Until now I have had to explain why man cannot stop from committing sins through his wilful disobedience to God. Having established the function and importance of man’s duty to God as expressed by the Ten Commandments, we have concluded that man’s inability to obey God and respect his neighbour as he should, leaves him without hope and damned for eternity. It is a very awesome statement; no man can ever take it lightly! A serious student of Holy Scripture must be opened to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and study it without prejudice, to let him discover the real truth, which is so clearly taught by the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles. He must do what the Lord expects of Him and not do what is expected of him by men, especially if he is called of God to preach the Gospel, and not some human creed, it is expected of him to warn men of the impendent doom that await this godless, idolatrous world.

This inbred inability due to the bias of his sinful nature, does not exonerate him before God; he is still guilty for all His sins that lead to eternal death, so says the Holy Book: “For the wages of sin is death”(Romans 6:23.) Sin is a power that masters everyone and drives man to revolt against God, sometimes, against his better judgement. God has appointed a day when all men will give an account for all their wilful rebellion at the last day. Concerning this terrible day God states the following: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire.”(Revelation 20: 11-15.)

These words prove that at the death of the body the soul lives on until, in hades until it is called to appear before the Lord who sends into the lake of fire all those that are not written in the Lamb’s book of life. The soul still lives but it is cast away from the presence of God, this last encounter of man with his maker is called the second death; where God is not it is really hell! Therefore, it is absolutely foolish of any man, not to give this truth all the attention that it merits. Man, because of the darkness that is in him, through sin, lives his life oblivious to what God is, and of what He says; he is spiritually unable to understand the Word of God, because his spirit is dead. The natural man is really living death while he lives; “he is without hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12.) 

The greatest tragedy is the fact that religions, of various sorts, are blinding man to the real truths about him, and his environment; even the modern church has lost contact with its only true head, the lord Jesus Christ, and has replaced his teachings and that of his apostles, with doctrines of man inspired by Satan. Unless the Holy-Spirit enlightens a man, he will remain a victim of this deceitful age. But the way to reality is still opened, and if you, want to take your life and eternity seriously, begin the read the Word of God, find a church where the true Gospel is preached, you will find it very difficult because most preachers do not believe it, but if you have a Bible, and you are sincere with the Lord, I am sure that He will open your heart, and like God found me He will find you, and by his Spirit, He will help you to understand the truth of His word, which by the power of the Holy Spirit, will birth faith in your heart and He will lead you to surrender to the Lord Jesus-Christ, who died for your sins. The truth will set you free, and save your soul!

No man can justify himself behind his good works, which are all his efforts to obey a diluted form of the Ten Commandments. However sincerely he tries, he will remain in his sin and die a sinner. Self- righteousness is deadly and the worst type of pride. Men mainly look around them, seeking to discover someone that is worse than them, they will find it easy to find such a person, because everybody sins at will, having cast their eyes around them they will conclude that they have nothing to fear, because they are not as bad as those around them; whoever these persons may be? An extract from one of the great prophets of Israel says this: “Since ancient time no-one has heard, no ear has perceived no eye has seen any God beside you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continue to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags, we all shrivel like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No-one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.” (Isaiah 64: 4-7.) 

Rich or poor, bond men or freemen, man or woman, gentiles or Israelites, black red yellow or white, we are all in the same boat, for of one blood God made all nations of men, and God has sent to the world only one Saviour, Jesus-Christ his beloved only Son, the greatest sin of man is that he has condemned Jesus to death, whom God appointed to all men as their only Saviour! The words of the prophet are renewed in the New Testament, so truth is repeated is a stronger and more certain way, the apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy-Spirit writes: “What shall we conclude then? Are we (Jews) any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and gentiles alike are all under sin.’(Romans 3: 9)

Jews live under an impediment because they always thought, they still do, that they were so much better than the Gentiles who knew not God, because to them, through Moses God gave the Ten Commandments. As it is written there is no righteous no not one. There is none that understands there is none who seek after God. They are all gone out of the way. (It means the way of righteousness. Men, being blind spiritually walk away from God, the way of truth they do not know.) They are together become unprofitable. There is not one that does good, (the real word is useless). Their throat is an open sepulchre, with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips. (Their words to God smell like rotting flesh, with their tongues they dig hole for men to fall into, they have a wicked capacity to destroy). It is an awful indictment spoken by God.) Whose mouth is full of cursing, their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are their ways and the way of peace they have not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. This is true of all men, being lost in sin, man has not got the will to please God, nor to revere and seek after Him. So, to such men God speaks and says: ‘Now we know that what things so ever the law says, (The Ten Commandments.) it says to them who are under the Law, that every mouth may be stopped and the entire world may become guilty before God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3: 9-19.) 

