xWhy, When, And Where, Was The Atoning Blood Shed
Part Two of Five
The suffering souls (Luke 16: 24) in the Torments of Hades during the Old Testament dispensation could see Paradise (Like 16: 23), but did not have access (Luke 16: 26) to it.
Upon departing Paradise three days later, the soul/spirit of Jesus was reunited with what had been His entombed body when He was raised up in resurrection form.
The physical death of Church Age believers is what sets the stage for the immediate departure of the soul. There is no soul in any corpse, death bed, morgue, funeral parlor, casket, urn, tomb, or cemetery; only the bodily remains.
To me, the concept of providing "closure" for the ones we leave behind sends the wrong message. Physical death is not the end of the person, only a change in his/her location (2Cor. 5: 8) and bodily form (2Cor. 5: 1). The separation between the departed believer and the believers he/she leaves behind is temporary, the reunion is permanent. The sooner one realizes that the appointed time for the departed loved has come and gone, and that he/she has moved on in the plan of God, the sooner the grieving process can be completed (2Sam 12: 15 - 23).
The only realy tragic death involves the one who leave this world with his/her sins (John 8: 24) not being covered by the atoning blood sacrifice.
Jesus died around 3pm , and His body was placed in the tomb the same afternoon.
The only post mortem arrangements that I know of that God took direct care of Himself involved the burial of Moses' bodily remains, apparently on the same day he died (Deut. 34: 5). Remember that centuries later, long after their natural bodies has decomposed, Moses and Elijah appeared in a different bodily form during the Transfiguration (Matt. 17: 2). We know that they were different because of their ability to appear and disappear.
Scripture documents three different bodily forms in which the human soul of born again believers indwell. The first is the natural body (aka tent) received at birth. The second is interim body (aka building) in which born again believers indwell in Heaven prior to the Rapture, and then the resurrected body received at the Rapture (John 3: 6a/2Cor. 5: 1/1Thess. 4: 16, 17).
Note that each bodily form increases in durability, appearance, glory, and function, going from a tent to a building, and from a building to resurrected body. John 14: 2 KJV speaks of mansions.
Luke 16: 23, 24 also indicates that unbelievers in the Torments of Hades also have some type of a body that have eyes, fingers, and a tongue. We know that this is not their natural body, as it was left behind at the moment of physical death. Note that in the (Rev. 20: 15) lake of fire, those present are not consumed by it, but that they will experience it for all of eternity.
The bodily remains/dust (Gen. 3: 19) of departed believers will be raised up in resurrection form and reunited with their departed souls when the Rapture (1Thess. 4: 16) takes place. In the meantime, the souls of departed Church Age believers are absent from the body and are present with the Lord (2Cor. 5: 8) indwelling interim bodies (2Cor. 5: 1) in Heaven.
There are no longer any departed souls in Paradise. However, the souls of all departed unbelievers of both Old and Church Age dispensations, continue to accumulate, populate, and suffer in the Torments of Hades (Luke 16: 24). They will do so until they are called to the court of Heaven, only to be tossed into the lake of fire when the Rev. 20: 13, 15 event takes place.
The location of where departed souls presently are eventually will be is determined by the choice they made while here on Earth (John 3: 18) concerning the blood sacrifice that was made on the cross.
In MOST cases, when New Testament Scripture is using the phrase, "blood of Christ," it is speaking of the atoning WORK that Jesus finished when He shed His literal blood (Eph. 1: 7/Heb. 9: 14, 22/Heb. 10: 19/1John 1: 7/1Pet. 1:18/Rev. 1: 5/Rev. 7: 14/ etc.). In the other cases (e.g. John 6: 53/ Matt.26: 28) He was using symbolic (representative) language.
Failing to make these literal vs. symbolic distinctions results in misunderstanding and misinterpretations. These misunderstandings and misinterpretations opened the door through which false doctrines/practices have entered and taken up residence within many denominations of the Christian Community.
The Lord's blood sacrifice that was made ON THE CROSS was a one-time event. There has NEVER been, is not now, nor will there ever be the need or ability to literally reproduce either the flesh, the blood, or the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10: 12) made on the cross. The stated (1Cor. 11: 24, 25 ) purpose for celebrating The Lord's Supper (Communion) is to bring Him and His atoning blood sacrifice into REMEMBRANCE.
Religious organizations have a long history of elevating past and present personalities, and their subordinate clergy to receive homage and to assume positions and functions (1Tim. 2: 5) that exceed what God has given them.
