Why did God have to become human and die to forgive our sins?

In Leviticus 17:11, God points out that a certain part of His redemption plan would
bring "atonement". It says: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it
to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that
makes an atonement for the soul." The word, atonement, means, "to cover". This
provision of God was the way He provided in order for human beings to be
FORGIVEN for sin.

This is why the Old Testament begins dealing with the subject of sacrificial offerings
so early in its pages. This redemption plan was well illustrated in the account of the
sacrifices of Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter 4. God had obviously revealed this
plan to them, for the Bible records that they both knew and understood that God had
asked them to offer a sacrifice so that God would forgive their sin. The difference
between them was in how they responded to God's specific instructions for receiving
that forgiveness.

Abel pleased God when he put a lamb from his flock of sheep on an altar, shedding its
blood. By following God's directions to make this sacrifice, he demonstrated that he
was trusting in God's plan to provide an atonement covering for his sin. He showed he
had faith in God by being obedient to God's plan. Because of Abel's trust, God
accepted his sacrifice and granted Abel the gift of salvation.

Does the Bible clearly declare that Abel was saved and is in Heaven now? Yes! In
Hebrews 11:4 it is written: "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his
gifts; and by it, he, being dead, yet speaks." Why does he, being dead, yet speak?
Because even though he had died physically, he now lives forever in God's presence,
having received salvation.

Cain, however, did not accept God's plan. He did not appreciate God's provision of
blood Atonement. Instead, he had his own idea for how to regain fellowship with
God. Cain put the fruit of the ground, (vegetables, fruit, and grain), on his altar. He
apparently figured that God would see his good work and accept him.

By doing things his own way, he demonstrated that he did not have respect for God's
plan. He did not acknowledge that he was a sinner who needed atonement, so God did
not respect or accept Cain's sacrifice. Cain did not receive the gift. He did not obtain
witness that he was righteous, as Abel had. Since his sins were not covered by the
atoning blood, he did not receive eternal life. Hebrews 9:22 says, "without the
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." ("remission" means forgiveness.)

Incidentally, all man-made religions seek fellowship with God by Cain's plan. In other
words, a man-made approach to God is one that seeks to come to God by virtue of
man's own efforts, by man's own good works. The only problem is, humans are born
spiritually dead to God, separated from Him, and nothing a human can do can
overcome this. God knew this, and He inspired Proverbs 16:25 - "There is a way that
seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death."
In Exodus God instructed Moses to build a Tabernacle in the wilderness, and
established the Levite men to serve as priests in the administration of an organized
system of daily sacrifices. The people were instructed to bring their sacrificial
offerings to the priests who would present them before God for atonement. Although
this was the established system, it was always required that the offerers came in faith,
repenting their sins. (Leviticus 1:2-4) For example, when the people of Israel, in the
days of Amos the prophet, were unfaithful and unrepentant, their sacrifices were no
longer accepted by God. (Amos 5:21 - 22)

Acceptable sacrifices were brought to the tabernacle by people who were sorry for
their sins. The person bringing the animal would place his hand on its head. God
made it clear that by doing this, with trust in God's plan, (faith), then God would look
at the animal as if the man's sins had now been transferred onto it.

The animal would then be killed. God required his people to do this so that they
would understand how He must punish their sin. The animal would substitute for the
sinner in the taking of the punishment, which was death. Romans 6:23a - "For the
wages of sin is death."

With the sin punished, the sinner was pardoned. The blood of the offering covered the
sin. In exchange, the guilty sinner was declared not guilty because the debt for sin had
been covered. All through the Old Testament, people were offering sacrifices to God
on altars. But they were offered over and over and over again. Why did so much
blood have to be shed? Hebrews 10:4 gives the answer . . . "For it is not possible that
the blood of bulls and of goats should TAKE AWAY sins."

Animals ARE NOT EQUAL in value to human beings. For this reason, they were not
PERFECT substitutes to take the punishment for human beings in atonement. God, in
His mercy, only allowed the blood of animal sacrifices to COVER sin during the Old
Testament time of history. Because they were not perfect substitutes, these sacrifices
had to be made again and AGAIN for every sin.

This would be the way it was, until God would finish His plan by sending a perfect
atonement offering to us, Jesus! By incarnation, He became the "God-Man". As the
Son of God lived and walked on this earth that He Himself had created, He never
sinned. This meant that he was the only sinless human being who ever lived.

Understand this: the animal sacrifices were allowed to be substitutes because they
were innocent of sin themselves. But they were not perfect substitutes because they
were not human. Now God himself was able to be BOTH human and PERFECTLY
SINLESS at the same time. Because of this, He, the Son of God, was the ONLY
perfect substitute sacrifice who has ever existed.

God had used all of those Old Testament sacrifices to point the way to His perfect
SON. John the Baptizer recognized this when he saw Jesus and said, "Behold the
Lamb of God, which TAKES AWAY the sin of the world." (John 1:29) As the
LAMB, Jesus, the Son of God, was indeed the perfect atonement.

On the cross when Jesus died, He cried out, "It is FINISHED!" (John 19:30) He
meant that the work of atonement was now completely DONE. His suffering and shed
blood was perfect, so it only had to be poured out ONE TIME in history. Hebrews
10:12 puts it this way . . . "But this man, (Jesus), after He had offered ONE sacrifice
for sins FOREVER, sat down on the right hand of God."

Why did He sit down? Because the job of giving atonement to men was now DONE!
It would never again need to be repeated. NEVER. He was the perfect atonement who
did not just cover sin, He WASHED SIN AWAY with His blood. (Revelation 1:5)

At that moment Jesus died on the cross, the benefits of His perfect atoning work were
made retroactive for all those Old Testament people who had the faith to trust in
God's plan and obey His instructions. They are SAVED.

In the same instant, Jesus' blood became the atonement for the sins of every person
who would trust Him in that day, and every person who would trust Him in the future.
In other words, His atoning work has become available to all men. Romans 5:8 and 9
tells us; "But God demonstrated His love toward us in that, while we were STILL
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified (declared not guilty)
by HIS BLOOD, we shall be saved from WRATH through HIM."

The fact that Jesus did not remain dead after He was crucified, but that He ROSE
AGAIN, is THE PROOF that His precious BLOOD was sufficient to wash away all
of our sins, IF we TRUST HIM FOR IT. Romans 4:25 tells us that He was the ONE
"who was delivered for our offenses, and was RAISED AGAIN for our justification."

"In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the
purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we
who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also
trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also,
having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the
guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the
praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:11 - 14)

"Unto Him that LOVED us, and WASHED us from our sins in His own BLOOD . . .
to HIM be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen!" (Revelations 1:5 - 6)

To read more on this topic, see: "Do You Know the Truth of Hebrews 9:22?"
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=294931307198142

Also this article about the teaching of the blood sacrifice for forgiveness that is found
throughout the scriptures:
https://www.facebook.com/TheLambJesus/photos/a.426429680745984/44314495202
43960

Also See "God's Plan of Salvation" at

https://www.facebook.com/TheLambJesus/photos/a.241986365856984.65287.135009
469888008/1274305949291682/?type=3&theater