Does reading these words aggravate you? Good! this is exactly what the Word of God is meant to do, to wake you up to your great need of God’s mercy; but where can one find it? Let us say that only the last phrase applies to you: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” It is enough, because who does honour God, respects Him, reveres Him? Do you? Take the first three commandments, disobeying them makes all men idolaters!  So, what can we say? All men have ended up in a very dangerous situation that leads to a very awful destination, the lake of fire reserved for all sinners. I write this with great fear, because it fitted my past also, and that of all true Christians, but things, one day have completely changed and by God’s grace we have become new creatures, without merit on our part, and so can you! Christians that condemn those who are not, are not worth their salt: Why? Because every true Christian knows how devious human nature is. The only difference between a Christian and an unbeliever is that God has come to the sinner he was and by God’s grace he has believed that Jesus-Christ alone could save him! To be called of God and receive faith are the greatest proofs of His love, hence, saved men should walk humbly before God, their Heavenly Father, and do their utmost to tell everyone that asks them the reason for the hope they have, and so cherish! A true Christian prays for all men to be saved because he knows the joy and peace that Jesus-Christ brings into one’s life.

These words have led us to the positive part of these meditations, for their purpose is to bring everyone that is led of God to read His words, to come to a positive understanding and realise that even God could not forgive sins unless he could bring into being means by which forgiveness of sins became possible. Sin brought in death, hence forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from the power of sin, had to lead to a restitution of the life Adam lost in The Garden of Eden. We shall see that true forgiveness leads to the greatest gift of all: ‘Eternal Life’. God says in the Bible that: “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life, in Jesus-Christ our Lord (or through Jesus-Christ our Lord).”(Romans 6:23.) 

The death that Adam experienced is the death of his spirit, which was the God conscious part of His being and by which he was able to appreciate His presence and communicate with Him. Physically Adam died nine hundred thirty years later. There is a second death which is that of man’s soul, which is a complete and eternal separation from God; to be where God is not that is hell! (Revelation 20:11-15.) God is omnipresent, but man cannot sense Him in his present state, he must be born again by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. A far better end is reserved for those that have believed in Jesus-Christ and, as a free gift from God they have received Eternal life. We must, therefore, find out all that God was prepared to do, to break the power of sin and death, and defeat the devil. With these enemies out of the way, in His plan was the salvation of men from the power of sin. To do all that, it took His great wisdom and almightiness, to make a way for man to come out from darkness into the light of reality, and the annul the facts of life as they are, when men live away from his Creator!

Whereas we read in the Old Testament, which is the first part of the Holy Bible, that God gave the Ten Commandments to the Jews, we learn from The New Testament, which is the second part of the Bible, that the Law or the Ten Commandments, apply to Gentiles and Israelis alike. But who are these Gentiles? Gentiles are all the people of nations that are not Israelis. So, God has willed in His love not to leave man utterly hopeless, therefore to offer him forgiveness, blood had to be shed, as it was shed in Eden at first. I have mentioned before, that a sin, one sin only, must be punished and that the only punishment applied by God was the death of the sinner. If sin had not destroyed man, he would not have known what death was, whether that of his spirit, then his body and lastly of His soul. Adam would still be alive, so would be alive all those people that died through him. 

Therefore, the question before us is: “What has God done so that he could actually forgive sins?” By the grace of God, forgiveness of sins is the first step man can now take to choose a different eternity. Man’s soul is eternal, so is his state as a sinner. No-one could change that, not even under the Law, by his strong adherence to the Ten Commandments, could man reach true righteousness. It was left to God to work out a plan and put it into motion, to disarm sin and deliver man from its ruling power. What did God have to do to make forgiveness of sins possible? God says in the Bible, and here I must quote a verse already mentioned previously: “The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9: 22.) (Or remission of sins.)

