The Holy Books tell us the story of how the Almighty God requested the
patriarch Abraham to sacrifice his very beloved son to God on Mount Moriah.
When Abraham in obedience to Almighty God’s command brings his son to the
mountain he ties him up, lays him on the altar and raises the knife to slay
him. Just then the angel of God calls to him and requests Abraham not to slay
the son. God has provided a ram caught in the bush as a sacrifice in place of
the son!
We are today called sons of Abraham, and are facing death as well. On
Mount Moriah Abraham’s son faced death at God’s command. Today we face death
equally at God’s command, this time because of our sins. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not
suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity
of the son Eze 18:20.
Do you realise you (just like every one) has
sinned? Or can you honestly claim never to have lied, stolen, coveted what is
not yours, lusted after another, or committed any other sin? For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God Rom 3:23. In His justice the Almighty has decreed all who sin shall be banished
from His presence forever: as for the
cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually
immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake
that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death Rev 21:8.
But there is good news. Just as God provided a ram on that mountain to
die instead of Abraham’s son (God provided it; not father Abraham) the same God
today has provided a lamb to take away our sins. The next day
he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world! Jn 1:29. As that ram was slain on the mount, so Jesus was slain for our sins. Because of our sins he was given over to die, and
he was raised to life in order to put us right with God Rom 4:25.
Right from the
garden of Eden God has been providing a substitute for man. When Adam and Eve
sinned against God they took measures to make up. As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding and
realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and covered
themselves Gen 3:7. Today
we seek to cover our nakedness and shame with different things, sometimes with
devoted almsgiving (zakat), and much prayer with fasting. We strive to do what
is considered good for all men, but none of that is satisfying to God to take
our punishment away. Then God provided a cover for them. And the LORD God made clothes out of animal skins for Adam and his
wife, and he clothed them
Gen 3:21. This act, just like the sacrifice of a ram at mount Moriah
was pointing to Jesus, to how God intends to help us against sin. As an animal
was sacrificed to clothe Adam and Eve after they sinned Jesus has been
sacrificed to clothe us in God’s righteousness. Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in
order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God 2Cor 5:21
No comments:
Post a Comment