The divine Son, one of the three persons of the one God, He through whom, from the beginning of the creation, the Father has revealed Himself to man (John 1:18), took man’s nature upon Him, and so became our representative. He offered Himself as a sacrifice in our stead, bearing our sin in His own body on the tree. He suffered, not only awful physical anguish, but also the unthinkable spiritual horror of becoming identified with the sin to which He was infinitely opposed. He thereby came under the curse of sin, so that for a time even His perfect fellowship with His Father was broken. Thus God proclaimed His infinite abhorrence of sin by being willing Himself to suffer all that, in place of the guilty ones, in order that He might justly forgive. Thus the love of God found its perfect fulfillment, because He did not hold back from even that uttermost sacrifice, in order that we might be saved form eternal death through what He endured. Thus it was possible for Him to be just, and to justify the believer, because as Lawgiver and as Substitute for the rebel race of man, He Himself had suffered the penalty of the broken law.