One cannot read the Bible and not see how God hates sin of any description, and that sin is a huge barrier between him and all men, whether Jews or Gentiles. There is no bridge between the offender, man, and the offended, God! It is as Abraham said to the rich man in hell: “Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” (Luke 6:16-31.)  This still exists and will until redemption is completed, and Paradise and those in it will be taken to heaven. It is clearly taught in the Bible, that even God could not just forgive sins, just as a judge in human courts cannot ignore, what the criminal, judged in his court, has done; He must dish out the punishment his crime deserves. So, to deliver man from a certain death and a dreadful eternity, the promised deliverer had to be sent into man’s territory, to do what was absolutely necessary, to give him a way of escape. Therefore, God chose the raise a people, to show the rest of the world the plight of man in slavery to the cruellest dictator, Satan! So, He sent His dearly beloved, only Son, Jesus Christ. This great battle was unavoidable from the moment Lucifer fell. Jesus knew what this confrontation meant, and what wicked men would to him, so He came nonetheless, as a man, and faced up to do what he alone could; a hymn says: 

There was no other good enough, to pay the price of sin!

He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in!

John the Baptist, was a great prophet, sent of God to prepare the people of Israel for the coming of the Christ, meaning the anointed one, THE REDEEMER!

The history of Israel is fascinating, the pilgrimage that started with Abraham and continued with Isaac and Jacob is full of drama and exciting experiences; God appeared to them, spoke with men. God traced through them, a new way of relationship! He spoke with men before them, but with the call of Abraham the Almighty opened a new part of His plan, the purpose was to create a new people. Since the drama, which ended with the destruction of Babel, God did not communicate with men. The Gentile nations which evolved from that time where idolators, there was no way for any of them to worship God, or pray to him. It is so to this day! God speaks to the whole world through the Gospel! But until Jesus came and brought the Gospel God did not communicate with the Gentiles, but He did with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day, in the Bible, they are called: ‘The People of Israel’. Today, ‘Israel’ is not the people they used to be, they too need to come to God through Christ, who is the only way back to God, whether a Jew or a Gentile. Jesus said: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to God but through me!’ (John 14:7)

To teach the children of Israel, his people, the descendants of Abraham, which He delivered from slavery to the Egyptians, what they needed to know concerning the forgiveness of sins, according to his will, God instituted, to go alongside the Ten Commandments, a whole series of sacrifices. To learn about all the sacrifices appears at first, very complicated. Nevertheless, it proved, that to reach righteousness God required from them, by obedience to the ‘TEN COMMANDMENTS’ proved to be an impossibility, for they were never given to save them from sin, they were given to lead them to the Saviour whom God appointed for that purpose, even before the foundation of the world as we know it! I have mentioned things rapidly, but it is sufficient for now!

Sinning is very dangerous, for God cannot overlook or ignore the smallest sin, if such a sin exists, because every sin is an act directed at God.  Through sin man has become an enemy of God, his anti-God nature wars against Him and His will. Man by nature will not accept anything that God commands, history has proved that he will fight God all the way, even right to his own destruction. Into this war like arena, where men fight God and each other, God decided to send His Son Jesus Christ, as an ambassador to talk to a revolted man, to tell that He is not the God that he thinks He is. Knowing fully well, that only some would accept Him and His teachings, the men were chosen before the foundation of the world. Nevertheless, because God is righteous, He must put sin away from His sight, it had to be done by the death of the guilty. Nevertheless, under the law God instituted the death of a substitute, an animal, mainly a lamb or a dove for the poorer among His people. When Jesus died, He died as a substitute to atone for the sins of all His disciples. Since, all sacrifices as offered under the law have been cancelled, and only the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin.

At first, all the various sacrifices that God commanded the High Priest to offer appear very complicated, but their importance was such that they could not be ignored. They were absolutely necessary because these sacrifices, sacrificed according to the will of God, guarantied the forgiveness of certain sins, and by them was restored the continuance of fellowship with Him. Let me repeat that God’s relationship with Israel was unique, for no other nation could boast of such a great privilege, and all the unknown blessings that Israel derived from it. I say ‘certain sins’ because some sins were not forgivable under the Law, such as adultery, and others, for which people were stoned to death.

This people heard about the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom He revealed Himself and spoke openly, giving them eternal promises of which all their descendants would also benefit. After two hundred and six years since Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans, sixty-six persons entered Egypt, Joseph was then thirty years of age; Jacob lived in total twenty and six years in Egypt, at the age of one hundred and forty-seven years he died. The People of Israel spend four hundred and thirty years in Egypt. To deliver them from slavery, God sent to them Moses, under the hand of God, he took them to the Promised Land, which was Canaan, about four million, some people believe it was even more, like six million should got out of Egypt and crossed the Red sea! The people of Israel spent forty years in the wilderness, and after the death of Moses, Joshua lead them, to possess the land of Canaan, which God gave to their patriarchs as an inheritance.

