Christ, Our Sacrifice

Memory Text 1 Peter 2:24 (NASB) He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

Question 1: How do the wounds of Jesus heal us? 1. This is a quotation from Isa 53:5: And by His stripes we are healed. 2. I have heard this text preached for physical healing: Christians can claim their healing because Jesus was wounded to heal us. 3. Is that what Peter and Isaiah were talking about? 4. His wounds opened His flesh for His blood to flow out, and His blood cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7) 5. He heals us from the snake-bite of sin.
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John 3:14-15 (NKJV) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

6. Do you remember the story from Numbers 21? 7. The people were dying from venomous snakes in the desert. Numbers 21:8 (NIV)
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The Lord said to Moses, Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.

8. 1500 years before Jesus died, before Roman soldiers, before crucifixion became a method of execution, God gives Moses a type of the Messiah dying for sin. 9. The serpent on the pole represented Christ because on the cross our sin was laid on him. He bore our sins and became sin for us. 10. So the bronze serpent on the pole represents Jesus on the cross dying for our sin. 11. And all those who look to Him in faith are healed of the snake bite of sin, and receive eternal life instead of death.

Q2: What practical effect should the death of Christ for our sins have on us? 1. Peter says that Christ died for our sin so that we might die to sin and live unto righteousness. 2. When we trust in Christ as our Savior and Lord we have a new legal standing before God. 3. When we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 4. Then we are justified, declared not guilty, and have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. 5. But there is also a change in our practice, our practical behavior. 6. The HS fills us and we are born again. 7. Our desire then is to die to sin and life in obedience to God.

The Gospel Prophet

Q1: How does Isaiah describe the substitutionary atonement provided by the Servant of the Lord? Isa 53:5-6 Isa 53:8 Isa 53:10 Isa 53:11 Isa 53:12 Q2: If you were a Jew reading all these texts about the suffering Servant, what would you have to conclude? 1. The suffering servant was yet future when Isa wrote. 2. You would have to conclude that there was one who would come as a sacrifice for sin, through whom forgiveness would be obtained.

Q3: When you put this together with Daniel 9:24-27 (70 week prophecy) what is the inescapable conclusion? 1. Daniels prophecy gives the very time that the Messiah would appear. 2. After 69 weeks (483 years) the Messiah would appear. 3. From 457 BC to 27 AD is 483 years exactly. It was in 27 AD that Jesus was baptized and began His ministry as the Messiah. 4. Looking back on both Daniel 9 and Isa 53, it is absolutely certain that Jesus is the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord.

The Servants Songs in Isaiah Song #1: Isa 42:1-9 Song #2: Isa 49:1-7 Song #3: Isa 50:4-10 Song #4: Isa 52:13-53:12 Song #5: Isa 61:1-3

Isaiah Fulfilled
Q1: What text did Jesus use to inaugurate His ministry? (Luke 4:17-21) 1. Here Jesus is quoting from Song #5 of the Servant of the Lord (Isa 61:1-3) 2. So Jesus identifies Himself as the Suffering Servant of Isaiahs prophecy. 3. Again in Luke 22:37, Jesus applies Isa 53:12 to himself. 4. There is no question that Jesus saw Himself as the fulfillment of Isaiahs prophecy concerning the Suffering Servant.

Q2: How did Philip explain Isa 53 to the Ethiopian eunuch? (Acts 8:32-35) 1. I can imagine that Song #4 of the Suffering Servant (Isa 53) was one of the favorite passages used by the apostles to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. 2. When Paul would go into a new city, he would go to the synagogue and reason with the Jews from the scriptures concerning Jesus. 3. This would have to be one of the best scriptures he could use. 4. In this passage we see that the HS brought Philip to the Eunuch just at the time he was reading Isa 53. 5. So here we have the HS leading the early church to see Jesus as the fulfillment of Isa 53.

Q3: What did an understanding of Isa 53 compel the Ethiopian eunuch to do? 1. He accepted Jesus and was baptized by Philip on the spot.

Q4: What should it compel us to do? 1. Isa 53 is filed with descriptions of substitutionary atonement. 2. The fact is that Christ took our punishment and died in our place. 3. This should compel us to love Him because He first loved us. 4. And love for Him should compel us to a life of obedience, loyalty, faithfulness to Him.

