THE OFFERING FOR OUR SIN - PART 2

SATURDAY 08 APRIL 2023

I want us to advance continually in the understanding of the way Christ was made an offering for our sins. This is because it is the foundation of the power of God unto salvation. You will know nothing about how God worked out our salvation through Christ, and the means of obtaining the salvation by Christ, as well as the work of the Spirit on the human spirit, if you don't fully grasp today's topic to a reasonable degree.

In fact, to understand our referenced verse properly, we must come to the level of perceiving that God used Christ to actualise the reality of man's salvation - in an experimental manner and He got it right because Christ obeyed and fulfilled His part of the experiment. In another way, He converted the mystery, namely Christ, to a body of sin, by an almighty power, so that anyone who subscribes to His Saviourhood would be turned from darkness to light, by a means known as the power of grace.

Reference: 2 Corinthians 5:21 New Living Translation (NLT) "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."

Now watch this: Paul's words here are, in some sort, explanative of the adamic nature, for so long as a person is under the power of darkness, he remains adamic in nature, and so, he is not made right with God. To denounce the adamic nature, which is the nature of sin, the qualification is accepting the "offering for sin." Got it? That offering for sin has a name. What is the name? Christ! Simply put, Christ is equal to offering for the sin of mankind. That's exactly what the above Scripture is revealing. "For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin."

In the old Testament, God placed restrictions on His mercy. By this I mean that in the old covenant, He chose who to have or demonstrate His mercy on. To instantiate this, Romans 9:13-15 (GNT) reads, "As the scripture says, "I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau." Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all." For he said to Moses, "I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish."

Moreover, in the New Testament, Christ is the greatest branch of mercy from God. The restriction on His mercy has changed. This is the reason anyone can receive His mercy, regardless of who they are or whether they are Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, male or female, big or small. Hence, those who receive Him as Saviour obtain remission of their sins and are justified by faith in Christ, thereby receiving the free gift of righteousness, which is emblematic of being made right with God. Got it?

To that effect, Galatians 3:26-28 (NIV) says, "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Did you grasp that? Anyone can receive God's mercy in Christ. In fact, these very Scriptures in Galatians chapter 3 are worthy of notice; they distinctly mentioned "in Christ; into Christ; with Christ...", the terms which express the accurate location of salvation.

Beloved, being made right with God means being translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son, Jesus Christ, where we are given inheritance which is in light. If you have already received Christ as Saviour and Lord, it remarkably implies that God has united you with Christ Jesus because, for our benefit, God made Christ to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; He made us pure and holy, and He freed us from sin, according to 1st Corinthians 1:30 (NLT). Again, this particular verse grants us a deeper level of understanding about the ways God converted the mystery, Christ, in order to accomplish the salvation of mankind. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Isaiah 46:10; Isaiah 53:3-6; John 1:29; Isaiah 53:9-12.

Exuberant Declaration: Gracefully, I acknowledge the infinite power, wisdom and hand of God which symbolize the foundation on which the salvation of mankind was established. Today, anyone can build their hope and faith in God by receiving Christ as Saviour and Lord, as well as all the promised blessings fulfilled in Christ. By accepting the reality of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, all the faculties of my soul and spirit are made alive to God, through the mighty expression of the power of God. Unto Him that is able to convert Christ into wisdom for my redemption, righteousness and holiness, to Him be the glory, honour and power forever and ever, Amen!