I can go on and on... But it is simply the love of God, perfect and unfeigned and his high and lofty ways which we will never understand BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD through the death of his Son have an opportunity to accept and become humbled to the point of reconciliation to the One True GOD:prayingf:
That is a really interesting question. Could it be that the cross was designed specifically for us as a point in time and event where we could unequivacably say that was done for us then and there. Those that believed before the cross, maybe that is why the Bible says they have even more blessings because they believed without seeing?
The Cross has been the will of God from before the creation:
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The Cross was prophesied of God in the garden:
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The Cross was a means of cursing:
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Deu 21:22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
Deu 21:23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
The Cross is the means of forgiveness,redemption,
Luk 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
The Cross is the means of Blessing:
Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
The Cross is the means by which Sinful man is Reconciled unto the Holy God of Abraham,Isaac,and Jacob.
The wrath of God and His judgement upon sin and sinful man has been completely satisfied.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isa 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
In the cross we find the completion of the Prophecies concerning the Messiah Of the God of Israel:
Psa 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Psa 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Psa 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Joh 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
In the cross we have the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets:
Deu 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
Deu 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Mat 22:35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Through the cross we have a closer relationship with the Lord then Adam and Eve had with Him in the gareden.
Adam and Eve walked with the Lord in the Garden
Those trusting Yehsua,have the Lord living and dwelling within them.
Joh 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Joh 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments
Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Joh 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Through the cross we see the Love the Lord Yeshua has for the Father, to come and do all of the will of the Father.
To take the wrath of God upon himself,and satisfy the wrath of the Holy God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
We also see the Love of God in Yesua for man:
Yeshua is mans sin bearer before God and gives His life in exchange for mans life.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Because of the Cross there is a New Covenant God has with man,A Covenant of Grace:
Mat 26:26 And while they were eating, Jesus having taken the bread, and having blessed, did brake, and was giving to the disciples, and said, `Take, eat, this is my body;'
Mat 26:27 and having taken the cup, and having given thanks, he gave to them, saying, `Drink ye of it--all;
Mat 26:28 for this is my blood of the new covenant, that for many is being poured out--to remission of sins;
Mat 26:29 and I say to you, that I may not drink henceforth on this produce of the vine, till that day when I may drink it with you new in the reign of my Father.'
Mat 26:30 And having sung a hymn, they went forth to the mount of the Olives;
Eph 2:8 for by grace ye are having been saved, through faith, and this not of you--of God the gift,
Eph 2:9 not of works, that no one may boast;
Eph 2:10 for of Him we are workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God did before prepare, that in them we may walk.
Through the cross we have life(The Life of God)
Joh 10:9 I am the door, through me if any one may come in, he shall be saved, and he shall come in, and go out, and find pasture.
Joh 10:10 `The thief doth not come, except that he may steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
Joh 10:11 `I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd his life layeth down for the sheep;
Joh 10:12 and the hireling, and not being a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, doth behold the wolf coming, and doth leave the sheep, and doth flee; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep;
Joh 10:13 and the hireling doth flee because he is an hireling, and is not caring for the sheep.
Joh 10:14 `I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep , and am known by mine,
Joh 10:15 according as the Father doth know me, and I know the Father, and my life I lay down for the sheep,
Joh 10:16 and other sheep I have that are not of this fold, these also it behoveth me to bring, and my voice they will hear, and there shall become one flock--one shepherd.
Joh 10:17 `Because of this doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that again I may take it;
Joh 10:18 no one doth take it from me, but I lay it down of myself; authority I have to lay it down, and authority I have again to take it; this command I received from my Father.'
Through the Cross,we see the Omniscience,Omnipotance,Omnipresence and the Character,Attitude,and Personality,Of the God who
created us.
We see His Hatred and Judgement upon sin and sinful man.
Yet we also see his Great Love,Grace and Mercy by offering His Holy,Righteous,Perfect,Sinless Son in mans place
as the only means and way to himself.
The Lords will The Cross:In this life is beyond understanding.
Yet when I am clothed in Immortality,I shall know even as I am known.
1Co 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
1Co 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
1Co 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
Much more is and can be written,yet I will leave that for others.
It never ceases to amaze me that one question can generate so much copying and pasting.
The answer is found in Luke 5:17-26 Jesus could forgive sins before the cross the same as he had done for ages past. As God, He can apply the sacrifice of the cross as He pleases.
