The New Testament teaches that Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we may inherit eternal life through Him.

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.  1 Corinthians 15:3 

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.   John 3:15 

What scriptures was Paul referring to when he said that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures? Of course he was referring to the Old Testament, which predicted that Jesus would die for the sins of mankind. Isaiah spells out the affliction and suffering that the Messiah would have to go through to atone for our sins:

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6

What is sin, and why did it cost the life of the Son of God? The Bible has only one definition of sin, and we find this in 1 John 3:

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Sin is the transgression of the law of God. Moreover, sin carries a penalty, and that penalty is death, but in Christ the penalty is paid and we can have eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

Sin separates us from God and being separated from God means being separated from the source of life because God is the author and maintainer of life.

But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:2

Since all mankind has transgressed the law of God, all mankind is in need of salvation.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 

 If salvation is a gift, then it follows that salvation is by grace and that my own works cannot save me.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.  Ephesians 2:8 

And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. Romans 11:6 

Wonderful news - we are saved by the grace of God through faith in the Son of God. Does this free us from obedience to God�s law or belittle God's law?

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Romans 3:31 

 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Romans 6:14-16

           Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Romans 7:12

Simply then, sin (the transgression of God�s law) leads to death (and here we are not talking about physical death but eternal death), and grace leads to life (eternal life). But grace does not remove the obligation to keep God�s law, but rather establishes the law. The law cannot save me, but it can warn me by telling me what sin is.

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20 

It is by grace that we are saved, delivered from sin, justified, restored and sanctified. Grace sets right the relationship with God, but the law tells us what sin is so that we may avoid it by the grace of God. A true conversion will fill the heart with gratitude and the restored person will once again want to live in harmony with the law of God. Jesus said:

If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:15

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father�s commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10 

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:3

In John 8, we read the account of Mary Magdalene when she was caught in adultery and brought before Jesus. She stood before Him condemned to death by the law.

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? John 8: 3-5

The Law could not save her, but Jesus could. Not one of the accusers was without sin and all fell short of the glory of God. Having convicted them of their own sinfulness, they left one by one and left the trembling, guilty, repentant Mary behind. Jesus turned to her and said:

When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. John 8:10-11

The condemned sinner was forgiven and placed under grace: �Neither do I condemn thee,� but then she was obligated to henceforth keep the law �go, and sin no more.� To be saved by grace does therefore not relieve anyone from the duty of obedience to God�s law. Grace takes away the condemnation of the law, but it does not do away with the law.

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

Have you ever wondered what people did about their sins before the Son of God was crucified on Calvary? Salvation centres in the cross of Christ. Our sins are atoned for by Christ�s sacrifice on Calvary. But how were sins atoned for in Old Testament times? Was their salvation based on a different system in that they were under the law and we are under grace? This is what dispensationalists believe, but, as we have seen, all are obligated to keep the law of God. Therefore salvation for those living before Christ must also have been by grace. In fact, grace existed from the beginning.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6:8

In 2 Peter 2:5, Noah is called a preacher of righteousness, and righteousness is by faith in Jesus Christ. The New Testament makes it quite clear that all salvation is through Christ Jesus. Hence, Christ is the saviour also of those that lived before the crucifixion, and the death of the promised Messiah was prefigured by the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. The Gospel was thus presented in the form of typology, an enactment in types and shadows of the plan of salvation. The sacrificial lamb of the Jewish system represented the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world. It represented the promise of the coming Messiah who would abolish the record of our sins through His sacrifice and grant the repentant sinner eternal life in Him and through Him.

The innocent paying the price for the guilty is foreshadowed in the sacrificial system of the Jewish sanctuary. The blood shed by the lamb represents the blood of Christ that would be shed. Paul writes, "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Hebrews 9:22

            The Bible teaches salvation through Christ from the time of the fall to the time of the second coming of Christ. Adam and Eve were saved by the blood of the lamb. When sin stripped the holy pair of their robes of righteousness and left them naked, God Himself covered their nakedness with skins, representing the robe of righteousness, which is available from Christ to every sinner. Where did the skins come from? They must have come from the first sacrificial animals that were slain to represent the lamb of God that would be slain for them. Since God Himself clothed them with these pelts, representing the promise of righteousness restored, he must have explained to them this way to salvation - the Messiah who would come to pay the price for sin so that they could regain eternal life.

