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There is Power, Power, Power in the Blood
Part two in the e-dogg questions:
What follows is a second response to honest inquiries into the gospel. It has been "built" more than written- hopefully "led" more than built. Unfortunately, I fear that the heady subject and the "building" of the response may make it seem a bit choppy and disjointed, since I've gone from point to point to point within the overall subject. There is a lot to fit in here, and much more left out for the sake of brevity.
So, forgive the style, marinade on what is here, and please ask for further clarification where needed or desired. I pray the gospel as the power unto salvation into your heart. Further, as Paul does in Ephesians 3, I pray that Christ makes His home in your heart through faith. In short, I pray that the reader's heart is softened to the love of God in their lives.
Question 2: How was this sacrifice of any value or worth to us? Even if it was a sacrifice, how could it be accredited to us?
This is a natural extension from question 1 (What could an infinite God give up as sacrifice anyway?). First, we need to establish the need of redemption. Second, we need to establish God's justice, and then maybe the need for Christ will have a viable context. Romans 3 makes these points succinctly.
21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Combine this with Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 9:22:
In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Why? Deuteronomy 12:23:
But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
Everyone has sinned (Romans 3:11-18, 23), and Romans 6:23 states that the wages of sin is death. So everyone deserves death. It's not only a matter of what we deserve, but what can and can't happen. We can't be near God with the problem of sin on us, and to be absent from the source of life is to experience eternal death. So, God needed to uphold His justice by judging sin while not burning us up in the process; He needed to take care of our sin problem and provide an escape from sin (and to Him).
Now, who can take care of the problem? If each of us has been soiled already, then who can stand in the gap for us? If each of us is a slave to sin, then who can defeat sin? If we are all guilty on our own accounts, then who is worthy? If we are all bankrupt, then who will pay the ransom?
These are several of the parallels that Paul makes by way of explanation in his various epistles. The basic fact is that we are all guilty of our own transgressions with no ability to make restitution. So, it takes something outside of us to do it. It takes one not enslaved to defeat sin (an innocent, a perfect life). It takes something attributed to our accounts to pay the ransom, etc…
Blood must be shed for the remediation of sin, and our blood will not suffice. It is infected with the problem it would seek to solve. The shedding of our blood will only lead to the death since we are slaves to the sin that kills us. It's a catch-22. Life is no longer in our blood- only the curse of sin. It took the shedding of the blood of Christ on our behalf to make remediation. Where it once took the blood of rams and goats for temporary access to God, Christ made more perfect access through His perfect Blood (Hebrews 9), and this more perfect access is eternal, not temporary.
Jesus was the worthy sacrifice. He lived the perfect life, which was the only place besides ourselves that sin could be applied and judged. He paid the ransom that freed us from our slavery to sin. His perfect life is attributed to us through our faith, in that we are disinfected from the scourge of sin and thus have access to God. This was the plan all along.
Let's revisit Isaiah 53, written about Jesus well before His physical appearance.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Here we see that Christ became our proxy in judgment.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
It was a willing sacrifice on his part, else it could not have been a just judgment.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
The wages of sin is death, and Christ paid those wages so that we wouldn't have to.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
This is speaking to more than His death, but more so to His resurrection. In vs. 9 He dies, but in vs. 10 His days are prolonged after His sin offering, and He sees His offspring. In other words, He dies and resurrects, and so does His "offspring". This is explicitly stated in verses:
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors
Christ was made sin on the cross. Our evil, guilty, selfish deeds were placed on Him and judged in His death. His Blood was atonement for sin. His resurrection was the power of God in victory over sin and the curse that comes with it. Faith in Him is acceptance of that act. Rejection of the act is a rejection of the testimony of the Spirit of God concerning what has been performed for us. Rejection is literally calling God a liar (see 1 John 1:10-12), and this is the only thing that can and will put you in hell.
The sacrifice was a free act of love and grace.
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
God is, has, and will always love you with the greatest of loves. Christ as God loved you so much that He left His place to become as you are, to experience what you experience, to be tempted as you are tempted. He loved you so much that He stooped to your place to purchase you back into His bosom, because you could not reach His place. God the Father loved you enough to send Him. But that is as far as His choice will intrude. You can either accept the relationship provided and respond to the most perfect love ever to be offered, or you can cast it aside and live forever the life of the prodigal son- in the filth and degradation, even as the Father wishes your return.
Blessings…
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No Disrespect Intended...
...but what I take away from the above is that god is really keen on blood sacrifices. Why is that?
I'm still not really sure why we should correlate Jesus' death with our sins. Did he effectively say, "Look, you people have pissed off god, and he demands blood. I'm going to let him spill my blood (actually, some of you will do it for him), even though I effectively AM him, and as long as you believe this tale, you'll go to heaven."
Then there's further paraphrased statements: "If you've heard this tale and don't believe, you'll go to hell. Now, some folks won't get to hear the tale, so their fate will be judged on other factors. Like kids--they haven't been around long enough to sin too much. Oh, and Mongolians, South American jungle tribes and such. They just have to act right to get in. I guess we'll have to deal with those who've heard some of the tale, but it was told wrong, or they were molested by those who told it. I'm sure we'll make exceptions for them."
I realize the above might be considered blasphemy, but it's just my lighthearted way of examining these points. My intent is not to make fun or merely scoff, I'm just trying to get at the heart of the beliefs.
Why is God so keen on blood sacrifices?
First of all, without blood we would all be dead. As long as blood is running through our veins, our physical bodies continue to exist. Blood is key to physical life.
