Why the Nails??
I know you are probably wondering why there was no Easter sermon posted this month. Well, as I see it, there were plenty of churches about that saw to that aspect of the Christian calendar. And I didn’t want to duplicate that fine work here. I wanted to extend it!
I want to focus on a different aspect of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. I wanted to ask the question, why did Jesus have to die for us? And by that I mean, why did it have to be the Son of God, Jesus Christ that had to die for us?
Haven’t you ever wondered why it had to be Jesus on the cross? I mean we did, up to that point at least, have the sacrifice of animals. Wasn’t this sufficient for the forgiveness of sin? Why did God Himself have to shed His blood on a cross for us. Why not something else?
In order to answer these questions, we have to look back in the Old Testament, at the sacrifices commanded by God. First question is what are the sacrifices for? Why sacrifice anything? After all, isn’t being sorry enough?
There is but one reason for the shedding of blood. Sin! Scripture tells us the penalty for sin is death. All sin, not just a few, really bad, sins. God does not grade on a curve. It’s like having a death penalty hanging over your head for murder and parking violations.
God does not make a distinction between the severity of different sins like we do. We tend to make excuses. Murder is bad, but maybe there are extenuating circumstances. Homosexuality, bad. But maybe it’s just a life style. A little gossip never hurt anyone or everybody cheats on their taxes.
These sins and more, and don’t think for a minute that any of those listed above are not sin, are seen by God as one thing. Sin! Defiance of God. He sees only one penalty for sin, death. Murder someone, death. Live a homosexual “life style,” death. Gossip, death. Lie, cheat or steal, death. God doesn’t listen to excuses.
Now God loves us. He doesn’t want to see us die. And let’s face it, if He killed everyone that sinned as an atonement for that sin as His justice demands, nobody is really going to learn anything so they can avoid the sin next time, allowing them to move closer to God in the process. They would be lost forever since they could not come into the Father’s presence, stained with sin. And frankly, God would probably have to repopulate the Earth every second Tuesday, seeing as there probably wouldn’t be anyone left on the planet from month to month!
So God provided a substitute for our atoning deaths by permitting us to offer the blood of animals. The Law and Justice of God demanded a life for sin, so God allowed us to offer the life of animals in place of ourselves.
Now, what is so special about a life being offered? Can’t it be something else? Cash perhaps, of labor? No. You see, a life is precious, unique, one of a kind. It is irreplaceable. That’s what makes it so special. Even if the ancients were just offering a dove as a sacrifice, that particular bird was unique in all of God’s creation. Like people, there was nor ever will be, another quite like that one dove.
Mat 10:29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.” If you were still unconvinced as to the worth of mere animals, the preceding verse should settle the issue. Let’s see how this verse is written in other translations:
NASB: “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”
Amplified: “Are not two little sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's leave (consent) and notice.”
NLT: “Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it."
KJV: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father."
NKJV: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.”
Note the commonality between each translation. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father knowing about it and consenting to it! The sacrifice of animals was a unique, irreplaceable offering to God for the forgiveness of our sins. And not only that, the offering had to be without blemish, i.e. perfect!
Now without blemish mean perfect appearance and health in the case of animals. Offering the best to God, because He deserves the best. I doubt any child of God would try to dispute such a recognized truth.
So if we had to offer ourselves for our sins, how would we stack up against animals? Well, ask yourself how many of us are without blemish? A mole, a scar perhaps? Any physical imperfection makes you unworthy as a sacrifice in God’s eyes. And we have one added blemish that animals don’t have. Sin! Assuming that we could ever offer ourselves to absolve our sin before God, how could we ever do so since we are already stained by sin?
No, the only answer was animal sacrifices to substitute for our deserved deaths due to our rebellious natures. Animals are unique and without blemish spiritually and physically.
So why was this not good enough? Why did Jesus have to come to Earth to die for us? An animal sacrifice is only temporary. While it covers sin, it does not wash them away. And not only that, it only covers sins committed up to that point. Commit another sin, sacrifice another animal.
How could any one of us have the security of Grace, forgiveness and salvation, knowing we have unforgiven sin on our heads because we have fallen since our last offering? The answer is we can’t.
The Old Testament was a shadow of things to come. Animal sacrifice was a stop-gap measure until Jesus offered Himself for our sin on Earth. Let’s see what makes Jesus so uniquely qualified for the job.
Jesus is without blemish, both physically and spiritually. He is unique. He is God! And what animals could do on a temporary basis, God can do once for all time. Only God Himself was able to fulfill what the Justice of God demanded. The death of the sinner.
How could anything else satisfy the Father’s sense of Justice, yet also satisfy His sense of Mercy? Nothing but the sacrifice of God Himself could accomplish this dual purpose.
Jesus was the only one pure enough, righteous enough and strong enough to bear the penalty that awaited us. Jesus took not only all sin, past, present and future upon Himself, He took the very wraith of Almighty Father God upon Himself in order to shield us from God’s fury.
