Chapter 7-WHAT GOD HAS DONE TO SAVE MANKIND

CHRIST'S RANSOM AND YOU

Consider three ways in which Christ's ransom sacrifice benefits you even now.  First,  it brings forgiveness of sins.  Through  faith in the blood of Jesus, we have "the release by ransom," yes, "the forgiveness of our trespasses."  (Ephesians 1:7)  So even if we have committed a serious sin, we can ask God for forgiveness in Jesus' name.  If we are truly repentant, Jehovah applies to us the value of his Son's ransom sacrifice.  God forgives us, granting us the blessing of a good conscience, instead of exacting the penalty of death that we incur by sinning. -Acts 3:19; 1 Peter 3:21.

Second, Christ's ransom sacrifice provides the basis of our hope for the future.
In vision, the apostle John saw that "a great crowd, which no man was able to number"  would survive the coming cataclysmic end of this system oft hings.  Why will they survive when God destroys so many others?  An angel told John that the great crowd had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb<"  Jesus Christ.  (Revelation 7:9, 14)  As long as  we exercise faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ and live in harmony with divine requirements,we will be clean in God's sight and will have the hope of everlasting life.

Third, the ransom sacrifice is the ultimate proof of Jehovah's love.   Christ's death embodied the two greatest acts of love in the history of the universe:  (1) God's love in sending his Son to die in our behalf;  (2) Jesus' love in willingly offering himself as a ransom.  (John 15:13; Romans 5:8)  If we truly exercise faith,this love applies to each and every one of us.  The apostle Paul said:  "The Son of God . . . loved me and handed himself over for me." -Galatians 2:20; Hebrews2:9:  1 John 4:9, 10.

Therefore, let us show our gratitude for the love displayed by God and Christ by exercising faith in Jesus' ransom sacrifice.  Doing so leads to everlasting life.  (John 3:36)  Yet, our salvation is not the most important reason for Jesus' life and death on earth.  No, his primary concern was an even greater issue, a universal one.  As we shall see  in the next chapter, that issue touches all of us because it shows why God has allowed wickedness and suffering to persist so long in this world.

Next time:WHY DOES GOD PERMIT SUFFERING?

The Book - KNOWLEDGE That Leads To Everlasting life, 1995