Post by SMILLY - ADVISER on May 26, 2007 11:14:13 GMT -5
Perhaps this has not dawned on you. Probably you have asked why it had to be Jesus Christ to be the ransom for our sin. Was it imppossible for God to choose another sacrificial offering in the place of Jesus?
These and others are some of the mysteries surrounding the redemption of man through faith.
I read a book where the author said, truly it is hard to imagine how the imaginery thing called faith can turn someone's sin into an impeccable non existent record of guilt and culpability.
In other words, what inhere in faith that God should be so pleased with it to such an extent that without it, it is impossible to please Him? (Heb 11:6)
In our in-house Bible discussions, we tried to see among others why it had to be Jesus, not anything/one else.
Perhaps one would say, He was God and man, and hence the only one who knew exactly the magnitude of man's sin, and what it would take to atone for it. Even that is a correct answer.
But stop for a moment and think about the difficulty with which Christ , who was God, holy and without sins, endured our sin on that cross for the six or so hours that He hung, stark naked, rejected and despised by the very people he came to save. Incredible, I could say.
However, here are the ten reasons I think it had to be Jesus Christ to pay for the sins of man.
1. He is the infalliable Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.His divine purpose on earth was to effect redemption, nothing could distract him, even the pain of the cross, the beatings and the scolding. Christ came for this one purpose to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
2. If someone had to atone for the sins of man, then it had to be someone without Sin. Gen 5:3 say that after Adam was 130 years he had a son in his likeness and image. Remember, this is the same expression used when God was creating man, "Let us make man in our image.
It is believed that by saying Adam begot a son in his likeness and image, it implied in his fallen nature, and so every generation after that was sinful.
An only worthy sacrifice could be found in Christ Jesus as stated in 2 cor 5:21, that Christ was without sin.
3. He, Christ transcends time.
He was from the beginning, is and will be.(John 1:1). He said to the Pharisees that before Abraham was I AM. This was to clearly show that christ incarnate was before time. And in John again He said, lo, I will be with till the end of the times.
His death transcended every age and time.
In 1 Pet 3:18
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom[d] also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built"
No man therefore could be worthier than Christ.
4. Christ had a virgin birth Lk 26-34 and Jn1:14 " The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In Him there was no corruptible seed of man, hence the only worthy sacrifice for the redemption of man.
5. In Roman 16:27, God is referred to as the only wise God. from this you can tell that God knew that man would fall and a sacrifice needed to be prepared. Christ was therefore such a sacrifice. Psm 22, is seen as the Psalms of Christ in which he fortold his suffering in the hands of evil men. If he revealled this to David in the Old Testament, it means therefore that it was predestined before creation that christ would die for mankind. so no one could take his place.
6. It is believed that in the Jewish tradition, under any arrangement of a covenant, one would always ask for only what he could possibly give if asked for. In God asking Abraham to give his only son as a burnt offering, God was signifying that he would also give a son as a sacrifice. That Abraham accepted to sacrifice Isaac, was enough "indebtedness" on God's side to give Christ. And since God is a covenant keeping God if christ had not died it would render Him unfaithful. Therefore Christ's sacrifice was the demonstration of God's faithfulness to His Abrahamic covenant, and nothing also could take Christ's place.
7. Israel had a long theistic tradition and history. Their life was lived according to religious rhythms and proclamations. The prophets were therefore instrumental in their relationship with God. One such prophet was Isaiah was prophesied about the coming of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6. Other prophets also testified to this. In this case for the prophets to be fulfilled, Christ had to die in man's place and not anything else. Since God can not retract his word, whatever he uttered through the prophets had to come to fulfilment.
8. Christ is our High priest, in the order of Melchezzedek, The tabernacle, which symbolised God's resident presence with the Isrealites was designed in such a way that the High priest had to take the blood of the animal and place it on the altar of God mixed with scented burnt offerings before God in the Holy of Holies. It therefore follows that that the New Testament High Priest should take the blood of the lamb and place it before God on the mercy seat. Who then could do such a thing?.
No wonder, when Christ rose from the dead , He appeared to Mary, and told her do not touch me because I have not yet gone to the Father.
John 20:16 - "Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. "
Neither the blood of men nor that of angels could be laid before God for atonement for our sins.
9. To Signify the level of God's Love.
God loved man so much that he would not spare his only begotten son Jesus. This should just tell us the real importance God attaches to our salvation. He had to Give His very own son to get us reconciled to him. What a Love expressed upon mankind.
10. To show how Much sin cost.
If it cost only the blood of animal or man, it would misrepresent the degree of the fall we were in. A part from Jesus death and resurrection, there is no salvation. Not only did His death bring redemption from sin and judgement but it also gave access to the throne of God through him Jesus.
If anyone is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come...
But it is important to note that with our sin on Him upon the cross , Christ cried out aloud, my God , my God why have you forsaken me? If God could forsake Jesus, whom he knew was without sin for the sake of your redemption, tell me who would have died in your place but Jesus?
There could be other equally important reasons why it had to be Jesus to die for our sins , but have you thought about the foregone? It is important, after realising what sacrifice Christ made for me and you that we turn to him and renounce the ways of wickedness and turn to his glorious light. For only then will Christ's death be of benefit to us.
