Chapter 3

GOD’S ANSWER

THIS REBELLIOUS STEP into independence started sin in the human heart. Romans 14:23 gives us an inclusive definition of what sin really is: “For whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Faith is complete reliance upon God alone and obedience to His Word. Therefore, if an act is not of faith, if it is not done in dependence on God, it is sin. Any act or decision made by a deliberate choice of human will, apart from dependence upon God, is sin.

This is why worry, fear, anxiety, and frustration are sins in the fullest sense. They come to the soul that chooses to face the problems of life all alone. Certainly, the sufferer may speak of his trust in God, of how God is the only answer to his need; but words are not actions. James 1:22 has the answer: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

The great outcome from this first act of rebellion in the Garden was guilt. God was the One against whom the affront had been committed, but who was going to find the answer to the problem of sin? Shouldn’t it be man, the guilty one, who should provide the remedy and work out that which would restore the situation? But man was bankrupt, morally and spiritually. His previous assets of joy and peace had been his by dependence upon God. But now he was away from God, a stranger in a strange land, facing new and frustrating situations. He possessed nothing with which to make his way back to God. Certainly the answer to the problem of sin would not be found in human ability.

The answer, we know, came from God, the One against whom the sin had been committed. The One who loved in the Garden still loved in the hour of failure. This is the great significance of John 3: 16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This verse is bigger than many people imagine. It is dealing with God’s answer to the whole outcome of sin. We need to understand that two issues must be faced when we consider the effect of sin. First, there is the penalty of sin; second, there is the power of sin. It is not enough to provide a means
whereby sin can be forgiven. This is essential, and it is the first issue to be faced; but there must also be provided a way by which sin can be resisted. We need an answer to the penalty of sin; but, equally important, we need an answer to the power of sin.

This is exactly what John 3:16 is saying. God so loved that He gave His only begotten Son for a twofold purpose. First, that whosoever would believe should not perish. He would be delivered from the penalty of sin as told in Ezekiel 18:4, “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” One purpose in the mind of God for giving His Son was that man might not die etenally as a result of the penalty of sin.

The second purpose was that man might have life, might possess a new capacity to meet the power of sin, and have new resources to live the life God intended him to live.

If God had only provided the answer to the penalty of sin, then man would be saved; but his daily life would be an experience of failure. Remember, God never saved you to be a failure, never saved you to be washed up on the shores of heaven. He is the giver of every good and perfect gift. His
salvation is good and perfect (complete). God saved you so that you could really live. The tragedy is that so many Christians do not live; they just exist, conscious of their own failure and total inability to match up to the pressures of life.

In this chapter we will consider in wider detail God’s answer to the penalty of sin. In the next chapter we will see how God, in an amazing way, has provided the answer to the power of sin in our daily lives.

We saw in the first chapter of this book that the rebellion began in heaven. In just the same way the redemption also began in heaven. We can read this in 1 Peter 1:19, 20. Here we see that we were redeemed, “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

In the inscrutable economy of the Trinity, worked out before this world was ever formed, there was the complete plan of redemption. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit designed and foreordained the glorious mystery of human redemption before there was a human or even a world. The whole concept baffles human intelligence. We can see now that when man fell and sin came in, God was not caught unprepared. There was no panic in heaven. Satan could write across his attack “Mission accomplished,” but God was ready with the answer to it all- "Operation Redemption.”

This divine plan included aspects which cause dissension among many so-called Christians today. For example, the whole basis for forgiveness is found in Hebrews 9:22: “With out shedding of blood is no remission [or forgiveness].”

Over recent years great resentment has arisen against this concept. It is cried down as being a religion of the slaughter house, revolting and unlovely. In some denominations all the hymns referring to the blood of Christ have been removed. This is sad and presumptuous on the part of sinful creatures, however important they may be. They say the idea of the shedding of blood is not nice. This is true. But then, sin itself is not nice; there is nothing lovely about the shame and ugliness of a life stained and broken by sin. The real point is that blood sacrifice is the way God chose to deal with sin.

