May 13, 2022 (Friday)

Theme for the week: Words About Our Salvation

I follow a theme each week and write five blogs under that theme. Five theological words that seem to be most important when discussing the great salvation that is ours in Christ are: 1.Repentance, 2.Faith, 3.Regeneration, 4.Grace, 5.Justification. If each subject became a command, the list would read: 1.Change your mind! 2.Believe in Jesus! 3.Be born again! 4.Accept God’s gift of salvation! and 5.Thank God for a fresh start!

Without going into details, I think it’s safe to assume that many of you who are reading this know that God’s people in ancient times were very familiar with the idea of sacrificing animals such as lambs so that their blood could be shed as an act of worship. Invariably, in various ways, the old sacrificial system involved some sort of atonement for sin. With that in mind, let us observe Jesus as He begins his earthly ministry by appearing to those who had gathered to hear John the Baptist preach. When John saw Jesus coming, he immediately said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

We are familiar with the idea that Jesus became our Passover, but the truth is, When Jesus died on the Cross, he fulfilled the entire sacrificial system. The Book of Hebrews tells us that the blood of animals never actually took away sins. All those old sacrifices were in essence foretelling the death of Christ on the cross that was essential to our salvation. Jesus’ death was in behalf of all people, everywhere, of all time. He bore all our sins that day. He took our place. He suffered for our sins.

Justification is a legal term in the Bible which means that, when Jesus took our sins upon Himself, He made our salvation possible. As Isaiah wrote,

“Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6 ESV)

When we accept Him as our Savior, we are justified, meaning that our sins are gone and we are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Bible says it plainly, “.. God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV). It is often said that God sees us “just as if we had never sinned.” (a play on the word, “justify”).