But the children of Israel did not really know the God of their fathers and in Egypt they lived very much like the Egyptians did, and most of them worshipped the same gods. So, when Moses led them out of Egypt, they had to learn that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, their patriarchs, was a Holy God, and that they needed to know, right from wrong from the very start! God wanted them to be a Holy People. He appeared to them as stated: “On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain, Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because God descended on it in a fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and lounder. Then Moses spoke to God and the voice of God answered him” (Exodus 19:16-19.) 

It was there that God gave to Moses the Ten Commandments, written in stone tablets by the finger of God, as mentioned previously. God commanded also to institute a program of various sacrifices as a law that lasted throughout the Old Testament, some of these sacrifices where to be offered for the forgiveness of sins s stated previously. This appearance of God was the most important experience they had, they realise through God coming down to them, that they were called out of Egypt to learn a completely different life, a new life which taught them the existence of sin, and the power of God, who alone can forgive sin and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. By the offering of the life of some selected animals, they were cleansed by the blood, and forgiven of their sins, individually and collectively. Through these sacrifices they were sanctified and prepared to enter into a holy communion with The God of their Fathers, to serve Him with a clean heart and a good conscience. This shows that sins cannot be ignored, they were taught that they had to deal with it daily, and that forgiveness of sins is not enough, the sinner must also be cleansed inwardly from every stains, to be fit to enter into fellowship with God, and continue in it. 

These sacrifices were as follow: 1. the burnt offering, 2. the meat offering, 3. the peace offering, 4. the sin offering and 5 the trespass offering. All of them had their function and their importance, not only for the cleansing of the nation, but of any that would sin, they were thus sanctified by the blood of the offering, and cleansed from sin; God could dwell amongst them. Then as now, forgiveness of sin was not applied simply for easing the conscience from guilt and make man feel better. God saved them, by mighty miracles and by his mighty arm, from the bondage of Egypt and sanctified them by the blood of the offering, so that as a holy people, cleansed from sin, and separated unto God they were truly the people of God, and be, when they entered the promised land, a witness to the surrounding nations, to show how blest is the people whose God is the Lord, Jehovah! 

Nevertheless, history shows that they were at time obstinate and unruly, prone to wonder through unbelief. At one point God was on the verge of destroying them and start afresh with a new people through Moses and his descendants, so much so that it was by Moses’ intercession that God decided to restore them and bring them to the promised land, as He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was for a general revolt of the people that God punished them and that they had to wonder in the wilderness for forty years, until all those that were guilty of this rebellion died, for God found them unworthy to enter the Holy Land. It is written that: ‘It is a terrible thing to fall in the hands of Almighty God’. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old, when they reached the borders of Canaan. It was then that Moses was led of the Lord to remind them His Commandments and laws, before they entered to conquer the Promised Land. One has to read the Book of Deuteronomy to learn about the blessings of obedience and also the curses God reserved for their disobedience. So, Moses said:

“These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them, may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all His decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers promised you.” (Deuteronomy 6:1-3.)

Religions are things of the mind and they have a way of promising falsely to the people to give them what they want, and give them a licence to sin as much as they want and ease the conscience from the guilt complex, that arises from disobeying the Laws of God. But faith in God that comes through the preaching of the Gospel brings the true expression of what God wants and wills for man’s deliverance from the power of sin and slavery to the devil, and all that Jesus had to do, to deliver men from the power of sin. Forgiveness of sins, as taught in the Bible, can only be experienced by those that change their attitude towards God by faith in Christ, followed by a sincere repentance. More will be said later in this chapter and following ones.

The Bible teaches that: “In Him, (in Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Ephesians 1: 7.) In Christ, before any sin can be forgiven one has to respond to Christ’s claims on him; one has to be in Him and to be in Him one must let Him come into one’s life, to reign as King and Saviour. All that Christ accomplished from the manger to the CROSS, contributes to restore man, creating a new spirit in him, to walk with God! Being born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, such a man enjoys an unbroken fellowship with God his Heavenly Father. No man can be restored into fellowship with God, if sin still reigns in his heart. Therefore, to be forgiven is not as simple as some make us believe it is. If one studies carefully and seriously the life of Jesus Christ from the manger to the CROSS, His immense suffering on it, one begins to realise what it cost the Son of God to break the power of sin, to make forgiveness of sins a reality. A Hymn that I have always loved singing says:

                                     Give me a sight O Saviour,

                                                Of Thy wondrous love to me;

                                                Of the love that brought Thee down to earth,

                                                To die on Calvary

Oh, make me understand it,

                                                Help me to take it in;

                                                What it meant to thee, the Holy One,

                                                To bear away my sin

                                                Oh, wonders of all wonders,

                                                That through Thy death for me,

                                                My open sins, my secrets sins,

                                                Can all forgiven be?

