The New Covenant is a law of grace in which God now dwells within us, as with the fulfillment of the Old Covenant (the Old Testament) in Jesus Christ there was no longer a need for an Earthly Temple, priests or sacrifices as was required by the Law. Believers were now clean through Jesus' atoning death and God's Spirit dwells within those who believe and accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

Secondly, God says that only if the ordinances which He set at Creation fail then, and only then, would He abandon Israel as a nation, and as His people. In other words, He has not, and will not ever abandon Israel!

Christians need to look very closely at what the apostle Paul says of those who become arrogant against the Jews, paying special attention to verses 16-25;

ROMANS 11:1-27

1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,

3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”?

4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

8 Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”

9 And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them.

10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.”

11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.

15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,

18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”

20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.

22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;

27 For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

God adopted the Jews as His chosen people forever, and with the advent of the New Covenant, adopted the Gentiles into the same family.

But Paul warns Christians about despising the Jews, for as he said if God didn't spare the natural branches (Jews) who sinned against Him, neither will He spare the wild branches (Gentiles) who sin against Him also.

And as God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, God has fulfilled that promise through the adoption of the Gentiles, even as He adopted Abraham and his descendants through Isaac. Therefore we are all of the same family before God.

But the promises were to the Jews first, so God had to fulfill His promises to the Jews and fulfill His Old Covenant before he could include the Gentiles as His sons and daughters through adoption in the New Covenant.

Even Noah was aware of this as when in blessing his sons, he said;

GENESIS 9:26-27

26 And he said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant.

27 May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and may Canaan be his servant.”

Scholars and anthropologists generally agree that Japheth's descendants settled in Europe and became the Caucasian (white) people, while Shem went south and became the Semitic (Middle Eastern & Oriental) peoples. That's why those who hate the Jews are called "anti-Semitic", because they hate people of Semitic stock.

Now, note carefully what Noah said in verse 27! God shall enlarge Japheth (which He did, making him mightier than the descendants of Shem) but the descendants of Japheth would in turn dwell in the tents of Shem!

That means that Japheth's descendants (Gentiles) would dwell in the same tents as Shem, the father of the Semitic (Jewish) people. Noah knew that salvation would come to the Gentiles from the Jews, the descendants of Shem.

And with God's adoption of the Gentiles into Abraham's family through the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, the Jews and believing Gentiles are brethren just as much as Shem and Japheth were brethren, fulfilling Noah's ancient prophecy!

We Gentiles share in the richness of the salvation offered to the Jews by God's grace, just as Paul said that we were grafted into the cultivated olive tree. And we need to remember that our heritage comes from the Jews to whom were first given the covenants! Thus we are supported by the root of the olive tree, as Paul speaks.

Therefore as God had mercy on we Gentiles and gave us salvation through His Son, should we not in turn have mercy on the Jews also as beloved brethren, teaching them of the same salvation offered to us? As Paul said concerning the unbelieving Jews;

ROMANS 11:28-31

28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,

31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.

32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

I mentioned previously that there were two areas of the issue that I wanted to focus on. Here's the second issue.

Christians of today cannot be held responsible for the sins of their fathers either.

I have read stories of the persecutions of the Jews by those who called themselves "Christians". The Nazis and the brutal Crusaders sent by the Roman Catholic Church against Jerusalem are good examples of this.

As such, many of the Jews hate all "Christians" because of the historical actions of these merciless, ignorant, brutal, bestial, greedy, power-hungry, corrupt, pompous, murderous, race-hating, Godless people.

Unfortunately there are still those who follow in the footsteps of their fathers. But there are far more that do not, and it would be unfair of Jews to judge all Christians alike because of the actions of others, just as it would be unfair to judge all Jews alike by the actions of the Judean Sanhedrin and Judas Iscariot who for 30 pieces of silver, the going price for a slave at the time, betrayed Jesus Christ to the Sanhedrin for His trial and condemnation.

I want to start off on a level playing field here.

There is unfortunately prejudice in both Christians and Jews alike, much of which has been passed down by parents to their children for generations.

And tragically, many of the children in turn have not considered that the children of those who persecuted their race have not walked in the sins of their fathers and in many cases have renounced the actions of their forebears.

We need to heed the question of Nicodemus, one of the few members of the Sanhedrin who was not willing to put Jesus to death. When the officers of the Pharisees were sent to take Him by force, they returned empty handed. And Scripture records;

JOHN 7:45-51

45 Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”

46 The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this Man!”

47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived?

48 Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?

49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

50 Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them,

51 “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

Note the attitudes here. The Pharisees, the teachers of the Law at that time didn't care what Jesus said and taught, they wanted Him eliminated. And they pompously and arrogantly said that the common people who believed in Him were accursed, because they didn't know the Law.

The Pharisees unwittingly condemned themselves, for if they truly knew the Law they would have recognized that Jesus was the promised Messiah, if not because of His teachings, by the very miracles he performed, miracles which even the Jewish Talmud admits to although they attribute His miracles to sorcery. But the fact remains, the Jews of His time couldn't deny the miracles He performed.

Secondly, they apparently hadn't taught the people well enough, for by saying that the people didn't know the Law, the Pharisees were aditting that they were derelict in their duties in teaching the people, as the common people couldn't read the Law for themselves as most of them were illiterate.

The Jewish people also need to understand that the word "Christian" has to be one of the most abused words in the English language.

The Nazis called themselves "Christians" as did the Crusaders and others who savagely persecuted the Jewish people. And yet they never followed the laws and commandments set down by the One they claimed to follow.

Instead, they fulfilled in full measure Jesus' prophecy of:

JOHN 16:2-4

2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.

3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.

4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.
                        

Sadly enough, this prophecy has been fulfilled down through history by people who claim to worship and follow God but instead follow their own corrupt wills and desires in His name, ignoring Jesus' commandment of:

MATTHEW 5:43-48

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?