If one of these dissenters had been God, maybe he would have found another way for dealing with sin—and even try to improve upon unpleasant events of life, such as birth and death. But such a man isn’t God, he is just one of the many sinners who need to be saved.

This is what God chose, whether we like it or not! The amazing thing is that God not only chose the way, He provided the way, in Christ. In contemplating the last thought we begin to see the immeasurable grandeur of God’s love. Not only did He undertake to find the way back for sinful man, but He Himself paid the price. Compare the glorious grandeur of John 3: 16 with the dramatic words of 1 John 3:16, “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us.” The wonder of it all-’ that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” (2 Co 5:19)

Always remember that when we are talking about the blood of Christ, we are not speaking of a theological issue but of a physical reality. His blood was shed, and His side was pierced. It was actual blood flowing from His veins, but it was the blood of God—amazing thought!

There are others who, when discussing the concept of “without shedding of blood is no remission,” will say, “but this was only for the Old Testament.” Such people need to be reminded that Hebrews 9:22 is in the New Testament and also that the verb is in the present tense: “is no remission of sins.” We need to be fully aware of the fact that even today God only forgives sin on the basis of shed blood.

This is why tile Bible, from cover to cover, accepts and knows no other way, even in the glory of heaven itself: “In the midst of the throne . . . in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain” (Rev 5:6). And the continual song of those in verse 9 is “for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God.” Verse 12 adds the glorious words of worship: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” If we count up in the book of Revelation we find the word Lamb with the capital L, coming twenty-eight times. Each reference is to Christ and His shed
blood. In fact, the whole New Testament has only five more references to the word lamb, and four of them are used concerning the Lord Himself. How significant is the truth contained in that precious word.

If we turn to Leviticus 4, we have set out before us the method used in the Old Testament for the forgiveness of sins. This chapter tells the mechanics of forgiveness, the procedure to be followed by the sinner in his need. This method was the one and only way by which sins were forgiven. It was given early in the history of the Jewish relationship with God, and it continued in use down to the days of our Lord.

Leviticus 4 describes the plan to be followed by four different groups: “If the priest that is annointed do sin” (v. 3); “If the whole congregation ... sin” (v. 13); “When a ruler hath sinned” (v. 22); and “If any one of the common people sin” (v. 21) . Four groups are mentioned because different
animals had to be brought according to each group, but the method of obtaining forgiveness was the same in each case.

If we consider the case of one of the common people, we can see the plan for all. In fact, we can see, in a sense, the method God uses for the forgiveness of sins, even today.

The Bible tells that such a man would have a sense of sin on his soul. He would feel the guilt and the increasing sense of separation from God. Then he would initiate steps to seek forgiveness and cleansing. He went to his flock and selected an animal without any blemish. In this way he deprived him self of his own possessions; it cost him something. He carried the little animal on his shoulders to the tabernacle, or, later on, to the temple. There he met a priest who would recognize the purpose of his visit.

The man would then begin the process leading up to forgiveness. He placed his hands on the head of the animal and confessed before God the burden and guilt of his soul. By doing this, he was transferring his own sin to the sinless sacrifice. When his confession was ended, he would take his knife and kill the animal there in the presence of the priest. The priest then took the blood of the dying animal and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. When the priest had ended his part in the burning of the sacrifice, he turned to the man and told him two amazing things: first, that an atonement had been made for the man’s sin, and that his sin had
been forgiven.

On hearing these words, the man returned to his home with his heart rejoicing—his burden of sin was gone. If you had asked the man the secret of his newfound joy, he would have told you that his sin was forgiven. If you had asked him Further if he understood how his sin was forgiven, he would have no explanation other than that this was the way Jehovah had decreed. Trusting and obedience had brought the forgiveness and cleansing.

In the process of time this same man would once again be conscious of sin and guilt. Once more he would go through lie same ritual, and once more, the shed blood brought him two things—an atonement and forgiveness.

Thus it was in the life of one man, and this procedure was multiplied many thousands and millions of times in the lives many Jews down through the years of time until the days of Christ.

