WHERE MERCY AND JUSTICE MEET
God is just. God is also merciful and gracious. This doesn’t mean God overlooks sin or that God would allow just any payment for our sins. The life is in the blood. Blood sacrifice of an innocent animal covered the daily sins of the people.. By faith or trust that God would be satisfied in a perfect substitute animal and its shed blood, mankind could be considered right with God again.
In the Old Testament, we see that it is always by faith that mankind is justified. The Old Testament sacrificial system points forward to that offspring of a woman Who would crush the head of Satan.
Look at how Ephesians 2 explains what God did for our helpless condition as slaves to sin and trapped in Satan’s Kingdom of Darkness.
“4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
God is just. God is also merciful and gracious. This doesn’t mean God overlooks sin or that God would allow just any payment for our sins. The life is in the blood. Blood sacrifice of an innocent animal covered the daily sins of the people.. By faith or trust that God would be satisfied in a perfect substitute animal and its shed blood, mankind could be considered right with God again.
In the Old Testament, we see that it is always by faith that mankind is justified. The Old Testament sacrificial system points forward to that offspring of a woman Who would crush the head of Satan.
Look at how Ephesians 2 explains what God did for our helpless condition as slaves to sin and trapped in Satan’s Kingdom of Darkness.
“4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
This looks like good news! A brand new “Default Setting”. Reconciled, Redeemed, Restored. Let’s read more about this free gift..motivated by a heart of love. And when did God come up with this plan? After man’s rebellion? Or before? The answer will astound you and let you see the mystery of the God Who Is There.
We read in Ephesians 1:3-4 NLT,
“ 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we
are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world,
God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”
[I added the bold and
italics.] This plan occurred BEFORE the world or any of us are made! The very nature of the heart of love is to
redeem, reconcile and restore rebellious sinful man to a holy God.
However, how does this happen?
Does every human become ‘holy and without fault’ in God’s eyes?
The answer is NO. The basic problem is the enmity of God toward the insurrectionists.. each person born is an enemy of God, remember this. So how to abolish this enmity? Not just put a temporary covering as the Old Testament sacrifices. There must be two things; the satisfaction of God’s justice.. there must be punishment appropriate to this heinous crime. The sin debt must be paid in full. Also, the sins must be removed from the presence of God. Second, either the insurrectionist himself must offer his own life as payment OR a suitable substitute would be accepted. God’s holiness and justice could NOT accept a final solution in any other way. We know Genesis 3:15 identifies this person would be a man child born of the seed of the woman. NOT the seed of Adam, which was corrupted beyond usefulness as a perfect substitute. In essence, there must be a Second Adam. So we have the birth of Jesus, who was named by the angel, for He would save His people from their sins. Yeshua or Yesu or Jesus means, “God saves or God delivers”. Jesus born of the seed of the woman does NOT have the default setting of ‘sin nature’. Now would this man sent from God, called Emmanuel, God with us, this man called the unique Son of God [born not of human father or sexual intercourse of a man and a woman, but born as the Son of the desert, the Ibn of God]---would this Yeshua be able to live a life of perfect obedience to God? Only a perfect [sinless] man, tempted in all ways to sin, and yet a willing victim would be able to accomplish this salvation to remove mankind from under the authority of Satan and his evil empire.
So we read in the gospel accounts of the birth, life, works of Jesus. We learn He was the Eternal Word of God and given power and command to undo works of the devil, to heal the sick , repair the broken of heart, exercise complete dominion over the creation, including the miracle of provision of food, the stilling of the raging tempest on the sea, the raising of the dead, healing of blind and deaf and mute and deliverance of the demonic. None of these miraculous signs were done except as Jesus heard from God. In other words, Yeshua always obeyed God, unlike the first Adam.
And on to the cruel cross, this type of death prophesied over 700 years earlier in the prophet Isaiah’s account in chapter 53. Roman soldiers were given authority to crucify Jesus. His death, burial and resurrection was attested to being true not only by those who witnessed it and later became His followers, but also Roman historians who refused to worship Jesus as God.
So did God accept this sacrifice? Was God’s wrath against mankind satisfied? YES! The Bodily resurrection of Jesus Messiah proves this! Death could not hold Jesus because Jesus had NO sin. With sin came death. With resurrection comes Life Eternal.
