Justice is swift and sure from God. Adam and Eve weren't allowed to plea bargain for a lesser sentence.
But was this the FIRST death?
The innocent animals in place of Adam and Eve?
Didn't God say to Adam : in the day you eat of the forbidden fruit, you will surely die?
Yes . But they don't die physically for many years.
So the first death was the spiritual death of Adam and Eve.
Because they trusted in their own reasoning instead of the words of God, they died spiritually and lost communion with the Lord.
The only way that Adam and Eve escaped physical death on the day they ate the fruit was because of what God did on their behalf.
God is always the initiator in a rescue mission.
Neither Adam or Eve called out to God during any part of their sin. They didn't say sorry or ask for pardon.
They shifted the blame to God , one another, or the serpent.
They refused to admit that they disobeyed God by misusing the freedom of choice given by God.
They should have been grateful for life and happy in their freedom, but freedom to choose does not bring happiness when bad choices are made.
Satan offers a counterfeit freedom that promises a person the freedom to define and live by their own rules.
God however says freedom is the power to do as God determines; not to do as we wish.
All people are worshipers-
False worship occurs when a person's self is a god; the true God is worshipped
, but in a false way; or worship of gods other than the God revealed in the Word of God.
The inerrant Holy Bible reveals truth concerning man's sin, God's holiness, and the justice and mercy that comes from grace alone.
The blood of animals only covered the sin, the blood of an innocent animal had no power to open the way back to the tree of life. Death remained.
No amount of self effort, including good deeds , religious rituals such as prayers, alms giving to needy people, or fasting can cancel the certificate of death that has been issued to each person born since Adam.
But God- ----
Remember the promise made to Eve? From her seed would be born One Who could legally cancel the death sentence and give new life - undo the works of satan - but the way seems incredibly radical.
Our own attempt to earn our freedom from the chains of sin only strengthens the chains- pride insists that we can better ourselves.
Angels can't rescue us- without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
Hebrews 9:22 (NASB) 22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
This leaves only one way-
God the just must also become the justifier!
The one thing that God could not put on display before Adam sinned was the mercy and grace of God.
All of the attributes of God have existed eternally- mercy didn't come into existence after man disobeyed the Holy God.
God doesn't need to give Himself mercy ; God chose to show mercy to the humans He selected from before creation.
God Himself would exact justice for man's sin from the seed of the woman.
That child is the one called Jesus of Nazareth; begotten of God, not created or born of the will and sexual Union of a man and woman; the Holy One of God left the perfection of heaven, wrapped Himself in human flesh, born of a daughter of Eve yet with no sexual Union with a man or with God.
Jesus is the God/Man, the only person born of a woman who had not become pregnant by the seed of a man.
A virgin.
Thus Jesus was born free from the sin nature transferred through Adam.
So Who is Jesus? One day every tongue will confess Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the redeemer, the sin bearer for all who repent and place their trust in Jesus alone for their rescue from eternal death and punishment in hell fire.
What makes Jesus able to forgive sins and resurrect the dead? Isn't Jesus just another prophet sent from God?
No.
Jesus lived a perfect life as a man. No prophet ever said that about themselves.
What do I mean "perfect "?
The Jewish laws reflect the character of God- what God is like. For example Moses wrote the commands of God and one commandment says don't tell lies. Why not?
Because God cannot lie.
So Jesus never told a lie. That's more than I can say, how about you?
The perfection God demands includes more than a list of "do this" and "don't do that ".
God demands that we do nothing but what we see the Father doing - no self will , no seeking identity or dignity from others or the things we can accomplish.
Jesus said, " I and the Father are One".
That's perfection; willing submission to the will of God.
Can't all religions make it possible for people to submit to the will of God?
No, remember death is separation from communion with God.
A person must first be brought back to life before the person can be restored to relationship with God.
Who can give life but God alone? And even if a person's good deeds could cancel out the bad deeds , would that deliver from the power of sin ?
Jesus did more than take the penalty for sinners.
Jesus sets us free from the power of sin.
Jesus transfers us to a new kingdom of holiness .
We are delivered from the kingdom of satan, the kingdom of darkness.
The prophets had written that one day God would enact a new covenant in which the law of God would be written on hearts of flesh and not stone tablets.
Every person with this new heart would know God.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. - Jeremiah 31:33
And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." - Jeremiah 31:34
So how do you get a new heart ?
You must repent of your sins, trust Jesus alone for forgiveness and a new heart.
Jesus explains in John chapter 3 this is a new birth from above .
We receive a new identity and are called children of God. The perfection of Christ becomes our identity. Because the Father is well pleased with the Son, all who have become children of God are acceptable in the Beloved.
Jesus told about why a person can't just add Jesus to their old life.
Here's the way Jesus told the story. Everyone in the first century understood the meaning.
Matthew 9:17 (ESV) 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved."
Here is the message Jesus came to bring.
1.God is Holy and perfect in morality.
2. All humans fall short of the perfection that God requires to be in His presence.
3. Jesus is the eternal Son of God, one in essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit. If you get stuck trying to understand how God is One essence yet three persons please don't stop here.
Jesus is the One born from a woman, lived as a man who was tempted to rebel against the will of God, yet always obeyed the Father.
Jesus lived the perfect life we can't.
Jesus died as a perfect and a willing sacrifice in place of sinful man.
God put on Jesus His wrath against sinners. Because Jesus had no sin of His own Jesus was resurrected from the dead.
Several times before His death Jesus told the disciples and others that He was to die and on the third day rise from the dead.
Here is one place.
John 10:14 (ESV) 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
John 10:15 (ESV) 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
John 10:16 (ESV) 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
John 10:17 (ESV) 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
John 10:18 (ESV) 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."
4. Responding to the above message. Jesus is either a lunatic and all of the apostles and the other eyewitnesses of His resurrection were even worse lunatics because with the exception of John all the other apostles and Paul were put to death for spreading the news we call the gospel.
Or Jesus is the person foretold in Genesis 3:15 and then throughout the remainder of the Old Testament.
Read the four gospels. Ask God to open your eyes and trust that God wants to save sinners.
Here is what Jesus said sinners (including you and me) need to do:
Mark 1:14-15 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Contact me with your questions about anything you don't understand.
Why did God call my name?
To restore me to communion with Himself and to begin the process of once again imaging His glory.
Many years later I read the answer to how God brings the lost sinner back to Himself.
God continues to call lost sinners.
Maybe He is calling you?
John 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”
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