The
next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
In the beginning God created
the heavens, the earth, and all living things. Then he created man. Things were
created to display God’s power and glory. Man was created for fellowship and to
be loved by God and for man to love God in return.
God knew from the beginning
that giving man the option of disobeying him that he would break the relationship.
So God created a redemption plan that would rescue his relationship with man.
It was a plan to recover the relationship by paying a specified cost to save
mankind from its state of sinfulness and its consequences.
He set the price of redemption
at the very highest level. It was a plan to send his son to earth as the Son of
Man, as well as being the Son of God, to die with a broken body and the
shedding of his blood. The shedding of
blood was the price to be paid for redemption.
The first incident in the
Scriptures where a blood sacrifice was shown to be necessary came when Cain and
Abel offered sacrifices to God. Cain offered grain while Abel offered a blood
sacrifice. Only Abel’s sacrifice was accepted.
The next incident in the
Scriptures where a blood sacrifice was necessary was when God told Abraham to offer
his only son Isaac. Just as Abraham was about to carry out God's instructions God
spared Isaac by providing a lamb that was then substituted for the blood
sacrifice of Isaac. This was prophetic because God would one day offer his only
son.
Another incident that
confirmed the necessity for the use of blood was when God instructed the
Israelites to paint blood on their doorposts. By doing this they saved their
firstborn child. This occurred when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to release the
Israelites from slavery. God punished Pharaoh by sending 10 plagues. The last
one was the killing of the first born in each family, if the family refused to paint
blood on their doorposts.
Under the old covenant system
each family would bring a lamb to the Temple
When Jesus completed his
three-year ministry on earth he was crucified. A soldier pierced his side with
a spear and the blood flowed. It was the final redemptive sacrifice to cover
all of mankind’s sin, past present and future.
During the night when Christ
was betrayed by Judas at the Passover supper, Jesus revealed to the disciples
his impending death. He instructed them to remember him every time they ate
bread and drink wine. The bread represented Christ’s broken body and the wine
represented his shed blood. Every time we participate in Holy Communion we
should think about God’s redemption plan and that he loved us enough to give His
Only Son to redeem us from our sin.
Being redeemed is a humbling
but joyous event. It gives us peace by knowing that all our sins are covered
and gone forever, if we accept Jesus as Savior. If you have not accepted God’s
redemption plan, why not do it now.
Every good story has a happy ending and the
story of redemption is no exception…..and they all lived happily ever after.
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