Overwhelming Sacrifice (#KnowMore Part 4)

Hi there!

So glad you have passed by to continue in the growth of knowing more about who God is and what He has in store for us all. I might not always get to say this, but I really do appreciate each and every one of you for reading, sharing and desiring to know more about the wonderful God who is our friend and redeemer. I am thankful to God that He is continually showing you and I His grace and will for us through His word, and I hope it will go on even beyond this series as you cultivate a personal walk with Him.

On Monday, we looked at the person of Christ, His life story and His purpose on earth. He claimed to be God in flesh, to show us that it was possible to fully obey the commands of God in order to be considered as holy before Him. It’s only a lawgiver, we saw, who can attain the law he gives. He claimed to be the Messiah, the one foretold about by the prophets to be a conquering King who would lead the nation of Israel to a glorious future of peace and prosperity, but the form He took instead of a servant was quite the opposite.

Today, we will gain further insight at what exactly He came to conquer, and how He ultimately defeated it. I hinted at it in the second part of this series, Holy, Just and Merciful. God Himself becomes the one who takes our place, and His justice is upheld while His mercy is upheld. Let’s take a deeper look.

What exactly is sin? The Hebrew word translated as sin is khata, which means to fail, or miss a set mark. Our core purpose, why we were created, was to seek to obey God in a fulfilling, trusting relationship with Him, because He knew what was good for us, and what would cause us harm. That was the set goal, the mark we were to always uphold. So, when we rebelled and decided to determine on our own what was good and evil, we failed; we sinned.

That’s where all the problems we see today started; our attempt to define what was good in our own eyes usually meant that we sought, and still seek, that which benefits us more than what will benefit those around us and give God the glory. Most of the time, they end up being things that fracture our relationships, cause grief and pain and eventually, in the extreme case, death. In Genesis 4, Cain is seen to be very angry when God showing favour to his brother Abel’s sacrifice than his own, he allowed khata, the failure to meet God’s standard of what was wrong and right, to overtake his reason and purpose to glorify God by showing respect for life, and ended up killing Abel.

So, with all the wrong done, God’s justice had to be upheld, right? When He spared the lives of Adam and Eve, He killed animals on their behalf. So, symbolically, the shedding of an innocent animal’s blood represented the death of that animal on the person’s behalf. It was as if the animal took on the sinfulness, the failure of the person to meet God’s standards and commands, and is punished on the behalf of the person (in this case, death is the punishment). The animal commonly used by the Israelites was a lamb.

On Monday, we mentioned a cousin of Mary called Elizabeth, who in her old age gave birth to a man
whose purpose was to show people their hearts needed redemption, a new birth, that could only be offered by a greater sacrifice than that of sheep or goats. His name was John the Baptist, and when he was baptising people in the Jordan River, he saw Jesus coming and proclaimed;

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:29 ESV

The lamb, of course, was a common animal used in atonement (taking the place of a sinner deserving death); however, it would usually be used to take away the sin of one person, or at most, a few other people. But a Lamb who takes away the sin of every single person on the earth? That must be a really different kind of atonement. How was it then possible for one person to be able to take the failures of everyone upon Himself?

Jesus claimed to be God, who made His dwelling among us, and took on a body like ours, along with all it’s weaknesses and impediments. Yet, He still remained obedient to God, and show love to those around Him in service, healing of bodily and spiritual brokenness and raising the dead to life. He was sinless; He attained every standard set by Himself without breaking even one. Thus, it was right that He took upon Himself the sin of every person who had ever failed to meet God’s requirement, like a lamb who had not done any of the wrongs committed by humans.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:7-8 ESV

That’s the thing that makes Jesus’ sacrifice so overwhelming; He being so perfect and free of any sin took the place of we who had every right to be punished and pay the ultimate price for our wrongs.

Nowhere else do we see such; the Creator reaching out to redeem His own creation to Himself, for His glory and their own good. It’s mind-blowing, earth-bending and soul-shattering to even think about it.

Next week begins the guest posts from three of my friends. It feels good to take a breather and offer
you a new angle.

We will begin with regeneration; what is that? Well, let’s wait and see. Technically, you wait and see, because I already have 😝😝.

Grace ✌️