BY: OBOURBA.

When Jehovah chose to reveal his great salvation to humanity he directed his inspired spokesmen to describe it by illustrations from their everyday life so the most humble soul could easily understant it.

The many illustrations utilized are much like the various acts of a play or verses of a song, in that they are saying essentially the same thing. In all of them we see man separated from God by an impassable barrier called sin(Isaiah 59:1-2). Then we see how God saves man from his predicament through his holy son, Jesus.

a)JUSTIFICATION:

Our first illustration is drawn from the law courts. The metaphor pictures the sinner before God, his judge. He is a guilty, condemned lawbreaker. Because of his guilt he can only look forward to an awful punishment in hell. But when all hope is gone, Christ, the innocent one steps forward to pay the penalty of death for the sinner. “For while we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:6-9).

The condemned is “justified by faith” in his saviour (Romans 5:1). He is no longer condemend( Romans 8:1). He is still a sinner, but now God treats him as though he were innocent. Because of Christ and his trust in Him, God deals with the sinner “just as if he had never left”. This is the lesson of the way the loving father received his prodigal son (Luke 15:20-24). Condemned ones are justified through faith in Christ, not by the works of the law of Moses (Gal 2:16).

b) RECONCILIATION:

Our next example is from the socila realm and has to do with friendship. Here we see man pictured as an enemy of God “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10). Sinners are alienated and enemies in their minds and in their evil works (Colosians 1:21). In this plight, separated from God by our foolish actions, we are lost. We need to make friends with our God and thus be reconciled. But we sinners have no suitable gif to bring to our Lord against whom we have sinned. What can we do ?. God meets our needs .The apostle Paul tells us in (Colosians 1:19-20) “ For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself , by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross”. Peace was effected “through the blood of the cross” and we were reconciled in the body of his flesh through death (Colosians 1:22).

The reconciliation of all men is realised in the “one body” of Christ( Ephesians 2:16). Someone may ask : “But what is this “one body”?. This favourite expression of Paul is defined in (Ephesians 1:22).God gave Christ to be head over all things to the Church, which is his body. So we are reconciled to God in the one true Church of Christ.

c)REMISSION:

From the business world we have our next illustration. Man is represented as standing before God with an impossible debt to pay, i.e., his sins. This is seen in the parable in (Matthew 18:23-27). The servant owes his King over ten million dollars( American Standard Version).In a day when when workers earned some 18 cents per day, this was a debt he could never pay. By right, the king could have inflicted great punishment upon him, but he forgave the debt. In Christ we have our debt of sin cancelled or paid in full. God calls it remission of sins. No money or good works can achieve this. A sacrifice was needed, for “ without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). But the Apostles taught “That through his name every one that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins”( Acts 10:43). When does this occur ?. Hear Peter, “Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). Without water baptism no one can enjoy remission of sins, i.e. Have his great debt of sin marked paid in full by the Lord.

d)REDEMPTION:

In the Roman world, over half the population was in bondage. Slavery was a very real and everyday fact of life. Every slave longed for the day when he could be redeemend from his master and set free. It was usually through the kindness and generosity of some benefactor that a slave's price was paid and he was set free. Every man is enslaved to the the tyrant “SIN”, with no way to free himself. “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). God, through Christ redeemned us. “For you were bought at a price(1Corinthians 6:20)”, “Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life.....but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish......even the blood of Christ” (1Peter 1:18-19). We have our redemption in Christ( Colosians 1:13-14). How then may we get into Christ ?. Paul says we are baptized into Christ(Galatians 3:27). Thus only those who are properly baptized into Christ are redeemed from the bondage of sin by his precious blood. Man's hope of salvation is through faith in God's son, baptism in water according to his gospel and fellowship in the Church. Will you accept the salvation God offers through His only begotten Son ?.

To God be the Glory.

By Obourba Asante Taado.