Articles
Sin and the Savior, part 3
Sin and the Savior, part 3
The last two articles in this series dealt with the problem of sin. Every single one of us are worthy of death as a result of our rebellion against God (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Yet we are totally incapable of paying that price on our own.
But God provides the solution. He sent His Son, the “lamb of God,” to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
Animal sacrifices were required under the Law of Moses. God demanded that only the best animals be offered: those that were unblemished and without defect (Numbers 19:2), those that were the firstborn (Numbers 18:17). These sacrifices were necessary for forgiveness.
Hebrews 9:22 tells us, “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” The sinner in the old Law deserved death, but by the grace of God the sinner was spared, and an innocent animal was slaughtered instead.
The animal was a substitute for the sinner, the animal’s blood for the sinner’s blood. Blood represents life. Therefore “it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement” (Leviticus 17:11).
Today, under the new covenant, we are redeemed “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:19). Christ, the one and only sinless individual, bore the punishment we deserved. “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter2:24).
In Christ’s death we see God’s immeasurable grace and mercy. We were spared — we, the very ones who put Jesus on the cross; we, His enemies; we, the unregenerate who lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind; we, who walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself (Romans 5:10; Ephesians 2:1-3). Yet God, being rich in mercy, offered His only begotten Son as a substitute in our place.
What amazing grace! What unfathomable love! “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
The grace of God is what saves us. Because of the fact that we are all sinners, it is impossible for us to be saved on our own merit. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
This doesn’t mean, however, that there are no conditions for us to meet in order to receive God’s saving grace. There most certainly are! In the next series of articles we will examine those very conditions.
