your illustration suggests the warden is asking a stranger to die for the prisoner. A stranger dying would not cause any loss to the warden.
But in the case of God, he asked his own firstborn son to die so that others may live. At great cost to himself, God offered his own son as a redeemer of others.
Does anyone remember that God is the creator of spirits?
Does anyone remember that no one is truly ‘dead’ to God as long as the spirit of that person is not destroyed?
Does anyone know why Jesus was to die?
God REQUIRED the death (Earthly existence - not destruction of the spirit) of an unblemished by sin, innocent, holy and righteous man.
This ‘death’ was to pay for the sin of Adam, who brought sin into the world and CONDEMNED ALL MANKIND TO DEATH - even ETERNAL DEATH (death/destruction of the spirit). There was no resurrection unless the death of the ‘Lamb’ took place.
Since the offspring, the procreated children, of all of mankind through the lineage of Adam, was sinful, no such offspring could fulfil the role God required.
God gave time for such a son to emerge but the nearest one came was David. But David sinned by having blood on his hands when he condemned an innocent captain in his army to death so that he, David, could take his wife. But because David so heavily paid the price for his sin, God forgave him and continued with his position as beloved of God, giving him a Son and great power and authority over the kingdom of Israel. But God refused him to build the ‘earthly dwelling place’, the temple, in Jerusalem because of David’s sin even after forgiving him (the ‘blood’ is never completely washed from the hand … Lady MacBeth)
But because God lived David so much, God set the throne of David
symbolically as the seat that the future seat of the kingdom of the Son of God who fulfilled God’s requirements.
But God had promised that sin would be destroyed by the seed of a woman. So, after PROVING sadly that no son of Adam was forthcoming as the ‘Saviour/Messiah’, God put into action the plan he had made and prophesied:
- ‘But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.’ (Gal 4:5-6)
God created a second ADAM from the SEED of Mary the Virgin. Sin is propagated through the seed of the Father, the man. So God chose to create the LAST ADAM from a sinless seed (egg) of Mary and ENLIVEN it by the overshadowing of his Holy Spirit … THEREFORE the child to be born will be HOLY, and called, “Son of God”. You should therefore see that like the first Adam, created by the inert dust of the earth and enlivened by God’s holySpirit, so Jesus was created likewise by the inert egg of Mary and the enlivening of the holy spiritual of God… So BOTH Adams were born holy, sinless, righteous because no sin was in their spirit.
And, unlike the first Adam, Jesus remained sinless and loyal to God’s commands even under the most testing of conditions: weak, tired, hungry, thirsty, fainting, hallucinating… He overcame the temptation to use his given powers (see later) to save himself - thus making himself the perfect one for sacrifice: selflessness to the commandments of God: Worship the Lord your God and only to him show sacred service… After he overcame the temptations he was ‘SENT’ into the world.
But be careful where it says, ‘Sent’. Jesus was not ‘SENT’ by God until after he was anointed - that is, not until he became ‘the Christ’ (The anointed one), as is spoken by Jesus, himself:
- “what about the one whom the Father set apart (#1) as his very own (#2) and sent into the world (#3)? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? (John 10:36)
#1: To be ‘Set Apart’ is what ‘Anointing’ is. Consecrated, Sanctified… for priesthood or Kingship (Jesus was anointed to both!)
#2: ‘His very own’, means ‘Chosen’. God chose Jesus to be the sacrificed lamb (See Isaiah 42:1)
#3: ‘Sent into the world’… This is when Jesus STARTED his preaching the word of God, the testimony of the Father.
Do not believe the trinity ideology that says Jesus was ‘sent by God FROM HEAVEN’.
Notice that there is no report of Jesus doing ANYTHING of a miraculous nature until after he was TEMPTED AND TESTED in the wilderness, after he received the Holy Spirit of God at his anointing, as an apostle wrote:
- “You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.“ (Acts 10:37-38)
Jesus received the FULL MEASURE of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And after receiving this He ‘went about doing good’ because ‘God’ was with him.
Incredibly, Trinitarians say Jesus IS God despite the apostle saying that ‘God’ was WITH HIM (meaning ‘Supporting him via GOD’s own Holy Spirit… remember John 1:1 where trinity says
Jesus was God and was
WITH (next to) GOD…)
At the last, Jesus knew he was close to his sacrifice in death. It must have been incredibly hard for him to continue but he put the command of God ahead of his personal feelings and endured - the reward beckoned him - the reward for what he was anointed for, set aside as ‘High Priest to God’. What higher accolade could be accredited to a human Being.
But even so, in the Garden on the last night, Jesus nearly stumbled, saying, ‘Father, if there could be another way?’ This, he did wondering if indeed God could raise him up again…
So there it is….
Just as Jesus (and Elijah, and Elisha) had raised the dead but only to temporary life (the raised all died later in time, obviously!) Jesus considered if his Father could raise him up permanently… He sweated blood from the sheer stress - something virtually none of us could even begin to understand or comprehend!
But he recovered himself saying, ‘not
my Will, but
your Will!’. Here is another kick in the teeth for trinity claims. If Jesus
was God why would he sweat blood and have a Will
different from GOD’s…!!!?
So, even though God required the sacrifice of a sinless, holy, righteous and innocent man to offset the sin of the first man, God, by his wisdom and power and foreknowledge would raise up the Lamb again IF the lamb allowed himself TO BE SACRIFICED.
The pain for God was that he did not want humans to have to prove themselves this way. Scriptures refers to this,
saying:
- “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened — burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened — burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:6-8)
God did not desire a sacrifice and offerings (The scapegoat and annual sacrifices the Jews performed as a substitute). When Jesus was finally CALLED to duty he did not baulk from it but rose up and went seeking John the Baptist and afterwards the temptation in the wilderness before facing Satan directly on. The prophesy then has Jesus stating that he desires to do the Will of God (how is he God if he is seeking to do the Will of God?)
Note that Hebrews 10:7-8 quotes the verse above and adds:
- “He does away with the first to establish the second” (Heb 10:9)
This is a reference to Adam as the first ‘Son of God (Luke 3:38) being dismissed as such in order for Jesus to be established as ‘Son of God’. The sin of the first is wiped away by the righteousness of the second.
- “But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam 15:22)
God preferred obedience to his laws and commands rather than sacrifices. Jesus Christ showed perfect obedience to God’s laws and Commands and thus by his sacrifice wiped away the further fruitless sacrifices and saved mankind from the eternal death caused by the sin of Adam. The reward: eternal life as the king over creation and the high priest of God!
