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Jesus Christ brought to
mankind the highest revelations of God and taught a
perfect standard of human conduct; but above all we find
in Him God's perfect remedy for sin. He came to ....save
His people from their sins. Also Paul says in Titus
2:14--Who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us
from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works.
The Bible emphasizes two
great factors in redemption....the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. It is not easy to explain the mystery of
How the death and resurrection of Christ makes salvation
and eternal life possible. So even though we cannot
explain every detail of redemption, we can report to you
from a personal level that we can experience it as a
glorious, wonderful, know-so fact. God could not ignore
His moral laws in providing a plan of redemption for
fallen man and since man is a created being placed in this
world as just a steward, he has nothing with which to
redeem himself. God devised a plan, however, that would
punish sin and satisfy the demands of justice, divine
justice, and at the same time save the sinner.
- INCARNATION:
CHRIST BOTH GOD AND MAN
God's plan was for His
son Jesus Christ to be our redeemer; to willingly give
Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. To do this it was
necessary that He become both God and man. This would be
incarnation, as incarnation signifies to take on flesh.
The New Testament speaks many places where Christ is both
divine and human, In fact, the New Testament revolves
around the person of Christ as God incarnate and the Old
Testament contains direct prophecies of the incarnation
(see Isa 7:14 and 9:6) In the New Testament, Philippians
2:6-8 tells of Christ, the divine Son of God who accepted
man's lowly estate that he might die for us. The
scriptures clearly show Christ to be both God and man. He
is often called a man, and Christ even refers to Himself
as the Son of Man. He had a physical body, He ate, became
weary and slept like other man. He had a human spirit and
was tempted in all points like we are, He wept, groaned,
was provoked and manifested various emotions.
- SUPERNATURALLY
BORN--BORN OF A VIRGIN
He was unique as human
being, in that He was born of a virgin, His conception
being supernatural. Because of this supernatural birth, He
did not inherit Adam's depraved moral nature. So Christ
differed from fallen man in His purity and sinlessness. He
possessed human nature in its entirety, but an undepraved
spirit. Some tend to doubt the scriptures like those in
the first chapter of Matthew where the account of the
virgin birth is recorded; however, besides all the
scripture, it is also common sense. Surely, for Christ to
become human, His introduction into this world of sin
would occur in some extra ordinary manner. Keep in mind,
God made Adam without the assistance of either parent. In
no other way could Christ become both human and divine,
thus forming a middle link by which man could be united
with God. This is the whole purpose of the incarnation: to
reveal God and to make atonement, that we might be
reconciled to God. Jesus is the express image of the
Fathers person. He that hath seen Him hath seen the
Father.
- CHRIST
DEATH: THE ATONEMENT FOR OUR SINS
The atonement of Christ
is the central theme of the Christian faith, for
Christianity is based upon the death of Christ as the one
great atonement for the sins of men. Christ did not come
to earth just to set an example of right doing, or to die
willingly (John 10:18) and as Paul says in 1 Cor
15:3...Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. If sinful men were to "turn over a new
leaf" so to speak and then follow the outward example
of Christ's right doing, this would still not do away with
their past sins. However Christ is ......the propitiation
for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins
of the whole world. (1 Jn2:2) To propitiate is to appease
or to turn away the wrath of an offended person. Man is
the offender, God is the offended one and the blood of
Christ is the propitiation. (Rom 3:25) The "wrath of
God" abides on man because of his sins. Besides the
attribute of love, God also has the attributes of holiness
and justice; therefore, God has the responsibility of
punishing violators of His moral law. He cannot
"overlook" violators just because they say
"Lord forgive me"; but he can forgive us
"for Christ sake. Only through Christ can the the
non-execution of the just penalty be avoided. As Jesus
says in John 14:6 ....no man cometh unto the Father, but
by me. As we said earlier, sin separates from God. (Isa
59:2) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being
out to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit.(1
Pet 3:18)
- OLD
TESTAMENT TELLS OF THE ATONEMENT
The animal sacrifices in
the Old Testament were "types" or to typify the
sacrifice by Christ. Paul calls Christ our "passover"
and John exclaims.....behold the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world. (John 1:29) The book of Hebrews
is chiefly an exposition of these types. The animal of
course, was not a willing sacrifice, for Heb 10:4 says:
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goat
should take away sins. Christ, however, being divine,
could pay the prize for our redemption as Peter tells us
in 1 Pet 1:18-19...that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold...but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot. He also was a willing sacrifice. His own
words in John 10:17-48 are....I lay down my life that i
might take it again. No man taketh it away from me, but I
lay it down of myself.
- CHRIST
DIED FOR ALL MANKIND
The fact that the
atonement is not limited to just certain ones or
"elect", but is universal, is shown in several
text. Heb 2:9 says....Jesus.. should taste death for every
man. It is further said of Christ in 1 Tim 2:6--Who gave
himself a ransom for all...So we see that Christ willingly
shed His blood and died on the cross for all mankind to
satisfy the divine demand of justice; thereby making it
possible for all men to be reconciled to God.
- ATONEMENT
MAKES SALVATION OBTAINABLE NOT ACTUAL
The death of Christ did
not make the salvation of all men actual, but makes the
salvation of all men possible. For while the atonement was
unconditional, redemption is on the part of man, wholly
conditional. In other words, Christ made the atonement
freely and unconditionally, for all men whether they
believe it or not. As a result of this, redemption is
offered to all, but no force is brought to bear upon man
to secure his belief in it, or his acceptance of it. It is
not a matter of being predestined but a matter of his own
freewill. Many men, indeed most men will either neglect it
or reject it. Granted, only the "elect" receive
the full benefits of the atonement. Some will be lost
inspite of the fact that Christ died for them. The
"elect" are those that are saved and the
invitation to be saved is for "whosoever will"
and "whosoever believeth". It is the uniform
testimony of the New Testament that salvation is a matter
of individual choice. All its offer and promises are
addressed to the individual himself for a decision and all
the blame for its neglect or rejection is laid upon him..
Rev 22:17....whosoever will, let him take the water of
life freely...Heb 2:3--How shall we escape, if we neglect
so great salvation....Mark 16:16--He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall
be damned. Again we say, salvation is a matter of
individual choice and not a matter of being predestined to
it.
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