Next Door To Heaven (Chapter 9)

Next Door To Heaven (Chapter 9) Ron Bailey The Sin-Bearer What really happened on the cross? The Bible is a book of many parts, and all the parts do not have the same purpose; although together they comprise the Holy Scriptures and are completely trustworthy. To put it very simply, the Old Testament prepares us for the New, but we shall not understand the Old Testament without the New. In many ways the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old. The Lord saw Himself as the great theme of the Old Testament; "You search the Scriptures,” He said on one occasion, “for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.” (1) The Scripture bore witness to Him; His person, His character, His work. Peter summed up the Holy writings in a different way in his letter; “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things which angels desire to look into.” (2) In many ways the Scriptures were ‘time-locked’ and their full meaning was not understood. When we move from the Old Testament to the New Testament we begin to read the unfolding of God’s purposes in the four accounts of the Life and Ministry of Christ. The first three accounts, Matthew, Mark and Luke, have many similarities and were probably written within 20 years of the events they record. They have something of the mood of a journalists ‘eye-witness’ account. John’s account is different; it was probably written almost 60 years afterwards and has a commentary added to the events it records. As events unfolded the disciples were often quite unaware of their significance and frequently quite misunderstood what was really happening. John, writing many years later, has thought through many of these implications and he sees significance in every detail. At the time, the disciples were often much less wise than even a casual reader would be now. Just as we have an added insight into the Old Testament by looking backwards from the Gospels, so quite often we have an added insight into the Gospels by looking backwards from John’s account and from the New Testament letters. During the actual time there was much that they could not digest. Although there was much important teaching that they did receive, some teaching was beyond them; “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (3) Although He spoke often of the fact of His coming death, He did not explain its significance to them at that time other than in fairly simple terms. It seems that they struggled even with the ‘fact’ of His death, and frequently missed the point. John’s account includes this explanation; you cannot bear them now. The implication, of course, is that a time was coming when they would be able to ‘bear them’. It is important to remember this when we read the gospel and when we see the behaviour of the disciples; they just could not ‘carry’ this real significance of this information and the Lord did not overburden them. The day came when the promise was fulfilled and by a unique gift of the Spirit He opened their minds… Then He said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (4) At this point the purpose of His death began to come more clearly into focus. John writing and commenting of the gospel events often gives us glimpses that were not enjoyed by the disciples of the day. So many things must have been quite beyond them. John the gospel recorder was almost certainly a disciple of John the Baptist, and it does not take much skill to see glimpses of him the gospel that bears his name. John Baptist’s work had been to prepare the way for the coming Lord. His preparatory work included a ‘call to repentance’ and a ‘baptism of repentance’; it not very appropriate that the first word we hear from his lips is ‘repent’ (5) . John Baptist also had words of counsel and direction, but his supreme task was to pave the way for a clear view of the coming Messiah (6) . All the gospel recorders tell us that John Baptist referred to Christ as a ‘Spirit and Fire Baptizer’ but only John tells us of another description that John Baptist used. When Jesus came to the Jordan and was baptized John Baptist had protested; I need your baptism and you come to me? (7)  John gave way and Jesus was baptized. John had another description for Jesus; not only was He to be a ‘Spirit and Fire Baptist’, but He was to have another unique role. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (8) The Old Testament people of God had a very complicated priestly system with elaborate sacrifices which had to be performed in precise ways. The heart of this system was an annual event called The Day of Atonement (9) . On this day in symbolic action the sins of the nation of Israel were dealt with in a remarkable way. Two important truths were captured in the event by the use of two goats. The first goat suffered a death penalty for the nation’s sin; this underlined the truth that ‘the soul that sins must die’(10) . The second goat did not die but ‘escaped’ into the wilderness. Before it did so an important ceremony had taken place; Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. (11) In the pictorial truth of this ceremony the role of the goat was played by two separate animals but in the spiritual reality behind it, the two represented a double aspect, and the two goats are a complex picture of a single truth. As a result of the death penalty being enacted God’s righteous punishment was received by a substitute; the goat. But as a result of the sentence having been enacted God was now able to ‘remit’ or ‘send away’ the sins of His people on the back