The Book of Numbers and we're
going to be in chapter 7. Now it is my goal in about 38
minutes to finish chapter 7. It's 89 verses long. But we're
going to take one incident out of there because it's repeated
12 times. The same incident is repeated
12 times. So you can go to those verses
of scripture on your time and compare them And I hope you'll
come to the conclusion that we've come here today. The book of
Numbers, and I'd like to begin reading here in the book of Numbers
chapter 7 with verse 10. And we're going to read down
to verse 17. Chapter 7, verse 10. And from this point, Eleven times
this same message is repeated. And the princes offered for dedicating
of the altar in the day that it was anointed, even the princes
offered their offering before the altar. And the Lord said
unto Moses, They shall offer their offering, each prince on
his day, for the dedicating of the altar. He that offered his
offering the first day was Nashon, the son of Abimmedad, the tribe
of Judah. His offering was one silver charger,
the weight thereof was 130 shekels, one silver bowl of 70 shekels,
after the shekel of the sanctuary, and both of them were full of
fine flour mingled with oil for a meat or meal offering. one
spoon of 10 shekels of gold full of incense, one young bullock,
one ram, one lamb of the first year for a burn offering, one
kid of the goats for a sin offering, and for a sacrifice of peace
offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of
the first year. This was the offering of Nashon,
the son of Edimidat. And then it says on the second
day, and then we go to another tribe that's represented, and
through 12 days, this takes place. Now, if you'll go down through
here, we find in every one of these tribes, verse 18, would
you notice that with me? Verse 18, it says, Nathaniel,
the son of Zuhar, the prince of Issachar. If you follow this
down to every one of these tribes, you'll find that word used, the
prince of this tribe, the prince of this tribe, the prince of
this tribe, 11 times. Now, I found it interesting that
there was one tribe that was not given that title of the prince,
and that is the first one, Judah. Now, I am going to come to this
conclusion. It is not mentioned there of
the tribe of Judah because there is a prince much higher in the
tribe of Judah than this man who came with the offering. We
have one called the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Turn with me,
keep your fingers here, but turn with me over to the book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation chapter 5, we have mention of one, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of his people, the Lamb slain
from before the foundation of the world, the one who wrote
our names down in the Lamb's book of life before the world
began, God the Father, did that, he gave a gift to the son and
now this son is mentioned by this wonderful title here in
the book of Revelation chapter 5. Now it opens up here, there's
a real issue and John cries because this is such a great issue. There
is a book and no one is able to open this book except the
Lion of the tribe of Judah. All right, notice here, Revelation
chapter one, or chapter five, verse one, it says, and I saw
in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written
within on the backside sealed with seven seals, and I saw a
strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to
open the book? We sang a hymn this morning,
worthy is the lamb. Now that comes right out of the
book of Revelation, that song, and to loose the seals thereof,
and no man in heaven, Nor in earth, neither under the earth,
was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I, this
is John saying, I wept much when he witnessed this scene. It was
heartbreaking. You know, it would be heartbreaking
if we had no one to reveal unto us the word of God. If God gave
it to us and there was no revelation of it, if there was no revealing
of it, there was no testimony about it, it was just a standard
that God gave and this is what you're going to be judged by?
Well, here we find, I wept much because no man was found worthy
to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And
one of the elders saith unto me, weep not. Behold, the lion
of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open
the book and to loose the seven seals. Now, I just want to give
a sideline here on the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation
presents many, many, many impossibilities, and every one of them is filled
and fulfilled by our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The impossibilities
arise as you go through there, and yet there's always this one
that comes to meet the challenge, and that's our Savior, and that's
the way He deals with all our sin. The impossibility we're
going to find here in the book of Numbers chapter 7, the impossibility
of all of these sacrifices. And as Brother Craig mentioned
in his prayer, when Solomon dedicated the temple, the impossibility
of all those sacrifices taking care of sin, and yet we have
one, by the sacrifice of himself, put away sin forever. And the
church has said, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive
all the glory and honor and praise for this, and we assume none
of it. I was just sharing this morning,
In the study, how we are so thankful that God grants repentance. You know, before I was saved,
before it was revealed to me, I thought I could. But after
he revealed himself to me, I found out I never even got close. I
was working at it the wrong direction. I thought by repenting of my
sins I'd be okay and crying enough I'd be okay, but that isn't it.