It is not my purpose to enter into a detailed statement on all these sacrifices instituted under the terms of the Mosaic Covenant, because it does involve a precise study of all they meant firstly to God, and then to each citizen of this special people: the children of Israel. The purpose of God was to raise Israel to be as an Evangelist to the gentile nations, to show through their lives the blessings that flow to a people of which He is the Lord. By their example to draw nations into this divine fellowship with Him, which Israel would enjoy. But Israel never understood their spiritual function but humanised their calling and fell into error, ever thinking, as they do today, that they are the elite, even though God told them many times by their prophets, that the blessing promised to Abraham was for all the nations of the world. When Jesus came, at first, they wondered who He was, they scrutinised His teachings, they saw the miracles which turned the people to Him, so much so that at one point the people wanted to make Jesus their King, but Jesus withdrew from them for this was not the purpose for which He came, especially that their reason, to make Him King, was warped and totally foreign to His true mission.

The Jewish clergy and authorities, seeing what was happening with the people, especially that whatever Jesus did and said did not rhyme with their idea of what their Messiah should do and be, they begun to pursue him, seeking to trip him up, seeking anything, as long as he did something, or said something so that they could apprehend Him, they wanted Jesus out of the way, but they could not for they feared the people. They questioned His authority, from where did He received it and for what purpose he was using it? They heard Jesus denounced them openly as frauds, that they were not working for the welfare of the people and the glory of God The thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew starts with a direct attack on them: “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples: ‘The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So, you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are no willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:1-4) If the Pharisees questioned Jesus’s authority, He certainly told openly to the people, that they, as their leaders had no authority from God to be in Moses’s seat. This is especially clear when you read the rest of the chapter where Jesus pronounces seven woes in which He says: “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to Hell? (Matthew 23:33)

 Is obvious that they were openly at war with Jesus, the truth He said about Himself, was one of the main reasons, for which they crucified Him, their Messiah, and that He had come to win the world, but not in the way they wanted. The teachers of the Law with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, were an absolutely political body, some of them were not even Jews. They were waiting for a Messiah that would free them from the yoke that the Roman Empire imposed on them, a Christ that would establish as a world kingdom. We can see how dangerous it is to interpret the word of God through a natural mind! This is how they viewed their future as promised to Abraham. So, Jesus was not the kind of political Messiah they expected.  

It is worth noting that after His resurrection, Jesus appeared alive only to his disciples and before He was taken away from them, He “commissioned them to evangelise the whole world and preach the Gospel” stating: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy-Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:18-20) But in obedience to their commission, they began to preach Christ to the Jews, which they evangelised for some years, thus, the first converts to Christ were Jews. The birth of the Church happened in Jerusalem, the city of the King, when on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon a hundred and twenty disciples. With this anointing they spread the Gospel with much power and mighty miracles, which were wrought in the Name of Jesus. In no time at all the membership of the Church reached five thousand, and from there spread rapidly into Samaria, and eventually with the calling of the Apostle Paul, the Gospel reached Europe. Nevertheless, but for quite a while Jerusalem was the capital of the Church, where important points of Christian doctrine were agreed upon, which are still taught faithfully, by those that have remained true to the apostles’ teachings.

I have digressed a little from my main subject, but it really fits in, for it shows that Christ’ mission was purely spiritual and as such it was and still is, completely misunderstood by men in His days, and has been so throughout history, because God did not send Jesus to build a political Empire, but to call a people out of darkness into His glorious light and save a part of humanity by the preaching of the Gospel, for the Holy Spirit uses it to eates the faith in the heart of a sinner and leads Him to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ the son of God.

Jesus said that He came down from heaven. He was born of a virgin, but he was not conceived of man’s seed, but only of the woman’s, and his incarnation was, right from the beginning, a bone of contention, because in that baby, born in the manger, in a stinking stable, was born Jesus, the Son of the living God. For the time being we shall leave this statement of facts concerning the wonderful Saviour of all true Christians, to it we shall return later. But Jesus came into the world to fulfil all the law, and the sacrifices, which were offered for the remission of sins, and fulfil their symbolic function by the sacrifice of Himself for the sins of the whole world!