48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Note: Publicans were Jewish tax-collectors hired by the Romans to collect tribute taxes for Caesar. They were among the most hated people in Israel, for they were allowed to collect whatever above the tax they wished for their own profit, and many had become quite rich by this corrupt practice.

Therefore as you can see, the Christians are taught by Jesus to love others, not to kill and persecute them in His name. Anyone reading the New Covenant can immediately see the difference between true Christians and those who merely do their own will in His name.

Ok, now that we have leveled the playing field, let's get to the heart of this study, namely why Jesus Christ had to die for the sins of mankind.

First of all I want to take a different approach. Granted, it was prophesied that Jesus would suffer and die for our redemption, but not many people understand why He had to have a physical body and die like a mortal man.

Some feel that with Jesus' death God was condoning human sacrifice, and I plan on explaining the error of this concept also in this study. But first some background information for those who may be new to the faith, or for those who may never have heard this before.

We know that we are sinners because of Adam's disobedience to God's commandment to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden as recorded in the Biblical Book of Genesis.

God had told Adam he could eat of anything else in the Garden, as Scripture records;

GENESIS 2:15-17

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
                                    

On the surface, it appears that God was unjust in His admonition to Adam. Why keep him from attaining knowledge of the difference between good and evil? Because He knew that with the knowledge came responsibility for that knowledge! Hold on to that thought for a moment.

Adam already had a mind of incredible power in the fact that Scripture records that God brought all of the types of animals He created to Adam to see what he would call them. He not only named all of the animals that God brought to him, he remembered their names! We would have trouble naming and remembering 100 different species, let alone every type of creature on Earth!

But remember, Adam was perfect when he was created. He was able to see God, and converse directly with Him. There was no sin in the world, therefore Creation was perfect also. And Adam was also in a perfect state of innocence before God. And here is where the crux of the issue concerning sin arises.

Satan had already fallen into sin by this time, and had been cast out of his place and position in Heaven and was banished to Earth. He looked at this new creation God had made and was consumed with jealousy, because he realized that God had created Man to be greater than he, Satan. And Scripture records that Satan's downfall had been his pride. He had considered himself to be so perfect that he felt he should be equal with God.

Scripture records God as saying of Lucifer (Light bearer) before his name was changed to Satan (Adversary, Accuser);

ISAIAH 14:12-17

12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!

13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north;

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

15 Yet you shall be brought down to Hell, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

16 “Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the Earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,

17 who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?’

The above passages are called "The Five I Wills", where Satan in his arrogance seeks to be equal with God, if not to become God himself. A created being was considering himself to be equal with his Creator.

And remember Satan sinned and was judged by God before God created Man in the Garden of Eden.

He apparently sinned after God created the Universe but before Man was created, for God in rebuking Job whom Satan had afflicted without cause said;

JOB 38:1-7

1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said;

2 “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.

5 Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

6 To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone,

7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

The "sons of God" in this case are the angels of God whom He created. Note that God says that all of the sons of God shouted for joy. This includes Satan, or Lucifer as he was then called before he sinned. So Satan watched God create the universe as we know it, and watched as God created Man.

Therefore Satan was still perfect at Creation but when he tempted Eve, he was already a fallen angel.

This also says a lot about Satan, for while he watched God create all things, he does not have the power to create anything himself. Therefore this again proves that he is not equal with God, nor ever can be.

Now that I have established some background information, it is time to go to the very beginning of time, to the Garden of Eden so we can see how all of this began.

GENESIS 3:1-7

1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;

3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

First of all, I am surprised that Adam was also taken in by the fact that the serpent could speak. He had already named the animals including the serpent, and should have known that the serpent couldn't normally talk. This also shows that Satan apparently knew how to possess living creatures for his use.

BUT, Satan had played on their innocence. They suspected nothing. And being innocent, they didn't think anything was wrong with the serpent speaking, neither were they aware of the trap being set for them.

Satan had also twisted God's words concerning the Tree of Knowledge, and used the only weak link he could find for his deception, namely Eve. She hadn't been created when Adam named the serpent, so to her the fact that the serpent spoke to her was another wonder of Creation.      

And Satan had actually told them the truth......just not ALL of the truth. He didn't think they would die instantly, but he DID know that if they sinned, they would die eventually. God had already promised that they would die if they disobeyed, but He'd never said when they would die.

And Satan had also made it appear as if God was unrighteous, and was keeping something from them by ordering them not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. He also told them the truth about their eyes being opened, and that they, like God would know the difference between good and evil.

But what he DIDN'T tell them, was that they would now be held responsible for that knowledge. And the first thing they learned when they ate of the fruit was that they had sinned. They indeed understood the difference between good and evil. And they realized they would have to face God with what they had done.

Their innocence was gone.

And as Scripture records, first they tried to hide, then they started pointing fingers. Sin had already begun it's deadly work. As Genesis says;

GENESIS 3:8-24

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

16 To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.

19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

God knew very well what had happened and He also knew where they were. But He wanted both Adam and Eve to acknowledge what they had done. And God knew the terrible consequences and suffering which that single act of disobedience would bring to countless generations after them.

He knew also that by obeying Satan Adam had handed stewardship of the Earth given to him by God to Satan, making Satan the god of this world. And He knew that they had sold all of us to Satan, sin and death as well through their disobedience.

God also knew that Satan had deceived both Adam and Eve, so rather than curse Man, God cursed the Earth and everything in it for Man's sake, and sentenced the two and all of their descendants to physical death for their disobedience as He had warned them.

God had already created Hell and the Lake of Fire for Satan and his angels and Man was doomed to follow into Satan's eternal punishment because of his disobedience to God's simple commandment.

This had been Satan's plan from the beginning, for if he could get Man to sin as he did and God merely overlooked Man's sin then he, Satan, could demand that God overlook his sins also, and he could then demand reinstatement to his former position. If not, then Man would have to receive the same sentence that he, Satan, did.