Repentance is truly a change of mind about God, about God's
word, about sin, about heaven, about hell, about Jesus in fact.
That's what true repentance is, is having a complete change of
mind about Almighty God and all that He stands for. Well, turn
with me just a little bit. Would you turn with me to the
book of Isaiah? In Isaiah chapter 9 and verse
6, we have this wonderful prophecy of the coming of the Christ child,
the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the Lord incarnate,
God incarnate, God come in the flesh. He is identified here
in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6, where it says, for unto us
a child is born, for unto us a son is given. Now, it gives
us that duality of our Savior. He's the God-man. He was born
of a virgin. He was the flesh provided. He
was the body provided. God provided a body for a sacrifice. But he never relinquished his
sonship as the Son of God. And as the Son of God, he was
forever perfect before Almighty God and before all men. Now,
men may have found fault with him. But he never crossed the
line, never was a sinner, never thought of sin. He was the perfect
son of God. So here he is. He says, unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. And did you
notice the next part of his name? This is like the English often
do. They hyphenate names. this is a hyphenated name this
is not multiple names this is one name of our savior and the
last part of that hyphenated name is the prince of peace now
that's why the representative of judah was not given that title
of prince because there was one much higher going to come from
the tribe of judah the line of the tribe of judah the book of
hebrews talks about moses never mentioned anything of a priest
this priest coming from the tribe of Levi. And we say, thank you,
Lord. It's not a continuation of that
priesthood. It is a priesthood after the
order of Melchizedek. I was thinking this last week.
I've had a lot of time to think because it's been pretty quiet
around my home. I was thinking, I wonder what all of those folks
thought in the Old Testament when they read the book of Genesis
and said, here is a priest A forever priest. And in the book of the
Psalms, a priest that had neither beginning of days nor end of
life, who neither had father or mother. What did they think
about this priest that Abraham did this great obeisance to and
paid tithes to? What did they think about him?
Because they had more honor for Aaron than they did that priest
Melchizedek who is a picture and I just look at him as a pre-incarnate
representation of Almighty God the Lord Jesus Christ there to
Abraham. He was a priest and we find that
the Lord is a priest forever after that order of Melchizedek.
Well, here we find him called the Prince of Peace. Another
passage I'd like to look at is found in the Book of Daniel.
Move just a little further there in the Old Testament towards
the noon after the Book of Ezekiel is a book called Daniel. Now,
Daniel may have some mysteries for us, but it's not mysteries
to God. Daniel may have some things, and you know when I read
the book of Daniel, I have to ask God, please wash my mind
of what I was taught. And let me just read this for
what it says. Because what I was taught about
the book of Daniel is not right. It destroyed a bunch about Almighty
God. It made him a failure. And you
know what? God's never been a failure. God
gave the Jews every last square inch he promised them. He did. That's what Solomon said. That's
what Joshua said. Don't look to that. If you hear
someone say that he didn't give them all the land, they haven't
read the Bible. The Bible declares he gave them it all. And it also
tells us that Jesus Christ was a failure because that theory
that I was taught was that Jesus came down to this earth to set
up an earthly kingdom and he couldn't do it, therefore he
had to go to the cross. Well, I found out after the Lord saved
me that he had never had any intention of setting up an earthly
kingdom on this earth. All the kingdoms of this earth
are his anyway. He owns the cattle on 1,000 hills. He owns everything that belongs
to him anyway. He's talking about a different
kingdom. He's talking about a spiritual kingdom. And he was about doing
that before the foundation of the world, and he's fulfilling
it when he brings every one of his lost sheep into this kingdom. It's a kingdom that God only
allows his people to see. And that kingdom's representative
is the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what?
We get to see Christ. The Lord told Thomas, it's very
good that you got to see this, but also be thankful for those
who do not get to see this and also believe. Because that belief
is of God. It's just as real for me to see
Christ in the word as it was for Thomas to see him in the
physical form. All right. The book of Daniel,
chapter 9, verse 25. Here again, we have this wonderful
description. And it's no wonder that that
name, Prince, is left out of that verse of scripture with
regard to Judah, because we have a greater prince in Judah. If that man was a believer, he
didn't mind. If he wasn't, he was jealous.
