocate, He argues the merits of His blood to the nature of God, and obtains from Him our full remittance, full justification and eternal life because He paid our debt of sin and established our everlasting righteousness in His death which He fulfilled.
By the cross of Christ, God has blotted out the law for His people (Ephesians 2:15). It carries no more weight, no more accusation, and holds no more power over them than it does over a dead man (Romans 7:1). "The law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression" (Romans 4:15). Because God nailed the law to Christ's cross, sin has been annihilated for His people. It was annihilated at the cross, by His death. Because the law has been satisfied in the death of Christ, there is no wrath in God against His people. He has turned away His wrath from us (Isaiah 12:1; Psalm 85:3). The law has been abolished. An end has been made of sin. Wrath has been removed. All of these were accomplished in the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! "I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me" (Isaiah 12:1)!
First, in Daniel 9:24, God tells what Jesus would do by His death in answer to God for His people. One of these is that He would "make an end of sins."
Secondly, in Colossians 2:13-14, we have this glorious revelation of what Christ accomplished in His death. "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross".
Thirdly, in Romans 4:15, we see that because the law was abolished, God's people have no more sin. "For the law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression."
Consider carefully each phrase of Colossians 2:14.
Blotting out. The handwriting of ordinances that was against us is blotted out so that it cannot be seen. God does not see the demands of His law against His people because Christ satisfied those demands by His death in their name and in their place. God sees all that the law requires of His people fulfilled by Christ their Representative, their Substitute. He has received from Christ full satisfaction and perfect, everlasting righteousness for them (Romans 3:24-25; 10:4).
The handwriting of ordinances. Christ blotted out the entire law of God for His people. God wrote the law with His finger on two tables of stone and gave it to Moses. All men are under it (Romans 2:14-15; 3:19; 5:14; 1 Timothy 1:9). Breaking only one command makes us guilty of breaking them all (James 2:10). If we love God we keep His commandments. But we do not keep them; we have broken them all. So we do not love God. In fact, we hate God (Romans 1:30; 8:7-8). By God's own testimony, we all have sinned. All men are therefore haters of God. Our minds and wills are hostile to Him (Romans 8:7-8). Our wicked works are rebellion against Him (Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3). We are so corrupt that we know nothing but what we were born in, what others teach us and what we teach others: sin. Unless God convinces us of our sin, we will go on in it, constantly hiding from what we know in our conscience, pretending we can escape God's judgment.
That was against us, which was contrary to us. The law is against us because we are guilty. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 2:10). The law is contrary to us because we are ungodly and sinful in our nature. We are not subject to God’s law, and we cannot be subject to it, because our nature and minds and habits are hostile to God. Our thoughts are carried out in our wicked works (Romans 8:7-8; Mark 7:20-23). We will not, and therefore we cannot, do what God requires (Romans 8:7-8). This rebellion extends to faith (John 5:40). No man understands; no man believes God by nature (Hebrews 11:3,6; Deuteronomy 32:20; Romans 11:32). We fulfill what God forbids. The law is therefore contrary to us because we are contrary to it. Being contrary to God’s law, we are contrary to God. If God merely leaves us to ourselves we will perish in our sin and unbelief under the wrath of God, the curse of His law.
Took it out of the way. Christ bore the curse of the law that was against His people (Galatians 3:13). The law of God no longer has any force to condemn them. Christ has magnified it in His death (Isaiah 42:21). For them, it has been abolished.
Nailing it to his cross. The cross of Christ is the blotting out of God’s law for His people. The cross is where and it is when the law was blotted out. By nailing the law to Christ’s cross, God showed that the debt His law reckoned against His people was cancelled, remitted, fully paid. A complete reckoning was made in God's accounting by the payment of Christ’s death at the cross, at that one moment in history (Hebrews 9:15,22; Hebrews 10:18). God received full payment in the ransom price of Christ’s death (Acts 20:28; Matthew 20:28). For His people, therefore, the law is abolished (1 Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 8:13).
Do you ever wonder in amazement at the power of Christ to render to the court of heaven an answer for sin that satisfies the very nature of God? If I am offended, my nature rises up in opposition to that offense. I can't help it. That's just the way I am. Now, God is offended by our sin. But Christ argues to His justice with the obedience and offering of Himself. God's justice now defends the one for whom Christ died; justice justifies the sinner for whom Christ rendered satisfaction in His death (Romans 8:30-34). In the death of Christ, God said, "It is enough!" Because of Christ, God pours out pardon in abundance (Isaiah 55:7) on sinners against whom His justice formerly had cried for eternal death (Romans 3:25; Psalm 85:10; Isaiah 12:1-2; Isaiah 53:10-12). God, in His very nature, hates sin. Yet God justifies the ungodly. These two things are incompatible and impossible. But in the death of Christ, God is both just and the justifier of everyone who believes in Jesus, because these are they for whom Christ died and to whom He therefore gives life and faith in Himself by His Spirit. By His wisdom, God’s righteous servant justified many (Isaiah 53:10). By His power as our Advocate, He argues the merits of His blood to the nature of God, and obtains from Him our full remittance, full justification and eternal life because He paid our debt of sin and established our everlasting righteousness in His death which He fulfilled.
By the cross of Christ, God has blotted out the law for His people (Ephesians 2:15). It carries no more weight, no more accusation, and holds no more power over them than it does over a dead man (Romans 7:1). "The law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression" (Romans 4:15). Because God nailed the law to Christ's cross, sin has been annihilated for His people. It was annihilated at the cross, by His death. Because the law has been satisfied in the death of Christ, there is no wrath in God against His people. He has turned away His wrath from us (Isaiah 12:1; Psalm 85:3). The law has been abolished. An end has been made of sin. Wrath has been removed. All of these were accomplished in the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! "I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me" (Isaiah 12:1)!
Rick Warta
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