Sabbath: God as Redeemer
Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 1:18, Gen. 3:15, Rom. 16:20, 1 Pet. 1:19, Mark 10:32–45, Matt. 27:46.
Memory Text:
“ ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’ ” (Revelation 5:12, NKJV).
Key Thought: The Triune God is not only our Creator, He’s our Redeemer, as well.
Closely related to God as Creator is His role as our Redeemer. Sin is so bad, so deadly, so hostile to the created world, that only the Creator Himself could solve the problem. And He did, in the person of Jesus Christ.“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13, NKJV). Not through works, not through anything we could ever do, but through His grace, manifest at the Cross, can we as sinners be redeemed by the Lord and be “brought near” to Him. Christ bore God’s wrath so that none of us would ever, ideally, have to. That, in essence, is the plan of salvation.
Paul also tells the church in Corinth that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18, NKJV). The scandal of the Cross is that it appears so absurd to human thinking: God, the infinite, holy Creator, becomes a sacrifice for the sake of twisted human souls, even His avowed enemies, taking upon Himself the penalty for their sins so that they wouldn’t have to face that penalty themselves! Hard to fathom, isn’t it? The atonement is so deep, so heavy, so profound that we grasp only what we can. Beyond that, thinking stops, and all we can do is worship.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, January 21.
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it could only take the blood of a living beign to cleance the sin of humans, but this could be temporarily as more blood would be required every time a sin is committed. the blood of God was the ideal for everlasting cleancing; not that once saved is always saved but that it is more than enough to cleance each time we sin against him.
My brother David... May I please point out that...God's blood is not what cleanses us....it is the innocent blood of the MAN Christ Jesus.
Heb. 2: 6,7,9
But one in a certain place testified, saying, WHAT IS MAN, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
THOU MADEST HIM A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
But we see JESUS, who was made A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for EVERY MAN.
Brother David....Christ tasted death(the wages of sin, for Every Man).....
Example: We mankind are all sponges for the 'sin liquid'...Only an empty sponge(man) can soak up our liquid, and that sponge is Christ, for he did no sin.
I don't think my example is the best....but hopefully you get the idea. May God continue to bless us in the study of His Holy Word.
Understanding the weight of the burden of sin and its ultimate consequence make us appreciate the death of Jesus Christ at Calvary. Sin is not only bad in the face of God but also bad for humanity.
praise God brethren.
brother Sinbad, i think there is no problem with David saying that the blood of God was the ideal for everlasting cleancing - because we have just learnt about the Trinity (3 in 1) and so Christ is God. i will refer you to the lesson study on 5th January (The Trinity and Salvation), a line therein says that 'the whole point of the gospel is that it was GOD HIMSELF on the cross bearing the sins of the world'.
Chris it’s actually a fine detail that i’m referring to but yet a very important one. I agree with you and Tusuubira….Christ was God….but for salvation to take affect…for MANkind to to be free from sin….God had to Live as a Man and die as a Man for Mankind to be saved….If He did it all as God…then you and I cannot follow His example and be freed from sin because none of us is God. Therefore, though Christ was God…the Blood that was shed for you and me was of a Sinless Man.
In the Sanctuary service….the sacrifice that was acceptable to God was the lamb without blemish….amongst all the lambs….the blood of the unblemished lamb was the one acceptable….meaning…amongst all Mankind…it was the sacrifice of the sinless one that was acceptable. Hope this helps. God bless you my friends : )
I agree Tusuubira for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself" 2 Cor 5:19