There is no need for the presence of a sacrificing priest or an altar in order to celebrate the Lord's Supper (Communion) as it was intended to be celebrated.
Such things WERE a part of the procedure for making the ongoing blood sacrifices that took place during the Old Testament dispensation. The ultimate and final blood sacrifice for the atonement of sin that God acknowledged was performed by the Lord Jesus Christ on the final altar of His cross.
When the animals were sacrificed during the Old Testament dispensation, they experienced a relative swift death AFTER which their blood was poured out on the altar. Christ's blood sacrifice on the altar of the cross took hours to complete. Throughout the entire event, Jesus was conscious and enduring agonizing physical pain. His greatest suffering however, was not physical. It was spiritual, being separated in His humanity from fellowship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (Psalms 22: 1) while the world's sin debt was poured out onto His bleeding humanity. His blood was poured out on the altar of His cross while He was alive.
Unless induced by intense trauma, such as in the case of the two men on the crosses next to the Lord (John 19: 32), crucified human beings could suffer last for days, ultimately dying from suffocation. After breaking the legs of the other two men to induce extreme trauma, the soldiers came to Jesus and found that He apparently already died, so His leg bones were not broken. Like the sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament (Exodus 12: 46), none of His bones were broken. A soldier pierced His side, resulting in the flowing of blood and water from a post mortem wound (John 19: 33, 34), but the "atoning" blood had already been shed.
Q. How do we know that?
A. Jesus was obviously alive when He spoke, declaring that His atoning work was "finished (John 19: 30 NASB." He did NOT say that it was about to be finished (when He died), He said, " it is finished, and THEN He died.
Jesus' physical life was NOT taken from Him (John 10: 18). HE gave up the spirit, committing it to the hands (care) of God the Father (Luke 23: 46). A modern day autopsy would have revealed that there was a sufficient amount of life-sustaining blood in His body at the time of His death. The loss of blood was NOT cause of death.
BEFORE He died physically, He spent the last three of the six hours on the cross shedding His blood while in a state of spiritual death.
Spiritual death was the type of death that Adam suffered on the day he sinned (Gen. 2: 17). This type of death is clearly different from the physical death that Adam eventually experienced CENTURIES later (Gen. 5: 3 - 5). Not understanding what spiritual death is all about could cause one to think that the serpent's Gen. 3: 4 claim about not dying had some merit!
When Scripture (Ezek. 18: 20) says the soul that sins will "die," it, again, is speaking of spiritual death. Again, spiritual death is NOT a state of non-existence, but existing while separated from a relationship with God.
We all come into this world spiritually dead, in need of spiritual regeneration (Titus 3: 5) that takes place the moment (if) one in born again (John 3: 5, 7). The ONE and only sin that results in remaining spiritually death is the sin of disbelief (John 3: 18). Once born again, the regeneration of what was our dead spirit can not be undone (Romans 8: 1).
Post (after) salvation sin results in temporal death. Temporal death takes the born again believer out of fellowship (2Cor. 13: 14) with God until the sin is confessed (1john 1: 9). While in a state of temporal death, the born again believer can find him/herself under divine discipline (Heb. 12: 6), but his/her salvation remains intact (Romans 8: 1). Divine discipline can range in anything from living with a guilty conscience, up to and including physical death (Acts 5).
Divine discipline is to motivate born again believers to confess their sin and return to fellowship with God. Spiritually mature believers that have experienced the daily intimacy of their daily walk with God will not need much encouragement to return to fellowship.
Divine discipline also serves as warnings to others (Acts 5).
Depending on the circumstances, the consequential death spoken of in (Romans 6: 23) can involve physical, temporal, or spiritual death.
Jesus never sinned, but during His last three hours on the cross, He experienced the spiritual death (separation from God) that we deserve and that we would have otherwise suffered for all of eternity in the lake of fire (Rev. 20: 15) if had He not done so. It was during these last three hours on the cross that God the Father poured out the sin debt of Fallen Man onto Jesus' bleeding, atoning humanity. This sin debt included every sin that each one of us have committed.
Accordingly, there is no such thing as a little sin, as all of our sins is what caused Jesus to be on the cross.
After completing His blood sacrifice, He declared His atoning work FINISHED (John 19: 30). It was AFTER doing so that He gave up the spirit and physically died.
