By God’s standard, a perfect and sinless sacrifice was necessary for the forgiveness of sin. Unfortunately, no descendant of Adam could ever succeed to serve as this sacrifice. It would not matter how many exceptional candidates we may have considered, sin would always disqualify every son of Adam. We required a substitutionary sacrifice.
The Old Testament era featured animal sacrifices, but these were temporary and were only effective because they anticipated the eternal sacrifice that God would provide. The animal sacrifices were divinely established to teach mankind the concept of Substitutionary sacrifice. It is necessary to note that all the animal sacrifices were performed at recurring intervals, which is evidence that they were not intended to remove sin permanently (Hebrews 10:1-18).
Since the beginning of creation, only one qualified candidate has ever existed or ever will. That one is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and miraculously existing as a man. Apart from the Substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, mankind would have been doomed with no way of salvation. There was no deed humanity could have possibly accomplished to make things right with God. Sin requires death and that is a divine law that the Holiness of God demands and enforces.
Christ was God, but he became a man so he could die. It is enlightening to realize that this sacrifice represented the greatest thing God could have done (the figurative use of human limitations is necessary because the infinite attributes of God are incomprehensible). It exhausted all His Might, Wisdom, and Power to execute this plan of redemption (Ephesians 1:18-23). If there would have been something harder or greater or more costly than the death of Christ, that would have been chosen—there was not. Christ’s death satisfied the requirement established by God for the penalty of sin. It is momentous to note that God was aware of this sacrificial demand long before Adam sinned. God’s Omniscience led Him to choose a plan for creation and redemption that required His Omnipotence. The plan was conceived, executed, and completed according to the design of God the Father (Ephesians 1:3-14). Christ accomplished the work of redemption. The Holy Spirit is accomplishing the indoctrination of believers.
Next Section: The Beauty of Christ’s Sacrificial Death
Table of Contents: The Last Adam
Text for this post has been borrowed from my Kindle eBook The Last Adam (Book 1 of the Grace and Knowledge Series), by Brother Woody Brohm. Copyright 2012.
I’ve included the full text of the book on this blog and you are free to read the book in this format if you please. Just follow the Next Section Link or view the Table of Contents to skip to wherever you prefer.
All Scripture quoted from:
New International Version (NIV)
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