JESUS, OUR SACRIFICE

Intended for All, Accepted by Few

by Lisa R. Reeves

Introduction

If God exists, and the Bible is the word of God, and the Bible teaches a particular doctrine (implicitly or explicitly), then the doctrine is true. This is the basic argument of the Bible, as formulated by the late Thomas B. Warren, a faithful brother in Christ. It can be shown that God exists, and it can be shown that the Bible is the Word of God (the arguments for which are beyond the scope of the current article); therefore, any conclusion at which we arrive through the correct application of logical principles to the scriptures is true.

The current study has been approached with the above argument in mind, and seeks to express true Biblical doctrine regarding Jesus, our sacrifice. After providing evidence of the need of each individual for reconciliation with God, we will examine the result of God's love, grace, and mercy, the which is provision of a sacrifice to make the required and perfect payment for our sins. Details regarding the actual sacrifice of Jesus, and what it accomplished for us, will be presented. Finally, that which is required of us to be beneficiaries of the sacrifice of Jesus will be discussed. It is my hope that each reader will study the Bible in order to confirm these truths, and meditate upon them, that they may better their understanding and deepen their own appreciation for the sacrifice of Jesus, and what it has accomplished for them.

Our Position Before God – Willful Sinners

One conclusion at which we can arrive by reading the Word of God is that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). We have all missed the mark and chosen to exercise our God-given, free moral agency in a way that is not aligned with the commands of God. Disobedience to God's Word occurs when we do that which we have no authority for (Rom. 14:23), or when we fail to do what we have been commanded to do (Jas. 4:17). Note, also, that a violation of our conscience (when we do not know if we have authority) is sin (Rom. 14:23). It is very easy for any one of us to examine our life against the Word of God to see where we have fallen short. Just a bit of time spent meditating upon scriptures such as Galatians 5:19-21 and Revelation 21:8 will help us to understand this principle. We must consider the position in which we place ourselves before God by making the decision to be disobedient to Him. It is the position in which we all have chosen to put ourselves, and it is a very serious position in which to remain.

Necessary Separation and Punishment

In our disobedience, we have removed ourselves from the presence of God. This separation is necessary due to the Holy nature of God. God declares His pre-eminent, Holy nature in 1 Peter 1:16, stating, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." The exact Greek word used for “holy” in this passage is hagios, meaning sacred, pure, and morally blameless. God not only possesses the attribute of holiness, but is Himself the very source and definition of holiness, with none beside or exceeding Him in this regard. Notice “There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God” (King James Version, 1 Sam. 2:2; emphasis LRR). Further, “Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy” (Rev. 15:4; emphasis LRR).

It makes great sense, then, that God, whose very nature and being is holy, can have no part of sin. He cannot be reconciled with it and nor tolerate it. Sin cannot be in His presence. God “canst not look on iniquity” (Hab. 1:13), and “your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:1-2; emphasis LRR). Further, evil cannot dwell with God (Ps. 5:4), and the “face of the Lord is against them that do evil” (1 Pet. 3:12).

Thus, the once favorable relationship between God and man, His creation, is necessarily brought to an end, or severed, when man chooses to exercise their God-given free moral agency in a way that is not aligned with the commands of God. It is the disobedience of the individual to the commands of God that separates them from God (Isa. 59:1-2; Ps. 5:4, 1 Pet. 3:12). It is important to note that in the relationship of God with each individual, God does not contribute in any way to the severance of the relationship, but individuals willfully remove themselves from the relationship. The individual is the only one responsible for the severance.

In our disobedience, we have also earned the wages of having sinned, that is, a guaranteed punishment from God. As separation due to sin is necessary, this punishment is necessary, due to the supremely, and perfectly just nature of God. The scriptures declare the just, or righteous, nature of God. Many passages in the Bible declare the ways of God to be just and true (Rev. 15:3; 16:5; 16:7; 19:2).

The Greek word translated as "just" or "righteous" in the above mentioned passages is dikaios, meaning pure and equitable in character or act, innocent, and holy. Thus, we may conclude from these passages that God's ways and judgments are true, fair, pure, and perfect. The perfect justice of God cannot allow sin to go forever unpunished. For God to allow sin to go forever unpunished would be contradictory to His holy, just, and morally perfect nature.

