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Objective

In this lesson, we’ll see Christ in the role of a priest as He makes atonement for our sin through His sacrificial death on the cross.

Key Verse

1 Peter 3:18: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.

Introduction

The earthly ministry of Jesus was an important fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. But the main reason why Jesus came to earth was to save us from our sin.

1 Timothy 1:15: This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.

How does Christ save us from our sin? The Bible tells us that He has redeemed us by His death and through His blood. He offered Himself as a sacrifice to pay the penalty of our sins. We were like prisoners in a slave market. We were in bondage to sin and death. But Christ has bought us. He has set us free.

Ephesians 1:7: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.

1 Peter 1:18-19: For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Revelation 5:9: And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Why did God choose to redeem us from sin? The Bible teaches that Christ redeemed us according to the will of God. It was God’s desire to deliver us from sin.

Galatians 1:4: who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

But why did God choose to do this? Could He have decided not to redeem us? Could He have left us in our sin? It’s important for us to see that the atonement is necessary. But it is not necessary because of you and me. It is necessary because of who God is. It is necessary for two reasons: the justice of God and the love of God.

Sin is rebellion against our Creator. God could not ignore it. Sin had to be punished and taken away because God is holy and just. So why didn’t God completely destroy His creation? God is also love, and this is why He provided a perfect sacrifice for our sin.

John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

We see the justice and the love of God revealed to us at the cross.

1 John 4:9-10: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

In this lesson, we’ll look at the redemptive ministry of Jesus from three viewpoints:

• How the prophets foretold it
• How the Gospels described it
• How the epistles explained it

How the Prophets Foretold It

The prophets of the Old Testament looked ahead to Christ’s redemptive work and revealed God’s plan for our salvation through detailed pictures and specific prophecies. The entire Old Testament prepares us for Christ in two important ways: through pictures and through prophecies.

There are many beautiful pictures of the work of Christ throughout the Old Testament. Read through the following passages, comparing the Old Testament picture with the New Testament fulfillment:

• The sacrifice of Isaac shows us a father willing to give his beloved son, pointing us to how God would give His only Son for us (Genesis 22:8; Hebrews 11:17-19).
• The Passover lamb protected Israel from God’s judgment through its blood, just as Christ’s blood protects us from eternal judgment (Exodus 12:7, 22; 1 Corinthians 5:7).
• The mercy seat on the ark of the covenant was the place where God’s wrath was satisfied, showing us how Christ satisfies God’s justice for our sins (Exodus 25:17-22; Romans 3:25).
• The brass serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness brought healing to all who looked upon it, just as we are healed from sin’s deadly poison when we look to Christ lifted up on the cross (Numbers 21:9; John 3:14-15).

The prophets also foretold the suffering and death of Christ for our sins. They did not understand everything that the Holy Spirit revealed to them. But they knew that God would bring salvation.

1 Peter 1:10-12: Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

David prophesied about the death of Jesus on the cross with amazing accuracy. The crucifixion fulfilled many of the specific details of David’s prophecy.

Psalm 22:1, 6-8, 16, 18: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?… But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”… Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet… They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

Isaiah gives the fullest prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the atonement. Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would take our sins upon Himself.

Isaiah 53:4-7: Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

(Notebook Moment: As you read these Old Testament prophecies that were written hundreds of years before Christ was born, how does their detailed accuracy strengthen your faith in God’s Word? What does this teach us about God’s ability to know the future and accomplish His plans?)

How the Gospels Described It

The Gospels are eyewitness accounts that describe the redemptive work of Christ in vivid detail, recording what was said and what happened during Christ’s earthly ministry and sacrificial death. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record the actual words and events that took place when God’s plan of redemption was accomplished.

Throughout the Gospels, God used different people to testify about why Jesus had to die. Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce Mary’s soul because of her Son’s mission. John the Baptist declared Jesus to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Even the high priest Caiaphas, though he spoke with evil intentions, prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus about His approaching death when they appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Luke 2:34-35: Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

John 1:29: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Most importantly, the Gospels record what Jesus said about His own death. He repeatedly told His disciples that He would suffer, be killed, and rise again on the third day.

