Which Will You Choose?

​In Deuteronomy 21:22-23 God commands the Israelites that “if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.”  Someone who has been hanged on a tree is viewed as being under the curse of God, despised and rejected by God.  What is interesting is that the apostle Paul sites this text in Galatians when talking about the work of Christ on the cross.  In 3:10-13 he says, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’  But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them’” (emphasis added).  Paul’s point is that all who rely on works of the Law for salvation are under a curse because the Law demands perfection.  No one can get to heaven by keeping the Law because no one can keep all of God’s laws perfectly. Thus, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree,’” citing from Deuteronomy 21.  Christ became the man “cursed by God” for us.  According to Deuteronomy 21 we are the ones who have “committed a crime punishable by death” and thus should be put to death and hanged on a tree.  We are the ones who should come under the curse of God, feel the wrath of God, and be despised and rejected by God but Christ, because of his love and grace and mercy, “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”  Christ stood in the place of sinners.  He became a curse for us, for all who confess they are sinners and repent of their sin, and then place their faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ alone.  At the end of life there are only two options—you can pay for your own sins for all eternity or you can allow Christ to have paid for your sins by believing he died on the cross to pay for them.  I hope you will choose the later and not the former.