Here it says, Daniel chapter 9 verse 25, know therefore and
understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore
and build Jerusalem unto Messiah, did you notice that other word?
The Messiah, the Prince. Messiah the prince shall be seven
weeks and three score and two weeks in the street shall be
built again and the walls even into troublesome times Now I
was taught that the next verse is talking about a completely
different prince. Guess what? It's not I The next verse is
talking about the same prince, the lion of the tribe of Judah,
the prince of peace. This one who is the prince that
took the place of that man who represented Judah at the giving
of those offerings. This man is a prince over his
people. He is a prince over all things.
He is the highest, loftiest. He's the prince of peace. Here
in the book of Daniel chapter 9 and verse 25, know therefore
and understand, excuse me, verse 26, and after three score and
two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself and
the people of the prince. Now, it is incorrect for them
to translate a large P in verse 25 and a small P in verse 26,
because we're talking about the same individual. Who is the ruler
over the Roman armies? The Prince of Peace. God Almighty. And he brought them in and they
destroyed that temple. He told, Jesus told those people
that there will be not one stone left upon another. How did he
know that? He's purposed it. And he is the
people of the prince are going to fulfill his words. All right,
one more time, we found prince. And then I heard another verse
of scripture in the Bible class this morning. Acts chapter 5
verse 31. This prince, he is a prince. He is a king. He's king of kings. He's a lord.
He's lord of lords. He's absolute sovereign. He rules
over all things. And he ruled over the writing
of the book of Numbers. And he intended to leave out
the word prince when it came to the man who represented Judah,
because there is a man that is higher and loftier than that
man who truly represents Judah, the church. In the book of Acts
chapter 5 and verse 31, in that day when they were going over
these things that had taken place just not very long ago. In Acts chapter 5 and verse 31,
the scriptures share this and say, him hath God exalted with
his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance
to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. When it comes to spiritual
Israel, they understand what he's talking about right there.
He's the only one that can grant repentance to Israel. He's the
only one that can grant repentance to an Israelite. He's the only
one that can grant repentance to Israel, spiritual Israel.
He is the only one. What is he called? A prince.
He's in charge. He's in command. He doesn't let
anybody else hold his hand or say unto him, what are you doing? because he does as his purpose
decrees. All right, let's go back over
here to the Book of Numbers again. We have that representative,
the Lord of Glory, the Prince of Peace. Now truly, as we read
this Book of Numbers in chapter seven, we find that the tribe
of Judah And it represents, and if we go through all of these
twelve different lists, we'll find that it is worthy to mention
that every tribe was called on to offer exactly the same offering,
the same quantity, to show that everyone there was equally indebted
to God. Judah had no inroads when it
came to debt before God. There is a debt that we owe that
we cannot pay. And there was one who paid a
debt he did not owe. He did not die for his sins,
he died for the sins of his people. He is the holy righteous one,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he died for the sins of his people.
So this, every picture here, every type, every shadow that
is mentioned in these offerings, share with us, everyone stands
equal before God when it comes to sin, highest or lowest. Rich or so porous, male or female,
there is no difference in what is required. And what is required
for any person to enter into the presence of God is the blood
of Jesus Christ shed on their behalf. Here we find in verse
13 that there's one silver charger. It's a dish or a platter. It
weighs, one translation put it, and I like those who take the
chance to go out and say, well, this is about what it is, because
I don't know what a shekel weighed. You know, I read John Gill, and
he says, well, it's about so many pounds. I don't know what
that means. I want it in my language. Well, they said there's about
3 and 1 1/4 pounds of silver in that one plate, 3 and 1 1/4
pounds of silver. And then one silver bowl. about a pound and a quarter of
silver in that one bowl. Then a spoon of 10 shekels or
four ounces, in verse 14, of gold full of frankincense that's
going to be used on the altar. Then in verse 15, one young bullock. What these things represent is
the strength. These bullocks, these are bulls. represent the strength of our
Savior to accomplish the task that is set before him. He is
not going to falter. He's not going to fail. He is
going to succeed. He has the strength to do what
he said he would do. And then we have, he's a ram. You know, I've often wondered
why was the Lord represented as a ram, as a goat sometimes? A goat was offered. Why is that?