In this process of forgiveness, one word deserves special not ice, the word atonement. Its actual meaning is a covering. This chapter teaches that the blood of the animal covered the sin in the sight of God. The sin remained in all its ugliness, but it was covered by the blood. God saw it no more. As a result, the sin that he had committed was forgiven him.

In this way all the millions of sacrifices for sins would have played their part in the covering of all the sins. None of these many sins were gone—they all remained—but they were covered by the blood.

Thus it continued until the glorious day mentioned in John 1:29: “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” What a tremendous day this was. Here was coming the fulfillment of that unique plan designed in
heaven before the world began.

Notice what Jesus was going to do. By His shed blood He was going to take away the sin of the world. That is why on the cross, just before He dismissed His spirit, He cried, “It is finished.” John 19:30 says: “He said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” “Bowed his head” is a special phrase, signifying a deliberate putting of the head into a position of rest. He had successfully accomplished that for which He was on the cross; He had taken away the sin of the world.

Now see the glory and the grandeur of the cross of Christ. There are some who say, “I don’t see how Jesus dying nearly two thousand years ago could forgive my sins.” It is much more wonderful than that. The cross of Christ stands at the center of all time here on this earth. Every sacrifice offered
under the plan of Leviticus 4 looked forward to the cross. Every animal that died was a picture and type of Christ--up to a point. Its blood was shed, but the shed blood did not remove the sin from the sight of God. The sin remained, covered, waiting for Him who was the Lamb of God. No
wonder every saint who ever lived can say, “In the cross of’ Christ I glory.”

See now the sad affront offered to God by such as deny and despise the blood of Christ. They are out of tune with heaven and out of touch with God. They have nothing left as an offering for sin except the so-called goodness of their miserable, sin-stained lives. What a pitiful contrast this makes against the magnificent glory of the cross and its blood. 

Hebrews 10 has much to say about the success and failure of the offerings 
made in the tabernacle. Verse 4 teaches, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” Here again it establishes the truth of the atonement or covering value of the Jewish sacrifices. They could not take away sin, only cover them. Verse 10 gives us the truth of the “once for all” offering of Christ: "We are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Verse 12 speaks of “one sacrifice for sins for ever.” 

Remember, in this chapter we have been considering God’s answer to the penalty of sin. Man through his rebellion be came a sinner; and through his continued life of independence, he remains a sinner in the sight of God. Because he is a sinner, he needs an answer to the penalty of his sin. He needs to be saved so that he will not suffer eternal death. 

We have just considered God’s answer as depicted in the Old Testament plan. We need now to be reminded again that “without shedding of blood is no remission.” We need to see how this great truth can be realized and enjoyed. 

Someone may say, “What do I do today? I have no lamb to bring; and even if I had a lamb, where would I take it?” There is no need to seek for a lamb; God has provided the one Lamb of God. There is no need to seek for a temple be cause there is no need for any further offerings. Jesus was the one sacrifice for sins forever. But there is a need for identification with the Lamb of God. 

Under the law, the sinner brought his lamb, placed his hands upon its head, and identified himself and his sin with the lamb. We need to become involved with Christ in a personal and practical way. We must go individually to the cross and realize that Jesus was dying for each one of us personally. As Paul could say, “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20)

We need to humble our hearts, confess and repent of our sin, and accept the Lamb of God as our one sacrifice for sins. When we so identify ourselves with the Lamb of God, accepting Him as our Saviour, pleading only the merits of His precious shed blood, then we too can enter into the joy of sins forgiven. Not because we understand it, but because in simple faith we are obedient to God’s will. Our enjoyment is greater than that in the Old Testament. Their sin was only covered, but our sin is gone for ever, taken away by the blessed Lamb of God.

Most of you reading this book will have made this decision, maybe years ago. But there may be just one who has never really come to the cross and made a personal identification with the Lamb of God. May I suggest that you consider care fully your present condition. God has planned your salvation. Christ has died to make it effective. Would you come as in Leviticus 4 and place your hands, by faith, on the Lamb of God? If you do this in all sincerity, then you, too, can know forgiveness and cleansing - and the joy of the Lord will fill your heart.