God's Remedy (Chris Perver - chris@evenmore.co.uk) In Genesis we are told of how our first parents sinned against God, by eating of the forbidden fruit. God gave man a free will, to choose to obey Him, or to disobey and be punished. In Genesis 2:16, God told Adam that he could freely eat of every tree in the garden, except the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam, face to face, that the day he ate of that tree, he would surely die (Gen 2:17, Gen 3:3). The literal Hebrew means 'dying, you shall die'. As head of the family, God gave responsibility to Adam to make sure his wife understood what He had said. But Lucifer, one of the highest ranking angels in heaven rebelled against God. Isaiah 14 tells us that his heart was lifted up because of his beauty, and he wanted to become like the Most High. He wast cast out of the presence of God, and 1/3rd of all the angels, which sided with Lucifer, with him. Satan (which means 'slanderer') then set about to destroy all that God had created. Satan, who Jesus Christ calls a liar, and the father of lies, as he told the first lie, (John 8:44) told three lies to Eve to tempt her to eat the fruit. His first lie was, 'Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?' (Gen 2:1). Satan will always try to make us question what God has plainly said. Did God really say that? Did He really say he took dust and made a man? Did He really say He created this world in 6 days? Did He really say He will destroy the world with a flood? Did He really say He will punish sin? His second lie was 'Ye shall not surely die' (Gen 2:4). His third lie was 'ye shall be as gods' (Gen 2:5). Eve was beguilded by the serpent into taking the fruit, although she knew what the consequences would be (Gen 3:3). Adam, who received the commandment from God face to face not to eat the fruit, was right beside her when she took it (Gen 3:6). Adam ate the fruit knowing that he was sinning against God. Immediately both their eyes were opened, and they had knowledge of what was good and what was evil. They tried to hide from their Creator. God cursed creation as a punishment for the sin they had committed. In Genesis 3:14, God curses the serpent. Although it was not the serpent itself that caused Adam and Eve to sin, but Satan acting through it, in Jewish law, whenever a crime had been committed, the impliment that was used to commit the crime was always broken too. God cursed Eve by increasing womens' sorrow in bearing children, and making their husbands to rule over them (Gen 3:16). God cursed man by making him have to work and till the ground just to eat (Gen 3:17-18). He finally cursed them with the eventuality of physical death (Gen 3:18). In order that they should not live forever in their fallen state by eating the tree of life, God drove them out of Eden, and placed an angel at the entrance to the garden (Gen 3:24) to stop them returning. The reality is, sin seperates us from God. Just like Lucifer had discovered when he was cast out of the presence of God, our first parents had now discovered to their misfortune. God is love (1 John 4:8), but God is also just (John 5:30), and sin must be punished. Nahum 1:3 states, 'The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked'. God killed an animal and made Adam and Eve coats of skin and clothed them (Gen 3:21). The coats covered their nakedness, while the first blood sacrifice was a covering for their sin. Leviticus 17:11 says that it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. Without the shedding of blood, their is no remission of sins (Heb 9:22). God requires that in order for sin to be forgiven, a life must be taken. It was very important that the animal that would be sacrificed should have no blemishes (Deut 17:1, Ex 12:5), no effects of a fallen creation. As the animal was being sacrificed for another's sin, it had to be perfect, and guiltless of sin. But it is not possible that the blood of animals can ever take away sin (Heb 10:4, 10:11), they can only cover it. God did not take any pleasure in the sacrifices of animals (Psalm 40:6, Hosea 6:6). If the human race was to be redeemed, a member of the human race would have to be sacrificed. God searched for a member of the human race that was perfect but could find none (Isaiah 59:16). Romans 5:12 says that as 'by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for ALL have sinned'. There was no way for man to redeem himself, and there was no way a just God could write off his debts. So God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ the Creator of the universe (John 1:10), into this world, to become a man, to be our perfect sacrifice, to take away sins forever (Heb 10:12). John 1:14 says that 'The Word (Jesus Christ) became flesh (a man) and dwelt among us'. 1 Cor 15:45 calls Jesus Christ, the 'last Adam', as He was sent to redeem mankind from the first Adam's sin. Isaiah prophesied of the suffering and death of God's Son. Isaiah 53:5 says, 'But he (Jesus) was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed'. Verse 6 says, 'the LORD hath laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all'. God, who found no pleisure in burnt offerings, now found pleisure in the sacraficing of His own Son, to reedem a rebellious creation. Isaiah 53:10 says that 'it pleased the LORD to bruise him (Jesus); he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin', verse 11 says 'He (God) shall see of the travail of his (Jesus) soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant (Jesus) justify many; for he (Jesus) shall bear their (our) iniquities'. At last the Lamb of God (John 1:29), Jesus Christ had been sacrificed for the sins of the world. Animal sacrifices were only a pointer to the real sacrifice that was made by Jesus Christ 2000 years ago. Every time God saw an animal sacrificed for sin, it would remind Him of the promise He made that He would send His Son to be a sacrifice for all sin. God honoured that promise, 'when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son', Galatians 4:4. Jesus Christ Himself said on the cross, 'It is finished', John 19:30. Nothing more needs to be done, the plan of salvation is complete. God had already punished His own Son for all the sins you have done. He has carried out the death sentence that you justly deserved. Your criminal record can not only be wiped clean, but destroyed completely (Hebrews 10:14), as Christ has once suffered for your sins forever (Hebrews 10:12), you can never again be brought into condemnation (Romans 8:1). All God asks is that you repent of the sins you have committed (No sin is too great, Christ has died for them all, 1 John 1:7), and that you believe that God's own Son, Jesus Christ, took the punishment for your sins in your place. John 3:16 says, 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (Jesus), that whosoever believeth in him should not perish (in hell), but have everlasting life (in heaven)'. God loves you, and so does His Son Jesus. God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But John 3:18 says that unless you believe in Jesus Christ, then you are condemned (to hell) already. Hebrews 9:27 says that 'it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgement'. God has set a day in which He will judge all those who have not believed in His Son (Acts 17:31). Revelation 20:12 says, 'And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works'. The verdict is unanimous, 'And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire', Revelation 20:15. Unless you have believed in Jesus Christ, and God has written your name in the book of life, then you have no hope. Jesus Christ can either be your judge (Acts 17:31), or your advocate with God (1 John 2:1). Jesus promised, 'He that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out' (John 6:37).