"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20)
God said, “I will smite” Mt 26:31
The Gentiles – “Pilate..delivered Jesus” Mr 15:15.
The Jews – “killed the Prince of life” Acts 3:15.
Christ offered himself – “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” Joh 10:18 .
For Further Information on this and other Bible Topics please contact us at: www.TheNewWorldOrder.org
It was necessary for Jesus Christ to die as a sacrificial lamb to take away the sin that was brought into the world by Adam and Eve’s sin.
Joh 1:29 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Christ’s death was in the plan of God from the beginning. Christ understood throughout his life that he was going to be the sacrificial “lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world”, and willingly submitted to it. The Jew and Gentile in fulfilling their own evil purposes in killing Christ were nevertheless both used by God to fulfill His merciful salvation for mankind.
Adam and Eve sinned bringing death upon themselves and all their posterity. Immediately after their sin, God promised to remove this evil through the seed of the woman [Jesus Christ]. He promised that, in time, the woman would bear a son that would crush to death the serpent and the evil consequence brought into being because of it.
Gen 3:15 God said, “I will put enmity between thee [the serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed [the serpents] and her seed; it [the seed of the woman] shall bruise thy head [the serpents], and thou [the serpent] shalt bruise his heel.”
God then killed a lamb and covered Adam and Eve with the skin of it (Gen 3:21). This lamb represented Jesus Christ. His death was necessary to cover, to take away the sin that was brought into the world through the sin of Adam and Eve.
Joh 1:29 “John [the Baptist] seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Re 13:8 “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
John the Baptist thus identified Jesus Christ as the seed of the woman who through his lamb-like sacrificial death would remove the sin brought into the world by the sin of Adam and Eve.
Thus, Christ’s sinless life [1Pe 2:22 ], his death, and his resurrection were part of God’s plan from the beginning, to take away sin, and ultimately bring perfection to the earth.
Christ died as foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures. 1 Cor 15:3 “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.”
52. In what way does God save men from their sins by Christ?
Answer: He forgives them for Christ’s sake, and by the power of His teaching, He turns men away from their sins, and leads them to righteousness.
Proof:
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (Eph. 4:32).
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: (Col. 1:14).
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. (1 John 2:12).
Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. (Acts 3:26).
53. Why, for Christ’s sake, does God forgive?
Answer: Because of what has been accomplished in him.
Proof:
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53.12).
54. What has been accomplished in Christ?
Answer: Sin has been condemned in his death on the cross, and the righteousness of God has been declared and exhibited to all the world in the shedding of his blood.
Proof:
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. (Rom. 6:10).
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24).
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Rom. 8:3).
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Rom. 3:25-26).
55. How could sin be condemned in Christ who was sinless? and how could the righteousness of God be declared in the blood-shedding of a righteous man?
Answer: Because being born of Adam’s condemned race, and partaking of their condemned nature, Christ was made subject, equally with them, to the consequences of Adam’s transgression. Therefore his public execution was a public exhibition of what was due to man from God. It pleased God to require this before inviting man to reconciliation through the man in whom this vindication should take place.
Proof:
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Heb. 2:14).
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Heb. 9:26).
Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; (Rom. 1:3).
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. (Rom. 6:9-10).
56. Where did Jesus differ in this matter from other men?
Answer: Where Jesus in this matter differed from other men was, in the spotlessness of his personal character, on account of which the Father was well-pleased. Jesus required no forgiveness. It was this that opened the way for his resurrection. For had he been a sinner as other men, death must have held the power over him that it had over them. But God raised him from the dead after sin had been condemned in his crucifixion, and being raised from the dead, ‘Death hath no more dominion over him’. ‘He ever liveth to make intercession for us, and is able to save to the uttermost all those who come unto God by him.’ In this way he has become the righteousness of God to us.
Proof:
For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; (Heb. 7:26).
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Heb. 4:15).
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? (John 8:46).
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matt. 3:17).
And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (1 John 3:5).
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Acts 2:24-27).
MANY difficulties concerning the death of Christ have been due to the idea that he died instead of the sinner, like an innocent man going to the gallows, and letting the murderer go free. This is obviously unjust, and raises the question how God can be shown to be righteous by such a means. Further, if the penalty due to men has been paid, why do men still suffer it by dying?