For some, this type of teaching may seem like an exhaustive and unnecessary detailed analysis of what took place on the cross. But being a m-a-t-h-e-t-e-s (the Greek word for disciple meaning technical student) of the Word of God is what Biblical discipleship is all about. Without such detailed study, the answers to the WHY, WHEN, and WHERE questions concerning His blood sacrifice and our salvation can be misunderstood.
Where there is ignorance, misinterpretations, misunderstandings, and misapplication of Scripture, false doctrines and practices are inevitable.
Once a false doctrines or practice has been repeated long enough, it is very hard to correct. It is why a total and complete reconciliation between denominations will never take place during the Church Age.
No wonder the devil does all that he can to generate and to promote false doctrines and practices WITHIN (1Tim. 4: 1) the Christian Community.
1Cor. 13: 12 speaks of dimly seeing some things now, but will see clearly later.
The ancient News were/are commanded to teach the principles and practices of The Law to their children (Deut. 6: 6 - 9) and to their children's children (Deut. 4: 9). They were warned not to add to of take from His words.
One can teach by his/her words and by the example of his/her actions.
Here in the Church Age, there are more than 3O0 do and don'ts of New Testament Scripture to be learned and taught to the next generations. Teaching them about the significance of the blood sacrifice is a very good place to start.
As Christ's ambassadors (2Cor. 5: 20), we are not called to teach our children about God and the things of God, but to represent God and the things of God to everyone we interact with on a daily basis, 24- 7.
We teach by our words, actions, and example, be they good or bad. This highlights the impact of one's own discipleship (study and application of the Word). Like a runner in a torch-relay race, one can not pass down to others (by word, actions, or example) anything that we have not first secured for ourselves.
Human attempts and claims to reproduce His flesh, blood, or sacrifice via religious ritual and ceremony is one of the most divisive controversies within the Christian Community. If it were within the power of Man to create and perform such a sacrifice, then there would have been no need for the incarnation and sacrifice of God the Son.
The plan (John 3: 16) of salvation was the design of God the Father. Producing the means (Heb. 10: 5) for His blood sacrifice was the divine Work (Luke 1: 35) of God the Holy Spirit, coupled with and the human (carrying/delivering) work of Mary. Maintaining it's integrity (Heb. 4: 15) was the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Making the ATONING blood sacrifice with it was the Work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is important to note that while Jesus' atoning blood sacrifice provided the MEANS for salvation. Being saved requires the exercising of one's free will to BELIEVE in the MEANS that He provided.
The Lord Jesus Christ was not half God and half human. He was both fully God and fully Man.
It critically important to be able to distinguish when the Lord Jesus Christ was functioning in His deity and when Jesus was functioning within the Self-imposed limitations of His humanity.
In His humanity, He would thirst, be hungry, be tired, be emotional, be insulted, experience betrayal, rejection, be falsely accused, be tempted. In His humanity He could spiritually and physically die. The fact that He did so WITHOUT engaging in ANY sin should generate a greater level of appreciation for all that He did in our behalf. Remember, in His humanity He could have, but did not sin (Heb. 4: 15).
In His deity, He could do such thing as forgive sin (e.g. Matt. 9: 6), and walk on water (Matt. 14: 25).
As the God/man, He was the only qualified mediator between God and fallen Man (1Tim. 2: 5).
All Christians will concur that Mary was a virgin when she conceived, carried, and delivered what would become our Lord's humanity on what we now call Christmas. But not all understand WHY this HAD to be so in order for God the Son to make the atoning blood sacrifice.
The virgin conception and delivery of what became His humanity is what provided the means (our Lord's humanity) for the type of blood sacrifice that was necessary to satisfy the justice of God. Before God could offer forgiveness, His justice, calling for the payment of all sin, had to be justified.
Earlier, we noted there are three types of death (spiritual, temporal, physical) associated with the (Romans 6: 23) wages of sin. Born again believers have moments or periods of temporal death as they live with unconfessed sin (1Jonn 1: 8, 9). Unless the Rapture takes place within the timeframe of our individual life span, born again be believers will experience physical death. But as born again believers, we have already addressed the spiritually death status with which we came into this world.
Man received the spiritual death penalty on the day they sinned. The penalty (spiritual death) placed Adam, Eve, and their offspring in a position from which they could do NOTHING to obtain forgiveness and rid themselves of this spiritual death (separation from God) status.
