Continuing our study of God’s revelation to man, in this program we will go further in our study of the message which God gave to mankind through the Apostle John in his short epistle which is called John’s first general letter. “If we walk in the light we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7 ASV)
Everyone of us needs cleansing from sin. Our own conscience tells us that we are sinful. In addition to our conscience the Bible clearly tells us of our sinful condition. It says, “There is none righteous, no not one; There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God; They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, not so much as one: …all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:10-12, 23 ASV)
Because of our sin we are under the death penalty. Scripture tells us, “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23 ASV) The only hope is for someone to take our penalty on himself so we may be freed from that penalty.
God has been communicating that message for many centuries. For example, when Abraham sinned, God told him to sacrifice his son as an offering to free him from his sins. However, at the last minute God provided a ram for the sacrifice. Therefore, Abraham’s son was spared. In that experience of Abraham and his son there was not only an anticipation of the future but also a prediction of the future. In fulfillment of that prediction, many centuries later, God gave the one he calls his Son to be a sacrifice in every person’s sin. In contrast, though Abraham’s son was spared at the last minute, the Son of God had to die. There could be no substitute for him! If there was to be a way of salvation for mankind, Christ had to die!
Through our sin we have forfeited our right to live. To get our right to life back someone had to die in our place. However, it had to be someone who was completely sinless. A sinful person could not give his life for the redemption of another sinner because he would be under a death sentence because of his own sins. Out of the entire human race only Jesus Christ lived a totally sinless life. That is why he is called ‘Jesus Christ the righteous.’ The sinlessness of Christ was asserted by himself He said, “Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?” (John 8:46 NIV) Peter who was one of his disciples and who lived with him more than three years said, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” (1 Peter 2:22 NIV). Paul who at first rejected Jesus came to understand the truth and then wrote, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV). The apostle John wrote, “You know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.” (1 John 3:5 NIV)
He was, therefore, the only one who could give his life so we might gain back the right to live. To do that Christ had to shed his blood. Shedding his blood was based on the fundamental principle of sacrifice. God has told us that, “the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life.” (Leviticus 17:11 ASV)
Many prophecies in scripture foretold that Christ would give his life as a ransom for mankind. One of the outstanding places where God’s Spirit testified beforehand of the sufferings and death of Christ, it is in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah! Please consider just a few statements from that remarkable prophecy:
First, in Isaiah 53:11 we are told, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, (and) shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities.” The death of Jesus was the legal basis upon which God could justify anyone who yields his life to obey God through Jesus Christ. God cannot forgive anyone who does not accept the arrangement which he has made for all mankind through Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us, “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies the man who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25-26 NIV)
Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice entirely willingly. Isaiah prophesied that he would do this. He said, “Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12)
Notice that it was ‘he’ who poured out his soul. It was not someone else who did it. Jesus himself emphasized that his death was entirely voluntary. He said, “Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one taketh it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. …” (John 10:17-18)
Because everyone of us is a sinner, everyone of us needs “the blood of Jesus his Son” to cleanse us from all our sin. Without that cleansing, none of us can ever be with God. But we need to understand what the conditions are upon which God will apply the blood of Jesus to us to cleanse us. Please listen to our next program to learn how every person may be saved through the sacrifice which the Messiah made for each one of us.