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Chapter 5 |
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Sin Issue In the last chapter, we found that sin has separated us from God; sin causes us to walk without the life of God flowing in us; sin will eventually cause us to physically die; and sin will ultimately separate us from living with God forever. But there is good news! God has provided the final solution to the sin issue! God's Special People To help us understand the solution, let us look at a people in the Middle East that the Bible says a lot of things about. The Bible refers to these people as the Israelites. They were the descendants of Abraham (his original name was Abram (Genesis 17:5)). God said that from Abraham would come a great nation, as mentioned in Genesis 12:2,3. |
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And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the Earth be blessed. |
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Abraham's son was Isaac (Genesis 21:3). Isaac's son was Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32:28). So the descendants of Israel are the Israelites. God didn't only say that He would bless them, but He said that He chose them to be His special people (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). Passover Lamb Around the thirteenth century BC (refer to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (2007) 4:632), the Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians. Exodus 3 to 12 describes what happen around this time. God used Moses to get the Israelites out of Egypt. God told Moses to ask the ruler of Egypt, Pharaoh, to let the Israelites sacrifice to Him (the Israelites' God) in the wilderness. When Moses asked (actually, Aaron, his brother, did the speaking) Pharaoh if the Israelites could sacrifice in the wilderness, Pharaoh refused to let them go. After a period of time, Moses told Pharaoh that because he didn't let the Israelites go, the river would turn into blood (it may or may not have been actual blood). This would kill all the fish in the river and the decomposing fish would make the river smell awful. Pharaoh refused to let them go, so the river turned into blood. God told Moses to again ask Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh refused again, so God sent another plague. This scenario was repeated seven more times. Each time Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, the Egyptians were hit with a different plague. Before God performed one more plague, He told Moses that Pharaoh would allow the Israelites to permanently leave Egypt. God also gave Moses instructions for a special ceremony that the Israelites were to perform. Each Israelite household was to perform the special ceremony on a certain night. As part of the ceremony, the household was to sacrifice a lamb (or a young goat) (Exodus 12:5). Some of the blood from the sacrifice was to be put on the doorpost of their home. During this night, everyone in the household had to stay in the house. Moses asked Pharaoh to let the Israelites go one more time. Pharaoh still refused to let them go. God then told Moses which night the Israelites were to perform the special ceremony. When that certain night came the Israelites performed the special ceremony. That night God had the destroyer (probably an angel) (Exodus 12:23) go throughout Egypt. The families that didn't have the blood on the doorpost of their homes, their firstborn (the oldest son of the family) were killed. But the families that had blood on the doorpost of their homes, their firstborn weren't killed -- the destroyer passed over their houses (Exodus 12:13). This is why the ceremony that celebrates the exodus from Egypt was called the Passover. So there was death in the households of the Egyptians (including Pharaoh's household) because they didn't perform the proper ceremony with the sacrificial lamb. But there weren't any deaths in the households of the Israelites because they did perform the proper ceremony, which included putting the blood from the sacrificial lamb on the doorposts. After this plague, Pharaoh let the Israelites leave Egypt. God led and provided for the Israelites while they were in the wilderness. Before Jesus, Sins Were Only Partially Dealt With In the wilderness, God wanted Moses to build a large, portable temple (it was relatively easy to assemble and disassemble). God showed him what everything should look like (Exodus 25:9) and the ceremonies (explained in Exodus 29 and in other books of the Bible) that were to be done in the temple. Various ceremonies were done according to different situations. For example, a ceremony had to be done whenever a sin was committed -- whenever God's law was broken. The Israelite that committed the sin had to have one or more animals killed in a ceremony done by the priests in the temple. The ceremony required certain types and number of animals to be killed which depended on who committed the sin (Leviticus 4 and further on). In God's mind, the animal sacrifice only dealt with the person's sin in an incomplete way. The animal sacrifice could not wash away or take away the person's sin (Revelation 1:5 and Hebrews 10:4). Another ceremony -- a very special one -- was done once a year called the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16; Hebrews 9:1-10), which had many requirements. This ceremony dealt with all the sins committed by all the Israelites in the past twelve months but only in an incomplete way. The ceremony didn't wash away or take away the sins completely. The ceremony took place in the temple in one of the rooms, which was sometimes called the Most Holy, the Most Holy Place or the Holiest of All (Hebrews 9:3). This room was the most holy room in the temple and contained an item called the Ark of the Covenant. The highest-ranking priest, who was called the high priest, could only go into this room during this once-a-year ceremony. In this ceremony, various animals (including at least a goat and a bullock (which was probably a bull)) that didn't have any blemishes -- it had to be perfect -- had to be