He Came to Forgive All Sins
We left off seeing there is an alternative to the "good people" only go to heaven belief. We saw, looking at the words of Christ, that it wasn't the good Pharisee who was on his way to eternal bliss but the "bad guy" receiving forgiveness from the one that calls heaven home.
The story goes like this: A Jewish man who claimed to be God showed up here on earth, making absurd claims, doing what seemed to be miracles, was put to death by the Romans at the insistence of the religious establishment of the day. He died, was buried and resurrected. His followers after denying him did come to finally believe He was the promised Messiah, the lamb that was slain for the whole world. Their changed lives spoke volumes.
Of course we know that just because he claimed to be God and his followers believed this to be true, doesn't really make it true. C.S. Lewis said he was either who he claimed to be or he was a liar or worse, a deranged man. So we ned to determine if he was telling the truth or not. No matter the world religion Jesus is viewed in a very positive light. Special maybe, but not as special as He claimed to be. A good teacher maybe. Would a good teacher claim to be God and lie about it?
So would you follow someone that believed he was "special" maybe even saying he was God?" I sure wouldn't unless he had some very clear evidence to prove his claims. Otherwise I would say he was either very misguided or an out and out liar. Well these would be two possibilities for his claims, but it's funny I've never heard anyone accuse Christ as a liar either. If you don't accept his words, why not just come out and say he was a liar. Why is it so hard?
Another possibility is that Jesus never really said he was the son of God. This is a convenient belief because you can respect the man without having to follow and listen to him as "God." In some belief systems he's just one emanation along the pathway to God. So believing this way, you can pick and choose what you want to believe about his sayings and not worry about getting some deity upset or enraged.
Of course, the possibility I follow is the last one. This option is that He was exactly who he claimed to be, the son of God who came to take away the sins of the world. His walk matched his talk. He more than proved himself to the people.
If he was lying or a crazy man, why did so many continue to follow him after his death? A Messiah can't die. Wouldn't it be like following David Koresh or Jim Jones still? Surely if He was delusional, He wouldn't have had the ability to change the world with his message? To top that off almost all his followers died a martyr's death. One may live for a lie but would one die for a lie? Not only one but hundreds of thousands over the years have died for what they believed this man stood for. Not to mention the witness of changed lives. That more than anything should be taken into account.
All his Apostles died awful deaths as a result of him. Why? Because they told about what they had seen and heard. He had come back to life. They were witnesses to a dead man walking and they were very vocal about sharing this with whoever would listen. What was their motive? They all had a death wish? Couldn't they just spread his message with deifiying him? Surely that would have been less risky. Basically they were killed for being good witnesses.
Of course there is the possibility that he was exactly who and what he claimed to be. He came to forgive sins but to be able to do so a sacrifice would have to be made. This would be no ordinary lamb as prescribed in Jewish law and tradition, but would be a sacrifice like no other. He would take the place of the yearly lamb sacrifice and by doing so would end the tradition that the Jews had so faithfully kept over time.
The OT was quite clear. Sin required death. So for a thousand years or so, their lambs would serve that purpose. A lamb for a family. It wasn't any ordinary lamb either. It had to be "their" lamb. It made it much more personal that way. Now this lamb didn't take away their sin, it only atoned for it which means it covered it. When Jesus came to be the final sacrifice, He would serve to not cover but elimate the sins committed against God. No more sacrifices would be needed as he came to be the final answer to the problem of sin.
This system, payment for a wrong ,is not a new concept. We understand this even today although we are getting further away from this concept every day with the age of no accountability. Yet we still have prisons filled with those who did wrong paying for their crimes against others.
So too does God require payment for the offenses man has committed against him. These offenses are called sin and we all sin. Nobody is exempt, and payment is expected for these sins or offenses against God.
The same Jewish Laws that served to set up a government for the people also served another purpose. It served to show how far short they all fell in the sight of God. They were confronted with God's law and could now be aware of the sin that resided in them. The law didn't create sin, but it did reveal sin.
So Jesus came both to deliver us from the law and save us by paying the debt we owe God for committing our individual offenses against Him. No one else ever has made such claims as Jesus. He claimed to be God. He said he came to forgive us and He said that He was the only way to God the father.
We can't deny we are all lawbreakers. We break our own civil laws. Yes, in some form or another we are all guilty and just as guilty of breaking God's laws. Christianity teaches us that we need a Savior and that is what divides the Christian faith from every other major world religion.
Christianity is the only religion that instead of a to-do list we're given a Savior, one that did it for us. It's not about doing, it's all about already done.
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