God set in motion a series of events that would make it possible for the human part of creation to be saved from their sins. The message early on was that mankind’s behavior wasn’t pleasing to the Creator and only he, that is God, could do away with sin. Jesus came into the world to accomplish what man could not do for himself. The scriptures identify the work of Jesus as the remission of sin. The word remission means to be set free, to have the debt owed to God discharged and not be held accountable, excluding all idea of punishment.  

The message of the gospel of Christ is about salvation, and in order for salvation to be effective, sins had to be remitted. The message of remission of sins began in the Old Testament with the promise to Abraham and then brought it to fruition in the New Testament. Mark recorded the work of John the Baptist in his gospel account by the following: [Mark 1:4] John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. The preposition for (Greek eis) in the verse doesn’t give the full meaning of John’s message. The word for the verse  means into with a view to with respect to a certain event in order to bring about a desired conclusion. In this case, John said to look toward the death of Jesus on the cross where remission of sins will be accomplished. The only way for salvation to be possible was for sins to be taken away by the future sacrifice preached by John.

Members of the Lord’s body, the church, are to do good works and those good works include preaching the gospel to the lost. Beginning on the day of Pentecost, the message of salvation was preached by Peter to the Jews. Luke recorded Peter’s words in Acts. [Acts 2:38] Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The preposition eis is the same one found in Mark1:4. The only difference in the use of the word (the meaning is the same) is that whereas John’s message looked to the future crucifixion, the message in Acts looks back at Jesus who died and rose from the grave; the ressurrection being the proof of the future promise of the reality of eternal life. Peter told his hearers to look to Jesus for salvation and be baptized into him with the view of receiving the remission of sins which took place on the cross. Before the cross the hearers looked forward to remission and after the cross the hearers look back to Jesus.

When sin is left out of the message of God, there can be no message of remission which makes the work of Christ null and void regarding those who hear a message purportedly from scripture. Jesus Christ didn’t come to earth to perform feel good activities, though being saved should make those who obey the gospel feel good that they have done as God instructs. The message in Hebrews is about the work of Jesus and the blessing of salvation he brought and which lives in the abiding word of God. Jesus shed his blood for our salvation and the Hebrew writer wrote: [Heb 9:22] And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Jesus shed his blood for the remission of sins.

  God promised Abraham that he would save all those who would obey his message. We find in Hebrews these words: [Heb 10:16] This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; [Heb 10:17] And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. [Heb 10:18] Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.  God’s promise came to fruition in Jesus Christ. His work remitted the sins of mankind and there will be no more offerings for sin.

Salvation is only possible through remission of sins effected by the work of Christ. Jude wrote: [Jude 1:3] Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Remission of sins is part of the faith process and without remission and the preaching of that message, there is no salvation.

© 06-18-2006  DEC

                               Next Lesson Joining A Church