(June 2003 Edition)
Editorial - The Sacrifice of Jesus
Editorial
The Sacrifice of
Jesus
The sacrifice of Jesus is the most important theme of the Bible. The Old Testament or “first covenant” points forward to this event from Genesis to Malachi. Here are just a few of the signposts pointing to the Cross.
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The skins which typically covered Adam and Eve’s sin (Gen. 3:21).
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The offering of Isaac, the Son of promise, on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22).
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Joseph being named Zaphenath-Paneah, which means ‘saviour of the world’ (Gen. 41:45).
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The Passover night with the blood of sacrifice sprinkled on doorpost and lintel (Exo. 12:1-11).
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Yom Kippur, the great Jewish Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:9).
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The ritual of the red heifer (Num. 19).
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The prophecy of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53.
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The words of the wise woman of Tekoa to king David: Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life: instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him (II Sam. 14:14).
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The sacrifice of Jonah as he is tossed overboard into the fish’s belly, so bringing peace to the raging waters and saving a shipload of heathen sailors from certain death (Jonah 1). O Lord, please do not let us die! they cried. We are all in that ship and need a Saviour.
All these and many more powerful images and perceptive prophecies prepared godly men and women in the pre-Christian era for the fullness of time, for the supreme moment when the God of heaven, our Father, would reconcile all peoples to Himself by the sacrifice of His beloved Son.
The New Testament describes the momentous event in detail. The motives of all the actors in the drama are examined. Its purpose is carefully analysed by all the apostolic writers. And then its effects and consequences are proclaimed as the wonderful “gospel” or good news to the entire human race cursed by sin and death. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ offers eternal salvation and everlasting life to those who will respond to its message in humble abasement and sincere obedience. Worldwide preaching by the apostolic brotherhood was solidly based upon, and powered by, the conviction that “the man Jesus Christ gave himself as a ransom for all men” (I Tim. 2:6). Only if we sound forth the same proclamation of divine truth with the same vigour and conviction, making it the core and focus of our own witness in 2003, only then will our witness be apostolic.
Let us identify the main features of this gospel of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Son of Man and Son of God.
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The sacrifice of Jesus was an act of unmerited grace by God the Father. By definition grace is unmerited and undeserved. The initiative was God’s. It was an expression of our heavenly Father’s mercy and love. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).
When Jesus wanted his disciples to understand the reality of this, he told a story about a landowner who rented his fruitful vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the time came for the rent to be paid, he sent his servants but they only wounded or killed each in turn. In a combination of love and desperation, the landowner sent his son to them, hoping against hope that they would treat him with respect. As might be expected from what we know of human nature, they “threw him out of the vineyard and killed him” (Matt. 21:39). From a rational human standpoint, God was crazy to send his only Son into that den of wickedness. But Jesus is telling us how amazing and irrational God’s loving grace really is.
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The sacrifice of Jesus was efficacious because he was sinless and unblemished. Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, is the atoning sacrifice for our sins (I John 2:1-2).
Hebrews tells us that Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Heb. 5:8-9). If Jesus had been like the terrorist crucified beside him, spitting hate at his executioners, he could not possibly have been our Saviour. But he prayed to God to forgive his torturers, and showed love and compassion on others until his last gasp.
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The sacrifice of Jesus was voluntary, a freewill offering of himself. Himself took up our infirmities (Matt. 8:17).
When Jesus wanted to emphasise this truth, he told a little story about his own saving work. A battered, dying victim of bandits was lying by the wayside. Priest and Levite, representatives of church and state, religion and education, disdainfully passed him by, and left him to suffer. A merciful Samaritan, shunned as a heretic by the religious establishment and treated as an enemy alien by the state, deliberately, freely, and sacrificially brought the victim healing and saved the man’s life. The sacrifice of Jesus was what the Samaritan did, no more, no less. For you and me.
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The sacrifice of Jesus takes away sin, sanctifies and makes holy. By [God’s] will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Heb. 10:10).
The body of Jesus was a living sacrifice, not a limp, dead body hanging on a tree. Recently a friend of ours had terrible problems with his computer. Viruses and hackers had ruined it inside. He struggled to clean it up, but without success. Finally a real expert took pity on him, studied a big manual, went through a long routine step by step, and showed him how to cure the problem. When he got home, he obeyed the instructions faithfully and now he has a clean, usable computer. That’s what the sacrifice of Jesus is like -- a wonderful way to get sin and death out of our system, by the example and power of Jesus’ love.
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The sacrifice of Jesus reconciles men to God, bringing forgiveness and healing to us sinners, abolishing enmity and producing true peace. We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (Rom. 5:11).