So, the sentence of Hell and the Lake of Fire was passed onto Man also, because Adam had chosen to listen to Satan rather than God and would follow in Satan's punishment as God's pre-ordained justice required.

Man's spirit would live for eternity, for God had made Man in His image with an eternal spirit. But where man's spirit spent eternity had yet to be dealt with.

Therefore to save Man from eternal destruction, God provided that sin would attack and ravage the flesh, but the spirit would live on apart from the flesh after sin had brought death to the flesh.

And God in the greatest act of love and mercy known promised that One would appear, born of a woman, who would crush the head of Satan, redeeming Mankind but would suffer death Himself as a result.

Basically God was promising to take His own punishment demanded by His justice upon Himself so that Mankind could be redeemed from sin and eternal punishment. Therefore Satan would still receive his just punishment, but Man had a chance of redemption and salvation. Satan hadn't counted on God's action.

And as a perfect life was taken by sin (Adam), a perfect life would have to be given in atonement for sin (Jesus).

The fall of Man in the Garden of Eden showed that sin can only attack the flesh, but it is the spirit that pays the ultimate consequences for sin. For example, if you have no body, there is no opportunity for lust. Neither is there a need for material possessions, therefore greed and covetousness no longer have an effect on you. Therefore only after death are we finally free from sin, as the Scriptures state;

ROMANS 6:7

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

God therefore provided Israel whom He had chosen to be His people with the Old Testament Law in which He codified what He considered to be sin in His eyes, and what people had to do to be righteous in His sight. For there is no sin without a Law to determine what sin is.

As the apostle Paul states in Romans;

ROMANS 7:7-8

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.

What Paul is saying, is that God cannot judge sin without first identifying what actions are sinful in His sight. Before the Law was set down God judged the hearts of men by their consciences, as there was no Law at the time.

The same goes today. We received an instinctive knowledge of good and evil from Adam's sin, and we are responsible for that knowledge. In other words, we instinctively know what is wrong and what is right even if we choose to deny it.

But at the judgment, those who have never heard of God will be judged under different rules. As Paul states of those who have never heard of the Law, or God;

ROMANS 2:14-16

14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,

15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)

16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

Paul is saying that we indeed have an instinctive knowledge of what is right and what is wrong in God's sight. But we choose to disobey because of sin. And those who do not have the Law nor know God, will be judged by their consciences which will either accuse or excuse them.

But once the Law was established, Israel would be judged by the Law. And with the establishment of the Law sin became active. Think of it like this. Your doctor tells you that you need to fast for 12 hours before having your blood drawn for a medical test. What immediately happens? You instantly crave food even though you may have just had a meal. Or when you start a diet, what happens? You immediately crave everything you cannot have on the diet!

The same is with sin. As soon as we are told we cannot do something, sin immediately tempts us to want it. We are told not to covet and yet the fashion world would be in serious trouble if we stopped buying their designer clothes so we can be "cool" or "fashionable" like everyone else. We covet what they have, so we can be like them.

The Law also provided for animal sacrifices to cover the sins of Israel as the sacrifices and shed blood would be constant reminders that an innocent life needed to be taken for redemption from sin.

Note that in Genesis 3:21, God made clothes of animal skins for Adam and his wife. Innocent blood was shed for their sin, just as the blood of animals was required by the Old Testament Law for the covering of sins.

However, animals were not perfect offerings for atonement, therefore the sacrifices had to be repeated continually each time a person sinned which was a reminder also that while the sacrifices were required by God, they weren't good enough to redeem sinners.

And this is where Jesus comes into the picture.

The imperfect animal sacrifices could never take away the sins and were never meant to, but it covered them until the perfect sacrifice would be made, a sacrifice which would atone for sins once and for all of eternity.

But until the perfect sacrifice could be made the animal sacrifices put the Jews under obedience to God, and like Abraham before them, their obedience through faith was counted as righteousness in God’s sight.

As Scripture records;

ROMANS 4:1-5

1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?

2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

In other words, we can never, ever atone for our own sins through works. Because of the sin within us, we are imperfect and all of our works are imperfect as a result.

Until the perfect sacrifice could be made, the Jews who died in obedience to the Law went to Sheol (also called "the Pit" in the Scriptures), the place of the dead to await their future redemption. And apparently Sheol was in the same location as Hell, but separate from Hell itself. As Scripture records;

LUKE 16:19-31

19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.

20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,

21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’

25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.

26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,

28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’

29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

And just like then, people today know of Hell, they know that Jesus rose from the dead, yet they still continue to live in sin.

NOTE: Jesus never said this was a story, I suspect that it really happened!

This also reinforces the fact that until the perfect sacrifice was made, those who died either went to Hell or to "Abraham's bosom" to await redemption, for while they were righteous through their obedience, their sins still had not been paid for. They were still sinners in God's eyes.

This is proven by Jesus' words;

JOHN 3:13

13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.

In other words, until the time of Jesus resurrection no one was yet righteous enough to enter Heaven except God Himself, as men were not yet made perfect.

There were 613 commandments set down by God in the Old Testament Law, and to be righteous in His eyes, all of them had to be followed without any mistakes whatsoever during an individual's entire lifetime.

As Moses charged the people of Israel;

DEUTERONOMY 27:26

26 ‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ ”

God knew that no man could ever follow all 613 laws all of the days of his life. Why did He set them down if it was impossible to follow all of them?

Two reasons.                     

First, it made all of Israel guilty of sin. And by setting all Israel under the same standard of sin, God could have mercy on all of them, and us as well. As Paul says;

GALATIANS 3:21-24

21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.

22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.

24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

What Paul is saying is that the Law could never take away sin, nor redeem a person for sin. It wasn't meant to. But it put the Israelites under obedience until the promised One would come who would replace the imperfect Law of works with a perfect Covenant of faith through Jesus Christ.

