 |
But why should Jesus die? A sinless and innocent person, who did a lot of
miracles in His time, was maltreated and nailed to the cross as a thief.
To the human mind, this sacrificial death does not make sense! That is
why 1corinthians 1:18 confirms that, “the
preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish”.
Old times
In
the olden times, the law required that nearly everything should be cleansed
with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins
(Hebrews 9:22). This sacrifice for sin even began before the law was given to Moses.
In the Garden of Eden, God killed an animal to ‘cover’ the nakedness of Adam
& Eve (Gen. 3:21) when they disobeyed and this was God’s act of grace to
mankind.
I believe that if animal sacrifices were to be used for forgiveness
today, some of us, our sins, will be too heavy for the scale to bear because we
cannot afford to buy the animals for sacrifice.
But why did Jesus
die?
One of the
qualities of the animal for sacrifice for sin was that, it should be spotless
and clean. By all standards, Jesus was the only qualified to be used by God for
this sacrifice once and for all (John1:29; 1Peter 1:19).
What then is the importance of the death of Jesus?
1) Because
only that death was complete, final and once for all sacrifice for the sins of
the world (Hebrews 10:10). This death ended the temporal animal sacrifices
under the law. Therefore, we should not allow anybody to deceive us of another
sacrifice in addition to Jesus sacrificial death.
2) Through
the death of Jesus, we have forgiveness of sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). The death
of Christ frees us from the power of sin (Romans 4:25a). When Jesus died, God
laid on him the sin of us all, the punishment that all of us deserve for all
our sins. So whenever Satan accuses us -- saying, "God could never forgive you for what you have done -- we can say,
"by the death of Jesus, I have
forgiveness of sin”.
3)
We have power to conquer sin. In Christ
we are a new creation (2Corin 5:17); his Spirit lives within us. We have
been renewed, we have a new self -- and the purpose of that new self is to be
conformed to the image of Christ, to become like him: truly righteous, truly
holy -- to become what God intends humans to be! So if this is the case, why do
Christians keep on sinning? Paul gives us the answer in Philippians: we don't know
the power of the death!
4)
We have the Power to Be God's Agent. Christianity is not just about forgiveness and having solution to
our problems. Through the salvation that came from the death on the cross, we
are to be agents of change in the world. God empowers us not only to defeat sin
but also to share and display his loving message to the world. Jesus says,
"You are the light of the world." Read 2 Cor. 5:19, 20. God could work directly in each
person's life the way he worked in Paul's life -- But God has chosen instead to
work through us; weak as we are, limited as we are -- and to show His power
through our very weakness. Some of us
can preach football or gossip all day but cannot preach Christ. Do you tell
people about Christ?
Conclusion
Looking at the sufferings
that Jesus went through to die for you and I, we need not live any how after
tasting of the fruits of the death (i.e. salvation). How are you living the
Christian life? Have you become a new person in Christ (2corinthian 5:17) or you
are befriending the world? Brethren, if we say we have tasted of the grace
through the death of Jesus, let us live a life of righteousness and make the
sacrifice on the cross more meaningful for others to come to Jesus for their
salvation. Amen!
*All references are from the King James
Bible
No comments:
Post a Comment