Where the Good News of Jesus Christ… Intersects with the Soul of Man!

Is There Hope for Me?

Here is beautiful news! While God must punish sin or He would not be just, in His love and mercy He sent His Son, Jesus Christ (the 2nd person of the Godhead), as a baby, born of the virgin, Mary, to live a perfect life, without sin, and to bear the punishment of our sin for us. The Bible says that “He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Did you catch that? This is the most amazing thing! It is the most incredible transaction ever! Christ, who is God and who never sinned, took our sin on Himself and bore the full weight of the punishment that our sin deserves, death [Christ died on a cross, Hebrews 12:2], and in return He offers us His righteousness.

What Christ did for us is called substitution. Christ became our substitute. We see examples of this throughout the Old Testament in the Bible. Once, long before Christ was born, God told a man named Abraham to…

“…take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Genesis 22:2

God had promised Abraham that He would make a great nation through his offspring and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. Isaac was Abraham’s only son born by his wife, Sarah. Before God blessed Abraham with this promised son, Sarah was barren. So when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham trusted God’s promises and reasoned;

“…that God could raise the dead, and…receive Isaac back from death.” Hebrews 11:17&19

Abraham took Isaac to the mountain as God said and the Bible goes on to say;

“When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.” Genesis 22:9

Then the Bible says that the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven and said;

“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Genesis 22:12

And then the Bible says;

“Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. Abraham went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.” Genesis 22:13

God provided a substitute. Because the ram died, Isaac went free. So Abraham called that place; “The LORD Will Provide.” Genesis 22:13

This is a picture of how God has provided for you. As we have seen, the Bible teaches that you are a sinner deserving of God’s wrath against sin. You are in rebellion against God. You deserve to die and to spend eternity separated from God, in hell, as punishment for your sin. But the Bible says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 Christ died as a substitute for sinners, satisfying the just requirement of the wrath of God that must be poured out on sin.

Christ died because the Bible says that “…without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrew 9:22 Christ shed His blood for us. He is our substitute. Because Jesus died, we do not have to.