Which brings my second point.

Man could never follow all 613 laws that God had set down. But God Himself could. And by fulfilling His own Law, it also gave Him the right to replace the Law with a better Covenant.

And therefore works cannot save either Jew or Gentile or make us righteous in God's sight, as we can never perform a perfect deed before Him because of our sin nature that we inherited from Adam! For if the works required by the Law could not bring salvation, how can works apart from the Law bring salvation?

But He did the works for us, fulfilling the Law so that we might be justified in His sight through our faith and acceptance of what He has done for us through Jesus Christ His Son.

The apostle Paul recognized this fact when he said;

ROMANS 4:4-8

4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,

6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;

8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Remember, Abraham was counted as righteous before the Law was given because he had faith in God. And if God counted his faith as righteousness apart from his works, therefore righteousness comes by faith not by works. Therefore again, righteousness could never have come from the Law, for the Law was a Law of works and didn't require faith to perform the works.

Moses reiterated all of the blessings that God would bring upon those who diligently tried to follow His laws, when he said;

DEUTERONOMY 28:1-14

1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the Earth.

2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.

4 “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

5 “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

6 “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

8 “The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

9 “The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.

10 Then all peoples of the Earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.

11 And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.

12 The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.

14 So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Moses also expressed frightful curses that would follow disobedience to God's laws in Deuteronomy chapter 28, verses 15-68.

And if one looks at Jewish history (especially during the Holocaust) one can see the fulfillment of both blessings and curses as Moses related in Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Remember that Satan was there in the Garden of Eden when God spoke of the One who would come to destroy him. He had already failed to destroy the line of ancestry through whom Jesus would come by having Cain kill Abel. He knew he had to continue to try to stop the birth of the promised Savior if at all possible, and the only way to do this before the birth of Jesus would be to destroy the tribe of Judah from whom it was prophesied that the Messiah would come.         

So when Moses spoke to the Israelites of the curses of the Law, Satan knew he had to corrupt Israel in order to try to cause God to wipe out Israel as a nation, or at least destroy the line of Judah so that the Messiah could not come as promised.

And as Scripture sadly records, many times Israel blatantly disobeyed God's Laws, in spite of the prophets and wise men He sent to them. And God in some cases pleaded with them for hundreds of years before he finally had to take action and fulfill His curses as spoken by Moses.

And yet in each case, in His mercy He spared a remnant of the nation who would turn back to Him. And Satan would try again and again.

Moses toward the end of his life prophesied of the coming Messiah to Israel when he said;

DEUTERONOMY 18:15-19

15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,

16 according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’

17 “And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good.

18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.

Moses was referring to the Messiah to come in this prophecy. But by the time of the appearance of Jesus, the Jews had confused this promise to the point of where they considered the Messiah to be a different man than the promised "Prophet".

Therefore when John the Baptist began his public ministry, the Jews asked him if he were the Messiah, prophet Elijah resurrected or the promised "prophet";

JOHN 1:19-23

19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

23 He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

This was a major indicator for the Jews that the Messiah was about to appear in Israel, for there were two prophecies fulfilled with John's proclamation;

ISAIAH 40:3-5

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth;

5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

And;

MALACHI 4:4-6

4 “Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

6 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the Earth with a curse.”

There had been no word from the Lord, and no prophet for 430 years after Malachi's words. Therefore John's words were an electrifying event in Israel and warned them that the promised Messiah was soon to come.

Many think that John the Baptist was a resurrected Elijah, and this is not the case. A careful reading of the prophecy given by an angel to John's father Zacharias before John's birth tells a different story.

LUKE 1:5-20

5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

8 So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,

9 according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

10 And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense.

11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.

16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.

17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

18 And Zacharias said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”

19 And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.

20 But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.”

Note that the angel said that John would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, not that he would be Elijah himself, for Elijah had been dead for well over 1,200 years by the time that Jesus was born.

Why God chose to send Jesus to the people of Israel when he did is not known, but we need to believe that His timing is perfect, and that there was a reason for the date that He sent Jesus to Earth. And contrary to popular belief, Jesus was not born in the year "0", as there was no "zero" year.

But we do have a good idea of when He was born from Scripture!

The prophet Daniel had been taken to Babylon as a young man by Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar when God brought the Babylonians against Jerusalem because of the sins of it's people.

God had prophesied through the prophet Jeremiah that Jerusalem would be destroyed and that the inhabitants of Judah would be carried away as captives, and would spend the next 70 years in Babylon because of their sins against Him.

And as Scripture records and history agrees, in 586 B.C. Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian army, the Temple was burned to the ground, and the people deported as captives to Babylon just as God had promised.

Toward the end of his life, Daniel realized that the 70 years of captivity prophesied by Jeremiah were coming to an end and he began praying to God to fulfill His promise of the restoration of Jerusalem at the end of the prophesied captivity.

DANIEL 9:20-27

20 Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God,

21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering.

22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand.

23 At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:

24 “Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

25 “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.

26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.

27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.”

Daniel was told by the angel Gabriel that 70 "weeks" (periods of seven years) were determined after which the Messiah would come as promised. 70 "weeks" would equal 490 years. And from the time that the commandment came to rebuild Jerusalem until the appearing of the Messiah would be 483 years (69 "weeks").

The 70^th week? That will be fulfilled when the Antichrist makes a 7 year peace treaty with modern Israel, an event yet to come. (For more on this issue, please see either the study on the Book of Revelation, or the End Times Part 5 study in this web site.

(For a more complete explanation of Daniel’s prophecies, please see End Times Part 3 in this site. Those wishing to read the entire Book of Daniel, please go to the Daniel study in this site.)

In 539 B.C. Persian emperor Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, capturing the city virtually intact. And in 538 B.C. Cyrus decreed that all Jews within his empire (including those living in conquered Babylon) be allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple.

