Salvation from Sin

Genesis 3:1-6 NIV – Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³ but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” ⁴ The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 

Comment: As a result of this 1st sin, man & woman were removed from the Garden of Eden and cursed to work the land and to have their days numbered (die).

Genesis 3:17-19 NIV – To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are
and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:23 NIV – So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

God called on Abraham, a descendant of Adam, telling him that through him all the families of the earth would be blessed (ultimately referring to the birth of the messiah, Yeshua, known as Jesus to us). The descendants of Abraham, through his son Isaac became slaves in Egypt. They were known as the Israelites. The Israelites were rescued from the Egyptians through the help of Moses who took the Israelites to the desert and helped them cross the Red Sea. God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments and other laws through Moses. The Israelites had difficulty following God’s laws and often sinned. God showed mankind (and specifically the Israelites) that they could not follow the laws on their own. Blood sacrifices were required to atone for sin, so animal sacrifices were made which is a difficult concept to understand but appears to be a symbol of God’s ultimate sacrifice to come in the form of Jesus Christ dying on the cross and shedding his blood for us.

Comment: The Israelites as slaves in Egypt can be compared to mankind being a slave in this world to sin. Moses can be compared to the future messiah Jesus saving sinners taking them from this world to (or crossing over to) our heavenly world or “promised land”. God used animals as a temporary sacrifice until he was ready to send Jesus, his son as the ultimate sacrifice. Since Jesus had to come to the world in human form, God had to choose a nation of people that he would descend from. This nation was the Israelites and thus God’s chosen people. However, God’s ultimate chosen people “the Israelites” are not a specific nation on earth, but all those called to believe in God and trust in God for salvation through Yeshua (Jesus), the redeemer. Satan is the accuser, Jesus is the redeemer and final high priest.

Hebrews 9:1-10 NIV 9 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. ² A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. ³ Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, ⁴ which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. ⁵ Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

⁶ When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. ⁷ But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. ⁸ The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. ⁹ This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. ¹⁰ They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.

In order to save mankind from sin and the hands of the devil, God sent Jesus, his only son to earth in human form to live a perfect life and then be sacrificed as the perfect sin offering so that mankind could be saved from all of their sins (no longer requiring animal sacrifice) and have eternal life in peace and happiness. This plan was made to save mankind and defeat Satan. Jesus was sent through the bloodline of the Israelites to bring us the Messiah.

Comment: God let us know that sin required a blood sacrifice, however, a perfect sacrifice was needed to redeem us from sin. The way this was accomplished was for God to send his son, Jesus, in human form to experience the same temptations as man yet remain perfect and sinless in order to fulfill the need for the unblemished blood sacrifice for all God’s children (believers).

The Blood of Christ

Hebrews 9:11-28 NIV ¹¹ But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here,^[a] he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. ¹² He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining^[b] eternal redemption. ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴ How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself  unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,^[c] so that we may serve the living God!

¹⁵ For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant (the Law Moses gave).

¹⁶ In the case of a will,^[d] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, ¹⁷ because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. ¹⁸ This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. ¹⁹ When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. ²⁰ He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.”^[e] 21 In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. ²² In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³ It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. ²⁵ Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.