of the second goat. The goats were both sin-offering and sin-bearer. Not only was the penalty suffered by a substitute but a substitute carried away the defilement from God’s people. The people of John Baptist’s day were familiar with the ritual of the Day of Atonement and its two goats. The consequence for Israel was …on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. (12) They were familiar with the concept of a goat acting as a sin-bearer for Israel, but what can they have made of John Baptist’s amazing statement? A lamb would now be a sin-bearer, and not for Israel’s sins only but for the sin of the world. Behold said John. This is not Israel’s goat, but God’s lamb, and He is the World’s Sin Bearer. We are familiar with the ideas now but for those of John Baptist’s day it must have been ‘mind blowing’. Christ’s death then was not as a martyr or as an example but as a Sin-Bearer. As a result of Israel’s Day of Atonement God was able to remain among His people. Paul, the apostle, later wrote; Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (13). He is taking up all the symbolism of the Day of Atonement. Christ became the world’s substitute, the Sin-bearer. Peter too, having had his understanding opened, saw the amazing implications of what occurred on the cross; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness——by whose stripes you were healed. (14) This truth is revealed again and again in the New Testament in similar pictures which illustrate different aspects of the same truth. One such picture is the symbolism of propitiation. There is beautiful little picture of propitiation which lies almost forgotten in the story of Esau and Jacob. Jacob’s cunning had opened up a gulf between him and his brother. Esau was so angry that he pronounced a death sentence upon his brother; So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob." (15)  Jacob fled and the separation lasted probably for twenty years, but finally the time came for Jacob to return to his own land. His quick thinking had not deserted him and Jacob decided he must takes steps to pacify Esau. Jacob split up his family to ensure the survival of at least part of his family, and then set to work to get back into Esau’s favour. To begin he sends a conciliatory message but is horrified to hear that Esau is on his way with what sounds like a small army. (16) His solution was an costly present sent in installments with the intention of softening up his brother. The account is fascinating, as is Jacob’s self-honesty. His thinking is recorded plainly for all to see; "and also say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us.’" For he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me."(17) Although the circumstances are not very noble this is a perfect example of ‘propitiation’. ‘Propitiation’ is the price paid in order to remove enmity. It is an instinct deep in the human psyche. If I offend someone I may be able to ‘put things right’ by providing the right price. This was the instinct which caused the child to try to buy his way back into his mother’s favour with a bunch of flowers, or even the husband who forgot the anniversary! Sometimes we even use the language; ‘please accept this peace-offering’. That, in essence, is what a propitiation is; a peace offering. I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me. It is the instinct behind all heathen sacrifice given to propitiate an angry local god. How are we to understand Christ’s death in these terms? Our sin is an offence to God and has opened up an enormous gulf between us. When we begin to understand this rightly our response is one of fear and a frantic search for the right ‘peace-offering’. We can hear it in the voices of the people in Jerusalem on the day that Peter told them that they had executed God’s King but that God had raised Him to heaven’s throne.  "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (18) That is the plaintive cry for a solution; ‘what shall we do?’. What can we do to remedy the offence? How can we get back into God’s favour. Without the Bible’s revelation men would attempt to find the price. Some still do. Some give costly gifts to church. Some give costly promises of lives to be lived ‘better’ than before. Without the Bible’s revelation we can never calculate the cost of such reconciliation. The offence is far too great; the gap is far to wide for it to be spanned from our side. This is the background behind part of Romans when Paul, speaking of the redemption that is in Christ, writes; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (19) Paul says God has ‘set out’ the ‘peace-offering’; the propitiation. We sometime say that Christ paid the price for our sins; the truth is even more wonderful… God paid the price, and the price He paid was the death, the blood, of His Son. Christ is the ‘propitiation’; the price paid in order to remove the enmity.  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself... Even in those dimmer days of the Old Testament the truth had been declared, but it was to be hundreds of years before its full interpretation; Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked—But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. (20) Notes: 1. John 5:39 NKJ 2. 1 Peter 1:10-12 3. John 16:12-14 4. Luke 24:45-47 5. Matt 3:2 6. John 1:31 7. Matt 3:14 8. John 1:29 9. Leviticus 16 10. Ezekiel 18:20 11. Leviticus 16:21,22 12. Leviticus 16:30. 13. 2 Cor 5:18-21 14. 1 Peter 2:24 15. Genesis 27:41 16. Genesis 33:6.7 17. Genesis 33:20 18. Acts 2:36,37 19. Romans 3:24-26 20. Isaiah 53:4-10ff