The choice is ours, Christ has done his part, what are you doing to receive his freely-given salvation? Tommorrow may be too late, accept him now and be saved!
(C) JUSTINE
These and others are some of the mysteries surrounding the redemption of man through faith.
I read a book where the author said, truly it is hard to imagine how the imaginery thing called faith can turn someone's sin into an impeccable non existent record of guilt and culpability.
In other words, what inhere in faith that God should be so pleased with it to such an extent that without it, it is impossible to please Him? (Heb 11:6)
In our in-house Bible discussions, we tried to see among others why it had to be Jesus, not anything/one else.
Perhaps one would say, He was God and man, and hence the only one who knew exactly the magnitude of man's sin, and what it would take to atone for it. Even that is a correct answer.
But stop for a moment and think about the difficulty with which Christ , who was God, holy and without sins, endured our sin on that cross for the six or so hours that He hung, stark naked, rejected and despised by the very people he came to save. Incredible, I could say.
However, here are the ten reasons I think it had to be Jesus Christ to pay for the sins of man.
1. He is the infalliable Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.His divine purpose on earth was to effect redemption, nothing could distract him, even the pain of the cross, the beatings and the scolding. Christ came for this one purpose to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
2. If someone had to atone for the sins of man, then it had to be someone without Sin. Gen 5:3 say that after Adam was 130 years he had a son in his likeness and image. Remember, this is the same expression used when God was creating man, "Let us make man in our image.
It is believed that by saying Adam begot a son in his likeness and image, it implied in his fallen nature, and so every generation after that was sinful.
An only worthy sacrifice could be found in Christ Jesus as stated in 2 cor 5:21, that Christ was without sin.
3. He, Christ transcends time.
He was from the beginning, is and will be.(John 1:1). He said to the Pharisees that before Abraham was I AM. This was to clearly show that christ incarnate was before time. And in John again He said, lo, I will be with till the end of the times.
His death transcended every age and time.
In 1 Pet 3:18
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom[d] also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built"
No man therefore could be worthier than Christ.
4. Christ had a virgin birth Lk 26-34 and Jn1:14 " The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In Him there was no corruptible seed of man, hence the only worthy sacrifice for the redemption of man.
5. In Roman 16:27, God is referred to as the only wise God. from this you can tell that God knew that man would fall and a sacrifice needed to be prepared. Christ was therefore such a sacrifice. Psm 22, is seen as the Psalms of Christ in which he fortold his suffering in the hands of evil men. If he revealled this to David in the Old Testament, it means therefore that it was predestined before creation that christ would die for mankind. so no one could take his place.
6. It is believed that in the Jewish tradition, under any arrangement of a covenant, one would always ask for only what he could possibly give if asked for. In God asking Abraham to give his only son as a burnt offering, God was signifying that he would also give a son as a sacrifice. That Abraham accepted to sacrifice Isaac, was enough "indebtedness" on God's side to give Christ. And since God is a covenant keeping God if christ had not died it would render Him unfaithful. Therefore Christ's sacrifice was the demonstration of God's faithfulness to His Abrahamic covenant, and nothing also could take Christ's place.
7. Israel had a long theistic tradition and history. Their life was lived according to religious rhythms and proclamations. The prophets were therefore instrumental in their relationship with God. One such prophet was Isaiah was prophesied about the coming of the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6. Other prophets also testified to this. In this case for the prophets to be fulfilled, Christ had to die in man's place and not anything else. Since God can not retract his word, whatever he uttered through the prophets had to come to fulfilment.
8. Christ is our High priest, in the order of Melchezzedek, The tabernacle, which symbolised God's resident presence with the Isrealites was designed in such a way that the High priest had to take the blood of the animal and place it on the altar of God mixed with scented burnt offerings before God in the Holy of Holies. It therefore follows that that the New Testament High Priest should take the blood of the lamb and place it before God on the mercy seat. Who then could do such a thing?.
No wonder, when Christ rose from the dead , He appeared to Mary, and told her do not touch me because I have not yet gone to the Father.
John 20:16 - "Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. "
Neither the blood of men nor that of angels could be laid before God for atonement for our sins.
9. To Signify the level of God's Love.
God loved man so much that he would not spare his only begotten son Jesus. This should just tell us the real importance God attaches to our salvation. He had to Give His very own son to get us reconciled to him. What a Love expressed upon mankind.
10. To show how Much sin cost.
If it cost only the blood of animal or man, it would misrepresent the degree of the fall we were in. A part from Jesus death and resurrection, there is no salvation. Not only did His death bring redemption from sin and judgement but it also gave access to the throne of God through him Jesus.
If anyone is in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come...
But it is important to note that with our sin on Him upon the cross , Christ cried out aloud, my God , my God why have you forsaken me? If God could forsake Jesus, whom he knew was without sin for the sake of your redemption, tell me who would have died in your place but Jesus?
There could be other equally important reasons why it had to be Jesus to die for our sins , but have you thought about the foregone? It is important, after realising what sacrifice Christ made for me and you that we turn to him and renounce the ways of wickedness and turn to his glorious light. For only then will Christ's death be of benefit to us.
The choice is ours, Christ has done his part, what are you doing to receive his freely-given salvation? Tommorrow may be too late, accept him now and be saved!
(C) JUSTINE
