God’s Provision: Jesus Christ -
But God is also perfect in love and did not leave us in our helpless
state. “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John
3:16). This is why Jesus Christ left the glory of heaven to be God’s
Provision to solve Man’s Problem of sin (Mark 10:45, Luke 19:10). By the
sacrifice of Himself on the cross, Jesus fully and permanently
satisfied God’s perfect justice and wrath against our sins (1Peter
2:24). “For Christ died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust,
so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh,
but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18-20).
From the time man first sinned in
the Garden of Eden, God put into motion a plan to rescue humanity from
the curse of sin and reconcile them into right relationship with himself
(Genesis 3:15, Romans 5:10, 2 Cor. 5:18-21).
First, God showed that He loves His
creation and would credit his righteousness to those who put their faith
in Him (Genesis 15:6, Hebrews 11:8-19). Just like Noah put his faith in
God and was saved by God’s provision of an ark (Hebrews 11:7), so also
only those who place their faith in God’s provision of Jesus’ blood
(Eph. 1:7, 1 John 1:7, Rev. 1:5) and righteousness (Romans 5) will be
saved by from the coming and Final Judgment (1 Thess. 5:9)
Second, God established a nation, a
nation through which He would bring a Messiah to pay the penalty for
man’s sin (John 4:22, Matthew 5:14). Just like Abraham believed God’s
promise that through His linage He would establish a nation through
which the whole world would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).
Third, God established His laws that
clearly show men they fall short of God’s standards of righteousness
and are justly condemned to be punished (Galatians 2-3, Romans 2-3).
This is why our only hope is for God to be merciful and send a Savior
who would fulfill the law perfectly and pay the decreed punishment for
sin (Luke 24:44). Just like Moses received the Law of God and
established it among Israel and they kept rebelling, so too none of us
can keep the law, obey it perfectly, or meet God's standards of
righteousness to enter heaven (Isaiah 30:9, 65:2, Jeremiah 5:23, Ezekiel
2:3).
Fourth, God
established a sacrificial and priestly system (Colossians 2:15-17,
Hebrews 10:1) that would be an example foretelling how Jesus Christ,
similar to the Passover Lamb, would later come as the Lamb of God who
would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29) . Jesus is also the
Great High Priest, similar to the Old Testament High Priests, who made a
once for all atonement for sin through his blood on the cross and who
continually stands before God to intercede on behalf of men (Hebrews
4:14-15).
Fifth, God established a kingly line
through the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:8-12), through which the Messiah
would come to save the world and to rule the world with perfect justice
and unconquerable power. Just as King David was promised that one day, a
king would rule over Israel whose kingdom would never end (2 Samuel
7:8-17).
Finally, God established His Word
that was given forth by His prophets (2 Peter 1:20-21) that predicated
that God Himself would come to save men from their sins (Ezekiel 34,
Jeremiah 23) and establish a new covenant so they could have the power
to resist sin and live in righteousness (Jeremiah 31). This fits with
the prophecies of David and Isaiah who predicated that the Messiah would
first suffer as man’s substitute for sin by being pierced for man’s
transgression (Isaiah 53, Psalm 22).
Thus, God the Father ultimately sent
God the Son, Jesus Christ into the world to prove He was God by doing
what only God could do: performing mighty miracles, predicating the
future, knowing the hearts of men, forgiving men their sins, and living a
perfect life (John 5:19-20, 8:28, 10:37-38,14:8-11, 31). So that
through repentance and faith, believers receive the perfect blood of
Jesus to forgive all their sins past, present, and future. So that
through repentance and faith, believers receive perfect righteousness to
restore them in right relationship with God (Romans 5:19).
This is why the perfect life and
sacrificial death of Jesus Christ was the only way to provide the
perfect blood and perfect righteousness that sinners need to be
reconciled to God. Jesus was our substitute in living the perfect life
none of us have lived and bearing the full wrath/judgment/justice
against our sins on the cross that we are deserve. Through Christ’s life
and death, God accepted his blood and righteousness as the ransom price
to forgive our sins and be righteous in His sight.
Not only is the death of Jesus
pivotal, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is essential
because it proved all Jesus' claims were true and that His perfect life
and death had indeed met God's justice against sin and achieved victory
over death and had broken the curse of sin (1 Cor. 15:3-4). This gives
those who believe great hope and assurance knowing that all our sins
were placed on Christ (the cause of His death was our sins not His own)
so they are no longer can be on us or condemning us. And since Christ
rose again, we know that God accepted Christ’s payment for all our sins
and that gives us great assurance that all our sins are absolved, paid
for, and cleansed so that just as Christ raised from the dead, we too
walk in new life now and have certainty we will rise from the dead to
eternal life when we die.
Therefore, it is faith in Jesus
Christ and His life, death, and resurrection that assures us that all
our sins has been paid for in full. We no longer need to fear death as
it has been conquered. We know that all His claims– especially His
deity, and that all His promises– especially His promise of forgiveness
and eternal life – are all true and will come true. So we know with
absolute certainty that He is who He claimed to me – God the Son, Lord
of all, and Savior guaranteeing eternal life to all who repent and
believe/follow Him by repentance and faith.
This is why Jesus Christ said, "I am
the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except
through Me" (John 14:6). It only makes sense that if you want to be
forgiven you follow after Jesus Christ who died for your sins and is
God’s only provision for sin. No other religious leader lived a perfect
life, or offers you forgiveness and perfect righteousness to meet God’s
perfect standards for Heaven. Nor has anyone else except Jesus died for
your sins and risen from the dead to prove all their claims were true.
It only makes sense that if you want
to conquer death, and enjoy the presence of God forever, that you
follow after the only person in history who has conquered death and been
accepted by God the Father to sit at His right hand in glory. So
hopefully God is working on your heart to convict you of your sin and
convince you that Jesus was indeed who He claimed to be - God in human
flesh sent to seek and save the lost from the wrath of God. Perhaps you
are asking, what exactly must I do to be forgiven my sins and receive
the eternal life that Jesus promised? Hebrews 9:14-15, 2 Cor. 5:19 Gal.
1:4 1 John 2:2, 4:10
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