But Why?

Yesterday I posted about the Way..Now I want to give my interpretation about the WHY.


Why did Jesus have to make the sacrifice on that cross so long ago?

The obvious short answer to this question is- To pay the price for OUR sins!

That's true..but if you are anything like me, you accept that answer.. but you want to know more.

Firstly, I am NOT A THEOLOGY TEACHER . But having been a student of the Bible for 34 years, I have thought a lot and researched a lot about this and other important subjects of the Christian faith, so I am going to speak pretty plainly here on this matter of why Jesus had to do what he did, and why it made all the difference for us.

Let's start at the beginning...

Imagine a perfect paradise where we walk with the Spirit of God and where we fellowship with all of God's other creatures. There are no predators, so there is no fear here. The lion truly does lay down next to the little lamb..all creatures are fed from the ground, from the grasses and fruits and seeds etc..there has never been any blood spilled upon this earth...yet.

Everything is as God planned it to be..The Creator has never been this happy to have such loving and beautiful children..He truly admires the works of His hand as he enjoys spending this time with His creation and seeing His children so happy!

But..He knows this will not last long.

Why then, you may ask, did he bother to create us in the first place if He knew what we would end up doing?

Good question!
Let's look at the Word of God for a little hint at some possible answers to this..

• But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
• And because we are his children, God has *sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, *“Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6)
• *For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10)
• … You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession … (1 Peter 2:9)
• And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6)

 *emphasis mine

2 Peter 3:13 

 

3:13 his promise. All the promises of God, especially including His promise to return and complete His great work of redemption, will be fulfilled, though it seems to us to be long delayed (II Peter 3:4). The old cosmos will have been dissolved, its material elements having been converted temporarily into energy (light, heat, sound, etc.), but will then be made over again as a “new” cosmos, with all the age-long effects of sin and the curse forever removed (with the one exception of the lake of fire and its inhabitants—see notes on Revelation 20:10).

See, Christ’s love for you has very little to do with you and everything to do with Him. His is not simply some cosmic feeling of kindness, but an eternal truth about who He is and who you are as you are His. Likewise, God’s eternal truth about you is not simply emotionless fact, but is eternal passion based in who He is and what He’s doing with you as His.
  (Excerpt taken from- https://www.christianity.com/wiki/god/why-does-god-love-me.html)

But why a blood sacrifice?

Remember how I said there hadn't been any blood shed upon the earth...YET?

Well,  this did not last. 

Soon after Adam and Eve were deceived in the garden and disobeyed God by eating from the forbidden tree..

Five things happened:

 https://answersingenesis.org/blogs/simon-turpin/2016/06/27/five-effects-of-the-fall-in-genesis-3/

I am going to skip down to number five from that teaching in order to answer the question about the necessity of a blood sacrifice.

 (You animal -lovers might wanna pay close attention here)..

*Quote from the source:

  "The first death mentioned in the Bible comes in Genesis 3:21, when God makes garments of skin after Adam and Eve sinned. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their “eyes were opened” and they became aware of their nakedness, trying to cover it up by sowing fig leaves together. Nevertheless, this was ineffective, and ultimately God Himself clothed Adam and Eve because they could now no longer walk before Him in innocence. We wear clothes because, in a fallen world, nakedness brings about shame. God’s “clothing” of Adam and Eve is also a reminder that our salvation does not come to us through our own works but by God’s grace when He clothes us in His righteousness (see Zechariah 3:5; Philippians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 5:21)."

*End quote

So, here we can see that God drew the first blood in order to cover the first man and woman's sin..this required the first sacrifice of one of His beloved creatures. Adam and Eve's own attempt to cover their own shame (their awareness of sin from their disobedience to God was shame in their bodies which God made.) Their covering made from leaves was not sufficient.

My thought on this is because Lucifer was considered "beautiful" before being stripped of this glory..he was and still is very jealous of us because we were created in God's own image..in the image of Christ..so the first thing he wanted Adam and Eve to see is his own distorted vision of us..causing us to be ashamed. In fact, just look at how he has used sexuality in this world to pervert the human body..making it far from what God ever intention-ed when He created our bodies!
 

To learn more about the fall of Lucifer this article is a good one:

 https://www.christianity.com/theology/theological-faq/how-did-lucifer-fall-and-become-satan-11557519.html


Genesis 3:21  *then records the first death in the Bible, when God made clothes for Adam and Eve out of animal skin. Presumably, this would have been shocking and horrifying to the first couple. It was a graphic demonstration of the nature of their sin. Because they sinned, they now had to be clothed, or covered. That covering was only accomplished by the shedding of blood, a metaphor for their spiritual death and a foreshadowing of things to come.
Things only went downhill. By the second generation of humanity, Cain killed his brother Abel in jealousy, which was the first murder.
Mankind grew so wicked that only a single God-fearing man was left, Noah, and even his story ended in drunkenness and family discord. There were a couple of vague references to a Messiah (e.g. Genesis 3:15), but as of yet, there had been no permanent means of reconciliation offered between the holiness of God and the sinful nature of man.


*Another quote from source-  https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/why-did-god-require-animal-sacrifices-in-the-bible-does-it-serve-any-purpose-today.html

Early scripture indicates that the generations after Adam and Eve offered animals as well as other things as a sacrifice ..as told in the famous story of Cain and Abel..where the lesser offering was the grains offered by Cain whereas his brother pleased God with the correct offering of a sheep..the best one from his herd.
So when King Solomon dedicated the first Temple  (I Kings 8:41-3) People started to make regular animal sacrifices in remembrance of Gods first sacrifice until: in A.D. 70..
 Animal sacrifices stopped

But for Christians, this practice was never necessary after Christ made the final blood sacrifice on the cross. This was the perfect lamb of God offered once and for all.  
 As Jesus Christ who is also called Emmanuel or "God is with us"..Being God in the flesh freely Offered himself up to make this final payment for mankind's sin.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
full of grace and truth;
we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. 

John 1:14

I hope this rather long essay has helped you to understand a bit more just how important that sacrifice is to each one of us today..and I pray you all are staying safe as we celebrate this  Resurrection Sunday.

Thanks for reading..and as always...

Never forget that we are...

~Never Forsaken~