It Is Finished!

There was a time in my life when I had this picture in my head of Jesus going to His Father (GOD) every time I sinned and arguing my case. I had this idea that it was like a court room and every time I sinned Jesus would have to go before the judge and say, "don't punish Zach, I already died for that sin, he has asked for forgiveness and I died so don't punish him." It wasn't until I memorized the whole book of Galatians and then Hebrews that I realized that this is not biblical.

The book of Galatians I believe can be summarized in a few short sentences.

We are saved by the grace of God, through faith in Christ alone. Nothing else, nothing more, and nothing less. If anyone tries telling you anything different may they be eternally condemned. Some wonder how can this be and what was the purpose of the law. The purpose of the law given for one reason, to show us our need for a savior and to point us to Christ. God had all this set in place beforehand and promised it to Abraham, this is why Abraham was consider righteous apart from the law given through Moses. God made the promise that all nations would be blessed through Abraham and his "seed" meaning one person who is Christ. So all those who have faith in Christ are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The book of Hebrews can be summarized in a few longer sentences.

God has used many different ways to speak to people in the past but now He uses one way and that way is Christ. Christ is greater than the angels although He became a man. All things in heaven and on earth are under his authority. Since we have flesh and blood He too had to share in our humanity so that by His death He could destroy the one who held the power of death. This is why he had to become like us so that he could become a faithful high priest. A high priest must be chosen from among men and he must be subject to weakness so that he can deal gently with those who are going through the same things. No one can take this upon himself, he must be chosen by God just as Aaron was. So too, Jesus did not take this honor upon himself, He was chosen by God to represent all mankind before God. Jesus is our high priest and He represents us in all matter related to God. He does not need to keep offering sacrifices day after day after day as other high priest because He offered ONE sacrifice for sins for all time when He offered himself. It is by his sacrifice that we have been made Holy forever when He sacrificed himself. After He had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins He sat down at the right hand of God. Now he lives always before the Father to make intercession on our behalf. Because of His sacrifice we can now enter into the Holy place-God's house by this new way that has been opened up for us. We can enter in through Jesus. Hold firmly to this faith because he who promised is faithful. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen, just look at all the example given to us in the old testament. So let us forget about and leave behind all the sin that drags us down and distracts us from the race and look to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. Learn from discipline and do not be like your ancestor who did not believe God. Remember the words of the Lord, "today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts."

If you read Hebrews you will notice that Jesus doesn't offer himself as a sacrifice day after day every time I sin. He doesn't come to God begging for my forgiveness. When He died for my sins the cost was paid in full and when He rose from the dead He conquered death and lives always before God as a testimony and evidence of what was accomplished when He offered himself. He is sitting down because the work is done. Jesus said it best when he said. "It is finished."

04-24-2008 23:19

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