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The pre-Christ and Post-Christ eras carried two different illustrations of atonement, absolution and forgiveness:
- Before the coming of Christ, God remembers His creation that: “they were but Flesh and Wind that pass away and do not come again” (Psa. 78:39), and they have to atone for their sins through burnt offerings, and after death, the righteous enjoyed Abraham’s temporary bosom until Christ’s Glorious Resurrection.(Negation of re-incarnation theory)
- After the coming of Christ, He purchased us, past, present and future generations once and for all, with His Precious Blood on the Cross, and took God’s full wrath on His shoulders (Isaiah) ... But God commends His Love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only (so), but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:8-12)
- As the only Slaughtered Lamb and Burnt Offering acceptable to the Father, God the Father promised to place our sins behind His Back, never to see them again: “… their sins and iniquities will I remember no more, now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” (Heb. 10:17-18).
- From the above exposé, we conclude that two elements and states of being are opposite to each other: Flesh and Spirit, in that we can FREELY choose to curtail one on the expenses of the other.
In the flesh, we sin, but in the Spirit, we worship righteously the Living Lord. In the Spirit “…sin shall have no dominion over you; for you are not under the LAW, but under GRACE. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? GOD FORBIDS. Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto DEATH, or of obedience unto RIGHTEOUSNESS? Being then made FREE from sin, you became the servants of righteousness”. (
Rom.
6:14-18) Because: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own Body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed”. (1Pet. 2:24) Thus we can joyfully shout with the Apostle Paul: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord: So then with the mind (Spirit) I myself serve the law of God; but with flesh the law of sin”. (Rom.7:25)
“God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3.16) and “God made the Lord Jesus Christ to be sin, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (IICor. 5:21) so he took away our sin once and for all.
“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”. (John. 1:17) and “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth”, (John 4:24) “For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Gal. 6:8)
The Bible assures us that we are: ”The
temple
of
God
, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you” (I Cor 3:16-17) and by “continuing sinning” we defile the
temple
of
God
and God shall destroy us by throwing us in the lake of fire for eternity.
A follower of Jesus Christ boasts of being “Crucified with Christ: nevertheless he lives, yet not him, but Christ lives in him and the life he lives in the flesh, he lives by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him and gave himself for him.” (Gal. 2:20)
As followers of Christ we should “Put on the whole armor of God (His Power, His Sovereignty, His Blood, His Cross, His Matchless Name and His Death and Resurrection), that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11) coupled with His Promises to never leave us or forsake us, and to accomplish this task “He must increase and we must decrease (John. 3:30), so our weakness can be replaced by His Strength and our sinfulness by His Righteousness, lest we forget that our Lord has overcome the Devil.
We ought to remember that God is no longer looking for burnt offerings, He got the One and Only acceptable propitiation through faith in His Blood: Jesus Christ, and “Him crucified”, by Whom the whole world has already been saved, to declare His Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Rom. 3:25) but that world have to humble themselves, to sincerely ask for forgiveness and to genuinely repent.
