Free from Sin
Imagine that someone gave you a glass of water. Before you were able to take a sip, though, they put just one tiny drop of sewage in it. Would you be able to drink it? The answer is “no”.
We, human beings, are that glass of water. Every time we sin a drop of sewage gets put into our glass. God is so glorious and holy that even one single sin in our lives destroys the possibility of being in His presence as Matthew 5:48 tells us we “must be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect”. Adam and Eve walked with God until they sinned. After that point God could no longer be there with them. Since that day the goal of salvation has been to restore that face to face relationship between mankind and our Heavenly Father. 1
In Exodus 40 God gives Moses precise instructions on how to build a tabernacle and in verse 34 we’re shown that the cloud (or God’s Shekinah Glory)2 filled that tabernacle. This was the closest God could get to us until His plan of sending Jesus Christ to cleanse and purify us of our sins was completed.
Hebrews 9 shows us how the earthly tabernacle and all the required sacrifices represented the eternal and spiritual truth that we needed a Savior. Someone that could fulfill the requirements of the tabernacle once and for all. That the sacrifice of Christ was all-sufficient for all of eternity. 3 The author of Hebrews goes on to say, “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water”. 4
When we accept Jesus Christ, we are made pure – a glass of water now free from the filth of sewage and sin. God can no longer see our sins because He sees Jesus instead. Therefore, we can once again be in the presence of our almighty Father. He does this through the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13 tells us that “When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit”. When believers get filled with the Holy Spirit it enables God to help, comfort, and guide them as He desired to do with Adam and Eve. It allows us to pray to Him in a way that our human minds cannot understand and builds a deep, intimate, loving relationship between us as Father and child.
When the Israelites were in Egypt, they were slaves. God sent them a savior to free them from their bondage. Two thousand years later He sent another savior. This time it was for me. The Israelites experienced a form of physical freedom, but Jesus Christ gave me spiritual freedom.
Now I can live a life where I am free from fear because Jesus told us that He gives us a peace unlike the world gives. I can live a life free from the condemnation of my sins. There were 613 laws given to the Israelites and if even one was broken, they were condemned until they gave a sacrifice.
Jesus was my sacrifice! Paul tells us in Acts 13:28-29 that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to me and that I am set free from every sin. Most importantly I am set free from a spiritual death. Because of the amazing grace of God and the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, I will one day get to see my Heavenly Father face to face and walk with Him in paradise as Adam and Eve did. How wonderful is it that God is so good, He came up with a plan to redeem us, knowing that we will fall short of His glory?
1. (Ligonier Ministries 2010)
2.(Willmington 2011)
3. (Smith 1901)
4. Hebrews 10:22
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