The Blood Atonement for Dummies (part 4)

The life (and death, and life) of the Son

There are many reasons that every Christian, from the greatest theologian to the simplest layman, has found for Jesus coming to live among us. Some say that it was to show us the example of how to live perfectly, even with the fragile nature of our humanity. Others say that it was so God himself could experience what it was like to be a human, so that he may understand us better (interesting, but wrong. If there is any knowledge or experience that is possible to acquire in this universe, God understands it fully, for he created the universe, all knowledge, and all experience.). Still, others believe he came to bring us a new philosophy and breadth of moral teaching for living at peace with others (Thomas Jefferson). I think there is some truth in virtually every theory, but individuals must find it themselves, and treasure it in their hearts, for these particular truths cannot be, and indeed are not, the foundational reason for Jesus' life. The foundational reason for Jesus' life is his death.

And, of course, his resurrection, but I feel unworthy to even touch that at this time.

The story of Jesus' humanity goes like this: fulfilling a number of Old Testament prophecies in his very birth, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a small village in Roman-occupied Israel. He lived a normal life for 30 years, learning his father's trade of carpentry, and living in his community of Nazareth. When he was 30 years old, Jesus left his home and began a ministry of both teaching and healing. He traveled all over Israel, recruiting (solicited and not) many followers, all the while teaching people about sin, repentance, living morally, and the Kingdom of God (usually understood to be eternal life). During this time, he also made a number of enemies that had great power in the Jewish religion, as many of his teachings undermined or reversed what they had been taught to believe, and led people away from their authority. In order to silence Jesus once and for all, his enemies had him arrested on charges of starting a rebellion, and demanded the Roman governor have him crucified. Fearing an uprising, the governor agreed to the crucifixion, despite the fact that he believed Jesus was innocent. Suffering the most painful execution method man has ever devised, Jesus died upon the cross.

. . . for you, that is.

And here is the story of Jesus divinity: God came to Earth as a human for the purpose of saving us through his death. He lived a totally sinless life, through the power of his divinity, and then gave that life to save us all. Do you remember the Jewish method of atoning for your sins by blood sacrifice? That method, unfortunately, needed to be repeated fairly often in order to be in right standing with God, and even then, it seemed to do little as far as actually converting people's hearts toward God, and leading them to sin less. You might think that the blood of these animals (nearly perfect animals, but animals nonetheless) seems to be falling short, and you would be correct. What would be ideal here would be one sacrifice that could cover your sins forever, so you can stop this needless bloodshed. What would sweeten the deal even more would be if that sacrifice not only paid for your sins, but also changed you from the inside out so that you could sin less (and, I dare say, eventually not sin at all). This sacrifice, of course, would have to go beyond being spotless and unblemished-- it would have to be downright holy in order to pay for all sins ever committed. Well, if I didn't make it extremely obvious already, here is the kicker: that is exactly what God did.

The only truly holy one is God, for it is not by Holiness that we can define God, but God that is the definition of Holiness. He is the original form of existence. He is so much more perfect than any spotless lamb or dove, that He could pay for not only one person's recent sins, but ALL SINS ever committed, and all that ever would be. Therefore, God himself would be the only possible sacrifice that could do such a miraculous thing as paying for all humanity's sin.

Of course, God cannot simply offer himself to die as a sacrifice, for the universe would cease to exist without him. That is why he came as Jesus, who was 100% God, while being 100% Man. While Jesus lived his life as a man (eating, drinking, breathing, walking) he also lived his life as God, and it was that God-side of Jesus that enabled him to die on the cross. If Jesus died on the cross as a man, it would have done nothing, but because he, Holy God, died on the cross, we effectively received the most perfect sacrifice in the realm of possibility, for God himself was sacrificed.

Therefore, Jesus, the Son of God, God Himself, was sacrificed on our behalf. This is how his blood covered our sins: where we once took the blood of a perfect lamb and used it to pay for our sins, we now have the eternal blood sacrifice of God himself to pay for our sins. This is why we call Jesus “Lamb of God.”

He is our eternal sacrifice, our perfect lamb.