So that these sacrifices, as mentioned, could be acceptable to God, He commanded Moses to establish a priesthood, at the head of which was appointed a High Priest. To this high office the high priest was consecrated firstly, by a blood sacrifice, to cleanse him from his sins and secondly, by a holy anointing with oil, which was a mixture of oil and spices, more like a perfume! Through this anointing, the high priest was given the right to exercise his office! The recipe of this sacred anointing oil is detailed in the book of (Exodus 30:22-25.) Aaron the elder brother of Moses was chosen, by God, as the first high priest. Aaron and his sons were anointed into the high priestly office. All this Moses did just before they started their pilgrimage towards Canaan, the land God promised to their fathers. Whereas the whole tribe of Levi was consecrated to the priesthood, yet the High Priest was always chosen from Aaron’s descendants, no other Levite could offer the sacrifices mentioned previously. Whereas five different sacrifices were mentioned we are mainly mentioning 1. THE SIN-OFFERING, 2 THE TRESSPASS-OFFERING which is closely allied to the Sin Offering, 

For these sacrifices, various animals were taken from the herd or the flock; they had to be without defects, diseases or infirmities. The sacrifices of these animals taught the people that sin is a crime, the penalty for which is death. So, to save the guilty from death a substitute had to be found, blood had to be shed for sins to be forgiven, in their case it was an animal whose blood was shed, and the carcase was burned on the altar, thus were sins atoned for, the sin was forgiven! Every disobedience to the Ten Commandments was a grievous sin, which could only be cleansed by the shedding of blood. Certain sins, such as adultery there was no pardon possible. No sacrifice was of any value unless it was sacrificed according to the strict rules, given by God, and carried out by the High Priest in office. It was not optional, every time a person sinned, blood had to be shed, so that the people of Israel stayed pure and holy in the face of Almighty God!  

All that I have mention until now, is not enough to explain fully this all important and vast subject, but I have said enough to establish the truth that forgiveness of sins can only be granted by God, according to established procedures, firstly in the Old Testament and then correspondingly in the New Testament, where we learn that all the sacrifices found in the Old Testament, were fulfilled by Jesus-Christ when he offered himself as a sacrifice for sin. To be accepted as an offering for sinm Jesus had to be pure and without sin, and this He was, because He alone FULFILLED THE Law, as man’s representative, and as the spotless lamb of God, He offered Himself to atone for the sins of those that would accept Him as their Lord and Saviour! Through these rituals the people of Israel were taught that sin is awfully powerful, and that every sin demands the death of the guilty, to that end God provided, by His laws, a substitute who by its death atoned for the guilty sinner! This blessing, of forgiveness, was only possible for an Israelite, or a gentile that embraced the Jewish faith! All that God demanded from the people of Israel serves us as types, or examples, foretelling the coming of the perfect antitype which was Jesus-Christ, the Son of the Living God. The Oxford dictionary says: “That types are Biblical events regarded as symbolic or as foreshadowing a later one (its antitype.)” Since these procedures and laws were so important, why have they got no value to day?

Firstly. Let me say that if there were a temple in Jerusalem, supported by the priesthood right down from Aaron descendants, the Jews would still be practising these sacrifices, because only a very few have ever accepted the teaching of the New Testament and thus became disciples of Christ. That their Messiah would die on the CROSS, as a malefactor to the Jews was beyond belief, and yet the whole of the Old Testament, prophets foretold the death of their Messiah Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God. Nevertheless, since Christ the true antitype, fully fulfilled the Law, and offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for the sin, of the world, all the Old Testament sacrifices have become useless and unacceptable to God, because, they were annulled by the death of Jesus-Christ with whom God instituted a new covenant, the ‘covenant of grace’, which was ratified by the blood of Christ as of a lamb without spots, pure and holy! Thus, was fulfilled the covenant of the Law, which He made with the people of Israel when they left Egypt. Until now, through faith in Christ, forgiveness of sins is offered freely, to Jews and Gentiles alike, as it is written: ‘the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses every guilty sinner of all His sins, because, as the Bible says: “Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:3)

