"couldn't be clearer than this"

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), Jul 6, 2011 at 06:26

Good morning Omar (11:30 here in UK)

Thank you for your response. I see things much more clearly by comparing and contrasting them, and doing so with the Qur'anic Allah who is "detached from his creation," with the Biblical God Who enters His creation, indeed brings clarity.

The God revealed in the printed words of the Bible, and supremely revealed in His living, loving, Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, "……so the Word became human and made His home among us…………………" John 1:14 is not an unseen, utterly transcendent, remote reality, but a God Who chose to dwell with His people as the God-man Jesus Christ, and concerning His birth, the angel of the Lord announced to Joseph, ".........you are to name Him Jesus ("The Lord saves"), for He will save His people from their sins…………..and they will call Him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us'" Matthew 1:21 &23 with Colossians 2:9 saying, "For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body" the Lord Jesus Christ Himself saying, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father." John 14:9

From first to last, the Bible reveals a God Who dwells with His people, "I will live among you and I will not despise you" Leviticus 26:11 "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God." Revelation 21:3

Going "fast-forward" through the Bible from the account of Abraham's intended sacrifice of his son Isaac, recorded at Genesis 22:1-14, reading there, Abraham's words to his son, "Isaac said, 'Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?' 'My son,' Abraham answered, 'God will provide the lamb.'" Genesis 22:7-8 to the words spoken by John the baptiser when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ walking alongside the river Jordan, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29 to words recorded at 1 Timothy 1:15 "This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" to the Lord Jesus Christ's glorious resurrection to eternal life following His crucifixion, recorded at Romans 1:4 "and He was shown to be the Son of God when He was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord," to the words recorded at Romans 10:9 that "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved," with the well-known words of John 3:16 saying, "For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." all of which demonstrate the Biblical God's "rescue-plan" for people who cannot save themselves, with the Bible very clearly teaching God's "rescue-plan" available through the Lord Jesus Christ to those who will accept it.

The Old Covenant God made with His people, rested on a sea of blood, with an endless cycle of animal sacrifices, it being estimated that under the Old Covenant, ~one million animals were sacrificed, in rituals that could not, and did not, take away sins, as it says at Hebrews 10:1-23 "The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.

But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, He said to God,

'You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin.
Then I said, Look, I have come to do your will, O God— as is written about me in the Scriptures.'"

First, Christ said, 'You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them' (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then He said, Look, I have come to do Your will.' He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.

Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honour at God's right hand. There He waits until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool under His feet. For by that one offering He forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For He says, 'This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.' Then He says, 'I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.' And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise."

Writing about "The Suffering Servant," some 800 years before the Lord Jesus Christ's birth, Isaiah wrote thus,

^"Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?
My servant grew up in the Lord's presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.
He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.
He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man's grave.

But it was the Lord's good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord's good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honours of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death.

He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels." Isaiah 53:1-12

The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed the Jehovah Jireh ("The-LORD-will-provide") of Genesis 22:1-14 and just as Isaac walked down from Mount Moriah with his father Abraham, because God had indeed "provided the lamb" Genesis 22:7-8, those who have accepted what the Lord Jesus Christ has done in offering Himself as a sacrifice in their place, will forever walk in sweet communion with God as their loving heavenly Father.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only mediator between us and God, and because the iniquities of sinners has erected a barrier that neither we nor God will scale Isaiah 59:2 with God being too utterly holy to approach sinners Habakkuk 1:13 with sinners being too rebellious to approach God Romans 3:11 this gulf that neither will span, has been spanned by the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is "the one mediator between God and men." 1 Timothy 2:5

The Lord Jesus Christ is the sinners all-sufficient Saviour, supplying and meeting all our needs, He is indeed Jehovah Jireh ("The-LORD-will-provide"), and unless we accept Him as God's "rescue-plan," we refuse the only divinely-ordained sacrifice for our sins, Mediator, Prophet, Priest, Lord of lords and King of kings, I plead with you Omar, put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ today, He will deal with your past, work in your present and guarantee your future, what an all-sufficient Saviour He is.

With kind regards and best wishes

Lactantius Jr

"Choose this day whom you will serve" Joshua 24:15

"For God says, 'At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.' Indeed, the 'right time' is now. Today is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".