Bible teaching on the sacrifice of Jesus has been preserved only by the 17th century Brethren in Christ, the Christadelphians, and a small number of other associated groups. Apostate Christendom and especially the mainline churches teach that the death of Christ on the cross reconciled God to men, appeased His wrath or satisfied His justice, and cheated the Devil of his victims. The truth – that the sacrifice of Christ is effective in reconciling alienated men to a loving, merciful and forgiving God – is far more wonderful and compelling.
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The sacrifice of Jesus is available to all without distinction of race, gender, colour, caste or nation. I, when I am lifted up from the earth [that is, crucified], will draw all men to myself (John 12:32). You [Jesus] were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev. 5:9).
Within thirty-five years of Jesus’ ascension to glory, networks of ecclesias believing and teaching the gospel of his sacrificial death and resurrection were established in at least twenty-four national provinces of the Roman Empire, at least five independent nations beyond its boundaries, and with some exploratory preaching activity ongoing in several more. Turning to our own present-day witness, five thousand brothers and sisters have been baptised in the past four years, 1999 to 2002, in 125 nations, speaking more than 60 languages from Albanian to Zulu. And there are now nearly 400 Christadelphians in 18 Muslim nations worldwide. This is the result of preaching the “cross of Christ,” just as Paul did long ago (Gal. 6:14).
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The sacrifice of Jesus inspires and impels men and women to repentance and a total emotional commitment to our Lord and Saviour. God’s kindness leads you towards repentance (Rom. 2:4).
Paul expresses it this way: “Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised up again” (II Cor. 5:14-15). The sacrifice of Christ should be the spearhead of our preaching, as it was in the apostolic age. An angel told the apostle Peter: “Go and tell the people the full message of this new life” (Acts 5:20). And he did so, with spectacular results. He did so with great power at every opportunity: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19). We are told the effects of this powerful, focused testimony upon the hearers: “they were cut to the heart” (2:37); “there was great joy in that city” (8:8); “the eunuch went on his way rejoicing” (8:39); “he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God, he and his whole household” (16:34); “they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (17:11). Marvellous!
There is a subtle heresy into which, sadly, some sincere Christadelphians have fallen. This heresy is that we are saved by knowledge, not by repentance. We recall our beloved Bro. Alfred Norris telling us at a Jamaican Bible School how an interviewing brother reported to his waiting ecclesia that a baptismal candidate had “passed his interview with flying colours.” Alfred instantly responded: had the candidate repented with flying colours? A mere knowledge of “God’s purpose with the earth and man upon it,” as the cliché goes, may get us in sight of the new Jerusalem, but it will never get us inside. Conversion in scripture is somewhat different: a heathen Roman jailer was taught the truth overnight by two wounded missionaries and was joyfully baptised before morning light (Acts 16:34). On the other hand, a learned Jew with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures still needed to attend a home Bible class to be taught the “way of God more adequately” (Acts 18:26). We are sure you can infer the reason for the difference.
The sacrifice of Jesus is not a barren, boring, ‘religious’ thing. It is power. It is explosive, spiritual dynamite, as it has always been since the cry, “It is finished,” rang out from the lips of the Lord on the cross of Calvary. A famous and powerful video entitled “Jesus”, which simply re-enacts his crucifixion and resurrection, has brought literally thousands of atheists, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus all over the world to appreciate the love of God in Christ, and the wonder of Bible truth.
On one occasion Bro. Devon Walker was leading a Bible seminar. A young lady was there. She thought it was some kind of civic meeting, and was totally unprepared for anything religious. She was so ill at ease that she nearly got up and left. But Devon was taking us through the chapters describing the sacrifice of Jesus. As the story of his sacrificial love unfolded, she said later that it was as if she was glued to her chair. By the end of that week, she had decided that she was going to be baptised and give her life and soul to the Lord Jesus. And she did. This is what the sacrifice of Christ is all about: The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28). Did he give his life for you? How will you thank him?
Alan Eyre and Gerzel Gordon
At the Lord's Table
Our Sacrifice
The idea of sacrifice makes an indelible impression on our minds. It involves our love and the deepest feelings of the human heart, and may culminate in the surrender of life itself.
The first sacrifice in the Garden of Eden shows that sacrifice is related to sin. Rejecting their hastily adopted fig-leaf aprons, God had to step in and provide a covering for Adam and Eve. An animal was sacrificed and the skin worn. This told them that the wages of sin is death, and that any atonement, any covering or forgiveness, involves a life being taken or sacrificed. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin.
To offer a sacrifice, a person desiring atonement had to place his or her hands upon the head of the sacrificial victim. This action speaks loudly: It is I who deserves to die, not this poor animal. This action also reveals the abundance of God’s grace. There is a deep sense of identity with, and feeling for, the dying animal. Death is real, my death. But I can see, surely, that a butchered lamb cannot really take away my sin and save me from death. All sacrifice under the ancient Law of Moses was a just a reminder that a perfect Lamb of God would come! We might say that these offerings were the next best thing until the Christ came. It was Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, who opened the door so that we can be made righteous by identification with him.
