Jesus Unmasked: The Truth Will Shock You (4 page)

Isaiah concluded this amazing description of a murdered Messiah with this shocking statement, “But it was
the
Lord
’s good plan
to crush him and fill him with grief” (Isa. 53:10; NLT). There it is again. Seven centuries before Jesus came to this earth, Isaiah announced the Lord’s prearranged plan of salvation; to sacrifice a spotless lamb for the forgiveness of sins.

The shadow is getting very clear.

430 Years before Christ

It is now two hundred years after Jeremiah announced a new covenant for the forgiveness of sins by a lamb-like Messiah. No Messiah has arrived yet. Where is He? Who is He? The very last book of the Old Testament ends like this, “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the
Lord
arrives” (Mal. 4:5).

That is how the Old Testament closes, and then
. . .
nothing.

For four hundred years God did not send this promised prophet to reveal the Messiah. The Jews were left in the shadows and with their guilt. So they faithfully sacrificed lamb after lamb after lamb after lamb for the covering of their sins.

Chapter Five — The Scarlet Thread in the New Testament

Few of us have the patience for waiting. Imagine waiting four hundred years for someone. Okay, you would be dead, but that’s not the point.

God promised the Jews a Messiah who would save people from their sins (Matt. 1:21), but that was hundreds of years ago. Where is this Promised One? What is taking so long?

God’s bloody sacrificial system in the Old Testament provided for the covering of sins. But the sacrificing of lambs never removed guilt; it was only a shadowy picture of a better sacrifice to come; a sacrifice that would forgive sins.

Year after year, lamb after lamb, the Jews shed blood for the covering of sins.

30 Anno Domini (the Year of Our Lord)

After four hundred years of complete silence and countless bloody sacrifices, God spoke. He sent an Elijah-type prophet named John the Baptist who pointed at Jesus Christ and announced,

“Behold! The
Lamb
of God who
takes away
the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

After centuries of longing for a Messiah to deliver them from their sins, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, appeared. Suddenly, the shadows of the Old Testament are revealed as pictures of Jesus Christ who came to this earth to be the perfect sacrifice for the complete forgiveness of sins.

Just as the scarlet thread ran through the Old Testament, that same theme makes its way through the entire New Testament. Old Testament lambs were sacrificed repeatedly for the covering of sins. The better New Testament Lamb would be sacrificed one time for the forgiveness of sins.

33 Anno Domini (the Year of Our Lord)

For fifteen hundred years the Jews had been celebrating Passover by killing an unblemished male lamb and partaking in a Passover meal. Many foods would be eaten symbolically, like bitter herbs to remind them of their bitter sufferings under the Egyptians. They would also drink wine at four different times throughout the meal. The third cup of wine was a toast to the lamb whose blood had been shed that day for the covering of their sins.

It was Passover week in the year
a.d.
33 and Jesus was in the city of Jerusalem to celebrate the night the death angel passed over the children of Israel if they had sacrificed a lamb and put the lamb’s blood on their doorpost. On the night Jesus was going to be arrested, He reclined at a table in Jerusalem to eat the Passover meal with His 12 disciples.

On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “
This is my body
, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper [the third cup in the Passover feast], saying, “This cup is the
new
covenant
between God and you, sealed by the
shedding of my blood
” (1 Cor. 11:23–26; NLT).

By uttering these words, Jesus basically proclaimed, “Don’t toast the lambs that could merely cover sins. Toast Me, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

In one proclamation, Jesus shattered 15 centuries of tradition. No longer would a continual stream of animal blood be shed for the covering of sins; Jesus Christ would be sacrificed one time for the complete forgiveness of sins.

This must have stunned the disciples. With one sentence, Jesus announced the fulfillment of the old covenant and the creation of a new covenant promised over six hundred years ago by the prophet Jeremiah.

Not only must His announcement have flabbergasted the disciples, but it must have shocked and grieved them. Jesus made the fuzzy picture clear, the Old Testament lambs were mere types and shadows of Him. Jesus was going to willingly and knowingly sacrifice Himself to save sinners.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was murdered in fulfillment of God’s pre-arranged plan. While there is no intrinsic power in the actual blood of Jesus, His shed blood is enough to cleanse anyone who comes to Him in repentance and faith. The blood that was shed two thousand years ago has the same power today.

Today

Not only does the Bible tell us about the past, the Scriptures tell us what Jesus is doing right now. Surprise — the scarlet thread continues!

So Christ has now become the
High Priest
over all the good things that have come. He has entered that great, perfect sanctuary in heaven, not made by human hands and not part of this created world.
Once for all time He took blood
into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took His own blood, and with it He secured our salvation forever.

Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people’s bodies from ritual defilement.

Just think how much more the
blood of Christ will purify our hearts
from deeds that lead to death so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a
perfect sacrifice for our sins
.

That is why He is the one who
mediates the
new covenant
between God and people, so that all who are invited can receive the eternal inheritance that God has promised them. For Christ died to
set them free
from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that fist covenant (Heb. 9:11–15).

Right now, Jesus Christ is ensuring that people who repent and trust Him will have His good work credited to their accounts so they can be forgiven for their crimes against God and be spared from the wrath that is to come (Heb. 12:24).

The blood that Jesus shed two thousand years ago is still efficacious. Jesus’ blood still has the power to forgive sinners and keep them forgiven.

The Bible doesn’t stop there! The Bible progressively reveals what is going to happen in the future.

Someday Soon

The last book of the Bible is an apocalyptic vision of the Apostle John that tells us how God is going to unfold His prearranged plan for His glory. Let’s pull back the curtain on the future and see what role you will play in glorifying God.

Then I looked again, and I heard the singing of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and the living beings and the elders.

And they sang in mighty chorus, “The
Lamb
is worthy — the
Lamb who was killed
.
He is worthy to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”

And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They also sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the
Lamb
forever and ever.”

And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped God and the
Lamb
(Rev. 5:11–14; NLT).

We don’t need “trip to heaven” books. We have an actual God-ordained vision of heaven and future events. In the future, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, will receive the praises of all the creatures in heaven, and then the end of time will come.

I watched as the
Lamb
broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. The stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from trees shaken by mighty winds.

And the sky was rolled up like a scroll and
taken away
. And all of the mountains and all of the islands disappeared. Then the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy people, the people with great power, and every slave and every free person — all
hid themselves
in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and
hide us
from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the
Lamb
.
For the great day of their wrath has come, and who will be able to survive?” (Rev. 6:12–17; NLT).

When Jesus returns to this earth, He will judge the world in righteousness. Remember, God’s character demands that justice is satisfied and every single evil deed punished. This is what judgment day will look like for unforgiven sinners, and there is nothing shadowy about this.

And I saw a great
white throne
, and I saw the one who was sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small,
standing before God’s throne
. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were
judged
according to the things written in the books, according to what they had done. The sea gave up the dead in it. . . .

They were all
judged
according to their deeds. And death and the grave
were thrown
into the lake of fire. This is the second death — the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was
thrown
into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11–15; NLT).

Jesus warned that the majority of people will find themselves thrown to hell for their sins (Matt. 7:13–14). When He returns, He will stand as judge of those whose sins are not forgiven. Every sin will be accounted for. Every blasphemous word will be punished. Every filthy deed will receive its due.

Notice that unforgiven sinners will not “fall” to hell, they will be thrown. Can you guess who does the throwing? There will not be a trap door with a chute that leads sinners to hell like a waterpark slide. God Himself will cast them to eternal damnation.

Once sinners arrive at the lake of sulfur, they will suffer eternal, conscious torment glorifying God as He pours out His wrath on sinners.

Then He will also say to those on His left, “Depart from Me,
accursed ones
, into the
eternal fire
which has
been prepared
for the devil and his angels
(Matt. 25:41).

Hell didn’t evolve, it was prepared. By God. The flames of hell do not stay lit by themselves, they are fueled by God. Because He is glorified by everything, God will be glorified in the death of sinners. It is a small glory, but He will be glorified.

Great News

For those whose names are securely written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, for those whose sins are forgiven, God’s prearranged plan is amazing.

Then I saw a
new heaven
and a
new earth
, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a beautiful bride prepared for her husband.

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will
live with them
, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be
no more death
or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are
gone forever
.”

And the one sitting on the throne [Jesus] said, “Look, I am making all things new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is
trustworthy
and true.”

And He also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega — the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the
water of life
without charge! All who are victorious will inherit all these
blessings
, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. But cowards who turn away from me, and unbelievers, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those who practice witchcraft, and idol worshipers, and all liars — their doom is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death” (Rev. 21:1–8; NLT).

What will heaven be like and who will be there?

The twelve gates were made of pearls — each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass. No temple could be seen in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb
are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the
Lamb
is its light.

The nations of the earth will walk in its light, and the rulers of the world will come and bring their glory to it. Its gates never close at the end of day because there is
no night
. And all the nations will
bring their glory
and honor into the city. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter — no one who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty — but only those whose names are written in the
Lamb’s Book of Life
(Rev. 21:21–27; NLT).

The last chapter in the Bible hearkens back to the very beginning of the Bible. The Garden of Eden was perfect and it contained a river and two trees. God’s people communed perfectly in the actual presence of God.