Principles of Salvation (KJV used)
Salvation is the Blessing of God, which includes Peace with God, a favourable relationship with Him and Everlasting Life in Heaven. It is freely given. It requires repentance, obeying the Will of God, on our part, with genuine faith in Messiah Yeshua. Faith has a component of obedience as indicated by Romans 1:5. Blessings and curses depend on whether one obeys or disobeys God, as stated in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 by the prophet Moses:
"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God and that thou mayest obey His voice (which is expressed in the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments) and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life and the length of thy days". (Note in the New Testament Jesus said, "I am the life" — see
John 11:25; 14:6).
Thus if one desires Blessings and Eternal Life, one must obey God. A personal, favourable relationship and fellowship with God will bring you His abundant life of peace, meaning, happiness, purpose, joy and other manifold blessings. However, according to Isaiah 59:2; "But your iniquities (sins) have separated between you and your God." Sin (the transgression of breaking of God's Laws and commandments as expressed in the Bible), separates you from a personal relationship with God, and His abundant life. Now man was created to have a favourable fellowship with God (just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, in the beginning). But man stubbornly chose to go his own independent way, to "do his own thing." This self-will, expressed by either active rebellion, or passive indifference, towards God, is an evidence of what the Bible calls "SIN." Some examples of sin are: adultery, hate, lies, stealing, witchcraft, cruelty, unforgiveness, idolatry, involvement in the occult, pride, selfishness, etc, etc.
Not only does sin separate you from God, it also causes spiritual death, according to
Ezekiel 18:4; "The soul that sinneth, it shall die (spiritual death, with end result in HELL, Hades, Gehenna)".
The earthly results of sin are: guilt, lack of peace, frustration, unhappiness, lack of purpose, depression, etc, etc. Everyone has sinned, according to 1 Kings 8:46;
"For there is NO man that sinneth not."
Also Psalm 53:2-3 states:
"God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good; no, not one."
Are you, reader, willing to admit that you have sinned? What can you do to remove your sin? Well you cannot remove sin by your own human efforts, not even by your own self-righteousness (such as by outweighing your bad deeds by your good deeds, including religious works, human philosophies, etc). Man's self-righteousness is as "filthy rags" in the sight of a HOLY God, according to Isaiah 64:6;
"All of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags!"
Well, sin can be removed by FAITH (which means believing what God says, and acting correspondingly). Righteousness (right-standing-with-God) comes by FAITH placed in the "BLOOD OF ATONEMENT" ("ATONEMENT means a "COVERING" for Sin), according to Leviticus 17:11, which states:
"For it is the BLOOD that maketh an atonement (covering) for the soul."
The animal sacrifices on the altar, mentioned throughout the Old Testament, provided the BLOOD OF ATONEMENT, for the covering of sins, acceptable to God. Some examples are given below:
EXAMPLES OF ATONEMENT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT — (KJV used)
1. Genesis 4:4; "And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock" This was Atonement for a man.2. Exodus 12:13; "when I see the BLOOD, I will pass over you,"
My Comments:
This was PASSOVER, ATONEMENT for a family, the night before the Jews left Egypt, when each family was commanded by God, through the prophet Moses, to kill a lamb (without blemish) and sprinkle the BLOOD on the door of the house. Thus when the "angel of death" saw the BLOOD, he "PASSED OVER" the house and did not kill or plague anybody in the house, while with the Egyptian families, all of the firstborn were killed.
3. Leviticus 16:15-17; "Then he (Aaron, brother of Moses) shall kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil ... and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat... And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: ... And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he (Aaron) goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel".
Some other Verses in this chapter are:
Verse 27; "And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place ..."
Verse 30; "For on that day (Yom Kippur) shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD."
Verse 34; "And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year (on Yom Kippur) ..."
My Comments
This was the yearly "Yom Kippur" Day of Atonement for the whole nation of Israel. All the animal sacrifices pointed to the Atoning Sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world as John the Baptist said in John 1:29 KJV, when he said,
"Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."
