Chapter 3 - What is the Solution?
Have you ever tried walking through a brick wall or attempted to jump to the moon? Sounds futile, doesn’t it? Well trying to solve the problem of sin is probably more difficult than jumping to the moon! Regardless of what you might read or what philosophers and theologians might teach, only God can save us. I know that sounds weird, first God sets up rules knowing that no one can comply resulting in condemnation, and now He wants to save us? The quick answer is, yes! Two things we need to keep in mind as we explore the solution, and yes, there is a solution. The first issue is the same thing we discovered in chapter two and that is sin is a very serious problem. The second thing at this point may be harder to comprehend and that is, God really loves you. These two points will help us to understand that the solution will neither be easy nor will it be without cost, but God is willing to pay the entire price.
We begin by looking at the Law and see specifically what is required to obtain forgiveness. Many forget that the same Law that condemns mankind also provides the road map leading to redemption including identifying the people involved, the various processes, and the timing.
On a number of occasions as a teacher, I have stated that the book of Leviticus (the third book of the Bible) was a great book to use as an example of how not to write. Normally, a book should try to obtain and keep your attention, the book of Leviticus jumps right into the subject of sacrifices and how to cut up animals, unless you are a butcher, the material can quickly turn your stomach encouraging you to move on to the next book. Previously, in chapter two, we briefly discussed that the tabernacle and then later, the Temple, were the core structures of the Israelite’s lives, the section of the Torah that we now call the book of Leviticus, provided the instructions for the priests on how to be intermediaries between God and His people using those facilities. Instead of direct access to God, the people were required to use priests to represent them before God. These priests were known as the Aaronic Priesthood since one important qualification of being a priest was that you had to be born in the line of Aaron, the brother of Moses (God made that choice, not Moses). Of these priests there was one priest, called the High Priest, that would provide oversight of the other priests and he was the primary liaison between God and all of mankind.
The qualifications to be the High Priest not only included being a man in the line of Aaron, he had to have a heart to compassionately serve his people and he was to be appointed by God. Being anointed with oil was a common practice when installing leadership. The Hebrew word implies being rubbed down or covered with oil and was most frequently used in the Bible during rituals of divine appointments, this word is also where we get the word ‘Messiah’ from.
As I pointed out, the book of Leviticus begins by introducing us to several different types of sacrifices that will later be identified and used for specific applications in the text. One such application of those sacrifices occurred on the Day of Atonement. This was considered by the Israelites to be the most sacred and solemn day of the year and rightfully so. On this day, the High Priest, after a significant amount of preparation and being dressed properly, would present several offerings, first on behalf of himself and his family and once considered cleansed, he proceeded to make a sin offering for the people. This was the only day of the year that God allowed a person to enter the Most Holy Place (often referred to as, “the Holy of Holies,” a room separated from the main room by a large curtain). In addition to this annual event, there were sacrifices being offered to God for a number of reasons continuously, night and day. Some for giving thanks to God, others being offered for forgiveness of unintentional sins, some were offered in praise and worship, while some may have been offered as a guilt offering combined with restitution, etc. When we think of the number of people multiplied by the number of reasons to offer sacrifices, done only in one location, we can see why they needed to operate 24 hours a day!
We can also easily see that since many of the sacrifices were to be offered regularly and others were to be done annually, that God considered the sacrificial system as being only temporarily effective, which makes sense, as people continue to sin and that the High Priest, God’s designated intermediary, was a human male subject to death (in other words, not eternal). Was this system intended to be only a stop-gap measure? What would happen if any of these processes stopped, as it often occurred during the reigns of evil kings? Would God be so cold and say, “Oh Well, you’re on your own now!”? We read in the Old Testament that during these times God’s people were indeed concerned and fervently prayed for God to take action and He often did. In some cases, due to the nature of the sin, God would allow their enemies to triumph including an extended period of exile after the Temple was destroyed, before they were able to rebuild and resume these processes. Do either the tabernacle or Temple still exist? The tabernacle was decommissioned during King Solomon’s day and the last Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. and none of the sacrifices have been able to be performed since. So, what does this mean for us, how is any of this pertinent today?
