As we entered into the third week of our discussion on salvation, we talked through the method of God's plan of redemption over the course of the Bible. More specifically, we talked about the need for blood to cover sin. This is a tricky conversation to have, not only because of the "icky" factor, but also because it is something that a lot of people have a hang up over. Why does God require death and blood to cover up sin? And even as we talk about it, there are a lot of answers we simply will never get and can only follow by faith.
For the beginning of our conversation we look to the beginning of sin. In Genesis 3, we read the account of Adam and Eve in the garden. We know about the serpent, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the realization of nakedness. After the giggles settled down, we talked about how the first response by Adam and Eve to their realization of sin was to cover themselves. They did so by fashioning garments out of fig leaves. But when God shows up and they talk through the whole sin and curse thing, God replaces their fig-leaf clothing with animal skins. And while trees can afford to cough up a few leaves without bringing about their demise, animals don't have quite the same luxury. And so, even with the first sin, we see a glimpse of the system God would put into place to cover sin. A sacrifice would need to take place in order to forgive sin. Death would be required to cover it up.
As the nation of Israel begins to establish their relationship with God while wandering in the desert and finally entering into the promised land, laws are given specifically relating to how this system of sacrificial atonement would work. In Leviticus 1:1-4, we read about the most basic of sacrifices. Here we see that the animal must meet certain requirements and that great care would be needed to make sure that the animal being sacrificed was sufficient. This wasn't the lame, sickly cow that was about to die off anyway; this was the flawless animal that the family would have prized. And through it's death, sins would be forgiven. In Hebrews 9:22, the Bible says that the law requires that blood must be spilled in order for there to be forgiveness. It is God's system for redemption.
Now, to serve as review, we looked at Romans 3:23 and 6:23 to see that, not only does no one measure up to God's standard, but the wage we earn by falling short is death. It is what we should get. However, God loves us and decided to give us a way out. The old system He used required the shedding of animal blood to temporarily cover that debt. In Hebrews 10:1-10 we see that those sacrifices had to be made over and over to cover the person as they continually fell short of God's standard by sinning. But this system was merely a temporary thing; just a shadow of what God had in store. Through the death of Christ, the grace sufficient to cover all sins is made through the shedding of God's only son's blood. In 1 Peter 2:22-24 it says that Jesus carried our sins in his body on the cross. When God turned His back on him, it wasn't anything he had done that caused the seperation. It was my lies, greed, malice and all the rest of my sin and everyone elses. He bore it all for us. And through his death, we have a way to become holy to God, once and for all. Not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us.
The wording in Hebrews 10 is great in that it shows that Christ was always the plan. The first system was merely a shadow, a first step in the process of God's ultimate solution to the problem of sin. I asked the kids why they thought God did it this way. I mean, technically, God could have sent Jesus right after Adam and Eve first sinned. Why wait thousands of years using a temporary system? They thought about it, but didn't really have an answer. And to be honest, I don't really either. What I do know is that there is a time and place for everything. While I might not understand the timing that God used, I do understand that the final solution to the problem of sin came at just the right time in just the right way to bring about God's glory in just the way He designed it. Ephesians 2:1-5 tells us that in spite of our sin and the way people lived under the Law, God loved us and had mercy on us. Instead of allowing us to stay dead and separated in our sin, He sent His son to pay the price so that we could have new life.
As to the question of blood; God only knows. Why does something have to die in order to make sin clean to God? Why not money or prayer or something less gross? Beats me. But we found it ironic that the payment due for sin - for separation from God which is death - would be found only in death. For whatever reason, that sticky, smelly, staining fluid of life is the only thing that cleans us and makes us presentable to a holy God. And while the old system served its purpose well, I am so thankful that it was just a shadow of what Jesus did for me on the cross. And even if I don't understand it, I can't deny the wonder-working pow'r in the precious blood of the Lamb.
No comments:
Post a Comment