Hi everyone!! I pray your day is just great so far. Today we will be discussing the fourth condition for salvation. It’s a great one, so open your hearts and minds. All Scripture is taken from the ESV Bible unless indicated. All italics within Scripture are mine.
4. The Lamb of God – Jesus Christ: None of the first 3 conditions would matter without this one. John tells us, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NKJV). Why is Christ called a Lamb? On the 10th day of the 7th month, the Israelites celebrated the Day of Atonement in which lambs were sacrificed to atone for the sins of the priests and people. The Israelites celebrated Passover on the 14th day of the 1st month to commemorate the final plague on Egypt where the Israelites smeared blood on their doorposts so their firstborn sons would be spared. The animal to be killed for this blood was a lamb. A perfect lamb. “…knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things…, 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18-19). The sacrifices of those Old Testament lambs were foreshadowers or representations of Christ, who was the ultimate and only effective sacrifice. 1 Cor. 5:7 says, “For Christ our Passover [lamb] also has been sacrificed.”
God cannot tolerate sin; the pureness of God’s eyes can’t look on sin with favor; God’s holiness, as we know, requires punishment for human sin. So out of great love for us, He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to make substitutionary (not a real word :-) atonement for our sin–for believers’ sin. He was a substitute for US! Because the wages of sin is death, a ransom price had to be paid to God, and Christ’s blood was that price. He died so we didn’t have to suffer God’s wrath and die for our own sins. “He is the propitiation for our sins…” (1 John 2:2). To propitiate means to mollify or reconcile with somebody or something. That somebody was God, and Christ was the atoning sacrifice, the propitiation. A fuller meaning of the original Greek in this verse (1 John 2:2) is this: “He is the one who turns aside God’s wrath, taking away our sins.” Unless, of course, we reject Him, then we ourselves take on the full wrath of God in hell. But if we accept Him into our hearts as our Savior, then God’s wrath is directed to Jesus instead of us, He saves us. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). This passage sums up Jesus’ purpose––the cross––to bring salvation or eternal life, and the kingdom of God. Through the cross, Jesus made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back to a right relationship with God, the intended relationship. In John 17:19 Jesus prays for us, “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth” (NASB). Jesus set Himself apart to do God’s will, which was to die on the cross–to not only save us, but also to consecrate or devote us to God’s service. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Pet. 2:24). Jesus loves us so much that he went to the Cross and suffered unimaginable pain so that you and I didn’t have to, He took our place. There is nothing that we need more today in this world than to “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” We sometimes forget that Jesus died for our sin, that he suffered unutterable agony and anguish for us. We need to behold, to focus our attention on, to love, adore and obediently serve Him who took the place of each and every Christian on the cross.
Although necessary, Christ’s death isn’t the only basis for our faith. It’s His resurrection that sealed the deal. He was crucified and indeed dead, buried, and in three days rose again. Luke 24:5-6 says, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6He is not here; he has risen!” (NIV). That empty tomb tells us at least four things: 1) Jesus really is the Son of God; He really was a man, but He also is God…God the Son came to earth as a babe, giving up, not His deity, but His glory; He was the God-man and everything He had said and done prior to His death now made sense. 2) It tells us that Christ’s death on the cross really did make atonement for our sins. We can know that the death of Jesus Christ took care of the sin that separates our souls from God because of His resurrection. Christ’s holy blood was the only blood that could bridge that gap between God and man and forgive sins. Yes, many people were crucified, but only one rose again…He fulfilled what was prophesied in Scripture. 3) It tells us that we are promised a victory over death and the grave. Jesus tells us in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” By His resurrection, we are assured the reality of immorality; eternal life is real, whether or not you believe. 4) It tells me that I serve a living Lord. That should give a new intensity to our worship, for we come together, not in memory of a dead Christ, but in fellowship with a living Lord!
For salvation, it is necessary to know and believe that Jesus is the only way. The man who is God who suffered and died for us is the only one who can give us salvation and provide us a relationship with God. Jesus said, “…I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Luke writes in Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation and to God; He represents God to humans and humans to God; He bridged that gap between God and humans by offering Himself.
I thank my heavenly Father so much for His giving of His Son. Thank you Lord Jesus for your sacrifice for me in obedience to your Father. I pray you all have a wonderfully blessed day.
I have a couple prayer requests for you all: 1) A good friend’s son committed suicide Wednesday morning. My friend’s name is Joe, please pray for him. 2) My mom’s friend, Dan, quite possibly has kidney cancer…that’s on top of the already diagnosed leukemia. 3) My husband’s dad, Harry, had surgery July 1st and still has much pain. Thank you all for your prayers.
Niki Ƹ>Ï<Ʒ
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