It is interesting to note that Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple in 586 B.C. and the new Temple that Cyrus decreed be built was finished in 516 B.C.......exactly 70 years after the people of Judah were carried captive to Babylon, in fulfillment of God's prophecy through the prophet Jeremiah.                         

Now, the decree to rebuild Jerusalem proper came in the 7^th year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (son of Xerxes (Ahasuerus) the husband of Queen Esther of the Old Testament), which decree came in 457 B.C., when he ordered the scribe and priest Ezra to return to Jerusalem, and rebuild it.  

As Scripture records;

EZRA 7:1-13

1 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,

2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,

4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,

5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest—

6 this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.

7 Some of the children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

8 And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.             

9 On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.

10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

11 This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest, the scribe, expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of His statutes to Israel:

12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the Law of the God of heaven: perfect peace, and so forth.

13 I issue a decree that all those of the people of Israel and the priests and Levites in my realm, who volunteer to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you.

When Ezra returned to Jerusalem, he found out that the people who had returned earlier to rebuild the Temple had intermarried with the nations around them in ignorance of God's commandments to not marry among the nations in which they dwelt.

Ezra was appalled and tore his clothes in mourning for what the children of Judah had done. They had just spent 70 years as captives in Babylon because of their disobedience and within 50 years of their return they had disobeyed His commandments yet again!

Scripture then records;

EZRA 9:5-9

5 At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God.

6 And I said: “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.

7 Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to humiliation, as it is this day.

8 And now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage.

9 For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.

Verse 9 shows that Ezra had been given authority to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This is very important here, as the prophecy for the coming of the Messiah had read;

DANIEL 9:25-26

25 “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.

26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.

The command to rebuild Jerusalem came in 457 B.C. at the decree of Artaxerxes to Ezra to go to Jerusalem. 69 "weeks" equates to 483 years. Therefore 457 B.C. - 483 years equates to 27 A.D. (Remember, there is no "zero" year between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D.)

Now hold that date in mind for a moment.

As is well known, Idumean king Herod the Great (37 B.C. - 4 B.C.) was ruling Judea when the wise men came to worship the King of the Jews that had been born.

MATTHEW 2:18-25

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,

25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.

Scripture then records;

MATTHEW 2:1-18

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,

2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,

15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Herod the Great was a cruel, paranoid ruler who murdered his own wife and several sons, suspecting that they were plotting to overthrow him. Swine are an abomination to the Jews, causing Augustus Caesar to dryly remark, “It is better to be Herod’s pig, than his son.”

Herod died in 4 B.C. so Jesus had to be born before Herod's death. The fact that Herod had the babies of Bethlehem who were two years old and under slaughtered shows that Jesus was approximately two years old when the wise men came to Jerusalem.

There were two "conjunctions" of the planets Mars and Jupiter in 7 B.C. one in March, and one in September, 6 months apart. This would have created quite a celestial display, and could very well have been the famed "Star of Bethlehem", rather than a miraculous celestial phenomenon.

It is also fascinating to note that John the Baptist, Jesus' physical cousin, was born 6 months before He was. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so. The wise men would certainly have been aware of both celestial phenomena, but apparently it was the second conjunction that they revered.

This being the case, if Jesus was indeed born in September of 7 B.C. as evidence indicates, and He died when He was 33 years old; considering that there is no "zero year", and he died before His 34^th birthday which would have fallen in September of 27 A.D.

He was arrested on the night that Passover began, (remembering that the Jewish day started at sunset) and died in the afternoon of the Passover holiday, in the spring (April) of 27 A.D.

So, in fulfillment of the prophecy given to Daniel, Jesus Christ died on the cross (was cut off, not for Himself, but for our sins) in 27 A.D. exactly 69 "weeks", or 483 years after the decree from Persian king Artaxerxes to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. (453 B.C. - 487 years (69 "weeks") = 27 A.D. (Remember, there is no "0" year)

Scripture has much to say about the sufferings of the Messiah for our sins as prophesied back in Genesis, right after Man's fall. One famous passage is quoted below.

ISAIAH 53:1-12

1 Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5 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.

6 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.

7 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.

8 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.

9 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.

10 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.

11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Many who know the history of Jesus' crucifixion will note some unmistakable parallels between this prophecy made nearly 600 years before Jesus' birth, and actual historical events in His life.

For example, He died between two thieves, and yet was buried in a rich man's tomb just as prophesied in verse 9 and 12.

He was silent before his accusers, just as prophesied in verse 7.

And just as prophesied in Genesis, He destroyed Satan's hold over Man by taking the sins of Mankind upon Himself at the cross as prophesied, in verses 6, 10, 11, and 12.

It was also prophesied in verse 5 that He would be beaten and bruised for our sins, and that was fulfilled when He was beaten by the Sanhedrin and the Roman soldiers before His crucifixion.

 As Scripture records;

MATTHEW 26:59-68

59 Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death,

60 but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward

61 and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’ ”

62 And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?”

63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”

64 Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

65 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!

66 What do you think?” They answered and said, “He is deserving of death.”

67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands,

68 saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?”

The author of the book of Luke (chapter 22) says that they blindfolded Jesus before they violated their own laws by beating him, one of many they broke in order to railroad Him to the cross.

Jesus was further tortured by the Romans. When the Sanhedrin brought Him before Roman governor Pontius Pilate on the false charge of treason against Caesar, the governor wanted to release Him as he found no basis for the charges;

MATTHEW 27:15-31

15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished.

16 And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.

17 Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

18 For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.

19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.”

20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

21 The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!”

22 Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!”

23 Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”

24 When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”

25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”   

26 Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him.

28 And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.

29 When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

30 Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.

31 And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.

Many people think of "scourging" as being whipped with a cane, or a whip. But the Romans were far better at creating instruments of cruelty and barbarism than that.