You know what? He is one that looks like his
brethren. From the outside, there's no
difference between a goat and a sheep when it comes to sin. But when God speaks, he doesn't
change goats to sheep, but he's always identified them as a sheep.
But from the outside, there's no difference. Paul was called
on to write, who hath made you to differ? We're not smarter. I heard a
Bible study one time, this guy said, if I lived in the days
of those folks in the Old Testament, or particularly those who went
to the wilderness wanderings, I'd have been smarter, I'd have
done something better. And at that point, I got up and I said,
I was saved from this very same thing. I'm leaving. We're no smarter. If anything,
our IQ is less. We're worse off, it seems. It's
not intelligence that is able to grasp a holy God. It's a God,
a holy God, that is able to grasp us. It is a God that reveals
to us. We are just, as Paul mentions
in the book of Romans, out of the same lump of clay. He makes vessels of honor, and
he makes vessels of dishonor. Out of the same lump of clay. No difference. No intelligent
quotient difference. No better. No better. It's just
the same. So as we look down through here,
and then it tells us in verse 15, one lamb of the first year.
Oh, what a representation of the Lamb of God that takes away
sin. This Lamb of God. And then it
tells us there in verse 16, One kid of the goats, a male goat
for a sin offering. And then verse 17, peace offering,
two oxen, five rams, five male goats. That's what that means.
And five lambs of the first year. Now, sacrifices of all sorts,
figuring the death of Christ. This was to represent for 11
more days. Each day was the same. For 12
continuous days, the sacrifice was the same. It represented
that every tribe had exactly the same need, and it was going
to be paid for by one that had exactly the same requirement.
the Lord Jesus Christ. These offerings were given with
joy and gladness at the raising of the tabernacle. Now you know
those those shepherds? They rejoiced to see the tabernacle,
to see the real tabernacle, to see the real representation of
the tabernacle, the Lord. The church rejoices in many ways
Our Savior took care of all the charges of his people against
the Father. And after all this that Nashon
did, all the other tribes did, everyone that was participating,
all the offerings, you know what? They were not one step closer
to God. After all that expense, after
all that silver, after all that gold, after all those animals,
on the 13th day, they could look back, and those who knew said,
this didn't get us one step closer to God. Because the blood of
bulls and goats cannot take away sin, and they were all sinners. They were only pictures and not
the real. Only the Lamb of God can do what
all of these sacrifices represented. And it did not matter to what
station in life they were. We read over in the book of Galatians.
Would you turn there with me to the book of Galatians chapter
3. In Galatians chapter 3 we find that the Apostle Paul was
led to share with us what they found out. There in the book
of Numbers chapter 7 as they offered all those sacrifices.
Nobody got any closer to God and yet everybody was equal before
God. There was no big eyes and little
use. Here in the book of Galatians chapter 3 and verse 28, we have
the Apostle Paul writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He says,
there is neither Jew nor Greek. Doesn't matter whether you're
from the tribe of Judah or the tribe of Issachar. Doesn't matter
whether you're from the tribe of Dan or the tribe of Manasseh. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
28, and it says, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female,
for they are all one in Christ Jesus. There is no difference. The same Christ must shed his
precious blood for everyone he's going to save. The richest, the
poorest, it doesn't make any difference. After the giving
of all the silver and the gold, after the sacrifices of all the
animals, nothing had changed. Can you imagine that? Nothing had changed. Those without
Christ were not made closer. And those that knew Christ were
not made any farther away. Nothing had changed. The sacrifices
changed nothing. They were all sinners without
the blood of Jesus Christ. It is summed up by God. Turn
with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 1 if you would. Isaiah
chapter 1. Now this is his commentary on
all of those sacrifices that were offered that day, all of
those that were offered on the day that the dedication of the temple,
all of the 40 years of wandering through the wilderness, all of
the time that they spent in Canaan with the tabernacle, All the
temple, all the temple sacrifices, the sacrifices that were going
on in the day of Christ. They still had the Passover at
that time. They still offered the daily sacrifices at that
time. And here in the book of Isaiah chapter one, we have God's
commentary on all of those things summed up in one verse of scripture. Isaiah chapter one and verse
11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord, I am full of
burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts and I delight
not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he goats. Now, isn't that a commentary
on what God saw when they were? What does that mean? It means
that most of the people that brought those things said, this
is what I have. I visited with a man this last
week, and he brought up the church in the wilderness. Over in the
book of Hebrews, it talks about the church in the wilderness.