Popular religion throws away all this Bible teaching. Unlike God, it does not treat sin seriously. It tells us that Jesus has done it all: we don’t have to do anything. But it is not that easy!
How do we walk through this door of forgiveness? By just sitting back and doing nothing? No, by making our sacrifice! Jesus Christ has offered himself and rent the veil on our behalf. Now it is up to us! We are not called upon to be dead victims, but living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1). “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (I John 3:16). God is not mocked: there is no salvation for me without sacrifice, my sacrifice. We have to ensure that “our old self is crucified with him” (Rom. 6:6). That certainly is sacrifice! I have to “beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (I Cor. 9:27). Daily, every day, I have to take up the cross, making Jesus’ cross my own, and that certainly is sacrifice (Luke 9:23). We tend to like big events, we like drama. But it is in the smallest events of daily life that our sacrifices are most evident -- and most significant.
You will recall the wonderful story Jesus told about a priest and a Levite. Why did they both avoid the man in distress? Because they believed that they were saved already by their busy religious life, without making any sacrifices for anybody! How self-deceived they were! They saw only their religious duties. The Good Samaritan (Jesus) saw a need.
Only when we learn to sacrifice do we glorify God. God’s will becomes our will, so that in time response to need becomes a part of our make-up. Our mind is “renewed” (Rom. 12:2). It is by our sacrifices that we follow Jesus, and we will hopefully pass through three phases. We will look like him, then act like him and finally be like him.
“We shall be like him”.
O
how rich the promise;
What greater could our Father’s love prepare?
His love shall keep our hearts in patient waiting
Till we in glorious beauty see his face.
Ray Arthurs, Broughton, Jamaica
Jesus tells us that prior to his second coming men’s heart would be failing them for fear. So then should we expect him shortly? Today we find that men are full of fear. SARS disease, terrorist alerts, homeland security, nuclear bombs in North Korea, chemical and biological weapons, you name it. Men are full of fear. Just yesterday it was on MSN that the World Health Organization issued recommendations to postpone non-essential travel to Beijing, Shanxi and Toronto and this will be in effect for at least three weeks, twice the maximum incubation period of the SARS virus. Thousands of residents were reported to be fleeing Beijing, jamming the airport and train stations. Major League Baseball warned its teams and players competing in Toronto against signing autographs, riding transit or visiting hospitals. Alarm in Singapore was growing over an outbreak among vendors at the city-state’s largest vegetable market, and people violating a quarantine will get 6 months of jail without trial. Beijing’s Ditan Hospital was sealed on Friday, its workers under observation for the SARS virus. The Ditan was the third Beijing hospital to close in recent days. The closures were among the latest action this week — along with the closing of public schools, and a mass quarantine of 4,000 more people.
Well, at the moment not only SARS is creating fear in man. We live in a world that is filled with crises that generate many forms of fear: war, terrorist threats, natural disasters, death, loneliness, shaky marriages, divorce, illness, accidents, robbery, and abductions. Abductions for ransom seem to be the order of the day in our beloved Guyana. Even the Chief of Security for the US embassy was kidnapped recently for a ransom. Guyanese are living in fear; fearful of being kidnapped, robbed or killed.
So what is fear? Fear is a state of mind. Sometimes we are fearful when there is no danger while at other times we are calm when really we are in great danger but are unaware of it. Many people are afraid to fly but feel comfortable in the boat, however, where do they meet their disaster? Right in the boat. Why? Because the boat had a faulty bottom; they weren’t aware of that.
Now, really and truly, as soldiers of Christ are we supposed to be fearful? If God be for us who can be against us? The Bible tells us in Romans 14:8, “Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord’s.” All parts of our life are under God’s oversight and supervision. Nothing will ever happen to us that is not permitted by God. David said that “the Lord is on my side, I will not fear” (Psa. 118:6).
All this being true, why should we fear anything that concerns our personal safety? This doesn’t mean that we are justified in doing something that is foolish like running into an oncoming vehicle. Caution is a fundamental part of our makeup and it is highly critical to our survival. Without caution we would all likely kill ourselves as children doing foolish things. We teach our children how to be careful and cautious. Our teaching prevents them from doing foolish things such as running into a busy street, touching a hot stove or putting metal objects into electrical outlets. As we use our common sense and caution if disaster strikes, we must remember that if God is ready for us to rest, nothing can prevent the hand of death. Peter was miraculously brought out of prison by an angel of God the night before he was to be killed. However, as we are led to believe, he was later crucified with his head down. God does not always intervene, but all things are working together for our ultimate good. He knows what’s best.