Secondly The relationship of God with the Jews changed completely with the death of Jesus-Christ. It was their last chance to go God’s way, but when Jesus-Christ died, following their rejection of him and condemning Him to die on the CROSS, the nation of Israel spiritually also died.  Since Christ death, Israel, as a people is not different from all Gentiles nations, which God cast away from Him at the Tower of Babel, and scattered all these idolaters all over the world, and put an end to their evil intent. All men dead spiritually, cast out from God presence just as Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden. Whatever the Jews may have been, before God, spiritually while Jesus was alive their position changed completely at His death. When Christ died, as were the gentile nations, dead, to God, since Christ the Jews also died to God. Hence God regards all as outcast sinners, condemned to the lake of Fire. This is made plain by this verse. For the love of Christ compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And that He died for all, that those that live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.’ (2 Corinthians 5:14.). On the cross Jesus cried in agony to his Father and said: “Why have you forsaken me?” At that point Jesus tasted what death really means, it means separation from God…Forsaken. What a terrible word that is, but that is the state in which Jews and gentiles find themselves; dead to God, forsaken! Until that fateful moment, Jesus never knew separation from his Father, That, to Him a most horrible punishment. But after three days Jesus was raised from the dead, and when he rose all those that believed in Him, in the Old Testament, from faithful Abel right up the thief on the cross, He took to Paradise! Concerning Jesus, it is written: “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 everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9.) Since then, in the eyes of God humanity is divided into two camps, the living and the dead! The believer in Christ and the unbelievers.

Jesus faced the CROSS as a man and died as a man bearing the punishment reserved for sinners, which is death!  The Bible says: “Since the children (God’s children) have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death ~ that is, the devil ~ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angel He helps, but Abraham’s descendants, (the eternal seed, Christ and those that are His).  For this reason, He had to be made like His brothers in every way in order that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:14-18.) All these words are written to Christians, people that have made their peace with God through the blood of the CROSS, and have accepted that Jesus-Christ died for their sins. It is this faith that makes them the true descendants of Abraham. (Read Romans4:13-17) To them belongs the promised inheritance which is eternal life. “For the wages of sin is death, (the second death which is an eternal existence away from God) for all have died! but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) ‘They are the living ones that should not live for themselves but for Him who died for them, and was raised again. As mentioned above.

Thirdly: With the death of Christ the Covenant of the law, which God made with the Israelites at the exit from Egypt, was nullified. Through Christ God has brought and has ratified a New Covenant, which had been widely prophesied by prophets of the Old Testament. ‘The Covenant of grace’, by which God offers to man the possibility to be saved by faith in Christ, from all the doom that awaits all unbelievers, and receive through faith in Him eternal life. ‘The Covenant of Grace’ was ratified with the blood of Christ and all its blessings are given to a new nation, made up of those Israelites and Gentiles that have believed in Jesus-Christ for the saving of their soul. So, forgiveness of sins which has been proved to be impossible under the Old Covenant, is a true blessing freely given only to thosewho accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour! “In Him (Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, (Past, present and future), in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us (His children) with all wisdom and understanding. (Ephesians 1:7-8.)

The Gospel was first preached to Israel, proving that they too needed Christ to save them from their bondage to Satan. They changed the Ten Commandments and replaced them with 613 rules and regulations, which became a burden impossible to bear and incapable to justify them. It is from among the Jews that Jesus called His first disciples. It is eleven men chosen by Him, from among all the believers, and it is these eleven apostles that Jesus commissioned to preach the Gospel to all nations under the Sun. Nevertheless, they preached it firstly to the Jews, and thousands of them believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. They began in Jerusalem and from there through their entire nation making of them Disciples of Christ, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It is from Palestine that they went abroad and preached Christ to the whole world. This new Nation is the true Israel born of God by an operation of the Holy-Spirit; this Nation is the true CHURCH of Jesus-Christ of which he alone is the head, born not of the seed of man (Abraham) but of a holy seed; born of God, a people prepared for eternity. “Yet to All that received Him, to those who believed in His name (Jesus = Saviour), He gave the right to become children of God ~ children born not of natural descent (or blood), not of natural decision or a husband’s will ~ but born of God.” A new people, raised from the dead by the power of God. ‘ He that believes in Me, said the Lord, though he were dead, yet shall he live.!

Finally. To recapture the importance of all that God had to do, to forgive sin and save the lost, we must start with the Ten Commandments, because it is through them God reveals the existence and the subtle character of sin, and its awfully destructive power. Statements from Holy Scriptures have declared that sin as a power; it is subjecting man to its will that always leads to death. To get man out of this predicament God, in His love, provided means of atonement by the sacrifice of animals, the taking of their life atoned for the sins committed. Forgiveness of sins justifies the guilty sinner, and is only possible by the shedding of blood. The sacrifices for sins, as offered by the Israelites, could not justify them, but they pointed to Christ, who by the offering of Himself cleanses man’s sins, past present and future, forever! By faith in Him comes new beginning!

In conclusion the following portions of Scriptures confirm the statements made thus far.