The Blood

Q1: How can we as Adventists resist the trend in Christianity to deemphasize the importance of the blood of Christ shed for sin? 1. There is a tendency within liberal Christianity today to deemphasize the blood of Jesus. 2. They say that blood sacrifices and the blood of Jesus shed for sins makes God sound vengeful and blood thirsty. 3. Even Graham Maxwell in our own church tried to emphasize that the cross was primarily to reveal the character of God rather than to pay for sin. 4. People dont like to think of animals being killed for sin or the blood of Jesus being shed for sin. 5. They are reluctant to face what sin does to us and what it did to Jesus. 6. We can resist this trend by staying faithful to the word of God. 7. The Bible does not shy away from the blood of Jesus shed for our sins. 8. In fact, any study of the sanctuary must squarely face the importance of the shedding of blood for forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22 (NIV) In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 9. Of course, the everlasting gospel is that Christ died for our sins. (1 Cor 15:3) 10. As Adventists, we cannot faithfully preach the first angels message of proclaiming the everlasting gospel without the blood of Jesus. 11. But beyond the foundation of the everlasting gospel, there are four pillars of Adventism that define our distinctive beliefs. 12. They are the four Ss: Sabbath, State of the dead, Second coming, and Sanctuary. 13. A proper understanding of the sanctuary, as we are studying this quarter, will always emphasize the importance of the blood.
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Q2: How does Paul put the blood at the center of righteousness by faith? (Rom 3:22,24-25a) Romans 3:24-25a (NIV)
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This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe and all [who believe] are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood to be received by

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faith. 1. The righteousness from God is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe 2. These believers are justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 3. But what does it mean to have faith in Jesus Christ. 4. Is it good enough to believe in Him as a prophet, a teacher, a good man, a wonderful example, the Son of God, a friend, a leader? 5. Paul gets very specific in verse 25. 6. In order to be justified, what we have to believe about Jesus is that He was the sacrifice to atone for sin by the shedding of His blood. 7. This is what we have to receive by faith concerning Jesus: we must believe His shed blood pays the price for our forgiveness.

Q3: If Christ died for our sins, what do our good works have to do with forgiveness? 1. Nothing.

2. Sins cannot be forgiven by trying to make up for them by obedience to the law. 3. Thats why good works can never save us: they may reduce the sins we commit, but they can never pay the price for sins already committed. 4. Paul wrote to the Galatians: Galatians 2:21 (NKJV)
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I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in

vain. 5. If we could be considered righteous by keeping the law, then Christ died for nothing. 6. The fact that Christ suffered and died for our sins is proof that there is no other way our sins could be dealt with. 7. Our greatest need is to be forgiven. 8. Forgiveness comes only through the shed blood of Jesus. There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Emmanuels veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.

Spotless

Q1: What outward appearance did the sanctuary sacrifices need to have in order to be acceptable? (Ex 12:5) 1. Without spot; without blemish; without defect; perfect

Q2: How did the NT writers portray Jesus fulfillment of this type? 1 Peter 1:18; 2:22 Heb 4:15 2 Cor 5:21 2. Sinless

Q3: Why was it essential for Jesus to be sinless? 1. If He had any sins, His death would be required for His own sins. 2. Therefore, He could not be the sin-bearer for others. 3. If He was not sinless, He would not have a righteousness that could be imputed to us.

Danger of Apostasy Read Heb 6:4-6 and 10:26-30. What characterizes those who appear to no longer have a means of forgiveness? What keeps you faithful to he Lord in spite of the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil to turn your back on Jesus? Q1: [see linked slides] Q2: Creation, the cross, and the coming of Jesus. More later

Summary Isaiah includes 5 songs describing the work of the Servant of the Lord. In Song #4 (Isa 53) the principle of substitutionary atonement is clearly taught where our sins are laid on the Suffering Servant who dies to atone for them. Combining Daniel 9 with Isa 53 makes it absolutely clear that Jesus is the Messiah who fulfills both.

The shed blood of Jesus is s symbol of His death for sin. The blood of Jesus is at the center of the gospel of righteousness by faith: we must have faith in the blood of Jesus shed for the forgiveness of our sins. If we are faithful to scripture and its teaching on the sanctuary, we will never minimize the importance of the blood of Jesus. Jesus was the Lamb without blemish and without spot by virtue of His sinless life. Apostasy leaves us without a sacrifice for sin, without forgiveness, without eternal life, without hope, without meaning. Will you turn your eyes of faith on Jesus, lifted up for your sins, that He might heal you from the snakebite of sin and give you eternal life?