Jesus suffered death for our sins so that we could experience His presence.

Thank you for joining today as we seek God’s wisdom together. Let us begin with prayer.

“Lord Jesus, I ask that you search our hearts and see if there be anything wicked in them. We ask that your Holy Spirit show us what you are saying to us today. I ask that the words on this page would jump out to us as you speak to our hearts and minds truth and life. In Jesus name, Amen.”

Romans 3: 21-26 (NASB).

“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22but it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished; 26for the demonstration, that is, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

What the Word is Saying

Now that Paul has established that everyone is subject to the law whether through study of the Torah or through the evidence of creation he turns to what can be done about it. God is righteous and therefore we cannot be in His presence without a price being paid for our sin. Jesus became that price which was paid for us. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).” In the Torah that price or propitiation (another word for payment) or atonement was paid on the mercy seat.

The mercy seat was directly on top of the ark of the covenant, the place where God’s presence would descend upon in the tabernacle. Once a year the priest would go into the Holy of Holies with two goats. He would cast lots and kill one goat sprinkling its blood on the mercy seat as an atonement for the peoples sins. He would then lay hands on the remaining goat and confess the sins of the people and release it into the wilderness where it would carry away the sins of the people never to return. Then the presence of God could once again dwell with the people. So when Paul talks about the propitiation of sin He is talking about how Jesus became the sin offering. His blood that was sacrificed on the cross paid the price for everyone to have the presence of God dwell with them. The Torah demanded that this day of atonement would occur once a year and it was the only time the High Priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. The reason was because man cannot stand in the presence of God in a sinful state. Gods glory would devour them.

It is this condition that Paul talks about when he speaks of the “merciful restraint (Rom. 3:25).” He is speaking of the period of time between the day of atonement and the day of atonement the next year. Sins were committed in this period of time. But God mercifully restrained himself from requiring payment until the next day of atonement. He would descend into the tabernacle and sit on the mercy seat despite the sin in the camp. So, God’s presence was with the people even if they could not stand in His presence in the Holy of Holies. The death and resurrection of Jesus changed all of that. His sinless life was the propitiation for all of our sins. His atonement was so complete that the veil in the temple was tore into two pieces. This opened the whole world to be in the presence of God. No longer was the Holy of Holies only accessible to by the High Priest. Additionally, God was no longer bound to just be in the midst of the camp, He could go and be in the presence of everyone. In fact, it is probably His presence in the Form of the Holy Spirit that is leading you to read this. Even though the sins have not placed on Him through confession and belief. The full payment for sin allows a holy God to be with us as He was with Adam and Eve in the garden. Despite our sin a holy God can abide in us because He sees the payment of blood covering our sins.

Not only was Jesus the sufficient atonement for all of our sins. through the shedding of His blood but in His mercy, He carried our sins into the wilderness never to return. When the bible talks about the wilderness it is talking about separation from God’s presence. So, when our sin was placed upon His body it was carried with him to the tomb and buried with Him. When He rose again from the dead our sins remained in “the wilderness” as He left them there. Consequently when we pray as it says to do in Romans 10: 9-10 we exchange our sin for life eternal. When we confess that He is Lord we are confirming His divinity. It is through this divinity that He was able to live a sinless life here on earth. Therefore, when He died on the cross, he became the sin offering for us through his blameless blood. When we confess that we believe He rose from the grave we are affirming our belief that He took our sins upon Himself and carried them into the wilderness (death or separation from God) and left them there when He returned and rose from the dead.

What an amazing love that is. To consider that the creator of all things would go to such lengths to ensure we could live for eternity with Him is unfathomable. It is equally amazing that the gift he gave us is free. All we need to do is believe. You may be saying right now that you do not yet have a relationship with God. You do not have his presence living inside of you. Well, the Gospel or Good News is that you can have it right now. Right where you are pray this prayer out loud with me now: “Jesus I confess that you are Lord, I believe you came into this world and lived a sinless life, you suffered and died on a cross to be the atonement for my sins, I believe you took my sins and carried them with you to the tomb and left them in the wilderness when you rose from the dead three days later. I ask that you send your Holy Spirit to come live inside me to fill me with power and lead me into all truth. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

If you prayed that prayer or maybe you are a believer who had been living once again in sin and recommitted your life to Jesus. I encourage you to contact us. We would love the opportunity to pray for you, stand beside you, and hold you up as you begin your journey with Him. I also implore you to find a church. A place where the gospel of Jesus is preached. I pray that the Holy Spirit even now would quicken your mind or order your steps to find the place He wants you to go to. We have all been where you are and supporting you as someone supports us in our walk with Jesus is a blessing for us all.

Thank you for joining me today as we searched the scriptures for What the Word is Saying. I pray that God will send His Holy Spirit into our lives anew and fill us again with His love and His purpose for us. So that we can fulfill the mission He left us in bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world.

“Scripture quotations taken from the NASB (New American Standard Bible) Copyright 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” lockman.org.