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ACCORDING TO THE
BIBLE ONLY BLOOD CAN ATONE FOR SIN
GOD'S WORD SAYS THE BLOOD OF ANIMALS IS NOT SUFFICIENT
IN LOVE, OUR CREATOR GAVE HIS OWN LIFE FOR MANKIND
AND THIS BLOOD IS
FOR YOU
Violently they grabbed His arms, as they
tightly strapped each wrist
There, the hellish look of a strong-armed
soldier, whip clenched in his fist
Laced with chips of bone, they beat Him
hard, from His shoulders to His feet
It sliced right through His olive skin,
just like razors through a sheet
Countless times the blood splattered, as
each inhuman lash was given
Several times His knees gave way, as His
flesh just hung like ribbons
Then surprisingly He turned His head,
though the words He used were few
The soldier's face turned pale when He
said, "This blood is for
you"
Uncaringly they tossed a garment across
His weakened form
And His blood pressure fell deathly low,
as the crowds began to swarm
The forced Him to carry His cross uphill,
His face they punched and smacked
The splinters from the crisscrossed beam
dug deep into His back
Through lack of sleep and dehydration His
tongue began to swell
Weakened by His loss of blood, this
prophet, teacher fell
When He did some blood splattered on a
man named Simon's shoe
And as He bent to wipe it off, the
prophet said, "This blood
is for you"
They pounded a spike through the bones in
His wrist, bursting arteries and veins
As they dropped the cross in the hole
they dug, His body convulsed with pain
Through an agony and torment that never a
soul shall find
He tilts His face toward heaven, with
full control of His mind
With more love than any human heard,
before that time or since
He made a statement that to this day
makes the strongest skeptic wince
He cried, "Father God forgive them for
they know not what they do"
And as He gave His life for those lost in
sin, He was saying,
"This blood is
for you"
Some of you may recognize these moving verses. They are
from Carmen's song "This
Blood" It
is one of the most spiritually powerful songs
illustrating God's great love for us.
In John
15, Jesus
instructed His disciples to "love
one another." Not
with a worldly kind
of love, but in the same
way that
He loved them. He told them that there is no greater
love than the love that would motivate one to willingly
lay down his life for a friend. In verse
14, Jesus told His disciples that they would
remain His friends if they obeyed His commandments.
Jesus did
willingly lay down His life for us. But why was this
necessary?
If you remember, when God created man he gave him a
beautiful garden paradise to live in. God gave him
permission to eat the fruit of all the trees in the
garden except the Tree
of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God
warned man that if he ate the fruit of this tree he
would surely die! Most everyone familiar at all with the
Bible knows the rest of the story. Adam and Eve, the
first humans, disobeyed their Creator and ate of the
forbidden fruit. Because of this their fate was sealed,
they were destined to eventually die!
Contrary to popular thought, man does not possess an
immortal soul. Notice 1
Timothy 6:15-16 -"He (Jesus Christ) who is blessed
and only Sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords;
who ALONE possesses immortality."
Here the Apostle Paul says that Jesus, the Son of God is
the only man that has possessed immortality. Many
erroneously assume that man is imbued with an immortal soul from
birth. But the Hebrew word (nephesh) translated "soul" when
referring to man is the same word rendered "creature" when
making reference to the created animals. There is simply
nothing about the word that connotes immortality.
Actually the contrary is true, -the prophet Ezekiel writes
twice in chapter
18, that the "soul
that sins will die."
Because man was created mortal, he would ultimately
perish at death. Man had little hope of ever living
beyond this present age. Man was dead in
his sins. Yet prior to the revealing of God's plan
of redemption, a few through the ages put their
faith in God and hoped in
him. Men like Abraham and Job. Later God revealed His
plan of redemption through the Messiah, by the Prophets.
It would ultimately take the death of the Creator to
redeem the works of His hands.
In Ancient Israel the High Priest made atonement for the
people's sins once each year on the Day of Atonement.
After offering a sacrifice (bull) for himself the High
Priest would enter the Holy of Holies with the blood of
an unblemished goat.
The Holy of Holies could be entered only once each year
on Atonement. And only one
man, the
High Priest, could enter without dying. And He
only after making atonement for himself, lest he die.
After entering the Holy Place, into the very presence of
God, he would sprinkle the blood of the goat on the
mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.
These sacrifices did not take
away sin. They were simply reminders of
man's sinful nature.
Notice what the Apostle Paul says in Hebrews
10:3-4 -"But in those sacrifices there is a reminder
of sins year by year. For IT IS IMPOSSIBLE for the BLOOD
OF BULLS AND GOATS to TAKE AWAY SINS." They
reminded the people that they were in need of
forgiveness. That innocent blood
was shed for their sinful nature.
Picture yourself having to kill a beautiful, perfectly
healthy little goat or lamb barely a year old. And
knowing that you were taking its life to remind you of
the sinful decisions you've made in your life.
These sacrifices were to help man realize why the
Messiah was needed. Jesus Christ, the Son of God was the
Creator prior to
coming as the Messiah. John 1 tells us that He was the Word and
the Word was with God
the Father, and the Word
was God,
which is, God the
Son. And John reveals, that ALL THINGS WERE CREATED
BY HIM. He was the Creator that made the universe and
all things in it. He was the personage that
walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden. All life came from Him.
