The Sin Offering

 

The Sin Offering

 

Hebrews 9:28

 

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

 

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; Christ Jesus bore the sins of many, to be specific, the sins all the elect family of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ said: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). If someone would ask, how many? Our Lord has answered: as many as the Father has given me, as it is written: “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him” (John 17:2,9,11). And again “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

 

Our Lord Jesus never spoke in words that are inconsistent with His meaning. In the day of judgment our Lord Jesus will judge according to the words of those who are judged, as it is written: “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). And again it is written: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). The Lord of Glory who judges according to the words of men, will certainly be precise in His own words. His speech will be accurate, He will regulate His words so that His sayings will be truth and He said He gave His life for many. He did not say He gave His life for all. No! Men say He gave His life for all men; but Christ Jesus said He gave His life for Many.

 

Reader, who do you believe, Christ Jesus, or the men of this world? It is written: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (I Peter 2:24). The many who are washed in the blood of the Lamb are a great multitude that no man can number, as it is written: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Revelation 7: 9). Of the many who reject Christ, as it is written: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Those who believe the doctrine of Christ, do so by the grace of God, for if God would leave all men to themselves then none would be saved, for: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12). “The remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5) are comparatively few, as it is written: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

 

Christ Jesus was “chosen out of the people” to be Surety for the people, as it is written: “Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people” (Psalm 89:19) and “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament” (Hebrews 7:22). The better testament is the new testament and Christ Jesus is the appointed Surety. Another name for the new testament is the everlasting covenant, as it is written: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20). The “blood of the new testament” (Matthew 26:28) is the same “blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20) and it is God’s own blood, as it is written: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). God the Holy Ghost will “apprehend” (Philippians 3:12) all those who God the Father chose in eternity past (Ephesians 1:3-5) and God the Son has redeemed with God’s own Blood (John 6:37; Galatians 3:13).    

 

As Surety, Christ Jesus became responsible to make the law and justice of God propitious toward those who were chosen in the everlasting covenant of grace. These chosen ones have an interest in the Surety and His finished work. Christ has made the law and justice of God propitious toward sinners, namely the children of God by being made a curse for them, as it is written: “ Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). The sins of the elect were thoroughly punished in the soul and body of Jesus Christ, so much so that they will never be remembered against those sinners even in the remembrance of God in the day of judgment. Because God has promised, their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more, as it is written: “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). Christ Jesus gave that which the law and justice of God demanded, that is death. When Christ had died and thus satisfied the demands of the law and justice of God on the behalf of the children of God He ascended on high to sit at the right hand of God as the conqueror of the enemies of God and the people of God.

 

The glory of the mercy and grace of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in the fullness of its perfection was pent up, waiting for its full expression in the sufferings, death, and resurrection of the Jesus Christ, the God-Man and Mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace, as it is written: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10). The soul of Jesus Christ was made the Sin Offering that God in His Trinity of Persons had settled on in the ancient covenant agreement (Titus 1:1) in eternity past. The sin offering that was appointed of God Himself is the only sin offering that could be accepted by the Triune Jehovah. And that sacrifice for sin was made: First of all, that the glory of the mercy and grace of God might be manifest, as it is written: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” (Ephesians 1: 3-9). And further: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2: 4-9).

Secondly, the sacrifice for sin was made so that the children of God might be justified from all sin, being cleared from all guilt, as it is written: “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). Our Lord Jesus is Surety of the everlasting covenant of grace, and because He is the Surety for those who are included in the covenant of grace God spared Him not: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32)? And because the Surety has answered and satisfied the demands of Divine Justice all those on whose behalf the Surety acted are free from condemnation of any sort, as it is written: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Jesus Christ has freed the children of God from all sin “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:24-25). Christ Jesus was delivered for our sins (the sins of those who are freely given faith through grace, that is believers: writer) and He was raised again because we are justified by His blood, as it is written: “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for (or because of our justification: writer, see Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and Dictionary) our justification” (Romans 4:24-25). The Surety of the new testament bore the sins of the people who are interested in His Surety-ship and justified them by His blood. Therefore they are without fault before the throne of God, as it is written: “And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God” (Revelation 14:5). There is no guile (no false doctrine: writer) in the mouth of the children of God who are “taught of God” (John 6:45).

 

And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time. The next appearing of Jesus Christ will be in the “resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14). As it is written: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (shall not precede: writer) them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:13-17). And again it is written: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory” (I Corinthians 15:50-55)?

 

The next appearing of Christ Jesus will be “for them that look for him”. It is for believers and it is when His people shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and to ever be with the Lord. It is “the blessed hope” of all those who believe the true gospel of the sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ, as it is written: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). This appearing of Christ is for those who “love his appearing” as it is written: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (II Timothy 4:8). The children of God are waiting for this blessed hope, and glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior, as it is written: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do” (I Thessalonians 5:1-11).

