The Cross is the Bridge to Life
Though we find ourselves in the seemingly impossible situation of being doomed in a cesspool of sin & death, there is still hope. This is where we come to see the vital importance of Principle 4 – God has provided a solution to our dilemma.
Realize that your destiny does not rest in you abilities but solely on what God has done for you. Our only hope when we’re in an impossible situation is to turn to the only One who can do the impossible. The following explains what God has done for all of us.
One of the reasons why God created the universe was that He wanted to commune with creature who were like Himself, who bear His very image. God cared so much about us that even after Adam and Eve ushered us into the darkness of sin, He worked out His own plan to save us since we couldn’t save ourselves. There are many passages in both the Bible and the Qur’an that emphasize the fact that God did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves: He solved our sin problem—but at great cost to Himself.
Towrah Isaiah 19:20—When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue (Deliver) them.
Zabur Psalm 49:7-8—No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough.
Isn’t it interesting that it is impossible for a person to do enough to ransom oneself from the just punishment for his sins? It’s too big a job. (see also Romans 3:20)
Injeel Ephesians 2:8-9—It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.
Qur’an Rangers 37:107—We (God) ransomed him (Abraham’s son) with a mighty sacrifice.
The term “mighty” is Arabic also means priceless without any limit. Since God is the only one able to provide for man’s ransom, man must look to God in order to be saved. Can you think of a way in history that God has provided this ransom for us? When I survey history from the
Listen to this story. A man was brought to court for stealing money from his company. As the judge asked him the usual questions, he discovered that this man had been his childhood friend. That put the judge in a predicament. The tender spot in his heart for his friend made him want to not condemn the man to the imprisonment he deserved. But to free him would be unfair to his employer, who had been wronged.
After much thought, the judge himself repaid the company all the money the man had stolen. The representatives of the company were satisfied. The man himself was freed, and was grateful to the judge for the rest of his life.
In the same way, although we stand rightly condemned for our sins, God, in His love for us, took our punishment by giving Himself as a mighty sacrifice for us at the cross.
It is vitally important to recognize the significance of the Cross. The underlying concept is one of paying a ransom for another person. A ransom is the necessary price to pay for the release of a captive. We are all captives of our own sins. We need to be set free but that is only accomplished by having the ransom paid for our sins and as Rangers 37 stated the ransom MUST BE a “mighty” / priceless sacrifice.
The following verses from the Bible and the Qur’an further document that God should be trusted to provide man’s ransom from his sin.
Towrah Genesis 22:13 – Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he was a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Exodus 12:13—“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike
Notice in these verses that just as God designated that the blood of a pure lamb (Without defect) would be a sign to protect the Jews in Egypt from being destroyed by a plague of death, so trusting in the pure blood of God’s mighty sacrifice at the cross protects us from being destroyed in hell because of our sins.
Leviticus 17:11—“It is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”
Pure blood is necessary for our sins to be sufficiently paid for in God’s sight—life for life. Pure blood covered the sin of Adam and Even when God killed an animal and used its skin to cover their nakedness (see Genesis 3:21).
Isaiah 63:8—(God) said, “Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me;” and so he became their Savior.
The point here is that God Himself is the savior of His people.
Zabur Psalm 34:22—The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 31:5—Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.
Psalm 56:13—You have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
We see in psalm 34 that taking refuge in God will save you from condemnation. In other words, God alone can redeem and deliver us, which we see clearly in Psalm 31 and 56. We can’t redeem ourselves by trying to make our good deeds outweigh our bad ones. Since God Himself is singled out as the One who redeems and delivers, obviously He recognizes that we need that for our lives—being delivered from the power of sin, from having to continue sinning.
Psalm 107:6-7—Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way.
Many Muslims ask God to lead them in a straight path at least five times a day. Psalm 107 shows that the bible agrees with this prayer, and that indeed we have to look to God alone for our salvation and not trust in ourselves.
Injeel Matthew 26:28—“This is my blood (Isa’s blood) of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Romans 3:23-25—All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.
In Matthew 26:28, Isa Himself explains that pure blood is necessary for forgiveness (That concept is fully explained in Hebrews 9.)
Romans 3:23-25 goes on to emphasize that we are all fallen sinners who need the redemption that is available in Jesus not in our own efforts. The necessity of Pure blood is mentioned again. This shows how amazing God’s plan for us really is, for because of His might sacrifice of Himself through Christ, He cancels out our past sins so that we do not have to pay for them. Why? Because Isa (Jesus) had already done so. (See also I Peter 1:18-19)
Qur’an Story 28:16—He (Moses) said, “My Lord, I have wronged myself. Forgive me!” So God forgave him, for He is the All-forgiving, the All-compassionate.
Some people say that prophets (like Moses) do not sin. But this verse shows that even a prophet needs to be rescued from sin.
Cow 2:38—“There shall come to you (Adam and Eve) guidance from Me (God), and whosoever follows My guidance, no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow.”
There was guidance even for Adam and Eve when they sinned—if they looked to the Lord for it. ‘That is, the Lord Himself was their salvation. They couldn’t depend on their own works.
Women 4:110—Whosoever does evil, or wrongs himself, and then prays God’s forgiveness, he shall find God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.
People often believe that their good deeds must outweigh their bad deeds to win God’s favor and to go to heaven. This verse says they must repent and ask for God’s forgiveness of their bad deeds.
Here’s a story that can bring this point home. To get rid of her anger every time her son hurt her, a widow pounded a nail in the back of her kitchen door. One day the son opened the door and saw all the nails. “What is the meaning of these?” he asked her. Reluctantly, she told him. Amazed that he had hurt her so much, he asked her to forgive him. And he removed all the nails.
But the holes remained, reminding him that he had hurt her so much. The nail prints served as a sign to keep him from hurting her again.
We have to come to God ourselves for forgiveness, according to Cattle 6:69. Even when He forgives us, we still have the memory of what we have done to be a deterrent to repeating the same sins.
I know that some of the verses may seem to be repetitive to you and that is for a purpose. They are all to drive home the point that God’s plan for mankind is revealed through the Bible and the Qur’an. That we must submit to God’s plan for us to have salvation and to be delivered from our sin.
What do you think this means? Please comment by clicking the comment link below. Or, email me at jpound777 (at) yahoo.com if you want to comment or have a question.
video: God Has a Plan for You -- Part 4
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