A scourge was a whip, similar to a cat-o-nine tails. The straps had bits of lead shaped like small dumbbells or sharp pieces of bone tied to the ends, which when they struck the victim would cause intense tearing and bruising of the skin and muscles, and deep internal hemorrhaging.

Hardened Roman soldiers would turn pale in terror if threatened by scourging, and it was used as a particularly brutal form of discipline in the Roman army. Most victims died from hemorrhaging, shock, and internal injuries after being scourged.

The victim was stripped naked and was then whipped from neck to ankles, the number of strokes being determined by the judgment passed on the victim, or by the officer in charge of the scourging. Usually the straps were long enough to wrap around the victim striking the front of the body while being whipped from behind.

Jewish law set down by God determined that 40 lashes was the maximum number that could be given to one considered worthy of such punishment. However, canes were usually used by the Jews, rather than the brutal Roman scourge.

The Romans had no such laws, especially in capital punishments. Crucifixion victims were almost always severely beaten before they went to the cross so as to inflict the maximum amount of pain, trauma and punishment before execution.

The Roman soldiers under Pilate also abused Jesus after His scourging, as recorded in verses Matthew 27:27-31 above. Truly he was bruised for our iniquities, and by His stripes (scourging) we are healed. And He did all of this because He loved us, and was willing to take the full fury of God's punishment for sin upon Himself, that we might attain to His righteousness in the eyes of His Father and be delivered from the sentence of eternal destruction and torment in Hell, and after the Judgment, the Lake of Fire.

Medical forensic specialists who have studied the punishment of Jesus are astounded that He even made it to the cross. By all respects, He should have died under the scourging before He even got to Calvary. But God had determined that Jesus die on the cross, therefore He had to live long enough to suffer on the cross before He could die as prophesied.
 

The shameful abuse by the Sanhedrin in violation of their own laws, and the hideous scourging and abuse by the Roman soldiers also fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 600 years previously, when he said of the Messiah;

ISAIAH 50:5-7

5 The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away.

6 I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.

7 “For the Lord God will help Me; therefore I will not be disgraced; therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.

This prophecy states that those who abused Him literally ripped the beard from His face in their hatred of Him. And this was along with all of the other punishments and torture they performed on Him.

And in a final act of shame to the victims, they were crucified naked before all who passed by.

JOHN 19:23-24

23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.

24 They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among them and for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.

The only thing that Jesus owned on this Earth were His clothes, and even those were taken from Him at the cross.

And that was only the physical aspect of the issue. We haven't yet covered the spiritual aspects.

As we have already seen, sin can only attack the flesh and while sin may ravage the flesh, it is the spirit that pays the true price of sin, namely suffering the sentence of Hell and afterward the Lake of Fire.

Therefore to destroy sin God had to take on a sinless physical body as a receptacle for the sins of the world to be poured into. And once that body died the sins contained within it would die also.

And just as sin took an innocent life (Adam) even so an innocent sinless life (Jesus) had to be given to destroy sin.

Scripture records a strange event during the crucifixion, with no explanation as to its cause, recorded in 3 of the 4 Gospels.

MATTHEW 27:45

45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.

MARK 15:33

33 Now when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

LUKE 23:44-45

44 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the Earth until the ninth hour.

45 Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

Luke, ever the careful historian gives the best description of what happened for he says that the sun was darkened. Some have tried to explain it as an eclipse, but Passover only happens during a full Moon, and an eclipse could only happen during a new Moon.

However, there is a fascinating prophecy given in the Old Testament book of Amos 770 years earlier that could very well refer to this event.

AMOS 8:9

9 “And it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, “That I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight;

Note: the 6^th hour was considered as noon in Judea during Jesus' time.

When Jesus hung on the cross, all of the sins of the world that would ever be committed from the beginning, until the end of time were heaped upon him. I seriously believe that this is a case where a spiritual event had a physical manifestation.

In other words, the magnitude of sin was so great that it literally darkened the sun for three hours until Jesus died, destroying the sins for all time at His death.

The Greek historian Thallus tried to describe the event as a “super-eclipse” but a solar eclipse can only happen during a New Moon and when Jesus was crucified the Moon was full.

And it wasn't the crucifixion that killed Him. He had to will Himself to die when all was finished. As He Himself said;

JOHN 10:17-18

17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

And as Scripture records concerning His death;

LUKE 23:46

46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last.

Only when Jesus knew that all things required of Him by His Father were complete, was He allowed to die. Then as Scripture states, He gave up His life, willing for it to happen.

Events didn't stop at Jesus' death on the cross. The sins had been destroyed, but they still had to be paid for. And there was only one way to do that.

PSALMS 16:8-11

8 I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.   

10 For You will not leave my soul in Hell, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

11 You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
            

King David prophesied 1,000 years before Jesus’ death that He would go to Hell for the price of our sins, but that God would not leave His soul there, neither would God allow His body to decay after death.

David died, and his body decayed after death, so he was not referring to himself. As Peter stated before a crowd of Jews after the Resurrection;

ACTS 2:22-36

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—

23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

25 For David says concerning Him: ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.

26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.

27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’

29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,

31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.

32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,

35 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Another reason why Jesus had to go die, was so that He in spirit could go to the place of the righteous dead (called Sheol) and take them to Heaven with Him at His resurrection.

Satan is a spirit therefore He also had to face and defeat Satan, and take back the mastery of Earth given to him by Adam in the Garden of Eden .

Remember the story of the rich man, and Lazarus? I have listed the story again below, for reference.

LUKE 16:19-31

19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.

20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,

21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’

25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.             

26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’  

27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,

28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’

29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

Jesus after paying for our sins in Hell, left Hell (the only one to ever do so) to face and defeat Satan and his demons. Then, and only then, were the dead who died in obedience to the Law allowed to enter Heaven, as their sins had finally been paid for. Jesus had paid the full price demanded by God's justice for their sins. They were now worthy to enter Heaven, for through Jesus' atoning death they were now perfect in the eyes of God the Father.

