Good Morning!
If you ask someone to describe the Christian faith in one symbol what do you think they would pick? The Ark? The Burning Bush? The Heavenly Gates? Well, it is possible they would choose one of those, and many have over the years, but I bet the vast majority of folks would land on the Cross as the symbol of Christianity and there is good reason for that. In this morning's worship help we are going to spend a brief amount of time meditating upon what this picture means for us every day.
The tree upon which our Savior died is the central moment that the whole story of the old covenant was pointing the people of God to in their days of waiting. The entire festival and sacrificial system of the Levitical Law was made to ready the world for the coming of Jesus Christ.
For example, remember the story of the Scapegoat?
Here it is from Leviticus 16:20-22
“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness."
To back up a little bit Aaron was to choose two goats, one was to be sacrificed for the sins of the Holy Place, the Tabernacle, or later the Temple, and the other as we read above was to be led out away from the camp. Now why was this scapegoat, upon which the totality of the sin of Israel was to be placed, not killed in the same manner as the others? Well, the imagery we are meant to see here is what the Psalmist will later exclaim in Psalm 103:12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
This is what we are to think of whenever we remember the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has not carried our sins to the cross like a courier or a mail man, but as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Just like this scapegoat our Redeemer has had the sin of His people laid on Him and He has, as David declares, taken that sin as far as the east is from the west, it no longer is in the sight of our God because Christ has atoned for it. Cleared it from our account forever.
So whenever Satan, or the old man within you, brings accusations against you for your sin shout back at them this truth. Your Savior has paid the price for your transgression. He has made the unclean to be clean and now as a new creature in Him you no longer have the guilt of that sin upon you, but being washed in His blood, are granted and gifted peace which passes all understanding.
Remember these things this week, and every week, as we rejoice on the Lord's Day in the resurrection, the sign of the Father's acceptance of the sacrifice of His Son, and stand strong in our joy and thanksgiving in which we are blessed in so many ways through this gift of Christ.
May the Lord be with you today and give strength to your heart and soul.
Today's reading is very brief, but comes to us from James Boice and speaks more to the centrality of the cross for faith:
https://www.monergism.com/centrality-cross
Blessings in Christ!
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church
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