The Way that He provided was Jesus, God the Son. Jesus is the only one who could pay for all the past, present, and future sins of all of mankind. Being fully God and fully man, He lived a sinless life of perfection and willingly gave up that life in order to take upon Himself the full force of God’s wrath toward all our sins. Because He is infinite, His one sacrifice was sufficient for all people in all times and places. Unlike the Old Testament animal sacrifices that pictured what was to come, His sacrifice does not need to be repeated. When Jesus suffered and died on the cross (the physical event being only a minuscule reflection of what He endured for us spiritually), He took the penalty for all sin once for all. Just before His spirit was separated from His body, He said the famous words, “It is finished.” Literally, this meant “paid in full.” The monumental debt that we owed to God, but could never hope to repay, was paid for by Jesus. It was done, and the world quaked – its inhabitants not fully comprehending what had just been done for them. The Roman soldier stabbed Jesus with a spear to ensure that He was dead, and He was buried in another man’s tomb. Three days later, He came back to life – demonstrating that God had indeed accepted His payment for our sin. Without the resurrection, we would have no idea if Jesus’s claims of being the Savior, our provision, were legitimate. The resurrection is evidence that He is who He claimed to be and accomplished what He came to do.
Christ’s sacrifice provided the way for forgiveness (salvation from the penalty of sin), righteousness (salvation from the power of sin in our lives), and a future (salvation from the very presence of sin). He has cancelled the debt of our sin at the great cost of His own life, and He offers us His own righteousness and the opportunity to fulfill what we were created to do – to dwell with God forever apart from the pain, tears, and wretchedness of sin. His desire is for us to be all that we were created to be – glorified, blessed with every spiritual blessing, productive, a reflection of Himself, and fully and finally satisfied in our relationship with Him. While we were still lost, He made the way for us to come back to Him. While our backs were still turned on Him in rejection and betrayal, He gave the ultimate demonstration of His love by laying down His life. The depth of our need was met with His abundant, acceptable provision. What a great salvation, and what a wonderful Savior!
This incredible provision is available to all, but not all will receive it. Jesus loves the whole world, and He died for the whole world, but not everyone will spend eternity with Him. This is because God has still given us a choice. We must respond to God’s provision in order for it to be applied to our personal account. Our choices are Jesus, the Life, or death – not just physical, but also spiritual and eternal (see part 2). There is no in between, and there is only one way. One provision. One choice. How must we respond in order to accept this ultimate provision of salvation? Watch for part 4 next Monday. Or, you can read God’s own words to discover it for yourself in these verses:
1 John 5:13
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