Paul refers to this fact when in speaking to the Gentile believers in Ephesus he says;

EPHESIANS 4:7-13

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the Earth?

10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

When Paul speaks of leading "captivity captive", he was referring to Jesus taking those who were in the Pit (not those in Hell) with Him to Heaven. He also referred to the Gifts of the Spirit when he spoke of "and gave gifts to men".

So, now when a person dies, they go directly to either Heaven to await Jesus' return to Earth in glory at which time they will be resurrected in their glorified bodies, or to Hell to be tormented while they await the Great Judgment of the damned, after which time they will be cast into the Lake of Fire forever.

            

Jesus also had to die for another reason, one that not many people think about.

When God gave the Old Testament to the Jews, it was sealed with the blood of animals, thereby putting the Law into effect. God had also provided that no one could keep all 613 commandments of the Law all the days of their life, thereby putting all men under the same sentence of sin so there would be no degrees of sin and that no one could be righteous through their own works.

As we discussed earlier, only God could fulfill the requirements of the Law in Jesus Christ, and by fulfilling His own Law, Jesus had the right to take away the Old Testament Law and create a New Testament.

Just as a Last Will and Testament does not have any effect until the death of the one who created it, even so the New Testament could not be put into effect until the death of the One who created it, which happened when Jesus died on the cross.

The Old testament Law was sanctified with the blood of animals which could never take away sin, but God sanctified the New Testament through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, which has taken away sin forever for those who believe in Him.

The author of Hebrews understood this fact when he said;

HEBREWS 9:11-28

11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,

14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.

18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”

21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;

25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—

26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,

28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Note several things here.         

Jesus' sacrifice was done once for all time, never again to be repeated.

The Roman Catholic church re-enacts the sacrifice of Jesus every time they offer communion, as they "offer up the divine Victim to God" in the ceremony, and their followers are taught that the wafer and the wine are the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. Yet verse 28 above states that he was offered once for sins.

And as with the priests who still tried to follow the Law after Jesus death by continuing to offer sacrifices that could never take away sins, even so do the priests of the Catholic Church and others who symbolically re-enact the sacrifice during Communion offer up sacrifices which can never take away sins.

For as the author of Hebrews states;

HEBREWS 10:11-14

11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,

13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.

14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
                                                                                                                        

In other words, once you have accepted Jesus Christ, and have asked Him to be your Savior, your sins are cleansed forever in His sight.

However, this does not mean that you can continue to sin because you have been cleansed. Some believe in the poisonous "once saved, always saved" doctrine, and go about as if they were never saved in the first place.

Be warned, for the Scriptures state;

HEBREWS 10:26-31

26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.

28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.”

31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Of this the apostle Peter also states;

2 PETER 2:21-22

21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

You cannot willfully sin all week, then go to "confession" in the Roman Catholic Church or other such churches to be forgiven of your sins, for I have already proven from Scripture that Catholic priests have no authority to forgive the sins of others in God's place.

In fact, there shouldn't be a priesthood at all. For further information on this subject, please see the study on the issue concerning priests and forgiveness.

This brings us to the Communion Covenant, one of the most sacred rites in Christianity.

Jesus instituted the Communion Covenant as the symbol of His atoning death on the cross. Previously, the Passover sacrifice had been the blood covenant between God and His people, in which the innocent shed blood of a lamb put on the doorposts had protected Israel from the destroying angel that killed the firstborn throughout Egypt on the night that Israel was set free from slavery.

Moses had warned Pharaoh;

EXODUS 11:4-10

4 Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt;

5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals.

6 Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again.

7 But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’

8 And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

9 But the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

10 So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

God commanded the Passover feast to be kept forever in Israel, as a symbol and a reminder of their miraculous rescue from 430 years of slavery in Egypt. (Exodus, chapter 12)

The Passover covenant had direct parallels with Jesus' death on the cross. I will list some of them below.

Passover Covenant Communion Covenant

1. The lamb had to be male - Jesus was the Son of God.

2. The lamb was to be without blemish - Jesus was sinless

3. The lamb was to be killed at dusk - Jesus died just before dusk

4. The blood was to be placed on the doorposts and the lintel (top beam) - the nails through Jesus' palms and the ‘crown of thorns’ caused blood to stain the ends of the horizontal crossbeam and the top of the vertical beam of the cross in the same positions as the blood on the doorposts.

5. The lamb was to be roasted with fire - Jesus suffered in Hell for our sins

6. The blood protected Israel from God's punishment of the wicked in Egypt - Jesus' blood saves us from the wrath of Judgment and eternal death as required by God's justice.

7. The lamb was not to be brought out of the house - Jesus' mission was to the house of Israel only in the days of His flesh on Earth.

8. Not a bone was to be broken - None of Jesus' bones were broken during the crucifixion. The two thieves crucified on either side of Him had their legs broken to hasten death.

9. The New Testament was the fulfillment of the Old Testament Law was prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah, when the Lord told him;

JEREMIAH 31:31-37

31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

35 Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the Moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name):

36 “If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.”

37 Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the Earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord.

Note several things here.

First, God says He will institute a new Covenant, unlike the Old Testament Law which He gave Israel after they fled Egypt.

He said His laws would be written in their hearts, not like the stone tablets given to Moses.

These precepts were fulfilled in Jesus, for when he died on the cross, the New Testament, or New Covenant came into being, sanctified by His sinless blood just as the Old Testament Law was sanctified by the blood of sinless animals.

Also, with the Holy Spirit given to us, God indeed writes His laws in our hearts, for he dwells within each believer, thus also doing away with the need for a physical Temple.

I included verses 35-37 from Jeremiah in this study, for there is a poisonous belief in some churches that God has cast away the Jews and has turned strictly to the Gentiles, making the Gentiles His chosen people in place of the Jews because the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah.

