part three of 3

3: Did Jesus die to vindicate God's law or to restore broken humanity?

I think the preacher may have misspoke when he said something to the likes of, “Jesus came to restore the Law that we had broken and shattered through sin and rebellion…” However, the thought struck me, and I know that thoughts along this line are somewhat widely held among Christians. The idea that Jesus was somehow persuading God not to unleash the wrath He so longed to release upon humanity is in this camp of thought.
Granted, there is some sense of Jesus appeasing the wrath of God on our behalf—substitutionary atonement. Yet, the Bible is clear that God sent His only son, because He loved the world, and to bring salvation. Jesus said of himself that he had come to seek and to save the lost. The mission of Jesus was quite clear. He had come to bring grace and mercy, because the Father had grace and mercy to express to the world.
Jesus was on a rescue mission, not a “saving face” assignment, which brings me back to the idea of vindicating and/or restoring God’s law. Yes, humanity has been bucking against the Law since it was given; kind of like Saul’s “kicking against the goads”. I like the word picture Jesus used when he appeared to Saul. The goads used to keep the plow animal in line would inflict pain upon the animal if/when it chose to kick against them. The goads were not easily broken. This is even truer with God’s Law. The more we buck against it, the more we are broken and shattered, but the Law stands alone, cold, and unfeeling. God’s Law is never broken. It breaks those who rebel against it, or it grinds them to powder, just as Jesus does.