God's final punishment of all the unjust will occur on the Day of Judgment (2 Pet. 2:9), but what exactly is the punishment? The Bible states that our sins have earned for us the punishment of death (Rom. 6:23). Death means separation, and the separation with which we are most familiar is the separation of the physical body and the soul at the end of our life on earth. The death spoken of in Romans 6:23, however, is an eternal, spiritual separation from God. Paul called it “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9.

The place of everlasting destruction was prepared by God, not for man, but for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41), and they will also be in that place, tormented day and night forever (Rev. 20:10). And, though it was not prepared for man, God has chosen eternal destruction with the devil and his angels in this place as the punishment for those who are unrepentantly disobedient to God. I can think of nothing worse than to be eternally out of the presence of God, and eternally in the presence of the devil and his angels, sharing the eternal torment that was prepared for them.

The Grave Nature of Our Situation

With our sins, our situation is one of being separated from God, with the guaranteed punishment of eternal spiritual destruction with the devil and his angels, unless we can somehow be reconciled to God. Why is it that this is such a tremendously grave situation in which to be? Let's answer that question by posing the following question: What can we do such that we will no longer have ownership of our sins, such that they are no longer a part of us? The answer to both questions is that there is absolutely nothing that any one of us can do to erase the ownership that we have of our sins. In order to end the separation between us and God, and to avoid the deserved punishment of everlasting separation and destruction, our history of sins must be eliminated. Without an intervention by someone or something outside us, someone or something that can achieve a permanent separation between us and our sins, we have no hope of reconciliation and pardon with the holy and just God. We only look ahead to permanent separation from the source of holiness, and eternal existence with the devil and his angels in a place of torment designed specifically for them.

God's Solution to Our Problem

It is difficult to find words to adequately express the exceedingly great love, grace, and mercy that God has for us, but these characteristics of God are vividly illustrated when we contrast what we deserve with what God has done for us. Given our position before God (one of no hope, separated, and deserving of eternal punishment), what tremendously good news it is that the Bible teaches that God is not willing that any should perish (2 Pet. 3:9) – God never intended for His creation, man and woman, to be separate from Him. Paul tells us that God is “rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)” (Eph. 2:4-5; emphasis LRR).

The verse indicates that God is "rich in mercy", or stated another way (per guidance supplied by Thayer's Greek Lexicon), God is abounding in kindness towards us, who are in a miserable state, desiring to relieve us of the burden of sin through Jesus. A brother in Christ at my home congregation described mercy as God not issuing to us the punishment that we deserve. This brother went on further to describe grace (by which we are saved) as God doing for us what we could not do. Recall, what we cannot do for ourselves is get rid of our sins. Based on this brother's description of grace (which is in line with the definition of the Greek charis translated to the English "grace"), and according to Ephesians 2:5, the only reason that we have an opportunity to be saved is because God demonstrated his good will, loving kindness, and favor to us as sinners in providing Jesus as a solution to our sin problem.

Further, what is amazing is that God, despite our sin problem, has moved towards us in an effort to reconcile. Think about broken relationships that you have with others. Usually, both parties have contributed something to the split (both are at fault) and both parties need to contribute something to the solution for reconciliation to be possible. But, in the case of the relationship between God and man, God contributed absolutely nothing to the split, and yet He moves towards us in an effort to provide a solution that makes reconciliation possible, and he does so while we are still in our sinful state. This idea was mentioned in Ephesians 2:4-7 (God expressing his mercy and love towards us "even when we were dead in sins"). “God commendeth (exhibited, LRR) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners (emphasis mine, LRR), Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). God further said, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10; emphasis LRR)

Due to His great love for us, God has showed mercy and grace in providing a solution to our sin problem, namely, Jesus. He sent Jesus with the very purpose of being the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2; 4:10), and for the sins of the whole world (Rom. 3:25). What this means is that Jesus was the means by which the perfect justice of God, regarding the sins of the world, was appeased or relieved. He was sent to atone or make amends for us before God, and was an expiatory sacrifice. This means, literally, that Jesus was sent to be physically slaughtered in order to appease the justice of God regarding our sins.

Jesus, Our Expiatory Sacrifice

Let us now consider exactly how Jesus, our expiatory sacrifice, appeased the justice of God on our behalf. In being physically slaughtered, Jesus gave his body and his blood. In giving his body and his blood, he took on our punishment and made the required payment for our sins.

