Posted March 29, 2024

Eggs and candy, baskets and bunnies are waiting for us to make room for them in our homes this month, familiar scenes we see every Easter/Resurrection season. Let us not forget, the Greatest gift we can make room for is the Incomparable, Matchless sacrifice for the sinful nature of mankind, made once and for all for us by Jesus Christ the Son of God. We no longer have to go to someone to make offerings and animal sacrifices for our sins. God takes our Salvation and bringing us back to Him, personally. He put His perfect plan in motion because, as Psalm 3:8 tells us, “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” 

We were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). But mankind has lived in a “fallen” nature from the time Adam and Eve gave their authority to Satan. Under the influence of this sinful nature, Adam’s oldest son Cain murdered the younger son Abel. After that, mankind moved forward in the scriptures no longer described as being in the image of God: “And Adam begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image...” (Genesis 5:3). 

God always has – and always Had – love for His creation, His children. God “walked” in the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve’s encounter with Satan, finding them trying to use fig leaves to hide themselves and their disobedience. Because of their disobedience, mankind will always be imperfect. “Iniquity” (intentional rebellion, dishonesty, wickedness) is part of the “fallen” nature of mankind. (Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Biblehub.com). We see God Himself here in the role of High Priest, having killed an animal(s) to prepare a "covering" for them (Genesis 3:1-21). When God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, He gave them the Law (Ten Commandments), Covenant rules to guide them. He also set apart High Priests (Exodus 28:1) who were the only people who could come into His tabernacle - God is holy and Cannot have anything to do with sin. The High Priests wore special clothing and a headpiece with a gold plate engraved “Holy To The Lord”. This was to be worn by the High Priest at all times, to “bear the guilt (iniquity) connected with any errors regarding the offerings of the people of Israel. It shall always be worn when he goes into the presence of the Lord, so that the people will be accepted and forgiven” (Exodus 28:38, Living Bible). In this sense, the High Priest was a foreshadow or “glimpse” of things to come. The High Priest was a “type” of Christ, the one to come who would be the ultimate Mediator between God and man. 

What was accomplished by the ritual of the High Priest sacrificing an animal, has now been accomplished once and for all, by Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. He lived a perfect life. He gave Himself to be beaten and killed as our blood sacrifice. He has not only "covered" our sins, He has removed them, dying on a cross in our place for our sins. “For as by one man’s disobedience (Adam) many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience (Christ) many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). 

God’s plan of Salvation is complete. He has given us a better Covenant. Hebrews 8:13 says, "We see that God was speaking about a new agreement. That shows he has caused the first agreement (the Law) to become old. And anything that is becoming old like that is put aside forever" (EASY & Living Bible versions). God gave us Jesus Christ, our forever High Priest. Pastor Joseph Prince asks, are we losing a whole new generation of young people by preaching more about the Law, the sin that came by Adam, than preaching about the new Covenant of Grace we have through Jesus Christ? Stretched out on the cross, whipped and stripped naked, Jesus felt the shame, the embarrassment, the abandonment that takes over when we are not "covered" by God. Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves. And He did it with Us on His mind.  

No one can keep all of the Law, all the “rules.” Accepting what Jesus did for us makes us acceptable in God's eyes, even with all our faults, when we don't get everything right. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have Eternal life" (John 3:16). God takes our Salvation and redemption back to him personally. We have access to God, anywhere and anytime, because of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is now Our High Priest. Believe it, Receive it.