 

Without sin unto salvation, When our Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross He had the sins of all the saints of all the ages laid on Him by His Father for: “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). The weight of those sins would have crushed all the angels of God to death ten thousand times over. It was in the stead of the people of God, His chosen ones, that Christ Jesus suffered, as it is written: “for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Isaiah 53:8). The sufferings and blood of Jesus Christ the sinless God-Man and Surety of the everlasting covenant justified the many that were given to Him of His Father, as it is written: “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11). Men do err from the truth when they stubbornly and blasphemously say that our Lord Jesus died for all men. The Holy Ghost said it was for the transgression of My people that He was stricken.

 

The terms and expressions of Isaiah chapter fifty-three define themselves. The expression “my people” found in Isaiah 53:8: “for the transgression of my people was he stricken” is a strict definition of the term “us all” of Isaiah 53:6 “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all”, hence we understand that the LORD laid the sins of us all who are His people on the Lord Jesus Christ. And further it is stated in Isaiah 53:11 that Christ Jesus justified all whose iniquities He bore, as it is written: “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities”. The many who are justified by Christ having born their iniquities of verse eleven, are His people for whom He was stricken in verse eight, and they are designated “us all” whose iniquities were laid on Him (the Lamb of God) in verse six.

 

Christ Jesus died in the room and stead of His people. By His bloody sufferings and death He satisfied the law and justice of God and justified those who have an interest in His Suretyship - that is the children of the covenant of grace. Christ Jesus is the Great High Priest of the everlasting covenant and as such He stands in the room and stead of the people of God. He bore our sins, that is our sins were laid on Him. In the typical economy of the old testament, sin imputed to the high priest of Israel was punished with the same punishment as that inflicted in the event of the sin of the whole congregation of the people of Israel. Sin imputed to the representative of the people was punished with the same punishment as was required for the sin being imputed to the whole congregation, compare Leviticus 4:3-12 with Leviticus 4:13-21.

 

 

The people of God are those who were given to Christ Jesus by His Father in eternity past. And the angel said to Joseph “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).

 

AJ Ison

 

See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sin Offering

 

Hebrews 9:28

 

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

 

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; Christ Jesus bore the sins of many, to be specific, the sins all the elect family of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ said: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). If someone would ask, how many? Our Lord has answered: as many as the Father has given me, as it is written: “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him” (John 17:2,9,11). And again “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

 

Our Lord Jesus never spoke in words that are inconsistent with His meaning. In the day of judgment our Lord Jesus will judge according to the words of those who are judged, as it is written: “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). And again it is written: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). The Lord of Glory who judges according to the words of men, will certainly be precise in His own words. His speech will be accurate, He will regulate His words so that His sayings will be truth and He said He gave His life for many. He did not say He gave His life for all. No! Men say He gave His life for all men; but Christ Jesus said He gave His life for Many.

 

Reader, who do you believe, Christ Jesus, or the men of this world? It is written: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (I Peter 2:24). The many who are washed in the blood of the Lamb are a great multitude that no man can number, as it is written: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Revelation 7: 9). Of the many who reject Christ, as it is written: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Those who believe the doctrine of Christ, do so by the grace of God, for if God would leave all men to themselves then none would be saved, for: “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12). “The remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5) are comparatively few, as it is written: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

 

Christ Jesus was “chosen out of the people” to be Surety for the people, as it is written: “Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people” (Psalm 89:19) and “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament” (Hebrews 7:22). The better testament is the new testament and Christ Jesus is the appointed Surety. Another name for the new testament is the everlasting covenant, as it is written: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20). The “blood of the new testament” (Matthew 26:28) is the same “blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews 13:20) and it is God’s own blood, as it is written: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). God the Holy Ghost will “apprehend” (Philippians 3:12) all those who God the Father chose in eternity past (Ephesians 1:3-5) and God the Son has redeemed with God’s own Blood (John 6:37; Galatians 3:13).    

 

As Surety, Christ Jesus became responsible to make the law and justice of God propitious toward those who were chosen in the everlasting covenant of grace. These chosen ones have an interest in the Surety and His finished work. Christ has made the law and justice of God propitious toward sinners, namely the children of God by being made a curse for them, as it is written: “ Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13). The sins of the elect were thoroughly punished in the soul and body of Jesus Christ, so much so that they will never be remembered against those sinners even in the remembrance of God in the day of judgment. Because God has promised, their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more, as it is written: “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). Christ Jesus gave that which the law and justice of God demanded, that is death. When Christ had died and thus satisfied the demands of the law and justice of God on the behalf of the children of God He ascended on high to sit at the right hand of God as the conqueror of the enemies of God and the people of God.