A more modern view has seen in Christ’s death the supreme act of love which wins men’s hearts by its example. While this is less repugnant to one’s sense of justice, it is by no means the whole truth set forth in the Bible. What that truth is we may begin to discover by asking a few questions, and answering them in the words of the Scripture.
1. Why did Christ die?
ANSWER: “Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:10). “Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). “One died for all” (2 Cor. 5:14).
2. But what does this mean? Does “die for” mean “die instead of” or “die on account of”? This is answered by the following citations, in which the original word translated “for” is the same.
ANSWER: “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). “He gave himself for our sins” (Gal. 1:4). “He offered one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Heb. 10:12). “He ever liveth to make intercession for us” (Heb. 7:25).
3. But then comes the question, Why was it necessary that Christ should die on account of our sins?
ANSWER: “To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. . . . that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25).
Sin is “remitted” or forgiven through the “forbearance” of God, and God exercises this forbearance because His righteousness has been “declared” by means of Christ’s death: He can therefore forgive erring men while His own righteousness is upheld, and He does not appear to condone the sin.
4. Why should God require the declaration of His righteousness before He will exercise His kindness in pardoning our offences with a view to granting eternal life?
ANSWER: “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified” (Lev. 10:3). “I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts; and my name is dreadful” (Mal. 1:14). He is “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy” (Isa. 57:15); He is “clothed with honour and majesty” (Psa. 104 :1); “Holy and reverend is his name” (Psa. 111:9); “Let all the earth keep silence before him” (Hab. 2:20).
5. In what way was the righteousness of God, in His dealings with mankind, declared in the sacrifice of Jesus?
ANSWER: Death came upon all men through Adam (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21). Sentence of death was passed on Adam because of his disobedience (Gen. 3:19). All who came from him suffered the consequence, although they had not taken part in the original offence (Rom. 5:14). This is not unjust: it is as inevitable as that a blackbird will breed blackbirds. A clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean (Job 14:4); and Adam’s nature being corrupted as the result of sin, those who are propagated from him necessarily share in the corruption. So babes are mortal, though they never sinned. Yet God cannot accept the “unclean thing”, and give such a being eternal life. Jesus, though Son of God, was also son of man, sharing in human nature in all points. (Read carefully Heb. 2:9-18; 4:15; Rom. 8:3; 1:3; 1 Tim.2:3-6; Matt. 1:1).
Being one of the human race, Jesus could represent all men. He could submit to death on their behalf in order to declare publicly that death is due to them all.
6. But why could not the same declaration of righteousness have taken place in the death of any other son of Adam?
ANSWER: Because, in the case of any other son of Adam, the result would have been abortive. The righteousness of God is declared in the death of every sinner, but stops short at the grave. The object in the case of Christ was to go beyond the grave — to abolish death, through or by means of death, and this could only be done in one who was without sin, for only such a one could rise from the dead to immortality.
“He hath abolished death” (2 Tim. 1:10). He took part in flesh and blood “that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the devil”, that is sin for he “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 2:14; 9:26). “He died unto sin once” (Rom. 6:10). “Death hath no more dominion over him” (verse 9).
7. Would the sacrificial declaration of the righteousness of God in the death of Christ have availed anything if Christ had not risen from the dead?
ANSWER: “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:14). “Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished” (verse 18). “It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again” (Rom. 8:34).
If Christ died merely as a substitute for men, and so paid the price due from them, it would not be necessary for their salvation that he should rise from the dead. Nor would it be if the only object of his death was to influence them by a sublime example of love.
8. Why was the resurrection of Christ necessary in order that his sacrifice might bring life?
ANSWER: Because the plan was to make one perfect, and give him power as head, captain, and judge over all who come unto God by him (Heb. 2:10; 5:7-9; 7:25; John 5:22-27; 17:2).
9. Have we to be brought into contact with the sacrificial declaration of the righteousness of God in the death of Christ before we can approach God acceptably?
ANSWER: Yes,in baptism. God has appointed baptism as a taking part in the death of Christ on the part of those who are baptized.
“We are baptized into his death” (Rom. 6:3). “Buried with him in baptism” (Col. 2:12).
Remission of sins is offered through the risen and glorified Christ to all who believe the gospel, and associate themselves with his death through baptism (Acts 2:38; 13:38 ; Rom. 6:4-5). Such put on the name of Christ in the act of baptism (Gal. 3:27) and stand covered by him to whom God has given power to forgive sins, and to bestow immortal life when he returns from heaven.