Blood is a red fluid that contains a complex mixture of cells suspended in a liquid matrix which is transported (circulated) throughout the body by the circulatory system of an organism. It circulates around the body by the heart and delivers oxygen and other important nutrients to cells of organs and tissues, while at the same time, removing waste product from our body. Blood is located in almost every part of our body, which is due to the network of blood vessels called the circulatory system. It is circulated through the body’s heart, arteries, veins and capillaries (tiny vessels that connect arteries and veins). In order for blood to carry out its functions, it needs to circulate all over our body to all living cells and tissues which it does through the support of the heart that pumps blood throughout our entire body, it is the fluid of life, a vital life force that all humans need in order to live and sustain life. http://universalfacts.blogspot.com/2006/01/purpose-of-blood-its-function...
Secondly, in order for an inheritance to be received through a will, the one that wrote the will must die. Once dead, the will is read and the people that are in the will receive what is due them. Those not in the will also received what is due to them – nothing. Without death, there is no reading of the will to nothing is gained. When Aunt Martha leaves the earth, your name is either written in the will or not.
16In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep." 21In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:16-22
How it all Began…
In the Beginning God created the heavens and earth (Genesis 1:1). God created man and woman. When God put man and woman in the garden, everything was theirs.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. Genesis 1:27-30
The only instruction God gave them was not to eat from the tree of knowledge. They could eat from everything else including the tree of life.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens-
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 5 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:4, 8-9, 15-17
As Eve was walking in the garden, the serpent came along and lied to her telling her to go ahead and eat from the tree. She believed the lie and talked Adam into eating from the tree also. This was the first sin – they put their desires ahead of God and they were disobedient to God.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' " 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Genesis 3:1-7
After they ate the fruit, they realized they were naked and were ashamed. Their nakedness had never bothered them before (The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. Genesis 2:25), but now they were exposed.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" 10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." 11 And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" Genesis 3:8-11
They had sinned and the sin was obvious. Now they needed to cover themselves so God killed the first animal to use as clothing to cover their nakedness: their sin. So the first blood sacrifice was made at the beginning of time and it was performed to cover the wrong that was committed.
21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Genesis 3:21
Prior to eating from the tree of knowledge, Adam and Eve had a personal relationship with God. They walked and talked with him in the garden. There was nothing that separated man from God. When they were disobedient, everything changed because their disobedience and selfishness was exposed and their sin caused separation from God. You see, this was a heart problem. They put their own desires ahead of God, their Creator. God, the giver of life, the one that breathes breath in us, the one the loves us has the power to take life away, yet he doesn’t.
- the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:6b-7
So why doesn’t God just scratch our existence and start over? It is because God loves us and He desires a personal relationship with His creation – you and me. The answer is quite simple yet we have a hard time comprehending the greatness of God’s love. The Creator of the heavens and the earth, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Great I AM, the Most High God who is above all things and whom all things exists loves you and me. Jesus, whom we should revere, praise, honor, and love, became a man so he could in all ways be tempted like we are tempted and die in our place on the cross and shed His blood to cover our sins. Yes it is a beautiful thing because the blood of Jesus has given us eternal life. Just like the blood flowing through your veins gives you physical life, the blood that Jesus shed on the cross gives us eternal life. Thank you Jesus for loving me so much that you were willing to suffer in my place and pay my ransom. Thank you Jesus that because of your sacrifice my sins are forgiven and I am made clean – not by anything I have done, but through your sacrifice.
Jesus made atonement for our sins. Just like Adam and Eve had to have their nakedness covered, we had to have our sins covered. For every freedom in life, blood was shed. We live in a free country because men shed their blood for our freedom. Someone receives a heart transplant because another dies and sheds their blood. We eat meat because the blood of an animal was shed. History is full of the shedding of blood so this is not foreign to us. In order for us to be set free from a life of sin and bondage, blood had to be shed. Jesus was the only one that was qualified as a sacrifice because He was 1) in the form of man and man deserved to die and 2) He was perfect and flawless. A sinner can’t free a sinner. Only a person who is sinless has the authority to free the sinner.
In summary, God created man. Man sinned and fell short of the glory of God. Jesus paid the price so our sins could be forgiven. Jesus rose again so that we might have eternal life. This free gift of life is available to all that confess with their mouth and believe in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. All because He loves you.
So what about the statement below?
"If you've heard this tale and don't believe, you'll go to hell. Now, some folks won't get to hear the tale, so their fate will be judged on other factors. Like kids--they haven't been around long enough to sin too much. Oh, and Mongolians, South American jungle tribes and such. They just have to act right to get in. I guess we'll have to deal with those who've heard some of the tale, but it was told wrong, or they were molested by those who told it. I'm sure we'll make exceptions for them."
To discuss this in detail is another topic for another day. The bottom line is that your destiny is waiting for you. You have heard the message and the choice is before you. Are you going to accept it? Jesus loves you with an everlasting love. He loves you enough to die for you. Wow! He loves you and He doesn’t want to be separated from you any longer. What are you waiting for?
"For 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
9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9
No disrespect taken
I've been sitting on this one for a few days in order to do my best to form a rational response, and I'm incredibly blessed to find that watchman has done such a great job in doing so.
Point out specifics of what you may still be having problems with. I'll do my best. Hopefully watchman will be back through to offer further input.
Maybe nothing we say will make any impact... right now. I have every faith that at some time you will accept the truth. You may as well save yourself the trouble and do it now. :)
Much love, brother...
What exactly are you asking?
e-dogg,
On rereading your question, I almost get the impression that you are asking if any of this is explicitly in Jesus' teachings.
Did He teach that He was/is God?
Did He teach that He would die?
Did He teach what the importance of that death would be?
Did He teach that He would resurrect?
Did He teach what the importance of that resurrection would be?
Was this all a clever theological invention by Paul, as some have suggested?
Or are you just asking if God is just a bloodthursty figment invented by a bunch of primitive ex-Egyptians in the desert after they ceceded from slavery there?