It is imperative that I clarify yesterday’s devotional. It would be very easy to read it and assume that Jesus was to blame for all the sins of mankind. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lucifer has been trying to make God at fault for the sin issue from the beginning. God was not and never was to blame. What Jesus did on the cross was to take the payment for our sins. He paid the incurred price. To say He was to blame would give Lucifer an excuse and a legal way to avoid culpability.
What Jesus did was to say you did it. But I forgive you and I will take responsibility for payment incurred. In the Old Testament Day of Atonement service there were two goats. One paid the price by being sacrificed. The other was taken to the wilderness and abandoned outside the camp because its function was to take the blame. The first paid the price. Blame was on the second making it not worthy to stay in the camp.
Our Jesus was our creator and when we messed up, justice demanded payment. If we were to be redeemed someone perfect, someone with no sin of their own, had to pay. If they were not perfect their death would be for their sins. Jesus fit the need. Jesus stepped up and said, “I made them. I will take responsibility.” That was far different than blame. They are very different things. Jesus gave us Eden. He gave us a perfect environment. There was no viable reason for what happened. The blame was completely on Adam and Eve. At the cross the payment was completely cared for by the very One who made us.
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 11, 2017
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