God Has Found a Substitute (part 4) - The Perfect Substitute
Posted in Faith, Love, Salvation, Substitution on Feb 27, 2020
While meditating in my hotel room in Lusaka some years ago, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see that the reason the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is relevant in every continent of the world, regardless of race or color, is because it is a universal solution to a universal problem. Advancements in science and technology might have provided ‘near-perfect’ health care systems and good governments that provide basic amenities; but one thing that science, technology, good governments, and societies cannot provide is a solution that addresses the primitive problem called SIN. Sin and a guilty conscience are a universal problem!
The word translated as ‘sin’ in Greek is the word “hamartia”, which means ‘to err’ or ‘to miss the standard.’ Regardless of how educated and civilized a man becomes, his heart yearns to find peace with his ‘Maker.’ He might live in denial of it but he can’t run from it because many of life’s questions will go unanswered without peace.
God’s standard is PERFECTION and HOLINESS. To miss God’s standard is sin! When God gave the children of Israel the law and the commandments, it was His required standard in order to be accepted.
No man was able to meet God’s standard. Even the Law-giver Moses, whom the Bible referred to as the meekest man in his time to have walked on the earth, said, “… I am exceedingly afraid and trembling” when he saw the glory and awesomeness of God (Numbers 12:4; Hebrews 12:21).
Since no man could meet God’s standard, He sent His Son, Jesus, to come in the flesh and live as a man. He met God’s standard because He lived without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He met God’s moral standards and took our place as a ‘perfect’ substitute (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 10:14). Romans 8:3 says, “For what the law COULD NOT DO in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His OWN SON in the likeness of sinful flesh, ON ACCOUNT OF SIN: He CONDEMNED SIN in the flesh.” Glory to God!
The problem of sin has been taken care of and death no longer has any legal right to oppress us. God has found a perfect substitute and imperfect men and women are free to receive from a perfect God. In Christ Jesus, God sees us perfect!
Galatians 4:4-7 is now our reality: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might RECEIVE THE ADOPTION AS SONS. And because YOU ARE SONS, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” THEREFORE, YOU ARE NO LONGER A SLAVE BUT A SON, AND IF A SON, THEN AN HEIR OF GOD THROUGH CHRIST.”
That’s something worth shouting about! Jesus is our standard before the father! Glory!
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