If it were physical death that God satisfied the justice of God, then each one of us could pay our own debt as a result of our own physical death, and then move on into Heaven for all of eternity.
But the penalty for is spiritual death. The problem that Man faced was that as of the Fall of Man, there was not one (sinless) person on Earth qualified to provide the type of blood sacrifice that would satisfy the justice of God, opening the door to forgiveness. Nor did Man, apart from divine intervention, have the means or ability to produce one.
To satisfy the justice of God, the "Provider" of such an atoning sacrifice would have the same type of sinless humanity that Adam had PRIOR to the Fall.
After receiving such a humanity, the Provider would have to maintain its sinlessness until the atoning blood sacrifice could be made. The Provider would not be atoning for His own sin (as He had none), but for the sins of the world. THIS, through the incarnation and the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ) is what would (and did) satisfy the justice of God and open the door for forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and the ability of God to grant eternal life to all that would place their individual trust and confidence in the divine plan of salvation.
Spiritual death was/is passed down at conception (Psalms 51: 5) through the male human partner, but Mary could be and was used by God to bring forth the type of (sinless) humanity that God the Son needed to become the, "...Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1: 29 NASB)." In making this statement, John (The Baptist) revealed He understood the significance of the Person and pending blood sacrifice of Jesus.
It appears, however, that neither Joseph ot Mary understood WHY no male human beings could be involved in the conception. If they had such knowledge, then the circumstances of her pregnancy would not have been so hard to accept or hard to address. Joseph had planned to secretly send Mary away (Matt. 1: 19) rather than publicly shame her or subject her to stoning. It took divine intervention (Matt. 1: 20) to assure Joseph that Mary's pregnancy was the work of God.
It is often in retrospect that we come to understand that by responding faithfully and paying attention to details when instructions are given to us from the Lord can lead to great spiritual accomplishments. Failing to do so can be disastrous.
Moses, for instance, was instructed to SPEAK to the rock, but he STRUCK it twice, as well. Moses was adding his own human input to accomplish the objective (providing water). Even though God still came through (providing the needed water for the people and their livestock), Moses actions (being in a position of leadership) were unacceptable to God. As a result, Moses was denied the future honor and privilege of leading God's people into the Promised Land (Numbers 20: 8, 11 - 12).
END of Part Two
Part Two of Five
The suffering souls (Luke 16: 24) in the Torments of Hades during the Old Testament dispensation could see Paradise (Like 16: 23), but did not have access (Luke 16: 26) to it.
Upon departing Paradise three days later, the soul/spirit of Jesus was reunited with what had been His entombed body when He was raised up in resurrection form.
The physical death of Church Age believers is what sets the stage for the immediate departure of the soul. There is no soul in any corpse, death bed, morgue, funeral parlor, casket, urn, tomb, or cemetery; only the bodily remains.
To me, the concept of providing "closure" for the ones we leave behind sends the wrong message. Physical death is not the end of the person, only a change in his/her location (2Cor. 5: 8) and bodily form (2Cor. 5: 1). The separation between the departed believer and the believers he/she leaves behind is temporary, the reunion is permanent. The sooner one realizes that the appointed time for the departed loved has come and gone, and that he/she has moved on in the plan of God, the sooner the grieving process can be completed (2Sam 12: 15 - 23).
The only realy tragic death involves the one who leave this world with his/her sins (John 8: 24) not being covered by the atoning blood sacrifice.
Jesus died around 3pm , and His body was placed in the tomb the same afternoon.
The only post mortem arrangements that I know of that God took direct care of Himself involved the burial of Moses' bodily remains, apparently on the same day he died (Deut. 34: 5). Remember that centuries later, long after their natural bodies has decomposed, Moses and Elijah appeared in a different bodily form during the Transfiguration (Matt. 17: 2). We know that they were different because of their ability to appear and disappear.
Scripture documents three different bodily forms in which the human soul of born again believers indwell. The first is the natural body (aka tent) received at birth. The second is interim body (aka building) in which born again believers indwell in Heaven prior to the Rapture, and then the resurrected body received at the Rapture (John 3: 6a/2Cor. 5: 1/1Thess. 4: 16, 17).
Note that each bodily form increases in durability, appearance, glory, and function, going from a tent to a building, and from a building to resurrected body. John 14: 2 KJV speaks of mansions.