 

The glory of the mercy and grace of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in the fullness of its perfection was pent up, waiting for its full expression in the sufferings, death, and resurrection of the Jesus Christ, the God-Man and Mediator of the everlasting covenant of grace, as it is written: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10). The soul of Jesus Christ was made the Sin Offering that God in His Trinity of Persons had settled on in the ancient covenant agreement (Titus 1:1) in eternity past. The sin offering that was appointed of God Himself is the only sin offering that could be accepted by the Triune Jehovah. And that sacrifice for sin was made: First of all, that the glory of the mercy and grace of God might be manifest, as it is written: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” (Ephesians 1: 3-9). And further: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2: 4-9).

Secondly, the sacrifice for sin was made so that the children of God might be justified from all sin, being cleared from all guilt, as it is written: “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). Our Lord Jesus is Surety of the everlasting covenant of grace, and because He is the Surety for those who are included in the covenant of grace God spared Him not: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32)? And because the Surety has answered and satisfied the demands of Divine Justice all those on whose behalf the Surety acted are free from condemnation of any sort, as it is written: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Jesus Christ has freed the children of God from all sin “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:24-25). Christ Jesus was delivered for our sins (the sins of those who are freely given faith through grace, that is believers: writer) and He was raised again because we are justified by His blood, as it is written: “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for (or because of our justification: writer, see Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and Dictionary) our justification” (Romans 4:24-25). The Surety of the new testament bore the sins of the people who are interested in His Surety-ship and justified them by His blood. Therefore they are without fault before the throne of God, as it is written: “And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God” (Revelation 14:5). There is no guile (no false doctrine: writer) in the mouth of the children of God who are “taught of God” (John 6:45).

 

And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time. The next appearing of Jesus Christ will be in the “resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14). As it is written: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (shall not precede: writer) them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:13-17). And again it is written: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory” (I Corinthians 15:50-55)?

 

The next appearing of Christ Jesus will be “for them that look for him”. It is for believers and it is when His people shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and to ever be with the Lord. It is “the blessed hope” of all those who believe the true gospel of the sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ, as it is written: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). This appearing of Christ is for those who “love his appearing” as it is written: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (II Timothy 4:8). The children of God are waiting for this blessed hope, and glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior, as it is written: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.  But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do” (I Thessalonians 5:1-11).

 

Without sin unto salvation, When our Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross He had the sins of all the saints of all the ages laid on Him by His Father for: “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). The weight of those sins would have crushed all the angels of God to death ten thousand times over. It was in the stead of the people of God, His chosen ones, that Christ Jesus suffered, as it is written: “for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Isaiah 53:8). The sufferings and blood of Jesus Christ the sinless God-Man and Surety of the everlasting covenant justified the many that were given to Him of His Father, as it is written: “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11). Men do err from the truth when they stubbornly and blasphemously say that our Lord Jesus died for all men. The Holy Ghost said it was for the transgression of My people that He was stricken.

 

The terms and expressions of Isaiah chapter fifty-three define themselves. The expression “my people” found in Isaiah 53:8: “for the transgression of my people was he stricken” is a strict definition of the term “us all” of Isaiah 53:6 “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all”, hence we understand that the LORD laid the sins of us all who are His people on the Lord Jesus Christ. And further it is stated in Isaiah 53:11 that Christ Jesus justified all whose iniquities He bore, as it is written: “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities”. The many who are justified by Christ having born their iniquities of verse eleven, are His people for whom He was stricken in verse eight, and they are designated “us all” whose iniquities were laid on Him (the Lamb of God) in verse six.

 

Christ Jesus died in the room and stead of His people. By His bloody sufferings and death He satisfied the law and justice of God and justified those who have an interest in His Suretyship - that is the children of the covenant of grace. Christ Jesus is the Great High Priest of the everlasting covenant and as such He stands in the room and stead of the people of God. He bore our sins, that is our sins were laid on Him. In the typical economy of the old testament, sin imputed to the high priest of Israel was punished with the same punishment as that inflicted in the event of the sin of the whole congregation of the people of Israel. Sin imputed to the representative of the people was punished with the same punishment as was required for the sin being imputed to the whole congregation, compare Leviticus 4:3-12 with Leviticus 4:13-21.

 

 

The people of God are those who were given to Christ Jesus by His Father in eternity past. And the angel said to Joseph “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).

 

AJ Ison

 

See the writer’s blog at www.hebrews915.blogspot.com hear the true gospel preached at www.13thstbaptist.org webcasting live at listed service times.