And then he said, Moses, Aaron, Aaron's son, Jacob, or excuse
me, not Jacob, Caleb, and Joshua. And I says, oh my. Was that the church in the wilderness?
Five. Out of all that host, how many
were on the ark? Eight. Was that the church in
that day? And all the bloody sacrifices
that took place prior to the flood, after the flood, All of
those sacrifices and there maybe was, let's just say there was
a thousand. That's really going on to the
large side of it. What were the rest of them doing
with all those sacrifices? doing what people always do,
that by their works of righteousness they will accomplish the demands
of God. And God shares with us through
Isaiah and a bunch of other places that says, I am tired of these
sacrifices. I'm tired of all of the repentance
that people have. I'm tired of all the doings that
people have. They have not accomplished a
thing. They're not any closer to me
than all those folks who brought all those sacrifices in the days
of Moses there in Numbers chapter 7. And yet they were not one
step closer to me than they were before it all started. Psalm 40. Would you turn with
me to Psalm 40? Back up to Psalm 40 for just
a moment. Psalm 40. We find truly the value. Truly we see the silver and gold
of our Redeemer. The value of Him. How glorious
He is. And yet, as the silver represents
redemption, how He is the only one able to redeem His people. There is no redemption outside
of that. And we find that Peter talked
about that we're not redeemed with silver or gold by our vain
conversation from the tradition of our fathers, but by the precious
blood of Christ. Here in the Psalm, Psalm 40,
verse 6, 7, and 8, it says, Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings
hast thou not required. Then said I, lo, I come, and
the volume of the book, it is written of me. I delight to do
thy will. O my God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. Now we have reference to this
over in the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Would you turn there with
me? Hebrews chapter 10. In Hebrews chapter 10 we have
reference to what is brought up here in the book of Psalms. Hebrews chapter 10 shares with
us this is the solution. This is what God originally had
in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world had
prescribed to take away sin. This is how he's going to do
it. All of the offerings that he required would not do it.
All of the sacrifices would not get anybody one inch closer to
God. All the blood sacrifice, all
of the fine flour mingled with oil, all the frankincense that
was offered on the altars. Here in the book of Hebrews chapter
10 and verse 5, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he
saith, Sacrifice an offering thou wouldst not, but a body
hast thou prepared me. We just rejoice in words like
that when we find out that all of our doings didn't get us one
inch closer. It's a repudiation in the nostrils
of God. Our works of righteousness are
just a repudiation. Why? Because we're telling God
Christ is not sufficient. And yet when we're revealed him,
it is all sufficient. It is every bit sufficient. I
cannot depend on anything. Goes on to tell us there, a body
thou hast prepared for me. In burnt offerings, verse six,
and sacrifices for sin, thou hast no pleasure. Then said I,
lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me to do thy will, O God. We find out what went
on. And then back up to Matthew chapter
20, if you would. The Lord Jesus speaking about
what he's going to do, what he is going to accomplish. Matthew
chapter 20 and verse 28, the scriptures share this, as the
Lord himself speaks and shares with us what he intends to do. He did not come, the Son of Man
came not to be ministered unto. but notice the rest of this but
to minister you know what it was it was his privilege and
responsibility in the covenant of grace to be a minister and
what's that mean a servant he is the servant he's the prince
servant but he's the servant he is what's represented by so
many of those offerings that they were Beasts of burden that
were offered. He's the servant. He's the carrier
of our sins. He's the one that took our sins
upon himself. He is the minister of the covenant
of grace. And it says here, they came to
minister, and then notice what he said, and to give his life
a ransom. Now that's what all of those
things pictured. in the Old Testament, the desperate need of a ransom,
a ransom to purchase our sin debt, to take care of our sin
debt. That's what the ransom meant. It meant to be ransomed
from our sin, to be ransomed from our sin debt, to be ransomed
from our inheritance from Adam. Though we sin not after the similitude
of Adam, we're yet sinners. We're sinners, inherited sinners,
and then we just continue to sin anyway. As I told my brother-in-law,
I don't have enough time to repent of my sins. They go on every
second. I know what nanosecond means
now. Every nanosecond I have sin. That's what I am. But I
have someone who paid my ransom. Those pictured the payment, Christ
said, I am the payment. Those were only an illustration
of the payment. This is the true payment, the
ransom we receive through Jesus Christ. What's he say there?