Let us first examine what the Bible has to say about Jesus giving his body. Consider the following passage from 1 Peter 2:22-24:

Who did no sin (that is, Jesus, emphasis throughout mine, LRR), neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed

Several things can be learned from this passage. First, Jesus was a blemish-free sacrifice, that is, without any sin in his body. Thus, he was in perfect communion with the God the Father and the only one qualified to carry out the Father's will for achieving the reconciliation of man. Even in his suffering at the hands of men, he did not react in a sinful manner, but remained obedient to God the Father, sharing in God's nature of love, mercy, and grace.

Second, He remained committed to the perfect judgment of the Father regarding what it would take to appease His just nature. Consider the words of Jesus: “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:36). Even when Jesus asked that the experience of the crucifixion be taken away from him, we know that the Biblical record shows that the perfect justice of God said no. The sacrifice of Jesus was the only thing that would address the sin problem of man.

Third, during his crucifixion, the sinless Jesus literally bore our sins in his body, becoming sin for us. The fact that Jesus became sin for us is confirmed in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For he (that is, God, LRR) hath made him (that is, Jesus, LRR) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” As a result of becoming sin for us, Jesus experienced the punishment intended for us, namely, a complete separation from God the Father. This is evidenced by what Jesus cried out during his crucifixion “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). While bearing our sins, Jesus was calling out to God, asking why God had left him behind and deserted him. This period of complete separation from God was a just act of the holy God, inflicted on Jesus since Jesus had taken our sins on himself. With our sins on him, he had to be completely separated from holy God.

The separation of Jesus from God, and our separation from God, would never have been brought to an end had Jesus not made the payment for our sins required by God. We would have remained without hope. Blood has historically been the payment for sin. God declared in the old law that He had given the system of sacrificial blood to the people to make atonement before Him for their sin. It is “the life of the flesh is in the blood . . . it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:11).

The fact that blood is required for the remission of sins is also confirmed in the New Testament. The book of Hebrews says “almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Jesus had to give his perfect, unblemished blood as a permanent payment for the remission of our sins. There was no other way out; no other way to satisfy the justice of God. The Bible claims that in so doing, Jesus purchased us (Acts 20:28), Jesus justified us (Rom. 5:9-10), and we have redemption through his blood, which is the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14-20).

What Jesus Has Accomplished for the Obedient

Summarizing, Jesus, our expiatory sacrifice has (1) given us the opportunity to have our sins separated from us, having taken them onto his own body, resulting in him experiencing our punishment; and (2) has made the payment for our sins by giving his blood – just as the payment that God demanded in the earlier, old law, sacrificial system. Thus, we now have the opportunity to come back into the presence of God, and God's just nature has been satisfied through the required payment having been made. This is well summed up in the following passage:

He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him (Ps. 103:7-13; emphasis LRR).

Intended for All, Accepted by Few

As we have seen from God’s word, the sacrifice of Jesus was made for the benefit of all (1 John 2:2; John 3:16), and God has pity on those that fear or obey Him. Certainly, given what Jesus has endured in giving his body and blood, he is worthy of the authority that has been given to him, namely all authority in heaven and in earth (Matt. 28:18). Let us then consider the very words of Jesus, the one to whom all authority has been given. While the benefits of his sacrifice were intended for all, not all will take advantage of the blessing. Jesus said “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). We must listen to and do what Jesus says do if we want to be beneficiaries of what his sacrifice accomplished and enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent” (John 6:29), and “if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). Jesus said, “Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3-5). Jesus said, “Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Luke 12:8). Jesus said, “He who believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). And, Jesus said “be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).

I want to do what Jesus says do, and I would encourage readers to do the same, namely to believe that Jesus is the authoritative Son of God, our sacrifice, as the Bible teaches; to repent of sins, all of which separate one from God; to confess the name of Jesus before men in word and deed; to be immersed in water for the remission sins; and to walk faithful to the commands of Jesus found in the Word of God all one's remaining days on earth. This is what Jesus says we must do in order to call him our Lord and reap the benefits of the sacrifice that he made for us. Let us not hold to the doctrines of men that are in conflict with the Word of God, but rather, let us seek truth and understanding, taking responsibility for our actions before God. Let us have zeal for God, but according to knowledge of the Word.