Jesus Makes Sin Forgivable......... For Everyone

In the Old Testament, when a person sinned, he was required to take the best lamb he could find, one without any spots or blemishes, to the priest at the temple. There, in front of the priest, the sinner would grasp the lamp with both hands and confess his sins. His guilt was transferred to the lamb as though it had traveled through his arms and hands to the terrified little creature. The priest would then hand the sinner a knife, and the sinner would kill the lamb so that it was obvious the lamb had died as a result of the sinner's action. Then the priest would take the blood of the lamb and sprinkle it on the altar to make atonement for the man's sins.

Throughout the years, fountains of blood and rivers of blood and oceans of blood flowed from the temple altar as God's children sought His forgiveness for their sins. Yet when they walk away from such a sacrifice, their hearts must have remained heavy as the burden of guilt clung like river slime to their souls. The writer to the Hebrews put it bluntly: "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats (and lambs) to take away sins." So why the sacrificial slaughter?

The entire bloody ritual was like an IOU note that bought the sinner temporary atonement until a perfect sacrifice would come and pay it off. And the perfect Sacrifice did come. John the Baptist pointed and identified Jesus Himself as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." He would be the perfect lamb who would pay off all those IOU notes with the sacrifice of Himself.

The pervasive misconception today is that since Jesus died as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, then we are all automatically forgiven. But we overlook the vital truth that we must grasp the Lamb with our hands of faith and confess our sins. We then must acknowledge that He was slain for our sins as surely as if we had  plunged the knife into His heart. At that moment , the Lamb becomes our High Priest and offers His own blood on the altar of the Cross on our behalf. And, wonder of wonders, God accepts the sacrifice and we are forgiven! Our guilt is atoned for! We are made right in God's sight! Jesus, the Lamb of God, makes sin forgivable for everyone.

(Note: Just Give Me Jesus by Anne Graham Lotz)