Remember when I said in chapter one that one of the proofs that the Bible was indeed written by God was His inclusion of prophecies? Many of those prophecies in the Old Testament pertained to a person, sent by God, who would come and ultimately save His people. From these prophecies, we learn more about the person, their ministry, the timing and locations. We also pick up some of the names and titles the Bible uses to identify this person. This person would be the offspring of a woman (Genesis 3:15); a descendant of Abraham (Genesis 12:3); would be a willing sacrifice (Genesis 22:1-18); come from tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10); would be the ultimate Passover Lamb (Exodus 12); would be lifted up in death (Numbers 21:6-9); would be a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-19); would be a Kinsman-Redeemer (Ruth 4:4-9); would be a descendant of David (2 Samuel 7:12-16); would be called God’s Son (Psalms 2); would be resurrected (Psalms 16:8-11); would be forsaken and pierced (Psalm 22; Zechariah 12:10); would be the righteous sufferer (Psalm 69); would be greater than King David (Psalms 110:1-4); would be the rejected cornerstone (Psalms 118:22-24); would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14); would be the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7); would be called a Nazarene (Isaiah 11:1; 53:3); would perform signs of healing (Isaiah 35:5-6); would be preceded by a forerunner announcing His arrival (Isaiah 40:3-5; Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6); would be a light for all the nations of the world (Isaiah 42:1-6); would be the suffering servant (Isaiah 52:13-53:12); would be the object of a murderous plot and die (Jeremiah 31:15; Daniel 9:26); would bring in a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31); would be the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13-14); would come according to a precise timetable (Daniel 9:24-27); would be called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1); would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah (Micah 5:2), would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9); and would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13). These are only a few out of several hundred prophecies in the Bible (Many additional prophecies are listed in Appendix 2).
Okay, that’s great but how can one person do something about our problem of sin? Since mankind could never restore themselves to be free from the problem of sin, God arranged for our freedom from sin by sending His only Son to die on all of humanity’s behalf. His name is Jesus (Greek transliteration of Hebrew name ‘Yēshūa’ meaning “YHWH delivers” or simply “the Lord is salvation”), He was born of a virgin, lived a sin-less life, suffered, died and was raised back to life again in order for Him to offer us freedom from eternal condemnation.
The Scarlet Thread identified in the previous chapter, is Jesus! He is 100% man and 100% God, and yes, I know that mathematically that doesn’t make much sense, but it is true. The entire Bible lays out the story of the creation of man, the fall of man and the introduction of the Israelites through whom God later chooses one family to give birth through a virgin women to a man named Jesus. The Bible also explains God’s plan all the way through to the end of time, to eternity. But as far as mankind is concerned, everything changed when Jesus was resurrected.
So how does this plan of salvation work? I hope you don’t mind me calling it salvation, some people get offended and often interject with a comment that they are not in need of some form of salvaging effort. No one likes to be thought of being in need of salvaging since that suggests that the person is some form of scrap waste. If that is what you are thinking, you still may not be seeing how serious the problem of sin really is. God’s plan for our salvation is simple, first we need to acknowledge that we are indeed sinners (being disobedient to God), next repent of our sins (telling God that we are sorry for our disobedience) and then trust that Jesus will fulfill His promise that He will save us from spending eternity in hell (promises found in John 1:12; 3:36; 5:24; Acts 4:12; 10:43; Romans 8:1, 14-17; Ephesians 1:3; 2:8-9; Colossians 2:13; Titus 3:5-7; 1 John 5:11-13).
Having trust in Jesus is what faith is all about. We trust that when we die, Jesus will intercede on our behalf and claim us as a co-heir of His (Romans 8:16-17) and allow us to enter heaven. That offer is for everyone, there is no limit to His atonement, no special bloodline required and definitely no special knowledge or action needed. What keeps Him from changing His mind? First of all, God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18) and secondly, God is faithful and delights in keeping His promises (Genesis 18:14; Romans 14:20-21; Hebrews 10:23). We also know that God does not change His mind, as He freely offers forgiveness (Isaiah 43:25; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Matthew 26:28; Acts 2:38; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:13-14), this effectively changes our future destination from Hell to Heaven.
When we closely examine some of those prophecies we looked at earlier, we can’t help but notice to see what appears to be potentially incompatible statements. Some of the prophecies refer to someone being very humble, while others seem to point to a powerful conqueror. Many scholars tag them as prophecies of the “suffering servant” and prophecies of the “warrior king.” Sadly, people through the years have rejected Jesus as the Messiah due to these contrasting statements, they fail to comprehend (an intellectual barrier) that Jesus had to suffer and die (as the suffering servant) to be victorious over death. So what about the warrior king? Jesus first came to offer salvation to a condemned world and will return in the future (known as the Second Coming) to usurp the evil in the world once and for all as the Warrior King. One Messiah, two periods of ministry (His first and second coming), not two different Messiahs.
Our response to God’s love and His plan of salvation through Jesus is love and obedience. Jesus did all the work for our salvation so our obedience is not for our sake, but we want to obey Him as our way of showing Him love in return. However, we must remember that sin remains a problem and still is a struggle for us as we are all still sinners.