And for Adam and his wife the LORD God made coats of skins, and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

The difference between relying on one�s own merits for salvation and relying on the merits of the Messiah who was to come was demonstrated in the account of Cain and Abel. Both of them erected a sacrificial altar. Cain brought an offering only of farm produce, the fruit of his labour, which did not receive the approval of God, because by bringing only this sacrifice Cain showed that he would rely only on his own merits, and not on the prescribed lamb for salvation. However, �without shedding of blood is no remission,� and salvation lies outside oneself in Christ. Abel�s offering, on the other hand,  included the blood offering. (Genesis 4:4)

 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering. Genesis 4:4

The sacrifice of Abel was accepted, because his offerings pointed to the coming Redeemer. Abel thus understood that salvation was only to be obtained through faith in the blood of the Lamb and his testimony stands to this day.

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. Hebrews 11:4

Abraham offered the sacrificial lamb, and so did all the patriarchs. Throughout all history, the only means of salvation was through the blood of the lamb and never through works. When Abraham was instructed to offer his son, Isaac, it was an enactment of the plan of salvation, a miniature theatre describing to the world God�s method of dealing with sin. At the point of sacrificing Isaac, God supplied the sacrificial animal Himself, predicting in type that God would give His own Son, just as Abraham had been prepared to give his own son.

            Abraham�s willingness to obey God displays a faith that could move mountains. He knew God had promised that salvation would come through His and Isaac�s seed. God had promised Abraham that his seed would be called in Isaac (Genesis 21:12).  He trusted God and knew that even if he should offer Isaac, God would have to raise him from the dead to fulfill His promise (Hebrews 11:17-19).  Abraham knew that God would never lie. In Genesis 22:5, Abraham says to his companions: 

Stay here with the donkey, the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you. NKJV

            Do we have such an unshakeable faith in the Word of God? No wonder the Bible says in Galatians 3:8 that the gospel was preached unto Abraham. No wonder Christ referred to Abraham�s faith when He said:

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day [by faith he saw the day of Christ�s sacrifice as the Lamb of God]: and he saw it and was glad.  John 8:56

             It was on Mount Moriah that Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his beloved son. It was on Mount Moriah that Solomon built the temple and where the altar of burnt offering stood. And it was at the northern edge of Mount Moriah, at the place called Golgotha, where the Son of God laid down His life.

            Abraham was saved by faith in the Son of God, but this did not free him of the obligation to keep God�s law.

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Genesis 26:5 

The temple, and before that the sanctuary, served as the greatest lesson book of the plan of salvation ever given to man. The lessons embodied in its symbols and ceremonies are to lead us into a greater understanding of the mystery of salvation. There in types and shadows we learn of the role of Christ, His earthly mission as the Lamb of God, His role as high priest and advocate for the people of God, as well as His role as judge and King. In the sanctuary are unfolded the great truths of justification by faith, sanctification, and glorification. In the sanctuary we learn more about Jesus, His character, His heavenly system of government and His hopes and objectives for the people of God. What a pity that some would discard the Old Testament as being of no value to us today, teaching that it belonged to the old dispensation without relevance to those living after the cross. Yet the New Testament states that:

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4 

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.  1 Corinthians 10:11 

If we neglect the Old Testament, we forego the blessings and the warnings which we might have had, had we heeded the words of Paul. Jesus Himself testified that the Old Testament testified about Him.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. John 5:39 

Jesus did not come to do away with the writings of the Old Testament, He came to fulfill them. The first five books of the Bible, the Torah, were written by Moses and were a testimony to the plan of salvation. The prophetic books were written to remind God�s people of these truths and to unfold to them more fully their duty toward God. The Psalms form a miniature Bible by themselves, they contain a record of the history of God�s people. They are prophetic and contain songs of praise to God. The New Testament is the fulfilment in verity of all that the Old Testament embodies. Jesus said:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Matthew 5:17,18

The Pentateuch, or first five books of Moses, all reveal an aspect of the Messiah, just as the four Gospels reveal different aspects of Christ:

The Sanctuary

On Mount Sinai, Moses received the law of God as well as precise instructions on the sacrificial system, which was to form the basis of the religious ceremonies of the Israelites. Both sets of instructions were called the law, but they were different in that the law of Ten Commandments defined what sin was, and the Ceremonial Law contained the solution to the sin problem. The law of Ten Commandments was written by God, and the ceremonial law was written by Moses in a book called the book of the law.

 The Law of Ten Commandments

And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. Exodus 31:18

And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. Exodus 32:16

When Moses returned from his communion with God on Sinai he found that the Israelites had made for themselves a golden calf and he broke the tablet of stone. God then commanded him to fashion new ones and God Himself would write the Ten Commandments once more onto the tables of stone. Moreover, these tables of stone were to be placed within the ark which Moses had to construct.