Luke 16: 23, 24 also indicates that unbelievers in the Torments of Hades also have some type of a body that have eyes, fingers, and a tongue. We know that this is not their natural body, as it was left behind at the moment of physical death. Note that in the (Rev. 20: 15) lake of fire, those present are not consumed by it, but that they will experience it for all of eternity.
The bodily remains/dust (Gen. 3: 19) of departed believers will be raised up in resurrection form and reunited with their departed souls when the Rapture (1Thess. 4: 16) takes place. In the meantime, the souls of departed Church Age believers are absent from the body and are present with the Lord (2Cor. 5: 8) indwelling interim bodies (2Cor. 5: 1) in Heaven.
There are no longer any departed souls in Paradise. However, the souls of all departed unbelievers of both Old and Church Age dispensations, continue to accumulate, populate, and suffer in the Torments of Hades (Luke 16: 24). They will do so until they are called to the court of Heaven, only to be tossed into the lake of fire when the Rev. 20: 13, 15 event takes place.
The location of where departed souls presently are eventually will be is determined by the choice they made while here on Earth (John 3: 18) concerning the blood sacrifice that was made on the cross.
In MOST cases, when New Testament Scripture is using the phrase, "blood of Christ," it is speaking of the atoning WORK that Jesus finished when He shed His literal blood (Eph. 1: 7/Heb. 9: 14, 22/Heb. 10: 19/1John 1: 7/1Pet. 1:18/Rev. 1: 5/Rev. 7: 14/ etc.). In the other cases (e.g. John 6: 53/ Matt.26: 28) He was using symbolic (representative) language.
Failing to make these literal vs. symbolic distinctions results in misunderstanding and misinterpretations. These misunderstandings and misinterpretations opened the door through which false doctrines/practices have entered and taken up residence within many denominations of the Christian Community.
The Lord's blood sacrifice that was made ON THE CROSS was a one-time event. There has NEVER been, is not now, nor will there ever be the need or ability to literally reproduce either the flesh, the blood, or the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10: 12) made on the cross. The stated (1Cor. 11: 24, 25 ) purpose for celebrating The Lord's Supper (Communion) is to bring Him and His atoning blood sacrifice into REMEMBRANCE.
Religious organizations have a long history of elevating past and present personalities, and their subordinate clergy to receive homage and to assume positions and functions (1Tim. 2: 5) that exceed what God has given them.
There is no need for the presence of a sacrificing priest or an altar in order to celebrate the Lord's Supper (Communion) as it was intended to be celebrated.
Such things WERE a part of the procedure for making the ongoing blood sacrifices that took place during the Old Testament dispensation. The ultimate and final blood sacrifice for the atonement of sin that God acknowledged was performed by the Lord Jesus Christ on the final altar of His cross.
When the animals were sacrificed during the Old Testament dispensation, they experienced a relative swift death AFTER which their blood was poured out on the altar. Christ's blood sacrifice on the altar of the cross took hours to complete. Throughout the entire event, Jesus was conscious and enduring agonizing physical pain. His greatest suffering however, was not physical. It was spiritual, being separated in His humanity from fellowship with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (Psalms 22: 1) while the world's sin debt was poured out onto His bleeding humanity. His blood was poured out on the altar of His cross while He was alive.
Unless induced by intense trauma, such as in the case of the two men on the crosses next to the Lord (John 19: 32), crucified human beings could suffer last for days, ultimately dying from suffocation. After breaking the legs of the other two men to induce extreme trauma, the soldiers came to Jesus and found that He apparently already died, so His leg bones were not broken. Like the sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament (Exodus 12: 46), none of His bones were broken. A soldier pierced His side, resulting in the flowing of blood and water from a post mortem wound (John 19: 33, 34), but the "atoning" blood had already been shed.
Q. How do we know that?
A. Jesus was obviously alive when He spoke, declaring that His atoning work was "finished (John 19: 30 NASB." He did NOT say that it was about to be finished (when He died), He said, " it is finished, and THEN He died.
Jesus' physical life was NOT taken from Him (John 10: 18). HE gave up the spirit, committing it to the hands (care) of God the Father (Luke 23: 46). A modern day autopsy would have revealed that there was a sufficient amount of life-sustaining blood in His body at the time of His death. The loss of blood was NOT cause of death.
BEFORE He died physically, He spent the last three of the six hours on the cross shedding His blood while in a state of spiritual death.