The animal sacrifices were a foreshadow of the only true sacrifice for the Atonement of sins through Messiah Yeshua (that is, the Lord Jesus Christ).
ATONEMENT through the Shed BLOOD OF THE MESSIAH — (KJV used except for Psalm 49:(7-9) )
However, today, for all who believe, God has provided the BLOOD OF ATONEMENT through the perfect Sacrifice of the unblemished, sinless LAMB of God, the Messiah, the "Anointed" One, according to Isaiah 53:5-6, which states:"But He (the Messiah, the righteous servant of God, the Holy One of Israel) was wounded for our transgressions (breakages of God's Laws), He was bruised for our iniquities (sins): the chastisement (punishment) of our peace (for our welfare) was upon Him; and with his stripes (wounds, BLOOD), we are healed (atoned for).
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way (that is "doing our own thing'); and the LORD(Yahweh) hath laid on Him (the Messiah) the iniquity (sins) of us all."
Yeshua - see Symbols Appendix.
Other verses in Isaiah Chapter 53 are:
Verse 10: "... when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin ..."
Verse 11: "... shall My righteous Servant (the Messiah) justify (make just as if he had never sinned) many; for he shall bear their iniquities (sins)."
However the Messiah arose from the dead on the third day, according to Psalm 16:10, and then went to sit at the right hand of God, according to Psalm 110:1, and also in the New Testament in Mark 16:19.
Now, you may ask, why cannot any human being be used as a human sacrifice for a sin offering? Well, this is impossible as man is basically sinful and there is not a single person who is sinless except the Messiah, The Holy One of Israel. The relevant scripture is:
Ps 49:7-9 — NIV
"No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him - the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough - that he should live on forever and not see decay."
It required an unblemished, sinless person to be sacrificed for a sin offering, to bear the sins of people. That was the mission of the Messiah, to save the world from the power of sin and to reconcile man back to a favourable relationship with God. This can only be done through Messiah Yeshua, just like when He said:
John 14:6
"I am the way, the TRUTH and the life. No man cometh unto the Father (God the Father) but by ME."
It is interesting to note that the Hebrew word Yeshua means "Salvation" and also "Yahweh is Salvation". Incidentally the word "Christ" came from the Greek word "Kristos", meaning "Messiah", or "The Anointed One".
Now soon after the crucifixion and atoning death of Messiah Yeshua, the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed (70 A.D.) thus making the atoning animal sacrifices (such as, for example, Yom Kippur) on the altar of the Temple, impossible. This was caused to happen by God, as the BLOOD of ATONEMENT of Messiah Yeshua is sufficient once and for all time, making Temple Sacrifices redundant.
The animal sacrifices were a foreshadow of the only true Sacrifice for the Atonement of Sins through Messiah Yeshua (that is, the Lord Jesus Christ). See above for further explanation in section "Examples of Attonement"
If a person (Jew or Gentile) repents from his sins and renounces all works of darkness, and accepts Yeshua (Jesus) as his LORD God, Messiah and Saviour, as the King of his heart (to be Christ-centred and not self- centred) with believing faith, then the LORD GOD will cleanse him from his sins, give him a new heart, fill him with The Holy Spirit to reconcile him in peace with God.
This gives him a personal and favourable relationship with God, with The Holy Spirit living in his heart, giving him Eternal Life and making him a partaker of God's Divine Nature and Life.
Thus when a Jew meets God's requirements concerning Messiah Yeshua, he completes his Judaism, and becomes a fulfilled, completed Jew, by gaining the BLOOD of Atonement, the Messiah, and a very personal and favourable relationship with God. God's Holy Spirit then enters his life and he receives Eternal Life. Thus his sins are forgiven and cleansed through the sacrificial, atoning BLOOD of the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus) and he is reconciled to God in peace — becoming an anointed, favoured, child of God. HALLELU YAH.
Menorah — see Symbols Appendix
Yeshua — see Symbols Appendix
YHWH — see Symbols Appendix