Unto Death

The Word says that Jesus poured out His soul unto death.  At one time the Jews sacrificed animals for their sins, but there was a problem with this way of having sins forgiven because it was incomplete and it had to be performed over and over again.  This was a symbolic act, looking forward to the final act that would take place years later.

Have you ever seen a play?  There are different curtain calls for different scenes, as the curtain opens and closes on different parts of the play until the final act that everyone has been waiting for, takes place.  I am now going to relate Bible history as different curtain calls, or scenes.

The first scene is when Adam and Eve sinned and God killed an animal to use the skin from it to cover them with, in the book of Genesis 3:21, “And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.”  God shed innocent blood to cover Adam and Eve because of their sin.

The second scene is in Exodus 12 when God performed the last of the ten plagues in Egypt which was the death of the first born sons in the house of those without the blood of the Lamb on their two side posts and the upper doorpost of their houses.  Read verses 12-13, “On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.”

Scene number three is in Numbers 21:4-9 about the Bronze Snake, “Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. The people spoke against God and Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.  The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the serpents from us.’ And Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.’ And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.”  No matter what condition the person was in, if they looked up at the snake they were healed.”  

I relate all these things to be forerunners, or symbolic, of what Jesus Christ would allow Himself to go through in the fourth scene.  The fourth scene was when Christ was led out of town to Golgotha to be crucified.  You can find this in different books of the Bible.  In case somebody reads this ‘Tidbit’ and has never read the account of Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection, I would recommend Matthew chapters 27 and 28.  If you haven’t read the story, please look it up and read it, don’t just take my word for it.  Jesus laid His life down and chose to be crucified and die for us who were God’s enemies because of our sins, because He loved us so much.

The Bible says this, plus many other things, about forgiveness of sin in Hebrews 9:22-28, “In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.  That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals.  For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.  And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.”

This is the greatest story ever told, the account of Jesus giving Himself a ransom for all who would believe on Him.  The Bible says, “Greater love hath no man than that he would lay his life down for a friend.”  Jesus went way beyond that, He laid His life down for His enemies also, how can you beat that kind of love?  He laid His life down unto death so that we could have spiritual life, how can you thank and praise Him enough for that kind of love and sacrifice?  

There is one way that you can thank Him, and that is by not trampling His precious blood under your feet and rejecting Him.  If you haven’t been, and you would like to be, covered by Jesus’ precious blood, then acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of His forgiveness and ask Him to forgive you and to be Lord of your life.  If you are sincere, Jesus will forgive you and you will be a child of God.  You will experience peace, love and joy like you have never known before, then you will be thanking and praising the Lord also.  Something to think about, have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!