2. Jesus the Christ, the Atonement for Human Sin

Photo by Smitha Basil George: ‘Backyard captures — God’s art’

Authored by Smitha Basil George under the complete direction and guidance of God, the Holy Spirit, dated August 23, 2023.

Scriptural and historical references are provided throughout the article and in the ‘References’ section at the end.

Abstract

As a result of human beings’ fall from God’s holiness due to the sinfulness they invited into themselves, when the first humans ate the forbidden fruit which provided them the knowledge of evil, the mankind got into a need for a path back to their former state of holiness, to remain in the presence of God, the Father. The path would need the sinfulness to be punished by eternal death or separation from God, which would result in the holder of that sinfulness to die forever. The mankind, who thus, is unable to get themselves back to God, needed a Perfect Being, who can carry the sinfulness of those who are willing to repent and give their sin over to Him to death, but can Himself come back from death. At the same time, this Perfect Being should also be a human, to take on the sin that human beings are capable of doing. God had a choice to just leave humans to their destiny of eternal separation from God (otherwise known as hell, where humans need God because they are dependent on God for all their needs, but can’t satisfy any of their needs because they are separated from Him). But God in His love, even when He knew that He needed to suffer an extremely difficult life, a horrendous death to destroy all mankind’s sin, and a resurrection from the death, chose to take the form of that Perfect Human Being, expressed in the form of God the Son, Jesus — the Christ (Anointed One — in Hebrew, the Messiah). His coming to the earth as a human being was prophesied in scriptures through multiple books of the Old Testament, waited upon by those who understood the timing, eye — witnessed by those who lived in the land of Judea and surrounding areas through history (approximately 5 — 2 BC to approximately 30 — 33 AD) and proclaimed through God, the Holy Spirit through the past 2000 years of the Church Age.

Scripture references [1]: The Holy Bible -

1. Multiple Old Testament Prophecies: Genesis 3:15; Psalm 16: 10, 22: 1–18; Isaiah 7: 14; Isaiah 9: 1 — 7; Isaiah 53; Daniel 9: 24–26; Micah 5: 1 – 5
2. Entire New Testament, eye-witness accounts of the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Historic references: History is full of the evidence for Jesus, His ministry, His crucifixion and His resurrection. Given below are just some beginning reads pointing to the different historical artifacts on Jesus, from as early as AD 50.

1. [2] The Bible Archeology Report
2. [3] Is there any evidence for Jesus outside the Bible?

Mankind — a creation very special to God’s heart

Scriptures for this section [1]:

1. Genesis 1–3
2. John 1: 1–5
3. John 3
4. Matthew 5–7

The first three chapters of the book of Genesis in the Holy Bible [1] give the clear narration of creation of the universe as we know, performed by God, the Father of everything, in distinctive order. Heavens and earth were created in the beginning as the setting (Genesis 1: 1 -2, Exodus 20: 11, 31: 17). The pattern in which the creations were brought forth by God’s spoken Word — the expression of God, having information and instructions for creation, started with God saying “Let there be light”. The order of creation after setting the stage with heavens and earth, over 6 work days, goes as:

• First day — light, and time separation of light (day) from darkness (night).
• Second day — sky which separates waters above (in the heavens) from waters on the earth.
• Third day — oceans and dry land, and vegetation on earth.
• Fourth day — created and orchestrated sun to give light during the day, and moon and stars during the night (for the timeframe when earth faces away from sun).
• Fifth day — water creatures and birds.
• Sixth day — land animals, and finally, human beings on earth.

For creating human beings, He went to a great deal more of detailed effort. He gave His own image to human beings, not equaling in power or indefiniteness, but resembling in nature — a very sophisticated body; a soul with advanced emotions, will and intelligence; and an everlasting spirit — the conscience where His moral laws are ingrained. He sculpted Adam with His own hands from the dust of the earth and breathed His life into him. He created Eve out of one of Adam’s own ribs after putting him to a great sleep. He placed them in a beautiful garden named Eden, and gave instructions to them regarding how to take care of all other creations on earth, and to be fruitful and multiply over the earth, to be good stewards over God’s creations. Also, God instructed the humans that they can eat of any tree, but not to eat of the tree having the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. He specifically mentioned that they would die (being separated from God, since God cannot dwell intimately with evil) if they ate it. God is the source of life for every living being, including human beings. Death would mean getting the life source cut off, that is, the one who is dead will be separated from God. God could have kept the tree having the forbidden fruit out of human access. But that would be disrespecting human will and would, in turn, compel them to be able to do only good. The love that comes out of such a relationship is not a genuine love, but a demanded love. God wanted genuine love from humans, and that they would choose to obey Him by their will and keep themselves away from the forbidden fruit having the knowledge of evil.