Think of it this way. Could you hope to bear the weight of your own sin, past, present and future along with the full wraith of God that was reserved just for you? Not anyone else’s sin and punishment, just yours? Nope, not a chance!
Jesus Christ got on that cross and exchanged His righteousness for our sin and punishment. And while this is a great deal for us, as we that accept His sacrifice, are now righteous before the Father, it doesn’t sound like a great deal for Him.
That is because we cannot even begin to understand the depth of His love for us. Do you realize that God loves you so much that He would rather die than go through eternity without you? How can we even come close to understanding that? If it came down to a choice between the universe or you, POOF - the universe is gone. What an incredible God we have, to love us that much!
So, was this the only reason for the Son of God to appear on Earth or could there be any other reason why Jesus had to come to the cross? I believe there was.
Through the ages in the Old Testament, we see examples of man trying to represent himself to God and God trying to represent Himself to man. The one example I’d like to focus on is Moses.
Moses was scared, but he answered God’s call to serve. Not without first trying to weasel out of his calling I might add. There’s something we can identify with, amen?
Moses tried to represent God to Israel and Israel to God. But in the end he was just a man. He could not bridge the divide that separated us from God. Even God’s presence as fire by night and cloud by day was not enough for the Israelites. They remained stiff necked, as the bible says. In the end, Moses own sin cause him to be denied entry into Canaan.
A man alone, even with God’s presence visible behind him, just could not bear the weight of representing God to man and man to God. So what could possibly be the solution to this dilemma? An amalgamation!
Only man could represent God to man and only God could represent man to God. It was a simple and elegant solution to the problem. So Jesus set aside His divinity by choice and became, not half God and half man but fully God and fully man. And by doing so, He was able to become High Priest for us, interceding with the Father on our behalf.
Heb 5:5-6 “So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
"You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.” And he says in another place,
"You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek."”
Jesus as God represents us to the Father, atoning for our sin. And Jesus the Man, the Son of Man, represents God to us as the exact representation of the Father.
John 14:8-9 “Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"
Heb 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
There was no other way. Only God the Son could stand up to the demands of God’s Justice and only the Son of Man could represent God’s Mercy and unfathomable love to man. The Resurrection day celebration is not for once a year but for every day. It is a miracle to live in awe of on a daily basis. A miracle to praise and thank God for each and every day!
Why the nails? Without them we are condemned to death by the law. With them we have righteousness of Jesus our Elder Brother, and the freedom in Christ from death for eternity! Thank God for the nails…
In His name…
© 2006 Church of Hope, Inc.
I know you are probably wondering why there was no Easter sermon posted this month. Well, as I see it, there were plenty of churches about that saw to that aspect of the Christian calendar. And I didn’t want to duplicate that fine work here. I wanted to extend it!
I want to focus on a different aspect of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. I wanted to ask the question, why did Jesus have to die for us? And by that I mean, why did it have to be the Son of God, Jesus Christ that had to die for us?
Haven’t you ever wondered why it had to be Jesus on the cross? I mean we did, up to that point at least, have the sacrifice of animals. Wasn’t this sufficient for the forgiveness of sin? Why did God Himself have to shed His blood on a cross for us. Why not something else?
In order to answer these questions, we have to look back in the Old Testament, at the sacrifices commanded by God. First question is what are the sacrifices for? Why sacrifice anything? After all, isn’t being sorry enough?
There is but one reason for the shedding of blood. Sin! Scripture tells us the penalty for sin is death. All sin, not just a few, really bad, sins. God does not grade on a curve. It’s like having a death penalty hanging over your head for murder and parking violations.
God does not make a distinction between the severity of different sins like we do. We tend to make excuses. Murder is bad, but maybe there are extenuating circumstances. Homosexuality, bad. But maybe it’s just a life style. A little gossip never hurt anyone or everybody cheats on their taxes.
These sins and more, and don’t think for a minute that any of those listed above are not sin, are seen by God as one thing. Sin! Defiance of God. He sees only one penalty for sin, death. Murder someone, death. Live a homosexual “life style,” death. Gossip, death. Lie, cheat or steal, death. God doesn’t listen to excuses.
Now God loves us. He doesn’t want to see us die. And let’s face it, if He killed everyone that sinned as an atonement for that sin as His justice demands, nobody is really going to learn anything so they can avoid the sin next time, allowing them to move closer to God in the process. They would be lost forever since they could not come into the Father’s presence, stained with sin. And frankly, God would probably have to repopulate the Earth every second Tuesday, seeing as there probably wouldn’t be anyone left on the planet from month to month!
So God provided a substitute for our atoning deaths by permitting us to offer the blood of animals. The Law and Justice of God demanded a life for sin, so God allowed us to offer the life of animals in place of ourselves.
Now, what is so special about a life being offered? Can’t it be something else? Cash perhaps, of labor? No. You see, a life is precious, unique, one of a kind. It is irreplaceable. That’s what makes it so special. Even if the ancients were just offering a dove as a sacrifice, that particular bird was unique in all of God’s creation. Like people, there was nor ever will be, another quite like that one dove.
