When Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden disregarded God’s One Commandment, they were condemned to die that same day. But they didn’t die. Why? There was an agreement between the Father and the Son since time immemorial – that should such a terrible emergency arise, they will implement the Plan – plan whereby a repentant sinner may be forgiven and be saved. Saved from the inevitable consequence of sin – death. So yes. That Plan was now activated. Jesus stepped forward, and of His own free will offered Himself to be the sinners substitute – and die in sinner’s stead – as if He was that sinner Himself. He knew that through this.self sacrifice, Adam and Eve, and many more of their future descendants, will have a chance to come back to God. To be forgiven and set free from the shackles of sin and evil.
The effects of sin in Adam and Eve were devastating. The change came immediately. Their honourable, pure, righteous, happy and good lives – were.lost. They could feel the change. It was as if this new reality was eating them from the inside. What was emerging, was disastrous and crippling beyond imagining. Instead of free and happy lives God gave them, they felt hampered, restricted, restrained, hindered, suffocating, held forcibly against their will. Imprisoned. This was oh so different from the freedom and happiness they knew. They understood this was the consequence of their disobedience. But not in their wildest imagination could have they expected it would be THAT destructive. They lost everything which was worth living for. Right then – they heard God walking in the garden, coming to see them. In fear and shame they hid themselves – hid from their best friend? From God who gave them life?
But no. There was no need to hide. God was and ever will be their friend. He called them – and they came. Ever so gingerly. Ashamed. Fearful. .
God explained to them the gravity of what they have done. He pointed out the sin’s inevitable consequences. He gave them hope and encouragement by saying that one of their own offspring will come and offer himself as a sacrifice through which many will be saved. When God came to teach them the necessity to sacrifice the life of a lamb, through which in symbol their sins will be forgiven, and the life of the lamb will be, in figure, the substitute for their own lives – they wept. In sorrow and bitter repentance they asked God for mercy. For forgiveness.
God gently explained that the innocent lamb is a symbol and representation of the Deliverer who will come.
When the nation of Israel emerged onto the world’s stage, God called Moses to administer His divine rescue mission from the Egyptian bondage. God was unfolding the next phase in His Redemption activity. Solution to the sin’s terrible destructive powers was drawing closer. Deliverer. Yes. The Deliverer will come.
But before we human beings could focus on the Solution – we first needed to be thoroughly instructed about the devastating powers of the problem. Sin is the problem. Sin can never be taken lightly. So, as the newly rescued young nation of Israel camped at the bottom of the Mount Sinai, God descended onto the mountain shrouded in cloud and smoke and fire, with noise and ground shaking, with lightnings and a loud trumpet – desiring to impress on people the seriousness of what they were witnessing. God gave them the Ten Commandments. Sin. People needed to focus on sin. People needed to see the devastating powers of sin. Sin’s powers to destroy. .
The Ten Commandments focused on the actual individual acts of sin. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not covet. Do not dishonour your mom and dad. Do not make for yourself an idol from wood or stone. There was no mistaking. We needed to see the problem. We were told to learn all that by heart. To be always aware of these destructive individual acts of evil.
“And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 NLT
Yes. We needed to focus on the problem. We needed to see the dangers.
God is merciful. Even though sinful, unworthy and rebellious as we are, God graciously decided that the obedience to His will was always to be generously rewarded.
““If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land. “I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land. In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword. “I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you. You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest! I will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.”
Leviticus 26:3-12 NLT
Amazing! All this – if we obey God! Is this a payment for obedience? It certainly looks like it. But we now know, that these are the undeserved favours – based on the merits of Jesus. These blessings also demonstrate God’s character, and His love.
“And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6 NLT
““If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he promised with an oath to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you, and he will give you many children. He will give fertility to your land and your animals. When you arrive in the land he swore to give your ancestors, you will have large harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth. None of your men or women will be childless, and all your livestock will bear young. And the Lord will protect you from all sickness. He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all your enemies!”
Deuteronomy 7:12-15 NLT
Breathtaking! How glorious and gracious this is.
““Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna…”
Deuteronomy 8:11-16 NLT
What a wonderful God we have! Through obedience, Israel was to become one of the most prosperous nation on earth.
Alongside the commandments which clearly pointed out the sin – which was the problem – God elaborately outlined the sacrificial system – which pointed to the solution. He explained its purposes, its functions, its powers, which in type and symbol prefigured the coming Solution.
“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. ….”
Hebrews 10:1 NLT
Jesus Christ is – “…the good things themselves”
Jesus Christ is – THE Solution!
From here-on, from when Jesus came to His own people Israel, there is a marked shift of focus. It was by the will of God that the Old Covenant sharply focuses on the sin problem – through the Ten Commandments – likewise, it is by the will of God that the New Covenant sharply focuses on the sin solution – through Jesus Christ, and the many divine gifts made available by His sacrifice.
“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”
Romans 5:6 NLT
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23 NLT
“He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.”
Ephesians 1:7 NLT
“He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”
1 John 2:2 NLT
“for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.”
Matthew 26:28 NLT
“This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”
1 John 4:10 NLT
“With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”
Hebrews 9:12 NLT
When the price for our Redemption was paid by the blood of Christ, it opened the way for God to implement all provisions He kept in readiness since before the world was. They are the powerful God-designed elements which turn the balance of power of this life-and-death struggle with evil – turn it in our favour. These provisions help transform sinner into a saint. They facilitate Jesus to produce in our life the righteous character, which is the fruit of our Salvation, and which is indispensable if we are to be Saved. All who receive the free gift of God’s righteousness, will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes. It is necessary to triumph over sin. It is necessary to have a complete victory over sin. All sin and sinners will end up in the lake of fire. The ONLY way to experience this victory is if we allow Salvation through Jesus to work its way in us. To allow and welcome the change.
“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:17 NLT
“For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:56-57 NLT
God has carefully arranged a way for it, using accomplishments of Jesus to reconcile, to cleanse, to transform, to empower, by sharing His life, His divine nature, and the victories of Jesus through the much talked-about union with Him like a branch ingrafted in the Grapevine. This is the only way. This is God’s way. And it will not fail. Look at the powerful Word of God telling us so:
“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
Philippians 1:6 NLT
“He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:8-9 NLT
“So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 5:21 NLT
Three things!
1. We focus strongly on Jesus Christ and His accomplishments through a loving, trusting, abiding relationship with Jesus.
2. We cooperate with the Holy Spirit who is administering this Christ-purchased change from sinner into a saint. The blueprint for His work, the Holy Spirit receives from the grand law of love and righteousness. That is the law which governs the harmony and wellbeing of everyone in God’s vast domain. That is the Grand Law of God, the essence of which the Holy Spirit has already written on our hearts and minds when we first believed.
3. We trust God who promised it – for he is faithful to do what he says.
oooooOOOooooo