How about you? Have you repented of your sins and by faith accepted that Yeshua died in YOUR place? If only you had been on this earth, would Jesus have died in YOUR place?
Quiet your heart, read in the New Testament about this Jesus. Ask God to reveal these things.. Who is Jesus? What is your present position …If God would judge you today—Human, why should I allow you to My perfect Paradise, when the first human is thrown out for only one small act of disobedience, what would you say?
Moses brought the Law. Grace and truth came through Jesus Messiah. At the cross mercy triumphs over judgment.
Please watch this youtube,
The answer is NO. The basic problem is the enmity of God toward the insurrectionists.. each person born is an enemy of God, remember this. So how to abolish this enmity? Not just put a temporary covering as the Old Testament sacrifices. There must be two things; the satisfaction of God’s justice.. there must be punishment appropriate to this heinous crime. The sin debt must be paid in full. Also, the sins must be removed from the presence of God. Second, either the insurrectionist himself must offer his own life as payment OR a suitable substitute would be accepted. God’s holiness and justice could NOT accept a final solution in any other way. We know Genesis 3:15 identifies this person would be a man child born of the seed of the woman. NOT the seed of Adam, which was corrupted beyond usefulness as a perfect substitute. In essence, there must be a Second Adam. So we have the birth of Jesus, who was named by the angel, for He would save His people from their sins. Yeshua or Yesu or Jesus means, “God saves or God delivers”. Jesus born of the seed of the woman does NOT have the default setting of ‘sin nature’. Now would this man sent from God, called Emmanuel, God with us, this man called the unique Son of God [born not of human father or sexual intercourse of a man and a woman, but born as the Son of the desert, the Ibn of God]---would this Yeshua be able to live a life of perfect obedience to God? Only a perfect [sinless] man, tempted in all ways to sin, and yet a willing victim would be able to accomplish this salvation to remove mankind from under the authority of Satan and his evil empire.
So we read in the gospel accounts of the birth, life, works of Jesus. We learn He was the Eternal Word of God and given power and command to undo works of the devil, to heal the sick , repair the broken of heart, exercise complete dominion over the creation, including the miracle of provision of food, the stilling of the raging tempest on the sea, the raising of the dead, healing of blind and deaf and mute and deliverance of the demonic. None of these miraculous signs were done except as Jesus heard from God. In other words, Yeshua always obeyed God, unlike the first Adam.
And on to the cruel cross, this type of death prophesied over 700 years earlier in the prophet Isaiah’s account in chapter 53. Roman soldiers were given authority to crucify Jesus. His death, burial and resurrection was attested to being true not only by those who witnessed it and later became His followers, but also Roman historians who refused to worship Jesus as God.
So did God accept this sacrifice? Was God’s wrath against mankind satisfied? YES! The Bodily resurrection of Jesus Messiah proves this! Death could not hold Jesus because Jesus had NO sin. With sin came death. With resurrection comes Life Eternal.
How about you? Have you repented of your sins and by faith accepted that Yeshua died in YOUR place? If only you had been on this earth, would Jesus have died in YOUR place?
Quiet your heart, read in the New Testament about this Jesus. Ask God to reveal these things.. Who is Jesus? What is your present position …If God would judge you today—Human, why should I allow you to My perfect Paradise, when the first human is thrown out for only one small act of disobedience, what would you say?
Moses brought the Law. Grace and truth came through Jesus Messiah. At the cross mercy triumphs over judgment.
Please watch this youtube,
Come to Jesus
Here are the words.
Weak and wounded sinner, lost and left to die,
O raise your head for Love is
passing by,
Come to Jesus, Come to Jesus, Come
to Jesus and live.
Now your burdens lifted and carried far away,
and precious blood has washed away
the stain,
so sing to Jesus , sing to Jesus,
sing to Jesus and live.
Like a newborn baby, don’t be
afraid to crawl
and remember when you walk,
sometimes we fall,
so fall on Jesus, fall on Jesus,
fall on Jesus and live.
Sometimes the way is lonely and
steep and filled with pain,
so if your way is dark and pours
the rain,
then cry to Jesus, cry to Jesus,
cry to Jesus and live..
O and when the love spills over
and music fills the night,
and when you can’t contain your
joy inside,
then dance with Jesus, dance with
Jesus, dance with Jesus and live.
And with your final heartbeat kiss
the world goodbye,
then go in peace and laugh on
glory’s side,
and
fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus and live.
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