Q. Who is the Redeemer of mankind?
A. The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, who being the
Son of God, became man.
As we have previously seen, when Adam and Eve chose to sin
against God they invited in the curse that leads to death and separation from
God. The only way of escape for mankind is through redemption.
After the first sin God killed an innocent lamb and used its
skin to make a covering for our first parents. That act was a perfect
foreshadowing of the redemption to come—an innocent lamb was sacrificed as a
substitute so that the guilty party could be covered.
Years later, when the nation of Israel was in slavery in
Egypt, God sent the Ten Plagues to persuade Pharaoh to let His people go. The
tenth plague, the death of the firstborn, was a horrific event that was the
culmination of years of rebellion and idolatry in Egypt. But God, in His mercy,
still gave each family a way out.
God said that if each family would take a spotless lamb,
kill it, and apply its blood to the doorposts of their house, then God would
pass over their house. This event became known as the Passover, and is
celebrated in Israel every year.
Each year at Passover a spotless lamb would be sacrificed
for the nation, and God would let the guilty party go free because of the
substitute lamb.
Years later, God came to earth in the form of a man named
Jesus; He lived a perfect life, and was therefore a spotless substitute. When
John the Baptist saw Him, he declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away
the sins of the world!”
When Jesus died on the cross He became the great substitute,
bearing the sin of the guilty party—the whole world—and becoming the once and
for all sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:10). Now, whoever will look upon the Lamb
of God and trust in that sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins can go
free. God will place our sin upon Jesus, and place the righteousness of Jesus
upon us.
That is how Jesus Christ became the Redeemer for
mankind.
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