We are all under the curse of the law for our sins. That curse is God's promised wrath against sinners, His justice for our crimes against Him as our Creator.
But for all those who trust in Jesus, His blood shedding on the cross redeems us from that curse. Our Lord Jesus took upon Himself our sins and paid the price of justice in our place.
Now, instead of being cursed, we are most blessed of God! He causes His face to shine upon us!
All this is possible, because Jesus' sacrifice is a propitiation of God for our sins.
In the Old Testament, the animal sacrifices were a picture pointing to what Jesus would some day come to finish. The word "atonement" is used in Moses' writings to describe what the blood offerings accomplished for the penitent sinner: God's wrath was rained down upon the poor innocent animal, and God was appeased or satisfied against the offerer.
God's wrath was seen in picture form against the animal, as it was killed, had its blood drained out, its body cut into pieces, and then burned upon the altar of sacrifice. In that picture was seen what would one day happen to Christ in our place: God's wrath would be exhausted at Calvary against our sins upon the body of Jesus.
Isaiah foretold what would happened to Messiah for us. The Lord would lay on Him all our iniquities. It would please God to crush Christ. He would put Him to grief in our place. He would make His soul an offering for our sin. Christ would bear our iniquities, and be numbered with the transgressors.
The writer of Hebrews draws the connection between the picture of the animal sacrifices, and their reality and fulfillment in the sacrifice of Jesus.
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John Pittman Hey was born in 1961 in Jackson, Mississippi, to Godly parents who from the beginning raised him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. With child-like faith he came to Christ on his fourth birthday at his mother's knee. He received his education at church...
