“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” Leviticus 17:11
Mankind’s problem is not just that we sin but that we fall short of the Glory of God. Romans 3:23 Our problem is not just what we are, but what we are not. This is why Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born from above.” John 3 When Jesus said that to Nicodemus, He was also saying that He, Himself, was what Nicodemus was not but should be.
It is helpful to always keep in mind God’s original purpose in creating mankind. “Let Us make man in our image, according to Our likeness.” Genesis 1:26
The creation of Adam was the beginning of this work or process of making man in God’s image. Adam, before he sinned, was innocent, but not holy. Had God been able to create a holy man, He would have. God alone is holy, and He can only make man holy by giving man His own Life.
God’s holy uncreated Life was given to the human race in the Incarnation, when He joined His Life with our created human life in the womb of the virgin Mary. Thus was born Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man. Jesus is the completion of God’s eternal purpose of making man in His own image and after His own likeness.
But even after the Incarnation, we have only one holy human being, Jesus. How can God get the Life of His Son Jesus into us? We are dying. The seed of sin within us is destroying us. We see it plainly in illness, aging and death. How can God save my life? Only by giving me His own Life that cannot sin and cannot die. But how can He do this, how can God give me His Life?
The answer is found in Jesus’ death. Yes, Jesus had to die. but why did He have to die, and how does His death make it possible for me to receive His Life?
There have been many theories that try to explain how Jesus’ death saves us. Today’s most popular theory is called the Penal Substitutionary Theory, a theory of substituted punishment developed by the theologians of the Reformation. It says that God’s Justice demands that the sinner be punished, but instead of punishing the sinner, God punished his holy Son, Jesus. Such a theory suggests that God can be appeased and satisfied by pain and death, enough so that He can forgive our sin. It is akin to the pagan concept of appeasing the gods through torturing the victim.
No amount of punishment can restore a loss. What sinful man needs is Life and Jesus came to give that Life. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
Jesus forgave sin before He ever died. To the paralyzed man who was lowered through a roof and placed in front of Jesus, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” Luke 5:17-20 To the prostitute of Luke 7, He said, “Your sins have been forgiven.” The woman caught in adultery, brought before Jesus by the teachers of the law, He refused to condemn. He told those who wanted Him to pass judgement on her, “You people judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone.” John 8:15
He said, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” John 12:47 In that passage, Jesus explains to us that it is our own sin, in turning away from the Light into our own darkness, that judges us. Sin brings its own judgement. “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 This is no arbitrary decree of God. Sin brings forth death. Self destruct is the natural course of sin.
The second part of that verse says, “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus is our Salvation, the free Gift of God. A true gift exacts no payment.
Jesus Himself is the Satisfaction of God. Punishment, suffering, and death could never satisfy God. God is not seeking death in man but life. Only a holy human being, made in His own image can satisfy the longing heart of God. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” is the expression of God’s eternal desire and satisfaction.
“God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” 2 Corinthians 5:19 And this was not just on the Cross. God was in Christ from the very moment of the Conception of His Son. God was embracing humanity in His Son, and that embrace could not be torn apart by anything man’s sin could do.
In Gethsemane, Jesus concurred with His Father regarding their mutual love for mankind. That love is what kept Jesus in our sinful world, and brought Him down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and led Him to Gethsemane, when He refused the twelve legions of angels that would have brought about the destruction of the human race.
In that final embrace, sinful humanity was allowed to do what sin always does, to bring forth death. The Cross is the picture of God’s embrace of sinful humanity.
Wherein lies the victory of the Cross? A holy human being, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Victory of the Cross. In His holy Being, man’s sin was enveloped, covered, absorbed by His divine human love and righteousness, done away with forever. We do not yet see the full effect of this Truth, but we see Jesus. Hebrews 2:9
What saves the human race? What justifies the human race? A holy man, the true human Son of God, who could not be destroyed by the worst that sin could do. He outweighs, covers, and does away with all sin, from Adam to me and to you.
Because Jesus refused to leave us and remained with us unto death, God’s Eternal Life is now a part of the human race forever. How do we receive it? By accepting God’s proposal to us. In a true marriage, no man would force the one he loves to marry him. She must accept his proposal and say “I do.” To all who receive Him, who believe in His Name, He gives the right to become the children of God, born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13
Jesus‘ blood makes atonement by reason of His Life. Leviticus 17:11 Jesus Himself is the Atonement of God, His whole life, from through death. No legal transaction, no amount of punishment, suffering, or death can satisfy God. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” Matthew 17:5
Rosemary E Hyslop
September 13, 2013