 At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. Deuteronomy 10:1,2

 When Moses broke the first tablets, it symbolised the law of God that had been broken by God�s people when they served the golden calf. The law did not change as a result, God wrote the law again onto the new tables of stone which Moses had to fashion, symbolising that we have to be co-workers together with God in upholding His law. Only in His strength can we uphold the law, but we must cooperate with God in this regard.

The Ceremonial Law

 This law of types and ceremonies was written by Moses in a book, the book of the law, and had to be placed beside the ark.

Figures 2.3   Contrast of Moral and Ceremonial Laws

And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. Deuteronomy 31:24-26.

These two sets of laws, the one moral and the other ceremonial, were thus entirely different and served different purposes.

            Christ came to fulfill the obligations of the ceremonial law by becoming the Lamb slain for the sins of the world. He fulfilled the obligation of the law of Ten Commandments by His perfect obedience to its precepts. After the cross, the law of ceremonies was discontinued because it foreshadowed the cross, but the law of  Ten Commandments did not change, nor was it done away with when Christ died. The same law is still to be found in the New Testament.

The Sanctuary Service

How did the ceremonial law prefigure the ministry of Christ? The sanctuary provides the answers. Moses had to construct the tabernacle exactly according to the pattern shown him on the mount.

Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. Exodus 25:8

... as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. Hebrews 8:5

The earthly sanctuary, and the entire ministry associated with it, reflects the ministry of Christ in our behalf. It is also a copy or miniature enactment of the much greater ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, of  which the earthly sanctuary was merely �a figure for the time then present.� (Hebrews 9:9). The earthly was a copy of the heavenly.

Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle. Hebrews 8:5

Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary that was not built by man after His resurrection and ascension into heaven.

For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Hebrews 9:24

The price for sin was paid for at the cross. Justice was satisfied, but the ministry of Christ did not end there. Sin still exists and sinners still have recourse to God through Christ. We serve a risen Saviour, who is our High Priest, our Advocate, our Judge and our King who is interceding in our behalf in the sanctuary above.

We have such an high priest ...in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. Hebrews 8:1,2

In Old Testament times, the defence of the accused was a duty so sacred that the judge refused to delegate the work to an attorney.  He himself served as the defender of the accused. The Jewish Encyclopaedia explains: �attorneys at law are unknown in Jewish law.�  Their legal code required judges to �lean always to the side of the defendant and give him the advantage of every possible doubt.� What a system! God Himself defends and judges the accused. But who is the accuser? Revelation 12:10 speaks of the devil as the accuser who accuses us before God day and night. The devil also keeps a record of sin, and his accusations are painfully correct. How do we then overcome these accusations?

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Revelation 12:11 NIV

When we accept the fact that Jesus died in our stead, God finds the evidence He needs to pronounce us innocent. Where does the advocate then come in? In certain situations, the Hebrew judge appointed an advocate to assist him in defending the accused.  The Jewish Encyclopaedia states that the husband could represent his wife and help the judge defend her if the verdict involved his personal rights. Here we have a glorious parallel with the heavenly judgment. Christ the Bridegroom purchased His people, His bride, with His own blood. He serves as our court-appointed advocate to help the Father defend us against the accusations of Satan and He also defends His own right to grant us salvation and to ultimately take us up to heaven. Our eternal salvation does not depend on how hopeless we are, but on how sufficient Christ is in saving sinners.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.  But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence � Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.  1 John 2:1 NIV

When probation closes, Christ will cease His intercessory ministry, put on His kingly robes and return to earth as King of kings to meet His bride. In Daniel chapter 7, there is described the great judgment scene to take place just prior to Christ�s second coming, where He will receive kingship. In order for Jesus to qualify as King, He first had to become a priest.  And before Jesus could become a priest, He had to become the Lamb, slain for the sins of the world:

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.  He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all people, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.  Daniel 7:13,14 NIV

The main theme of the book of Daniel is Jesus Christ, the Crucified Lamb, the Risen High Priest and the Coming King. The good news is that the judgment will turn out in favour of all those who come to Christ with a repentant heart, seeking forgiveness of their sins and a renewed heart that lives in harmony with God.

...the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favour of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. Daniel 7:22 NIV

 

This article was excerpted from the book Truth Matters by Dr. Walter Veith.

REFERENCES: 1 Religious Digest, December 1941 2  Frank Breaden, New Pictorial Aid for Bible Study, Signs Publishing Co., Warburton, 1987

by Professor Walter J. Veith Phd.