4. Unity: The Plan of Redemption (6)

Summary

Can you imagine that John the Baptist and Jesus decided to conspire to portray Jesus as the Lamb of God? To what purpose? Were John and Jesus absolute delusional lunatics that schemed up the ability to try to pass Jesus off as a sacrifice and thought that would somehow be beneficial or desirable? John was later beheaded and Jesus was killed on a cross! Jesus and John could never have orchestrated the events and fulfilled prophecies to pull off such a hoax, even if they wanted to!

All of history unfolds to present God’s amazing plan of redemption in Jesus Christ. All of the Old Testament was to teach us, or train us, so that we could understand: God’s holiness; His justice and love; the terribleness of sin – its consequences and its price; God’s mercy demonstrated through animal sacrifice; God’s love for mankind in providing an innocent substitute to pay the price for sin; and the coming of the Lamb of God – Jesus Christ; the fulfillment of prophecy in Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection; the good news of God’s grace. All of this so that those that hear the gospel story, and believe it, can repent of their sins and die with Christ by being baptized into His death (see Romans 6:3-23). When we are united with Christ in His death we die with Christ and our sins are removed, we are given a new life (other places in the New Testament refer to this a new birth, new creation, renewal, or regeneration – see John 3:5; Titus 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:17), we are freed from sin, we are crucified with Christ, we are sanctified, by our faith in the work of Christ (Col. 2:10-12). This is a gift from God (Romans 6:23).

Conclusion

No man could have ever written these books of the Bible to invent this story or produce this savior. While the patriarchs and the priests of the Mosaic Law were offering those perfect, spotless, unblemished animals, little did they know that the real purpose was training and preparing people for the eventual coming of the Lamb of God.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth as a man, so that, as God and man, he could offer the perfect sacrifice, paying the price for our sins, reconciling man to God (Ephesians 2:13-16; 1 Corinthians 6:20). By dying with Christ, we can share His victory over death and have hope of life eternal.

I can die with Christ. You can die with Christ and have a spiritual relationship restored  with a holy God. This is the theme of the Bible, as great evidence for divine inspiration. In the words of C.J. Sharp:

"If a fragment of stone were found in Italy , another in Asia Minor, another in Greece ,

another in Egypt , and on and on until sixty-six fragments had been found, and if

when put together they fitted perfectly together, making a perfect statue of Venus

de Milo, there is not an artist or scientist but would arrive immediately at the

conclusion that there was originally a sculptor who conceived and carved the statue.

The very lines and perfections would probably determine which of the great ancient

artists carved the statue. Not only the unity of the Scriptures, but their lines of

perfection, suggest One far above any human as the real author.

That could be no one but God.“