SHEMA, O ISRAEL!

There is a problem that man cannot solve himself, and that is his sin problem.  We read in Genesis, chapter one, where God created man in His own image, the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three Persons in one God, and placed triune man, body, soul, and spirit, in a perfect environment.  The only restriction God gave to Adam is found in Genesis 2:16:  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."

 

God warned Adam of coming judgement and death if he ate of that one tree:  "...for in the day that thou eatest  thereof thou shalt surely die."  Man would die both physically and spiritually should he disobey this commandment and eat of that one tree.

 

God gave Adam and Eve a free will, and they chose to use their free will to disobey God and ate of that tree.  The tempter, Satan, confronted Eve in the form of a serpent:  "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.  And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Genesis 3:1.

 

Notice how the devil first casts doubt on the Word of God, ""hath God said...?" and calls God a liar by insinuating that God didn't really say they would die.  The tempter continues this tactic today - casting doubt on God's holy Word, the scriptures, saying it is not God-inspired," that "it was written by man", that "no one can interpret the Bible", that "the Bible was written long ago and is not for today", and that "only the Old Testament is God's Word", not the New Testament", etc. 

 

Satan went on further to Eve.  We read in Genesis 3:4,5:  "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

 

This is the point that attracted Eve:  to become like God, just as was Lucifer's desire in the beginning which cast him out of heaven by God.  "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."  Genesis 3:6.

 

In that moment everything changed; Adam and Eve became sinners, and their sin has passed upon the whole human race.  They died spiritually and they eventually died physically.  Yet, in the midst of that great tragedy, God gave them hope.

 

 

THE GRACE OF GOD

 

We read of God's grace to man in Genesis 3:15:  "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his feet."  

 

We see here a glimpse of the grace of God where the seed of the woman would bruise the head of Satan in the future.  Until then, God would only accept the shed blood of an innocent animal as a sacrifice for man's sin.  Adam and Eve covered their sin of nakedness with fig leaves, a form of a good work as a sin offering, but God provided a covering for their sin, coats of skins from a dead animal, as we read previously in Genesis 3:21.

 

This is the great doctrine of substitution - something, or someone had to die, and shed its blood to cover man's sin.  Repeatedly, the scriptures demand a blood sacrifice:

 

• Exodus 29:36:  "And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin-offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it."

 

• Leviticus 1:4,5:    "And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. "

• Leviticus 17:11:  "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul."

 

Over and over again we read that it is only the blood that can atone for our sin.  Let's compare

 

Cain's Offering:  We read in Genesis 4:3:  "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD."  Here we see where Cain brought the fruit of the ground, a form of a good work, for an offering of sin.  In verse 5:  "But unto Cain and to his offering he (God) had not respect."

 

Abel's Offering:  We further read in Genesis 4:4:  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.  And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:"

 

Cain's offering was bloodless.  It was unaccepted. Abel offered a lamb and shed its blood for which God had respect.  It was accepted.  Again later we read in Genesis, chapter 22, where God commanded Abraham to take his only son, Isaac, and offer him for an offering.  Verse 2 reads:  And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."

 

 

WHO IS THIS LAMB?

 

This offering of Abraham's only beloved son, Isaac, pointed to the future as a type of the shed blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and His only begotten Son, to be the sacrifice and atonement of our sin:

 

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.  Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:  In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.  Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.  He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" Hebrews 10:4-6,9,10.

 

For thousands of years, people and priests sacrificed bullocks, doves and lambs to cover their sins.  But to show mankind that animal sacrifices were finished, God allowed the temple to be destroyed and the Levitical priesthood to be abolished.  Now there are no more animal sacrifices for sin.

 

Jewish Rabbis have always said that Genesis 3:15 is interpreted to mean that God would provide a Redeemer, a Saviour, who would be God's Lamb, the Messiah.  

 

The Messiah's purpose was to be the Lamb of God who would be chastised for our sins by the shedding of his blood and substitutionary death on the cross.  God's Lamb, Yeshua Ha-Mashiach, stated in Mark 14:24:  "And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, (covenant) which is shed for many."

 

Jesus personally suffered for all of our sins.  He is the Lamb of God "which taketh away the sins of the world."  Behold the Lamb of God!