TS asked ~ If the Cross of Christ is only about the Forgiveness of Sin then how could Jesus forgive people their sins BEFORE He went to the cross?
The Cross is the Physical Symbol of the Crucifixion...
The Crucifixion ( Jesus nailed to the cross ) is the Utimate Attonement for Our sins...an bridge the gap betwix GOD an Man...He paid the price in Full...
So...Jesus was inpowered to Forgive Sin BEFORE he went to the cross...Cuz...HE is GOD in the Flesh...He could do nothing unless it was given unto Him by His FATHER...xo
The cross of Christ is not only about forgiveness of sins, its more about the LOVE RELATIONSHIP God had for His people, and Jesus has with His the Father.
Jesus's death on the cross was a great blood sacrifice and showed what extent od was willing to go, and endure to saved His people whom He had creatived.
The question asked, how was it that Jesus died on the cross for our sins BEFORE we were even born, or something to that effect.
Well, being that God is all knowing, and is our creator, God foreknew there would be a need for a perfect blood sacrifice for sins, and that the goats and the bulls in times past, were not going to be the answers. Plus, God got tired of winking at sins, and the people still were not making any changes even after the goat sacrifices.
Oh, God could have chosen any form fo display to make the sacrifice, but the cross was a public humiliation platform which was chosen to equal Himself to the people, because it represented the suffering of many sinful men who were worthy of such public humiliation for their sins and crimes.
But Jesus was not worthy of such, but still died on the cross which is the message of the gospel for all the world to see that although Jesus who was sinless, didn't have to died such a shamefull dead. But God chose this platform, to show His love for a sinful people, who should have been the ones on the cross. The cross represents humiliation, which should give cause for everbody to fall on our knees in contire repentance and brokenness before a holy God, when we think about the shame, pain, suffering and humiliation Jesus had to endure for our sins, long before we were even born.
Oh, He could have come down from the cross, as they soldiers were tryinyt to tempt him to do out of ignorance, but he didn't, so that we would not be lost. And I thank God that he doidn't come down from the cross, because if he had , none of us would be here today. Jesus' death covered everything man could ever do, evety possible sins that can be covered that man can commit that's foegiveable, Yet, still many do not repent nor accept Him as thier personal Lord and Savoior who died for the remisssion (forgiveness ) of their sins. Lord over your life, Savior for redemption power through His percious blood sacrifice on the suffering cross.
BTW, Glen, what I have posted is NOT copied and pasted, its all written in my heart in knowing my position in Jesus Christ, and His position in me, and from STUDYING the word of God.
I know, that I know, that I know, what it is that I know...when it comes to knowing who and what Jesus is to me...:rocknroll::yay:
Jesus forgave sins before the cross because JESUS WAS GOD! And as I stated, God winked (overlooked) many sins, and commanded the people to do animal blood sacrifices to cover their sins.
It all in the Book of Hebrews which outlines the story, Jesus was a better and a greater sacrifce for human sins than were the animals. What the law of animal blood sacrifices couldn't do, Jesus beng aperfect sinless human sacfrices did as a demostration of God's love to save His creation from destruction. Otherwise, God would have destryed the earth and the peole again. But He chose to give us another chance as He had promised. So he gave the perfect sacrifice, which was Jesus, and the cross represented public humiliaty for the world, and the gospel of Christ..
Thanks for the answers so far, but I want to dig deeper! I feel ETcallhome is on the edge and "one" of Truckers scriptures says it; but haven't seen anyone dive over the edge yet! I do have a opinion on this I believe is correct, but don't want to take anothers steam! Although I will share it later.
@Glendoramike I read your parable with this question in mind and I see how it could work. It would be nice if you explained what you are thinking.But I feel the orginal meaning of this parable was meant for the Jewish leaders.
The son who ran away and came back = The Gentiles
The oldest son who stayed = Jews or Jewish Leaders
It's all about faith right? Before the cross, Jesus/God was able to forgive sins because people had faith looking forward to the Messiah, and they knew God would do everything He says He will without fail. Now it's the same principle, but we're looking back instead of forward. There's really no difference though. Forgiveness has always been here, we just have to have know and believe the truth that forgiveness exists through the sacrifice of Christ. Past or present. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices didn't actually forgive sins, they just pointed forward to the real sacrifice and brought people to know and have faith in the Messiah.
