The Way to Christ

"Jesus came to earth to pay the price we owed for sinning against God."

JESUS CAME TO EARTH to pay the price we owed for sinning against God. God did for us what we couldn’t afford to do. Or do correctly. He made ATONEMENT, also called PROPITIATION in the King James Version. This is a big hairy word meaning expiation, another big hairy word. Expiation is reparation, which is atonement. I know, I know, that’s too much. So look at the bottom for a chart. But point is, atonement is paying what is owed to the one you owe it to.

Jesus became a man, so as a man, He could take care of it all.

“There was something the law could not do, because flesh and blood could not lend it the power; and this God has done, by sending His own Son, in the fashion of our guilty nature, to make amends for the guilt.” (Romans 8:3, Knox)

He put the devil under our feet because the Father put the devil under His (Ephesians 1:21-23). He ended the fear of death (Hebrews 2:15). By His stripes we are healed and made whole (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). He destroyed all the devil’s works. The devil’s works are sin, fear, mental and physical trauma, deception, strife, anger and hostility, murder, perversion, and all other wounds of death (John 8:44; James 3:16). It is not that the devil CREATED these things, but these are the evidences of death which his sin caused.

The evidence of life in us is the Holy Spirit. He is the EARNEST or guarantee or pledge of our salvation, from our new birth and into the promise of eternity (Ephesians 1:14). The Father, in effect, gave us all He is so that we would know how much we are loved and how much He will do for us. Spiritual Death causes pain and suffering (physical death), and confusion and hatred and violence. In Genesis, we see God’s words to Adam that he would have to toil to produce fruit, that Eve would suffer pain to give birth, and there would be submission, or a social caste. But also see God clothed them. The first legitimate death on earth was His, and the last legitimate sacrificial death was His, in Jesus Christ. God would not give that to the devil but condemned sin and death when He placed angels to guard the way into the garden. This pictures the mercy seat, which rested above the Law, showing the way to Christ.

“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24 KJV)

“And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.” (Exodus 25:20 KJV)

God is merciful. It has always been His intent to bring mankind back to Him. He wanted us to be close to Him, to be free of sin and death, and to walk in joy and peace for all of our lives – on this earth and in heaven. But ATONEMENT was needed, a price must be paid, and it would require, not man’s vision of God’s Messiah, as a conquering soldier, but a humble man who walked in mercy, surrendered to it. In the sacrifices of the Law, the kidneys were removed from the animal. These pictured the will and the emotions, man’s selfish desire to go his own way and do what he wants. They are sometimes called the “reins” in the King James Version. They are also seen as the bread of the New Covenant.

We eat the bread of communion to remember Jesus’ body, crushed at His death, but also because it is a picture of His doing the Father’s will and not His own. Or we could say His will WAS the Father’s will. And it is a picture of us committing to do the same. That the bread is unleavened is there being no sin in it. Jesus never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). This was only possible to Him because He was filled with the Holy Spirit without measure. In other words, He had ALL of the Father, and they were and are in perfect unity.

“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 17:21 KJV)

Here is our RELATIONSHIP with Him. For that’s what all those big words are about. God became man so that man could become like God and abide with Him all day, every day, for infinity. We were made in His image after His likeness so that He could become one of us and heal all that was broken. Just think of this. All that was needed for Him to be the perfect sacrifice was planned to be created in us, before there ever was a world. We have a heart that pumps blood, so His could be shed. His was shed to pay the price for our sins. From Adam’s rib came Eve, so that from Eve could come Adam.

“So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being;’ the last Adam a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45 BSB)

PROPITIATION
Reference: Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:10
G2434, Strong’s Concordance; Thayer’s, an appeasing, atonement, an expiator, propitiation
Dictionary.com, (Propitiation) Expiation, Latin expiation, atonement, satisfaction
Dictionary.com, (Expiation), the means by which atonement or reparation is made.
Dictionary.com, (Atonement), satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends.
Dictionary.com, (Reparation) (a) compensation in money, material, labor, etc., payable by a defeated country to another country or to an individual for loss suffered during or as a result of war: (b) monetary or other compensation payable by a country to an individual for a historical wrong:

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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com