It is finished!
John 19:30: When Jesus therefore had received the
vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his
head, and gave up the ghost.
What is finished? The perfect sacrifice for all of humanity was
accomplished.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto
him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world.
Here the identity of the Messiah is established. The Lamb of God that
takes away the sin of the world.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin; and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
There is no doubt that all have sinned and that our sin is the cause
of death. Does sin separate us from God? Lets take a look at scripture.
Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Adam was clearly warned by God not to eat the forbidden fruit. Doing so
so would lead to death. The next verses show the fall of man.
Genesis 3:17-19 And unto Adam he said, Because thou
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast
eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for
thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the
days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it
bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of
it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return.
The consequences of sin against God creates a barrier that separates us
from him. Adam, and all who sin against God are without excuse before
the creator.
Genesis 3:23-24 Therefore the Lord God sent him
forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground
from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man;
and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every
way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Here we see the result of Adam's sin that separated him from God. When
Adam sinned, he was cast out of the Garden of Eden. Adam died spiritually
at this time. His mortal fleshly body was still intact. However, Adam is
spiritually dead at this point.
God gave Adam one commandment. One act of disobedience was all it took
for God to banish him from His presence. Folks, there isn't anyone that
can keep the commandments. All through history the bible is full of
stories of man's rebellion and disobedience.
One such example is found in the book of Exodus.
Exodus 32:6-8 And they rose up early on the morrow,
and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace
offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to
drink, and rose up to play. And the Lord said unto
Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou
broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted
themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of
the way which I commanded them: they have made them
a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have
sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods,
O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land
of Egypt.
Are we any better? Shortly after this rebellion with the golden calf,
Moses proclaimed the ten commandments. Two tablets of stone engraved by
the finger of God, set the foundation of the law. The law is the total
sum of all the commandments of God. There are actually over 600+
commandments in the bible. We are not going to go into detail on them.
The thing to focus on is that breaking any one of the commandments of
God results in spiritual death (separation from His presence).
God had a plan for dealing with sin. The all knowing, all powerful God
knew man could not measure up to His standards. In the book of Leviticus
we are introduced to animal sacrifice. Sin must be answered for. God's
answer was that shed blood from an animal sprinkled on an alter would
substitute for payment of breaking the commandments (law) of God. For
time reasons we are not going to go into details on the individual
offerings that were done. You can review them at your leisure. Lets move
onto the book of Hebrews...
Hebrews 9:19-22 For when Moses had spoken every
precept to all the people according to the law, he
took the blood of calves and of goats, with water,
and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both
the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the
blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto
you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the
tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
And almost all things are by the law purged with
blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
As you can see, there must be blood shed for the remission of sins. God
said it and that settles it.
Now comes the problem of sacrifice before God that was unacceptable. At
first the children of Israel had clean hearts before God. But as time
went on they became more wicked in their daily lives. They focused more
on themselves and religious practices that God did not command them to
do. One example can be found in the book of Amos.
Amos 5:21-27 I hate, I despise your feast days, and
I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though
ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings,
I will not accept them: neither will I regard the
peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away
from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear
the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down
as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in
the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But
ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and
Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye
made to yourselves. Therefore will I cause you to go
into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord,
whose name is The God of hosts.
God is sore displeased! He will not accept the sacrifices of the wicked.
There is no hope for the blood of animals to save them from their sin!
God will also not accept their religious observances.
It is pretty clear at this point that man has corrupted himself to the
point God will no longer accept his works and abilities. What is man to
do?
Enter the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The children of Israel rebelled against God and corrupted themselves.
Their animal sacrifices were no longer acceptable for the remission of
sins. Therefore, God sent his Son to die as a new sacrifice that would
substitute for the animal sacrifices.
God indeed loves us. There is noone that is outside of God's love.
The death of Jesus Christ is the answer for the entire world. The cure
for sin. The shed blood that takes away our sins and opens the door to
spiritual revival.
I John 4:9-10 In this was manifested the love of
God toward us, because that God sent his only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live
through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God,
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.
Jesus died for us. He paid the price in his own blood. He is worthy of
our praise and worship. He came to fulfill the will of the Father. Jesus
is the true sacrificial lamb that paid the penalty of sin for all who
will believe.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world
to condemn the world; but that the world through
him might be saved.
Those that do not put their trust in Jesus Christ as their only hope,
are doomed. There is no other way to the Father! All that deny Jesus
Christ as the savior are spiritually dead. The unbelievers are condemned.
They have no place in God's kingdom.
Romans 1:18-23 For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest
in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the
invisible things of him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because
that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as
God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into
an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds,
and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Just as the children of Israel set up the golden calf and fell down and
bowed before it, so will all that forsake God. They knew the truth. But
they chose instead to follow the ways of darkness.
God provided the answer through His Son. Jesus came into the world as a
perfect sacrificial lamb. He took all the burdens upon himself that we
could have life through him. He washed our sins in his own blood.
When we believe in Jesus Christ as our savior we are no longer under
condemnation. We are declared righteous because we believe He is all
that is necessary. We cannot save ourselves.
Ephesians 2:4-9 But God, who 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;) And hath raised us
up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he
might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his
kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any man should boast.
We can do nothing of ourselves to enter into God's kingdom. We must
believe in the Son of God!
Acts 4:10-12 Be it known unto you all, and to all
the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, even by him doth this man
stand here before you whole. This is the stone
which was set at nought of you builders, which is
become the head of the corner. Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must
be saved.
The plan of God was fulfilled over 2000 years ago. The lamb was
provided. The perfect sacrifice was accomplished. Prophecy was nailed
in a sure place.
Isaiah 22:25 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts,
shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place
be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the
burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the
Lord hath spoken it.
There is no other sacrifice for sin. It is finished!
Written by Mark Dickens 05/23/2022