Mat 10:29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.” If you were still unconvinced as to the worth of mere animals, the preceding verse should settle the issue. Let’s see how this verse is written in other translations:
NASB: “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”
Amplified: “Are not two little sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's leave (consent) and notice.”
NLT: “Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it."
KJV: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father."
NKJV: “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.”
Note the commonality between each translation. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father knowing about it and consenting to it! The sacrifice of animals was a unique, irreplaceable offering to God for the forgiveness of our sins. And not only that, the offering had to be without blemish, i.e. perfect!
Now without blemish mean perfect appearance and health in the case of animals. Offering the best to God, because He deserves the best. I doubt any child of God would try to dispute such a recognized truth.
So if we had to offer ourselves for our sins, how would we stack up against animals? Well, ask yourself how many of us are without blemish? A mole, a scar perhaps? Any physical imperfection makes you unworthy as a sacrifice in God’s eyes. And we have one added blemish that animals don’t have. Sin! Assuming that we could ever offer ourselves to absolve our sin before God, how could we ever do so since we are already stained by sin?
No, the only answer was animal sacrifices to substitute for our deserved deaths due to our rebellious natures. Animals are unique and without blemish spiritually and physically.
So why was this not good enough? Why did Jesus have to come to Earth to die for us? An animal sacrifice is only temporary. While it covers sin, it does not wash them away. And not only that, it only covers sins committed up to that point. Commit another sin, sacrifice another animal.
How could any one of us have the security of Grace, forgiveness and salvation, knowing we have unforgiven sin on our heads because we have fallen since our last offering? The answer is we can’t.
The Old Testament was a shadow of things to come. Animal sacrifice was a stop-gap measure until Jesus offered Himself for our sin on Earth. Let’s see what makes Jesus so uniquely qualified for the job.
Jesus is without blemish, both physically and spiritually. He is unique. He is God! And what animals could do on a temporary basis, God can do once for all time. Only God Himself was able to fulfill what the Justice of God demanded. The death of the sinner.
How could anything else satisfy the Father’s sense of Justice, yet also satisfy His sense of Mercy? Nothing but the sacrifice of God Himself could accomplish this dual purpose.
Jesus was the only one pure enough, righteous enough and strong enough to bear the penalty that awaited us. Jesus took not only all sin, past, present and future upon Himself, He took the very wraith of Almighty Father God upon Himself in order to shield us from God’s fury.
Think of it this way. Could you hope to bear the weight of your own sin, past, present and future along with the full wraith of God that was reserved just for you? Not anyone else’s sin and punishment, just yours? Nope, not a chance!
Jesus Christ got on that cross and exchanged His righteousness for our sin and punishment. And while this is a great deal for us, as we that accept His sacrifice, are now righteous before the Father, it doesn’t sound like a great deal for Him.
That is because we cannot even begin to understand the depth of His love for us. Do you realize that God loves you so much that He would rather die than go through eternity without you? How can we even come close to understanding that? If it came down to a choice between the universe or you, POOF - the universe is gone. What an incredible God we have, to love us that much!
So, was this the only reason for the Son of God to appear on Earth or could there be any other reason why Jesus had to come to the cross? I believe there was.
Through the ages in the Old Testament, we see examples of man trying to represent himself to God and God trying to represent Himself to man. The one example I’d like to focus on is Moses.
Moses was scared, but he answered God’s call to serve. Not without first trying to weasel out of his calling I might add. There’s something we can identify with, amen?
Moses tried to represent God to Israel and Israel to God. But in the end he was just a man. He could not bridge the divide that separated us from God. Even God’s presence as fire by night and cloud by day was not enough for the Israelites. They remained stiff necked, as the bible says. In the end, Moses own sin cause him to be denied entry into Canaan.
A man alone, even with God’s presence visible behind him, just could not bear the weight of representing God to man and man to God. So what could possibly be the solution to this dilemma? An amalgamation!
Only man could represent God to man and only God could represent man to God. It was a simple and elegant solution to the problem. So Jesus set aside His divinity by choice and became, not half God and half man but fully God and fully man. And by doing so, He was able to become High Priest for us, interceding with the Father on our behalf.
Heb 5:5-6 “So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
"You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.” And he says in another place,
"You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek."”
Jesus as God represents us to the Father, atoning for our sin. And Jesus the Man, the Son of Man, represents God to us as the exact representation of the Father.
John 14:8-9 “Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"
Heb 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
There was no other way. Only God the Son could stand up to the demands of God’s Justice and only the Son of Man could represent God’s Mercy and unfathomable love to man. The Resurrection day celebration is not for once a year but for every day. It is a miracle to live in awe of on a daily basis. A miracle to praise and thank God for each and every day!
Why the nails? Without them we are condemned to death by the law. With them we have righteousness of Jesus our Elder Brother, and the freedom in Christ from death for eternity! Thank God for the nails…
In His name…
© 2006 Church of Hope, Inc.