To teach the truth of Christ is the great commission (Mat.28:19-20). Yet for many, the greatest truth of all - that ‘Jesus died for our sins’ – remains the greatest mystery. How can His blood provide forgiveness for sins? As the Passover Lamb of God, on the eve of His death, after eating a meal with His disciples, Jesus took wine and poured it out for them, saying: ‘This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins’ (Mat.26:28, NKJ). Somehow, His shed blood would allow many to be forgiven. He undertook to die for this reason, that through the sacrifice of His life, many would escape the condemnation of God for their sins. Commenting on the phrase: ‘life is in the blood’ (Lev.17:11), Leon Morris remarked that ‘life yielded up in death’ was the sacrificial meaning of ‘blood’ (The Cross in the New Testament, p.219). The blood, therefore, signifies the life that was given up for our sakes. We should also note that it was His ‘blood’ that His disciples were instructed to imbibe – meaning, of course, His life. The apostles would have understood the wine as having this significance, yet it was a sacrificial life. The drinking of this wine also signified ‘the Lord’s death’ (1 Cor.11:26, NKJ).
Still, the question remains: ‘How can the blood of Christ – poured out when He gave up His life in crucifixion – be the means of our forgiveness?’ How can it be understood that He died for our sins?
Clearly, the Bible teaches that forgiveness is necessary if we are to be saved. If there is no forgiveness, then sin remains – and with it the condemnation of the Law. It is forgiveness that takes away condemnation for sins. If we are unforgiven, then no matter how sincerely sorry we are for past transgressions, the just requirements of the Law for our sins remain to condemn us. Past sins need to be forgiven. They need to be cancelled, as far as the Law is concerned – as though they never occured. The forgiveness of God is of this kind: ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool’ (Isa.1:18, NKJ). ‘I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins’ (Isa.43:25, NKJ).
Forgiveness is an act of grace on the part of God – an undeserved pardon. We need forgiveness – for we cannot of ourselves cancel the condemnation that our sins incur. By ourselves, we can never truly be righteous, nor escape our sinful condition. We cannot ’save ourselves’, but we can act to ‘be saved‘ (Acts 2:40, NKJ). As God reaches out to us, therefore, so we must respond. We need to repent, but we also need to believe. We need to believe that the Lord will complete and bring to reality His righteousness in us as we seek to follow His Son. We need to look to Christ in repentance and faith. It is then the Lord delivers us from our sins and grants us newness of life, of His Spirit (Acts 2:38).
‘For God so loved the world,’ John wrote, ‘that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16, NKJ).
We need to believe in the Word of God – that He suffered and died for our sins, as indicated by the references to His blood shed for us. The blood speaks of man’s sin against man and God. As ‘God with us’ (Mat.1:23), He truly became able to forgive as both Man and God through all that He suffered on Earth unto His death by crucifixion. All sins against mankind thus became sins against Him, as the Head of mankind. By suffering our sins, He became able to forgive us our sins – no matter how small or great. The cross permitted such a sufficiency of suffering as would provide an equivalence for all the suffering caused by sin and so allow Him to forgive all sin. Nevertheless, forgiveness alone cannot take away sin. We need also to be helped and saved from our sinfulness if we are to be holy like Christ. To be saved, therefore, we need both the forgiveness of God and the transforming gift of the Holy Spirit, through whom is new life in Christ. The metaphor of His blood poured out for us to drink speaks of His life renewing our own by the outpouring of His Spirit into our hearts (Rom.5:5), as prophesied (Joel 2:29).
Jesus came to ’bear witness to the truth’ (John 18:37). This witness we find in the writings of the New Testament, especially in the Gospels. Jesus fulfilled all that was spoken of Him in the Law and the Prophets (Luke 24:27). He prophesied that He would be put to death and would rise again. He confirmed God’s word through many miraculous acts of power and healing. He appeared to His disciples in bodily form after He had risen from the dead. Jesus came as ‘the Truth’ of God (John 14:6) – personified in word and deed. Today, we are called to proclaim His truth to as many as will hear.
His sacrifice was the acceptable offering to God for our sakes. Through Him, we have forgiveness and new life. In Him, the Lord judges us not as we are, but as we shall be, according to our faith in Christ. The righteousness of the Son is thus imputed to all who are His disciples. We are accepted together with Him, accorded His righteousness through faith and forgiven all our sins.
This book endeavours to assert this truth. Contrary teachings are examined and my prayer is that the reader will come to a better understanding of the greatest truth of all: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Amen.
Norman McIlwain
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