To give his life a ransom for many. Now, did you know what
he said about the word many? Did you notice that? He came to ransom many. I shared
this with a young preacher one time. I said, if Jesus Christ
in his own words never once ever said that he came to die for
everybody without exception, because right here he had the
golden opportunity, but he is just declaring what the rest
of the Bible is all about. He came to ransom many. Now, that many to us is a number
that no man can number found in the book of Revelation. But
to God, it is a definite, identifiable number. He is the only one that
can spread out enough chairs to satisfy the need of all the
elect and not have one left over or one short. He has them down
by number. And he will ransom, and he did
ransom on the cross, all of those. One other verse or two other
verses, one is John chapter 10 and verse 11. As we think about
all those sacrifices that went on, all that blood that was spilled,
all those lives that were given, all those sacrificial, substitutionary
pictures accomplished nothing when it came to dealing with
God. And we, some will say, well,
what's the use? People needed a picture. We have a picture that we observe
from time to time. Pictures of the death, the burial,
and the resurrection of Christ. Pictures of the shed blood and
broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we're not depending
on those pictures. I mentioned to a fellow the other
day, I said, only in religion do people want to eat the menus
in the restaurant. Pretty menu. You never find a
food that looks just like this, do you? We never eat the menu. We want the real. John chapter
10 and verse 11. John chapter 10 and verse 11. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the many, and here they're called
the sheep. Now God does not change goats
into sheep. He may use a picture of himself representing what
natural man is like, but he never was a sinner, and he never takes
goats and converts them into sheep. That's evolution, and
he doesn't practice that. He doesn't practice that. He
doesn't practice it in salvation. When we go clear back to the
Old Testament, the Lord came up to Adam made out of the dust
of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life
and Adam had nothing to do with it. When he raised Lazarus, Lazarus
had nothing to do with it. When he healed that blind man
today, the man had nothing to do with it. And when he saves
his people from their sins, they have nothing to do with it. They
are the recipients and not the participants. Well, here he says,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And then
in the book of Hebrews chapter 9. We heard part of this read,
but I want to close with this verse of scripture in the book
of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 26. This is again what the Lord
said about all of those sacrifices. Now those guys were dedicated.
Those guys were probably honest. Those guys were doing what they
needed to do. Those guys were, they were good
men. I don't know how many times we've discussed, it's nice to
have a good neighbor over a bad neighbor. They may not be saved,
but I like a good neighbor over a bad neighbor. Well, these guys
might have been good neighbors. You know, when you look at their
camp, they had to live pretty close to each other, and we don't
have a lot of squabbles going on that's recorded. But when
it came to their relationship with God, They were just like
Adam. And this didn't help. But this does help. The book
of Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 26. For then must he often have
suffered since the foundation of the world, but now, once in
the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. No man took him, but he gave
himself a ransom for many. No man nailed him to the cross
without divine permission. The covenant of grace ordered
it, and it was clear And he was nailed to a cross, hung between
heaven and earth, and the scriptures tell us that he bore in his own
body all our sins. I can't imagine it. But when
he came out of the tomb, after three days, he lets us know he
ransomed many. He ransomed the church. He ransomed
his sheep. He did what all of those bloody
sacrifices could not do. He did it once, and he accomplished
the task. And now he is sitting down at
the right hand of the Father in glory, making intercession
for his church. And the church says amen.