“Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son” (Genesis 22:13).
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
“The Old Testament prophets deepened Israel’s understanding of sin. All sin is sin against Jehovah, the covenant God. Sin is Israel’s breach of the covenant. Within the context of this understanding of sin is revealed the idea of atoning sacrifices as a manifestation of the grace of Jehovah. It was God’s way appointed for removing the sin barrier, of restoring the covenant, and of bringing Israel back into fellowship with their covenant God. Atoning sacrifices, then, are not so much man’s gift to God as God’s gift to man. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls” (Lev. 17:11). The blood through which atonement is effected is a gift from Jehovah God. The provision for sacrificial worship is made by the covenant God Himself. The apparatus of sacrifice is itself a gift graciously granted by the covenant God in order to give man the opportunity for confession and reparation.”
(Robert Culpepper – Adapted)
To sin is to break faith and fellowship with our Creator and God. So how do we rid ourselves of guilt, remove the sin barrier, and be restored to a right-standing and renewed fellowship with Him?
Man is wholly unable to purify his own soul and work his way back into God’s favor. But, because God is gracious and merciful, because He loves us with a love which defies comprehension, He Himself has provided the way back! It is the way of blood sacrifice! The Lord has instructed how it is to be done (priest and altar) and has even provided the sacrifice!
As God provided the ram to Abraham to be offered in Isaacs’s place, and as He provided all the lambs to Israel through the centuries to be offered in behalf of guilty sinners, so He provided the Son of His love to be offered as an atonement for all men! Thus went Jesus to Calvary, the gift of God to the world, that through His death we might be forgiven, restored, and live eternally!
What a great God, what a great gift, what a great love! May we in gratitude return His love and serve Him forever!
Larry Atkin, Preacher
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