Thus HIS LIFE IS WORTH MORE THAN THE SUM-TOTAL OF ALL
MEN THAT HAVE EVER LIVED! His blood is sufficient, and
His sacrifice is worthy to atone for the sins of all.
Notice Hebrews
9:11-15 -"But when Christ appeared as a HIGH PRIEST
of the good things to come, He entered (the Holy of
Holies) through the greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this creation; and not through the blood of goats
and calves, but through HIS OWN BLOOD, He entered the
HOLY PLACE once
for all, having obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION. For if
the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the
cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal spirit OFFERED HIMSELF
without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason
He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that
since a death has taken place for the REDEMPTION of the
TRANSGRESSIONS that were committed under the first
covenant, those who
have been called may
receive the promise of the ETERNAL INHERITANCE."
The Godhead is composed of God the
Father, and God the
Son. The
holy spirit is the very mind and power of both personages, and
lives inside the christian. God the Father was well
pleased to offer up His only Son to act as a living
sacrifice for sinful man. To all that would receive it
through belief and repentance.
God the Son was submissive to and in agreement with the
will of the Father. God the Son left Heaven, emptied
Himself and became a human. He was born in a manger, of
humble circumstances to Joseph and Mary. His mission was
to make a WAY for man to escape the penalty of death,
and to establish His church.
Man had
continually sinned since the days of Adam. The penalty
for sin was death.
Only the giving of the Creator's
life could redeem the creation. Notice John
3:16 -"For God so lived the world, that he gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish, but have eternal life."
OUR HEAVENLY
CREATOR LOVES US SO MUCH THAT HE WILLINGLY SUFFERED
THROUGH HUMILIATION, AND THE MOST EXCRUCIATING DEATHimaginable.
And worst, He had to experience actual SEPARATION from
God the Father.
In doing this Jesus was feeling all the agony of the
SECOND DEATH! Jesus' sacrifice does not take away the
death of our flesh. It pardons the repentant of ETERNAL
DEATH; of remaining dead in our sins.
The Father and Son did not want man to perish in his
sins.(Romans 6:23) And
because God felt compassion for the physical suffering
of man, the Son allowed Himself to be brutally beaten in
order that we may be healed in His name.(1
Peter 2:24)
We live in a much different world today. And we don't
witness public scourgings such as the Romans practiced.
But we do have historical accounts that paint a vivid
picture of what our Savior willingly endured for us.
The Scriptures say, Jesus could have called thousands of
mighty Angels at any time. But He didn't. No one took
His life. He willingly laid it down for you and me. (John
10:18)
And before our Lord was impaled to a cross to die in our
place, he suffered a scourging for
our healing, which took Him to the very brink of
death.
The Roman soldier trained in administering scourgings
was called a lictor.
His tool was a leather whip called aflagellum.
Unlike an ordinary whip, the flagellum had several
strips of leather attached to a wooden handle. Each
leather strip had pieces of sharp bone and metal sewn
into it.
Just less than 2000 years ago, our Lord allowed himself
to be stripped naked and tied to a post.
The lictor began his masterful work of beating Jesus to
within an inch of death. The lictor struck Him from His
head to His feet. Blow after blow he struck Him, while
carefully monitoring the damage he was inflicting as to
not kill Jesus.
The crucifixion would accomplish that task. Repeatedly
the leather strips wrapped around our Lord causing chips
of metal and bone to dig into His flesh. Each they were
snapped back the sharp pieces tore through His skin
sending bits of flesh and muscle flying through the air!
He was beaten so badly, even His bones were exposed! The
lictor saw that another blow from the flagellum could
very well kill Jesus, so he gave orders for Him to be
untied.
Disoriented, confused and in shock, our Lord slumped to
the ground. His flesh, covered with blood, and now
hanging like ribbons, spreading across the dusty earth.
Since Jesus was covered in blood and dirt, the order was
given to douse Him with water and scrub Him clean. He
cried out in agony as He regained His state of
consciousness.
To complete the humiliation, a crown of thorns was made
for Him, and jammed on His head as they mockingly
coronated Him- "King of the Jews".
He was led to
Golgotha, where nails were driven deep into His feet and
hands to impale Him to a wooden stake.
The way He was hung on the cross made it extremely
difficult to breathe. To take a breath, our Lord had to
push His body up by His impaled feet!
This of course caused excruciating pain.
Then at about mid-afternoon a Roman soldier drove a
spear into His side spilling out the precious blood of
our Lord. Blood that was spilled for atonement for
you and me.
Notice Hebrews
2:2-3 -"For
if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable,
and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense, HOW
SHALL WE ESCAPE if
we NEGLECT so
great a SALVATION?"
The SACRIFICE and suffering of Jesus Christ gives us an
open door for SALVATION. All who will REPENT of breaking
God's Commandments, and submit to the will of God as
given to us in the Bible, can receive SALVATION.
After repentance, you will need to be baptized by
immersion in water, and have hands laid upon you to
receive the gift of the holy spirit.
Many years
ago, your Creator laid down His life for you. He is
offering you salvation from certain death. How else can
you escape if you neglect so great an offer of
salvation?
My friend, THIS
BLOOD IS FOR YOU.
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