It is true that we fear many things such as war, terrorist threats, natural disasters, death, loneliness, shaky marriages, divorce, illness, accidents, wicked people, robbery, and abductions. Whenever we do, we must remember to pray, to have courage, to have faith, and to love God. Jesus said in Luke 12:32. “ Do not fear little flock.”
Of course, Jesus was not telling us that we must not fear God. Jesus didn’t want us to be fearful of man or natural things. Ecclesiastes 12:13,14 tells us: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgement, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.”
If man should fear the Lord, then we will have no reason to fear war, terrorist threats, robbery, abductions, etc. Proverbs 8:13 tells us: “To fear the Lord is to hate evil.”
Here are some valuable verses of scripture that mention fear.
“The fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to turn from evil is understanding” (Job 28:28).
“Fear the Lord, all you his holy people; for those who fear him lack nothing” (Psa. 34:9).
“The fear of the Lord is life; he who is full of it will rest untouched by evil” (Prov.19:23).
The life of Jesus Christ is the perfect example of how we should fear the Lord. He lived a sinless life; he was untouched by evil. He was not fearful of man. Matthew 26:36 to 39 tells that while he had natural concerns and feelings and apprehension, yet he did not fear. He was confident in his Father’s power and purpose. “For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2). He displayed ultimate trust in God his Father. What an outstanding example Jesus is for us.
Jesus was not afraid to give up his life for us. As we reflect now on that sacrifice, let us be reminded that we should always fear the Lord, especially in these difficult and fearful times.
Kemraj Ramnath, Bahamas
Seven Strategies to Conquer the Caribbean for Islam
The founder of Islam, God’s prophet Muhammad (540-632 AD) inspired his followers to conquer the world by any means possible. We recognize seven key strategies in the fulfilment of this duty.
One: We demand to be governed by Islamic law. At first we will accept it for Muslims only, but ultimately it must be for everybody. Muslims must be governed only by Muslims. We can never accept being a minority under infidel law. An Islamic state is necessarily committed to legislation that enforces religious compliance. Islamic theology provides no alternative position and makes for no exception. The true enemy of Islam is not Judaism or Christianity as such, but democracy. Democracy is evil because it allows for individual opinion and independent thought. Islam means submission to the will of Allah. Muslim clergy know the will of Allah and therefore must be obeyed.
Two: We engage in Jihad. Jihad or holy war is “ordained for us” by the Koran. It is “the purest joy.” Khomeini killed far more people in Iran than Shah Pahlevi, but whereas the Shah murdered the faithful, the Ayatollah killed only “beasts,” the enemies of Islam. Suicide bombers killing Jewish civilians are holy martyrs, but Jewish soldiers killing our warriors are criminals.
Three: We are prepared to use any means to gain power, including deception where necessary. Muhammad himself encouraged this strategy. When in a minority, we expect tolerance, and we appear to be conciliatory. We demand religious and political rights. Once we have gained ascendancy, we must maintain dominance. Once gained, that dominant control must never be lost. Thereafter, the truth of Islam must never be questioned. This strategy has already won great victories. In France, in 1973 there was only one mosque. Today there are two thousand. As we have all seen, France will now always support and never again go to war against Muslims.
Four: We will win over men, for they can be depended on to dominate women. Allah decrees that men run things and females serve men. In Islamic law, a wife must receive an exit permit from her husband to leave her house. We deliberately target Christian women, and Muslim men are financially rewarded if they marry Christian women, bringing them into Islamic marriages.
Five: We will conquer by procreation. This is a strategy that will help to win western democracies for Islam. Muslim communities have fast growing populations. We demand the right to immigrate into infidel countries, and there we will build strong Islamic communities, close ranks and procreate as much as possible. This is why, for example, we will eventually eliminate the Jews in Palestine simply by the force of numbers.
Six: We are winning friends in the Caribbean and other poor areas of the world by generous use of our oil wealth. There is an organisation which is skilled in this very successful kind of diplomacy. It is called the Organisation of Islamic Conferences (OIC). There are now aid programmes in every Caribbean country.
Seven: We will win because, unlike other religions, Islam treats sex, money and violence as good, not sinful. Islam permits several wives and concubines and encourages the acquisition of wealth. The Muslim concept of Paradise is material and sensual. Beautiful virgins await all our martyrs. In the next life, women will provide endless pleasure for men. Paradise is a place to enjoy physical beauty to the full, not just to sing praises to God.
We are not ashamed of any of these strategies. They have the blessing of Allah. Each is powerful; together they make us invincible, and our ultimate conquest of the world certain.
[Caribbean readers will have noticed since 9/11 that in car rental agencies, hotel lobbies, airlines, and banks Muslim women are increasingly discarding standard uniforms for the veil. The above will help to explain why. Eds.]