THE STORY chapter #2

(My home church is participating in the study of THE STORY – The Bible As One Continuing Story Of God And His People. Foreword by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee. Each week, my Friday post will focus on our current study chapter.)

Jesus poured it out. The blood of Christ did not drip, trickle or leak out of His scorned and tortured body. He willingly allowed His blood to pour from the height of His sacrificial Cross, onto the dirt of Calvary hill. The Son of God gave of himself, He paid our price, so that humanity will have eternal life.

But, you say, Jesus was a sinless man. Why did He have to die for our sin? Because in order for a punishment to totally cover the sin of another, the person receiving the punishment must be completely blameless. Otherwise, the punishment they receive is simply justifiable punishment for their own sin.

We are all sinners. The entire human race sins daily, in thought, word or deed. And it all started back in the Garden when Adam and Eve chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  God told them not to eat the fruit – because if they did they would die. You know the ending, they chose to eat the fruit and sin entered God’s perfect world.

God knew there was only one way we would all be saved. There could be no one but the Son of God – blameless, sinless and holy – to cover the sins of an entire world to come. He put His plan into effect some two thousand years before Christ was born, and died on the Cross.

Back in Genesis 12, God told Abram to “Go,” promising to bless him and make him into a great nation. Abram was a man of great faith in God. So much so that when God tested Abram, and said to sacrifice Abram’s only son Isaac to Him, Abram obediently was about to slay Isaac. But an angel of the Lord stopped him. This act showed Abram’s deep love and commitment to God.

God could also have stopped Jesus from crucifixion, but then all mankind would die. It is because an angel of the Lord did not stop the crucifixion, that we know God’s deep love and commitment to mankind.

The Old Testament, starting with Genesis 12 through the last book of Malachi, is a long introduction to God’s glorious Son, the one who willingly poured out His blood to wash away our sins.

THE STORY foreword by Max Lucado & Randy Frazee