However, at the deception of the devil who came in the form of a serpent who prompted Eve that she would become like God if she ate the forbidden fruit, Eve and at her behest, Adam chose to disobey God and eventually ate it. This resulted in them coming to know of evil, and hence, they invited sin into themselves, started looking out for themselves at one another’s expense, and suffered spiritual separation from God instantly. There were also many repercussions to God’s creations due to human sin — the land not producing food in abundance, producing thorns and briers along with food, multiplied pain during child bearing (in bringing forth something new and good), animals being killed to obtain skin to cover human nakedness, the subsequent fallen nature of animals and nature itself etc. All these would eventually lead to deterioration of the physical bodies of living beings and to them dying off and returning to the ground.

Following this, God had to make a very profound choice. Whether to leave humans to their peril, or to rescue them by taking the lower form of a human being, leaving the all-consuming holiness and the associated glory in heaven, living a human life facing all of its struggles (trials and temptations), yet not sinning, and eventually taking the whole mankind’s sin, giving Himself up to die a criminal’s death on the cross following brutal torture and disfigurement, spilling every drop of blood in his physical body, and tearing up all parts of the physical body in the process, the way sins are to be dealt with and destroyed, taking those sins to death, suffering both physical separation and even spiritual separation from God, the Father (the Holiness in heaven) on the cross while carrying the sins, and triumphing death and coming back to life, because He in Himself never had any sin.

We know what choice God made — it is beautifully expressed in John 3: 16 — God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son (His Word, His very own expression, taking the form of a man), that whoever believes in Him (by knowing the fact that Jesus took their sins on that cross and died with those sins, repenting of every sin based on that belief) will not perish, but will enjoy everlasting life with Him, with their spirits born again into a full relationship with God. For those who put their trust upon Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus is provided in return for their sins, that they can be in the presence of God, in His Kingdom.

Unless the sins are not destroyed in this manner, those who have not given their sins over to Jesus, who is the only One who destroyed those on their behalf, cannot be in the presence of God in any manner. Reading through [4] the 10 commandments in Deuteronomy 5 : 6–21 and [5] Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7 will help to understand what would count as a sin. Even our good works done with the wrong motive of getting ourselves accepted by God and not as much to help those who are at the receiving end, will eventually become another sin. Considering that every wrong thought and motive in our heart are adding up to our sins, no amount of our sin-tainted good works will catch up with them, but they will add only more to the account. On the other hand, the good works flowing from a state of acceptance, from the knowledge that we already are accepted by God through the righteousness provided by Jesus, through His atonement, and hence are done just with the motive of genuinely helping those at the receiving end, will not add to our sin, but will be counted towards our love for God and His creations.

Prophecies and their fulfillment — First Coming of Jesus as the Atonement

Scriptures for this section [1]:

1. Genesis 3: 15
2. Psalm 16: 10
3. Psalm 22: 1–18
4. Isaiah 7: 14; 9: 1–7; 53
5. Daniel 9: 24–26
6. Micah 5: 1 – 5
7. Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
8. Acts 2: 14–41
9. Acts 9: 1–19
10. 1 Corinthians 15

In the previous article, we went into the details of John the Baptist preparing the way for King Jesus, who would be coming as the Lamb of God to take away human sin, and the outcome of John’s ministry. In this article we dive into greater details related to all prophecies on Jesus’ office of being the Christ (Messiah) and how they got fulfilled.

God’s plan of coming to the world as a human being, as Jesus, the Christ to destroy the work of the devil (sin), was prophesied by Him when He told the devil in Genesis 3:15 that the woman’s offspring will strike his head. The manner in which Jesus came to the world (Matthew 1: 18–25, Luke 1 : 26–38, 2: 1–37) — Mary’s conception of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit while being a virgin, and His birth in Bethlehem were foretold, as how it happened, by the prophets in Isaiah 7: 14 and Micah 5: 1–4. The Angel Gabriel, who visited Mary while announcing that she will receive Jesus in her womb, and an angel of the Lord, while visiting Joseph in a dream, proclaimed that the Child would be conceived with the power of the Holy Spirit, He would be called the Son of the Most High God and He would save mankind from their sins. The angels who announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds also highlighted the peace on earth that God is about to bring through Jesus.