killed. The high priest -- no other person would be acceptable to God -- had to take the blood from the animals into the Holiest of All and sprinkle the blood on what is called the mercy seat, which was the top part of the Ark of the Covenant. If this ceremony, in which blood was a very important part, was done properly, God would deal with all the sins of the Israelites but only in an incomplete way. If a single thing was performed incorrectly, God would kill the high priest at that moment. [It has been said that the high priest had a rope tied around his ankle, so that if he was killed he could be pulled out of the room. No one could go into the room to pull him out because that person would be killed since he wasn't the high priest.] (I am not aware of any verse in the Holy Bible that states that a high priest was killed in the Holiest of All on the Day of Atonement.) Jesus Paid the Penalty for Our Sins so that They Can Be Washed Away or Taken Away God wanted to provide a better way to deal with people's sins. God didn't want to deal with people's sins in an incomplete way, He wanted to completely wash away or take away (Revelation 1:5 and John 1:29) the sins that people commit. In God the Father's mind, only a person who never sinned (Hebrews 4:15) could completely wash away or take away the sins of others (Romans 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:24-28; 10:1-18). In God the Father's mind, blood is required to provide remission (pardon or forgiveness) of sins (Matthew 26:28) or the washing away of sins. Because of God the Father's love towards every person (John 3:16), He had His Son (Jesus) be the ultimate sacrifice that would once and for all pay the penalty for all of our sins. God the Father offered His sacrificial Lamb (Jesus) -- a perfect sacrifice -- so that the Blood of His Lamb would pay the penalty of our sins, so that we can approach God the Father. The next few paragraphs briefly explain how God the Father accomplished this. God the Father had Jesus leave heaven and had Him be born as a human being (so somehow Jesus was God and man at the same time) on the Earth around 6 BC (Encyclopaedia Britannica (2007) 6:542). He grew up and walked on the Earth but never sinned against God the Father (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was both God and man and experienced such things as human emotions and physical pain. Matthew 26 to 28, Mark 14 to 16, Luke 22 to 24 and John 18 to 20 explain the last few days that Jesus was on the Earth. Here are highlights of what happened. One night when Jesus was about 33-1/2 years old, God the Father showed Him that it was the time that He (Jesus) would have to take the sins -- lying, stealing, hate, murder and so on -- of all the people in the world on Himself (2 Corinthians 5:21). For hours, Jesus prayed in anguish to God the Father and asked if there was another way for people's sins to be washed away. There was no other way. So in obedience to God the Father (Philippians 2:8), Jesus took the sins of every person on Himself (Romans 5:18-21). At this point, Jesus took all the sins of every person. Because of this, God the Father had to forsake Jesus (Matthew 27:46) and it meant Jesus would have to die because the penalty of sin is death (physical death and separation from God) (Romans 6:23). Jesus is Crucified A few moments after He took the sins of every person on Himself, a group of men came to arrest Him because they and others didn’t like what He was doing and teaching. Jesus had been teaching things that were against many of the practices of the religious officials. That night, He was taken to various religious and government officials, who interrogated Him. After this, Pontus Pilate (a high-ranking government official) was to make the final judgment, but he could not find enough evidence to accuse Him of anything. The people at the proceedings, bullied Pilate to have Jesus crucified. (Crucifixion involved hanging a person (in Jesus’ case, using nails through His hands (John 20:25-29) and maybe His feet) to a wooden cross.) Pilate yielded to the will of the mob and had Jesus whipped. Next, he sentenced Jesus to be crucified. They nailed him to a cross. After he died, he was put in a tomb. Sins can be Washed Away I believe that Jesus paid the penalty for all of our sins once He died. (Those who understand some of the Bible know that the veil in the Temple was ripped apart (Mark 15:38). From what I understand, the veil was very thick -- not easily ripped apart. I heard that reason it was ripped from the top to the bottom was because God the Father did it. The ripping of the veil illustrates that God the Father has opened the way for those who believe in Jesus to fellowship with God the Father.) After Jesus’ death, God the Father no longer forsook Jesus because the sins that were in Jesus were now completely paid for through His death. Jesus was dead for three days, but after the third day, God the Father (Galatians 1:1) and the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11) raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus was Resurrected from the Dead! Even now, Jesus is Alive! He is with God the Father in heaven. Jesus conquered death and hell! (Revelation 1:18) After Jesus was raised from the dead, He went before His Father as our high priest (Hebrews 9:11) (Hebrews 9 and 10:1-22). Jesus, the Lamb of God, presented His Blood to God the Father (Hebrews 9:14). God the Father accepted Jesus' Blood -- the Lamb of God's Blood. His Blood can now wash away our sins because of His death and resurrection. Our sins can now be completely washed away, instead of being dealt with in an incomplete way (Revelation 1:5). Summary In God’s eyes, animal sacrifices no longer serve any purpose because Jesus paid the penalty -- took the punishment -- for all of our sins. God’s act of sacrificing Jesus provides the final solution to the sin issue. The next chapter will explain how this solution can be applied to your life. |
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Meaning in Life in the Framework of Eternity |
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