“Now we know that whatsoever the law says, (The Ten Commandments) it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no-one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the Law; rather, through the Law we become conscious of sins. But now, a righteousness from God, apart from the Law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus-Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus-Christ. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because of His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished ~ He did this to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who had faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:19-26.) What does it mean, how can we respond to these words?

So, “What shall we say, then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the Law for I would not have known what coveting really is if the Law had not said, ‘Do not covet. ’But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the Law sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang into life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death, for sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognised as sin, it produced death in me through what was good. So that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. (Romans 7:7-13.)

There are other verses of Scriptures we could quote, but these must suffice for the moment, but more will certainly be quoted in future chapters. Making certain statements is not enough, it is important for them to be supported by the Holy Scriptures; this is why I take the pain to write them all, especially if some of you have no access to a Holy Bible. It is the Word of God that shows the reason why sin, as a reigning power had to be revealed in all its subtle forms, so that forgiveness can be sought, and applied.

God punished Cain for the murder of his brother Abel, Cain knew it was wrong to kill, his conscience told him so and God warned him that sin was out to get him, yet he did not harken to God, so he bore the price for his crime and was cast out from God; that is true hell, to be forsaken by God! God, also, destroyed the world of sinners by the flood, for moral depravity and violence, life became very cheap.Noah, as a faithful preacher warned them as commanded by God. For one hundred and twenty years, as Noah was building the ark for the salvation of his family, he witnessed of the coming disaster. They mocked him and did not repent, so because they did not heed the warnings, they all perished in the waters of the flood, except eight persons, Noah’s family. Babel!

To this day men have not learned much. Generation after generation goes through the same failures and offend God through their open rebellion. The Tower of Babel shows how terrible is the wrath of God against persistent rebellion, and of all sins that men can commit the worst is idolatry. God has given three commandments that warn men of the terrible judgement that awaits idolaters, stating very clearly that man must treat Him with respect and fear.  He showed some of it through the Old Testament, none as fierce as the destruction of the Tower of Babel which He burned with an excessive fire that came down from Heaven, and from there dispersed men all over the earth.   

Now that sin is fully revealed in its content and awfulness, more so now by the preaching of the Gospel to all nations, through the preaching of Christ the Holy-Spirit can convict a sinner of his sin and lead him to Christ for the forgiveness of his sins and the deliverance from sin, Satan and the grave. But to ask forgiveness is not enough, even under the Old Covenant blood had to be shed, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. (Hebrews 9:22.) On the night of God’s deliverance of Israel from its slavery to Pharaoh, He commanded that lambs be slaughtered, whose blood was to be used for their safety by sprinkling it on the door posts and the lintel of every Israeli’s abodes. The wicked reign of Pharaoh, and the plight his people applied on the People of Israel, was coming to an end. Here again, blood had to be shed. Pharaoh heart was hardened each time he refused to let the people go! His pride and stubbornness brought him down, and his mighty armies perished in the Red sea. Hence, we see that God always has the last word. Do not harden your heart, for God means to save you, but you have to humble yourself and allow Jesus to save you from death and destruction. God said:

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn ~both men and animals ~ and I will bring judgement on the gods of Egypt, I AM THE LORD. The blood will be sign to you for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” (Exodus 12: 12-13.)

“Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns”. (The altar of incense) This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come. It is most holy to the Lord. (Exodus 30:10.) For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar, it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s sins.” (Leviticus 17:11.)

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey…He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the end of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my Covenant with you, I will free your prisoner from the waterless pit!” (Zechariah 9: 9-11.)

These few verses from the Old Testament are but very few of all those that concern the cleansing power of the blood. It is also sheltering, as in the stated on the night of the Passover. When God saw the blood, he passed over that house and those who sheltered in it were not destroyed. The blood was atoning for the guilty sinner and spared his life by the offering of an animal. Life for life, the blood made atonement. It was also liberating, a seal of a New Covenant which was brought in by the King of Zion, none other than Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, that Eternal Covenant was bringing freedom for the prisoners, from their jail they would return to Zion, He was also bringing righteousness and salvation for the nations! 

We will say a lot about the necessity of the blood of Christ in our future chapters. All proving that one cannot just ignore it; one must believe in the power of Christs’ blood and believe in Him to be free from sin, death and the devil. “The Law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22.)

From the hopeless state man finds himself in, there is no human capacities available to help him. This is the conclusion we come to, for the obedience to the Law has proved to be impossible due to man’s inbred sin. In his mercy God has brought to us the answer!