The wise men who visited Jesus following His birth were studying the Old Testament prophecies, and other astronomical signs. They could clearly identify the star which guided their way to where they found Jesus with His earthly parents. Moreover, while Jesus was presented at the Temple in Jerusalem after His birth, a righteous and devout man named Simeon, by the power of the Holy Spirit witnessed that he had seen the Lord’s Christ, the salvation that God had prepared for all people — both the Gentiles and the people of Israel. And, the same testimony was given at that time by Anna, a prophetess, to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

In Psalm 22, king David and the prophet Isaiah in his book, chapter 53, filled with the Holy Spirit, described what Jesus would suffer to become the atonement for human sin. The parallels of the description in the prophetic passages and what Jesus suffered before and during the crucifixion (Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23 and John 19) are quite incredible. Also, Daniel (during his exile from 605–536 BC) prophesied in 9: 24–26, that after 69 weeks from the time the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, the Anointed One would be cut off. There are multiple studies done by different scholars in calculating this time period from the Persian King Artaxerxes 1’s decree to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls given to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2: 1–5) starting sometime between 446–444 BC. The city was rebuilt after the rebuilding of the walls. Two references for further reading on this are [6] Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ and [7] The Seventy Weeks of Daniel. Calculating 69 weeks of Daniel = 69 x 7 = 483 years, which is further approximated to 476 solar years considering 30 day months in prophetic years, the scholars arrive at the crucifixion window of Jesus Christ between 30 AD and 33 AD, which is further corroborated by historic and Gospel accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion. The loaded details of Daniel 9: 24–27 prophecy will be covered in a dedicated article for that. The final 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy is yet to be fulfilled in future, as a time period known as ‘The Tribulation’, spanning 7 years.

Similarly, the triumph of Jesus over death, which was evidenced by His resurrection was also prophesied in the Old Testament in different places. King David mentioned in Psalm 16: 10 that the LORD will not abandon His Holy One to Sheol nor let Him see corruption. Isaiah 53: 10–12 speaks about the LORD prolonging the days of the Righteous One after He poured out His soul as a guilt offering to death, bearing the sins of many, and for making intercession for the transgressors. The resurrection accounts are given in detail in all the 4 Gospels — Matthew 28: 1–10, Mark 16: 1–14, Luke 24: 1–44, John 20: 1–29. Apostle Peter describes this in Acts 2: 24 when he highlighted that death could not hold onto Jesus, because He was perfectly innocent with no sin in Him. In addition, after personally encountering Jesus in a physical vision (Acts 9: 1–19), Apostle Paul describes in detail about the resurrection from the dead as pioneered by Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15 and many other passages.

The below tables summarize 12 of the many fulfilled prophecies on Jesus during His coming to earth as the Christ to become an atonement for human sin.

Fulfilled prophecies on Jesus — Part 1

Fulfilled prophecies on Jesus — Part 2

Prophecies — Return of Jesus — Rapture of the Church, the Tribulation, and Establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth

Scriptures for this section [1]:

1. Isaiah 26: 19–27: 6
2. Isaiah 63–66
3. Jeremiah 33: 14–26
4. Daniel 12
5. Hosea 6: 2
6. Joel 2, 3
7. Amos 9: 11–15
8. Matthew 24, 25
9. Mark 13
10. Luke 17: 20–37, 21: 5–36
11. John 14: 1–3
12. 1 Corinthians 15: 51–58
13. 1 Thessalonians 4: 13–5: 11
14. 2 Thessalonians 2 : 1–12
15. The book of Revelation

According to [8] Robert Jeffress in his book Perfect Ending, in chapter 1, page 22, there are 1800 prophecies in the Old Testament, and there are 300 prophecies in the New Testament in its 260 chapters, for the return of Jesus Christ to establish His Kingdom on earth. The above given are only a handful of them. These prophecies will be looked into in detail in the later articles. The main events that would be covered include:

1. The rapture (Isaiah 26: 19–20, 1 Thessalonians 4: 13–5:11, John 14: 1–3, Revelation 3: 10) or taking up of the Church, His Bride — who has repented and given their sins over to Jesus, who has received spiritual rebirth and is being transformed into the likeness of Christ through obedience to His Word and through the sanctification of His Holy Spirit, and who is looking forward for His coming — when Jesus comes in the clouds of the air, with the voice of an archangel and the sound of the trumpet of God. At this time, those who had already died in their physical bodies while believing in Jesus will be resurrected and receive their transformed bodies. Those who are still alive and part of the Church will be transformed in the twinkling of an eye. The Church will then be taken up with Christ, to the home that He has been preparing for them, and He will shut the door.
2. The fury of the Lord upon the sin of the unrepentant mankind will then be unleashed for a period of 7 years (Daniel 9: 27, Joel 2: 1–11, Matthew 24: 15 onwards, Mark 13, Luke 21: 10–32, Revelation 6–19) during the time known as the Tribulation, while the world will be under a new world system progressing towards the system of Antichrist, who is indwelt by the devil himself. The Tribulation period starts with a covenant for 7 years, confirmed with many by the Antichrist. In the middle of the 7 years, he will establish himself as god (an abomination that causes desolation) and will force everyone to worship him. He will severely persecute and kill those who have not pledged allegiance to him by taking a ‘Mark’ upon their forehead or right hand, and forbid anyone without the mark to buy or sell anything. He and his forces will eventually be destroyed by Jesus during His glorious appearance on His second coming.
3. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ and establishment of God’s Millennial Kingdom on earth before transitioning to eternity (Revelation 19: 11–22: 21, Matthew 24: 29–31, Mark 13: 24–27, Luke 21: 25–28). At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus will appear in great glory with all His mighty angels and saints (including the Church, His Bride) and defeat the Antichrist and his army. The devil will be captured and locked up for a period of 1000 years, known as the Millennial reign of King Jesus on the earth, when Jesus will rule over the earth with complete peace, justice and righteousness. After 1000 years, the devil will be set loose for a short time, where anyone who would eventually join the evil forces could make their choice. Once those are brought forth, they will be destroyed by fire from heaven, and the devil will be cast to the Lake of Fire prepared for him over ages. Jesus will then perform the Great White Throne Judgment, when everyone’s actions are judged (primarily of those who rejected Him, and of those who are born into / lived in mortal bodies through the Millennial reign, because the Church and the previously resurrected saints had already been judged and rewarded by then). Those whose names are not written in the Book of Life (whose sins are not erased by the atoning blood of Jesus) will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, whereas those whose sins are completely erased will enter into Eternity with God in the renewed Heavens and Earth.

Among these future events, the next event that is due to take place is the rapture of the Church. In the next articles, we will evaluate mankind’s current positioning in the prophetic timeline, based on scriptures and current world events. We would be amazed to see how close we really are into the unfolding of these events.

References

1. The Holy Bible, https://www.biblegateway.com/, New King James Version.
2. Bryan Windle, The Bible Archaeology Report, 11/18/2022, as retrieved on 08/21/2023 from https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2022/11/18/top-ten-historical-references-to-jesus-outside-of-the-bible/
3. J. Warner Wallace, Is There Any Evidence For Jesus Outside The Bible?, 10/30/2017, as retrieved on 08/21/2023 from https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/is-there-any-evidence-for-jesus-outside-the-bible/
4. 10 Commandments, the Holy Bible — Deuteronomy 5: 6–21, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+5+%3A+6+-+21&version=NKJV
5. The Sermon on the Mount , Matthew 5–7, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew++5+-+7&version=NKJV
6. Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977), pp. 115–39.
7. Thomas D. Ice, The Seventy Weeks of Daniel, May 2009, as retrieved on 08/22/2023 from https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1108&context=pretrib_arch
8. Robert Jeffress, Perfect Ending, 2014, chapter 1, page 22

Articles in this series

1. The Ministry of John the Baptist
2. Jesus the Christ — Atonement for Human Sin
3. God’s pattern of sevens
4. The Third Day
5. The Seventy Weeks of Daniel
6. Birth Pains
7. Rapture and Beyond