God has never abandoned His people, neither will He ever abandon them. Neither will they ever cease to be His chosen people, for if He chooses another nation or people to be His chosen race He would violate His own Word as written above.

Ok, back to the Communion Covenant.

MATTHEW 26:26-29

26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.

28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

With this act Jesus established the New Covenant as promised to Jeremiah 650 years earlier.


The apostle Paul explained the Communion covenant to the Gentile churches when he wrote;

1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-31

23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;

24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

Jesus fulfilled the Passover Law in the fact that His body and blood were given for the atonement of sins, just as the Passover lamb, and the animal sacrifices covered the sins of the people, deferring them until the perfect sacrifice could be made which would take them away forever.

Jesus gave the disciples the elements of the Passover, the lamb and the bread, symbolizing His being the Lamb of God, and the Bread of Life. He also gave them the cup of wine, representing His blood which would soon be shed for the sins of the world.

Know and understand. Just as Jesus did not give the disciples His literal flesh and blood to eat, neither do we partake of the literal flesh and blood of Jesus during the Communion service as some churches teach! It is only a symbol!

Our spirits partake of the substance of Jesus through the Communion covenant, and in Him we have eternal life. Just as the unleavened bread could not give eternal life, neither can the bread of Communion give eternal life. Just as the blood of animals could not take away sins, neither can the grape juice (or wine in some churches) take away sins.

And we cannot partake of the literal blood of Jesus anyway, for to do so is a violation of God's commandments of;

GENESIS 9:1-4

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the Earth.

2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the Earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the Earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.

3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs.

4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

LEVITICUS 3:17

17 ‘This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’ ”

LEVITICUS 7:26-27

26 Moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast.

27 Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.’ ”

God would never violate His own Word at any time. Therefore those who teach that the Communion elements transform into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ are guilty of teaching errors, thereby bringing Paul's warning upon themselves and their congregations, when he says;

1 CORINTHIANS 11:27-31

27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

Conclusion:

Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world because Satan had deceived Adam into sinning therefore bringing sin, death and judgment upon Adam and the whole human race. But God in His mercy provided a way for Man to be redeemed from sin and death, while still carrying out His judgment.

That He caused that the flesh should suffer the ravages of sin and death, but Man's spirit, made in His image, should live after death. He also promised to send One who would forever break the power of sin, One who would redeem sinful man to God.  

Satan tried down through history to destroy the promise of God by having the nation of Israel sin, causing God to bring the terrible curses spoken by Moses upon Israel so as to destroy them. But God spared a remnant of the nation each time, thereby fulfilling His promise of sending One to come who would crush the serpent's head, while suffering death Himself in the process.

In the fullness of time, God sent His own Son Jesus Christ who had given the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia (the present location of Mount Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula is wrong), to fulfill the Law, and replace it with a New Testament sealed with His own blood.

In fulfillment of the prophecy given to Daniel, Jesus Christ died exactly 483 years after the decree sent out by Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, dying in the Spring of 27 A.D.

And by His death, He took the sins of the whole world into his flesh, and when He died, the sins died with Him. And at His death, the veil of the Temple representing the separation of Man from God by sin, was torn from top to bottom, signifying that the barrier of sin between Man and God was now removed. There was no longer a need for an Earthly priest to intercede to God for the sins of Man, as Man could now go to God directly through Jesus Christ. He went to Hell for us, suffering the punishment for our sins, and defeated Satan in the spiritual realm.

And with his resurrection, he took those who had been in Paradise (Sheol / the Pit) to Heaven with him, as they were now worthy to enter Heaven. Their sins had finally been paid for and they were now perfect in God's sight.

The sacrifice He made will never be repeated, for He made one sacrifice for all time, and the Communion covenant we celebrate in remembrance of His death is only a symbol, as teaching that the wine (or juice) is Jesus literal blood is a direct violation of God's commandments to never eat blood.

There is no longer a need for an Earthly priest to intercede between Man and God, for with the tearing of the Temple veil, God was showing that Man was now righteous enough through Jesus Christ to approach Him directly.

Besides, as Paul states;

1 TIMOTHY 2:5-6

5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,

Therefore any man who claims to be the only mediator between God and Man puts himself in the place of Jesus Christ. God ended the priesthood with the death of Jesus, and caused the Temple to be destroyed because the Jews continued to offer sacrifices which could never take away sin. And with the destruction of the Temple, the need for the priesthood was taken away and will never again be instituted by Him.

The Law of Moses created the priesthood, and there is no provision for a separate priesthood in the New Testament as we are all priests before God through Jesus Christ.

As Scripture records;

REVELATION 1:1-6

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,

2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the Earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Jesus Christ is the High Priest of the New Testament, and we are all priests before God under His authority. As Scripture states of Jesus;

HEBREWS 2:14-18

14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

16 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham.

17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
                        

If you note carefully in verse 17 above, Jesus considers us to be His brethren, as we are heirs to the kingdom of God through adoption. God has adopted us to be His sons and daughters, with Jesus Christ as the elder brother to us all.

There is not enough praise or worship that we could ever give Him for what He has done for us. The best we can do is follow His commandments, read His Word faithfully, and bring the good news to others that they might be saved also.

Satan has been defeated, but he tries to give the impression that he is still powerful enough to overthrow God. Granted, he IS powerful, but we have the authority and power of Jesus Christ within us, and we can defeat him through that power.

Jesus will be returning soon as the signs He gave us to watch for are happening to the letter. We are the generation that will see His coming, and we need to be ready for Him when He comes. For those interested in knowing more about the End Times, please see the End Times studies in this site.

And may all honor, glory, majesty, praise and blessings be given to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, the firstborn of the Resurrection, the Lamb who was killed that we might live with Him throughout eternity!

Questions? Comments? E-mail: watchmen_777@yahoo.com

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