Spiritual death was the type of death that Adam suffered on the day he sinned (Gen. 2: 17). This type of death is clearly different from the physical death that Adam eventually experienced CENTURIES later (Gen. 5: 3 - 5). Not understanding what spiritual death is all about could cause one to think that the serpent's Gen. 3: 4 claim about not dying had some merit!
When Scripture (Ezek. 18: 20) says the soul that sins will "die," it, again, is speaking of spiritual death. Again, spiritual death is NOT a state of non-existence, but existing while separated from a relationship with God.
We all come into this world spiritually dead, in need of spiritual regeneration (Titus 3: 5) that takes place the moment (if) one in born again (John 3: 5, 7). The ONE and only sin that results in remaining spiritually death is the sin of disbelief (John 3: 18). Once born again, the regeneration of what was our dead spirit can not be undone (Romans 8: 1).
Post (after) salvation sin results in temporal death. Temporal death takes the born again believer out of fellowship (2Cor. 13: 14) with God until the sin is confessed (1john 1: 9). While in a state of temporal death, the born again believer can find him/herself under divine discipline (Heb. 12: 6), but his/her salvation remains intact (Romans 8: 1). Divine discipline can range in anything from living with a guilty conscience, up to and including physical death (Acts 5).
Divine discipline is to motivate born again believers to confess their sin and return to fellowship with God. Spiritually mature believers that have experienced the daily intimacy of their daily walk with God will not need much encouragement to return to fellowship.
Divine discipline also serves as warnings to others (Acts 5).
Depending on the circumstances, the consequential death spoken of in (Romans 6: 23) can involve physical, temporal, or spiritual death.
Jesus never sinned, but during His last three hours on the cross, He experienced the spiritual death (separation from God) that we deserve and that we would have otherwise suffered for all of eternity in the lake of fire (Rev. 20: 15) if had He not done so. It was during these last three hours on the cross that God the Father poured out the sin debt of Fallen Man onto Jesus' bleeding, atoning humanity. This sin debt included every sin that each one of us have committed.
Accordingly, there is no such thing as a little sin, as all of our sins is what caused Jesus to be on the cross.
After completing His blood sacrifice, He declared His atoning work FINISHED (John 19: 30). It was AFTER doing so that He gave up the spirit and physically died.
For some, this type of teaching may seem like an exhaustive and unnecessary detailed analysis of what took place on the cross. But being a m-a-t-h-e-t-e-s (the Greek word for disciple meaning technical student) of the Word of God is what Biblical discipleship is all about. Without such detailed study, the answers to the WHY, WHEN, and WHERE questions concerning His blood sacrifice and our salvation can be misunderstood.
Where there is ignorance, misinterpretations, misunderstandings, and misapplication of Scripture, false doctrines and practices are inevitable.
Once a false doctrines or practice has been repeated long enough, it is very hard to correct. It is why a total and complete reconciliation between denominations will never take place during the Church Age.
No wonder the devil does all that he can to generate and to promote false doctrines and practices WITHIN (1Tim. 4: 1) the Christian Community.
1Cor. 13: 12 speaks of dimly seeing some things now, but will see clearly later.
The ancient News were/are commanded to teach the principles and practices of The Law to their children (Deut. 6: 6 - 9) and to their children's children (Deut. 4: 9). They were warned not to add to of take from His words.
One can teach by his/her words and by the example of his/her actions.
Here in the Church Age, there are more than 3O0 do and don'ts of New Testament Scripture to be learned and taught to the next generations. Teaching them about the significance of the blood sacrifice is a very good place to start.
As Christ's ambassadors (2Cor. 5: 20), we are not called to teach our children about God and the things of God, but to represent God and the things of God to everyone we interact with on a daily basis, 24- 7.
We teach by our words, actions, and example, be they good or bad. This highlights the impact of one's own discipleship (study and application of the Word). Like a runner in a torch-relay race, one can not pass down to others (by word, actions, or example) anything that we have not first secured for ourselves.
Human attempts and claims to reproduce His flesh, blood, or sacrifice via religious ritual and ceremony is one of the most divisive controversies within the Christian Community. If it were within the power of Man to create and perform such a sacrifice, then there would have been no need for the incarnation and sacrifice of God the Son.
The plan (John 3: 16) of salvation was the design of God the Father. Producing the means (Heb. 10: 5) for His blood sacrifice was the divine Work (Luke 1: 35) of God the Holy Spirit, coupled with and the human (carrying/delivering) work of Mary. Maintaining it's integrity (Heb. 4: 15) was the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Making the ATONING blood sacrifice with it was the Work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is important to note that while Jesus' atoning blood sacrifice provided the MEANS for salvation. Being saved requires the exercising of one's free will to BELIEVE in the MEANS that He provided.