Mark 8:31: He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

Mark 10:45: For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

John 10:11: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 12:23-24: Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

The Gospels also describe in great detail what happened when Jesus died. A large part of each Gospel tells about the final week before Jesus went to the cross. These important chapters at the end of each Gospel are called the Passion story. The word “passion” means “suffering.” The Passion story includes these key elements in all four Gospels:

• He was betrayed by Judas, one of His own disciples
• He was put on trial by wicked men who sought false witnesses against Him
• He was mocked, beaten, and humiliated by the Roman soldiers
• He was nailed to the cross between two criminals
• He was abandoned by God as He bore our sins
• He died and was buried in a borrowed tomb

(Notebook Moment: How does it encourage you to know that Jesus willingly chose to endure such suffering for your sake? What does His willingness to go through the Passion reveal about His love for you?)

The disciples would not fully understand the meaning of Jesus’ death until after the resurrection when the Holy Spirit opened their eyes to the truth (Luke 18:34, Luke 24:45).

How the Epistles Explained It

The epistles explain most fully the meaning and significance of Christ’s death for us, showing how His sacrifice accomplishes our complete salvation and reconciliation with God. Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would guide the disciples into all truth, and we see this promise fulfilled in how the apostles explained the death of Christ in their letters.

The epistles present the redemptive work of Christ in four important ways.

First, we see the sacrifice of Christ in relation to man. Christ died to reconcile us to God, removing the barrier that our sin had created between us and our holy Creator. Through His death, we who were enemies of God have been made His friends and children.

Romans 5:6-11: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Second, we see the sacrifice of Christ in relation to the world. Through Christ’s death, God is working to restore all of creation from the curse that sin brought upon it. The whole creation groans and waits for the final redemption that Christ’s sacrifice made possible.

Romans 8:19-23: For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonhood, the redemption of our bodies.

Third, we see the sacrifice of Christ in relation to Satan. Through His death and resurrection, Christ defeated Satan and all the powers of darkness, liberating us from their dominion and displaying His complete victory over evil.

Colossians 2:13-15: When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Fourth, we see the sacrifice of Christ in relation to God. Christ serves as our perfect High Priest, offering Himself as the final sacrifice that satisfies God’s justice and opens the way for us to approach our holy God with confidence.

Hebrews 7:24-27: but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.

The epistles teach us that Christ’s sacrifice was substitutionary, which means He took our place and received the punishment we deserved. His sacrifice was also atoning, which means it satisfied God’s justice and removed the guilt of our sin. Christ became our substitute, bearing our sins in His own body on the cross, so that we might be declared righteous before God. This is the heart of the gospel: the sinless Son of God took upon Himself the sins of the world and paid the full penalty that divine justice required. Through faith in Christ’s finished work, we receive complete forgiveness and are clothed with His perfect righteousness.

(Notebook Moment: How does understanding that Christ was your personal substitute on the cross change the way you think about your relationship with God? What difference should this truth make in how you live each day?)

Conclusion

Before going to the cross, Jesus gathered His disciples for the Last Supper. He took the bread and wine and commanded them to remember His death.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26: For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

When we take communion, we are remembering the great sacrifice that purchased our salvation. Every time we participate in this sacred meal, we proclaim that Christ’s death was sufficient to pay for our sins and that His blood was precious enough to purchase our eternal redemption.

The redemptive work of Christ stands as the central truth of all Scripture and the foundation of our faith. From the first promise of a Redeemer in Genesis to the final victory celebration in Revelation, the Bible tells the story of God’s amazing plan to save sinners through the sacrificial death of His Son. This is not just ancient history—this is your story and mine. Christ died for you personally, taking your sins upon Himself and giving you His righteousness in return. This is the good news that changes everything: you can be completely forgiven, fully accepted by God, and eternally secure because Jesus Christ has paid it all.

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