We have been having a discussion on the sin of man, the sacrifices of the OT and the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus.
I kinda stayed away from the Levitical Law and was not led to study much there.
Was the blood sacrifice really an atonement for sin or was it merely to deal with the guilt of sin?
Sin is irreversible and a bad deed, thought or word cannot be retracted. It is a done deal.
Like all I grew up with the idea God hates sin and it that feared this "hater" of my sin. It is true He hates sin yet he loves the sinner and always has. Jesus made it clear how earthly fathers desire to give good gifts to their children and will not give a stone or serpent, likewise our Heavenly Father who's nature transcends even the best in us desires the same for all His children (Creation).
To sin is bad and I am by no means condoning anything that is sin to you, just do it anyway as God still loves you, no. It is true He loves us in spite of ourselves, He causes blessings on the just and the unjust, things we sometimes wonder where is the justice in it all.
We are told the wages of sin is death. When we become born-again, it is inferred at baptism, we bury the "old man" and rise up in newness with Christ. This is true as the past is washed away. However, somehow the old man stands up soaking wet with us and continues with us till we die physically. Even Paul battled with this reality.
Some hold to the sinful nature that persists is of the devil but again that is a fallacy. Ol' red guy, gets too much credit for our weaknesses. We confess our sin and ask forgiveness for our sin and not the devil's doings. God does not tempt us and neither does the devil. It is our carnal nature that is enmity toward the things of God. Oh it would be nice if the "old man" drowned in the baptismal bath but he does not.
When we realise we are sinners and yet while we were/are, Jesus paid the ultimate price and what did He say? "It is finished"
I once held the view that God was writing our names in the Book of Life in pencil and every time we fell short, erased until we repented, then wrote the name in again. Can you imagine how ludicrous that must seem? What a mess that book would be. I came to realise, there is only and can only be one name in the Lamb's Book of Life, guess who that is? JESUS.
So anyone's name not found in the LBoL was cast into the lake of fire then has a profound different meaning.
We have been taught that these castees are the unsaved/those rejecting the gospel/Jesus yet this IMO is a misnomer. We all fall short and it is only by Grace that we can enter.
If resurrected with our carnal nature, which seems improbable, then all of us will have faults/sins accounted to us hence we would all be castees.
We are taught it is our works that will be judged as by fire and that which is chaff is burned away and only that which is of Jesus, will stand. My oh my, how naked we will stand before our Lord. Because, even our most righteous works will appear as filthy rags before our King. All that will be left standing is the righteous work of the Cross of Jesus. Yet He will embrace us and say, "Enter in my good and faithful servant"
The problem of sin is not so much the sin itself, it is rather the guilt we suffer after the fact. The remission of sin is taken care of but guilt remains.
Just like prayer and worship does more for us than it does for God directly, so to is the act of penance/repentance. When we have sinned we feel God draws away from us but that is a lie. Did Jesus not say He came for the sick? How sick does your guilt make you? Yes while we walk in self condemnation, we withdraw from the Mighty Physician who is able to wipe away all tears and sadness and heaviness of spirit. I (Jesus) will never leave you nor forsake you, I will not leave you comfortless, I will pray the Father send the comforter.
In the OT times, the blood sacrifice was a shadow of that which was to come. The blood sacrifice which God never wanted was to appease the carnal mind/guilt of man. God has always sought to reconcile man so that He again can have intimate relationship with us all. Even if we see some of the sacrifices turned out to be a feast of sorts. People many times ate what was "cooked" on the alter.
God not being able to look upon sin, it has been inferred when Jesus cried out, "Why have you forsaken/abandoned me" that all the sins of the world were upon Jesus. This is not true.
God is able to look past/through our sins and beat a pathway to our hearts and knock on the door of our hearts.
Heb 10:8 Above, when He said, "Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings and offering for sin You did not desire, neither did You have pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the Law),
Heb 10:17 also He adds, "their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more."
Notice, God never took pleasure in the sin offerings and He no longer counts our sins against us.
Heb 10:11 And indeed every priest stands daily ministering and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
Heb 10:18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Heb 12:1 Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Here we see, there is no way to take away our sins and we see too the guilt I was talking about earlier.
1Pe 4:8 And above all things have fervent love to yourselves, for love will cover a multitude of sins.
1Jn 2:1 My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
No matter what the sin is, the Love of God covers it and we have an Advocate defending us.
1Jn 3:9 Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
This last verse, picked out makes it appear that when we become born-again we are sinless and we know that not to be the case. Let us examine this verse a bit.
Firstly, what is born of God? The whole man? The spirit man? The soulish/carnal man?
It can only be one.
It is the spirit man.
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
This is that which is born from above and that from above cannot sin. Looking at that verse a little more we see that His seed remains in him and He cannot sin. It is never taken away. The second he should be Capitalized. I am allowed to make that assertion as him and he are not direct translations.
1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who does righteousness is righteous, even as that One is righteous.
1Jn 3:8 He who practices sin is of the Devil, for the Devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He might undo the works of the Devil.
1Jn 3:9 Everyone who has been born of God does not commit sin, because HIS SEED remains in him, and HE cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
1Jn 3:10 In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the Devil: everyone not practicing righteousness is not of God, also (i.e) he who does not love his brother.
1Jn 3:11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
Some may wish to contend this and that is fine. I know of no man living or dead that can claim he is sinless except for Jesus.
So in spite of our sin, His Love never fails; in spite of our guilt, He never withdraws.
Once you have come to the revelation that sin is taken care of, it will be easier to deal with the guilt of sin and that through repentance, God will wash the guilt away every time.
We look at the prodigal son parable, what do we see. The son went away, obviously against his father's wishes. The son after all he did wrong comes to the realisation, is burdened with the guilt and returns to the only one who ran to meet him, gave him the finest robe, prepared a feast to celebrate. That was an earthly father. How much more does our Heavenly Father stand with His arms extended to embrace us? His Love is Unconditional |
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