The Lord Jesus Christ was not half God and half human. He was both fully God and fully Man.
It critically important to be able to distinguish when the Lord Jesus Christ was functioning in His deity and when Jesus was functioning within the Self-imposed limitations of His humanity.
In His humanity, He would thirst, be hungry, be tired, be emotional, be insulted, experience betrayal, rejection, be falsely accused, be tempted. In His humanity He could spiritually and physically die. The fact that He did so WITHOUT engaging in ANY sin should generate a greater level of appreciation for all that He did in our behalf. Remember, in His humanity He could have, but did not sin (Heb. 4: 15).
In His deity, He could do such thing as forgive sin (e.g. Matt. 9: 6), and walk on water (Matt. 14: 25).
As the God/man, He was the only qualified mediator between God and fallen Man (1Tim. 2: 5).
All Christians will concur that Mary was a virgin when she conceived, carried, and delivered what would become our Lord's humanity on what we now call Christmas. But not all understand WHY this HAD to be so in order for God the Son to make the atoning blood sacrifice.
The virgin conception and delivery of what became His humanity is what provided the means (our Lord's humanity) for the type of blood sacrifice that was necessary to satisfy the justice of God. Before God could offer forgiveness, His justice, calling for the payment of all sin, had to be justified.
Earlier, we noted there are three types of death (spiritual, temporal, physical) associated with the (Romans 6: 23) wages of sin. Born again believers have moments or periods of temporal death as they live with unconfessed sin (1Jonn 1: 8, 9). Unless the Rapture takes place within the timeframe of our individual life span, born again be believers will experience physical death. But as born again believers, we have already addressed the spiritually death status with which we came into this world.
Man received the spiritual death penalty on the day they sinned. The penalty (spiritual death) placed Adam, Eve, and their offspring in a position from which they could do NOTHING to obtain forgiveness and rid themselves of this spiritual death (separation from God) status.
If it were physical death that God satisfied the justice of God, then each one of us could pay our own debt as a result of our own physical death, and then move on into Heaven for all of eternity.
But the penalty for is spiritual death. The problem that Man faced was that as of the Fall of Man, there was not one (sinless) person on Earth qualified to provide the type of blood sacrifice that would satisfy the justice of God, opening the door to forgiveness. Nor did Man, apart from divine intervention, have the means or ability to produce one.
To satisfy the justice of God, the "Provider" of such an atoning sacrifice would have the same type of sinless humanity that Adam had PRIOR to the Fall.
After receiving such a humanity, the Provider would have to maintain its sinlessness until the atoning blood sacrifice could be made. The Provider would not be atoning for His own sin (as He had none), but for the sins of the world. THIS, through the incarnation and the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ) is what would (and did) satisfy the justice of God and open the door for forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and the ability of God to grant eternal life to all that would place their individual trust and confidence in the divine plan of salvation.
Spiritual death was/is passed down at conception (Psalms 51: 5) through the male human partner, but Mary could be and was used by God to bring forth the type of (sinless) humanity that God the Son needed to become the, "...Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1: 29 NASB)." In making this statement, John (The Baptist) revealed He understood the significance of the Person and pending blood sacrifice of Jesus.
It appears, however, that neither Joseph ot Mary understood WHY no male human beings could be involved in the conception. If they had such knowledge, then the circumstances of her pregnancy would not have been so hard to accept or hard to address. Joseph had planned to secretly send Mary away (Matt. 1: 19) rather than publicly shame her or subject her to stoning. It took divine intervention (Matt. 1: 20) to assure Joseph that Mary's pregnancy was the work of God.
It is often in retrospect that we come to understand that by responding faithfully and paying attention to details when instructions are given to us from the Lord can lead to great spiritual accomplishments. Failing to do so can be disastrous.
Moses, for instance, was instructed to SPEAK to the rock, but he STRUCK it twice, as well. Moses was adding his own human input to accomplish the objective (providing water). Even though God still came through (providing the needed water for the people and their livestock), Moses actions (being in a position of leadership) were unacceptable to God. As a result, Moses was denied the future honor and privilege of leading God's people into the Promised Land (Numbers 20: 8, 11 - 12).
END of Part Two