Jesus standing in the gap

Attention: Where did that gap come from?
Application: Jesus the Great High Priest
Appeal: How does this affect OUR story?

Attention: Where did that gap come from?

Romans 3v23
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Genesis 3v22
The LORD said, "These people now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live forever."
So the LORD God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, where they would have to work the ground from which the man had been made.


-Go right back to Genesis 3 when Eve and then Adam fell into temptation in the Garden and sinned.
-Brought division among people-Caused fruitfulness to become less -Toil and strife in survival-God had to drive them out because if they were allowed to stay, they would be eternally trying to hide themselves.
-Imagine a relationship with someone you love so desperately, but the other was constantly hiding from you. God had to drive them out in order to bring them back.

What was the consequence of this for them? There was a gap
What is the consequence of that for us? There is a gap


Application: Jesus the Great High Priest

Leviticus 4 Atonement for sin

Atonement

Hebrew: כּפר kâphur (kaw-far)
To cover or cancel, appease, cleanse, forgive

Greek: καταλλαγή katallagē (kat-al-lag-ay)
Restoration to the divine favor

-God continues to raise up a people Israel

-There is still a gap between humans and God so He had to create something that can help close that gap which was animal sacrifice.

-The way was not a permanent solution. It was methodical and had appears to have no real relational meaning. It was a means of keeping God’s anger against sin away.

-Once a year a priest from the order of the Levites was appointed to go into the Holy of Holies to ‘atone’ for the people’s sin. He would present before God an offering to make up for all the wrong things done. The position was serious, and often, a bell on a rope would be attached to the leg of the priest, so that if anything happened he would be able to be dragged out by those that are left outside.

There was still a gap.

-Animals cannot close the gap between a Holy God and His beloved people.
-They were still presented by sinful people.

-Jesus was created by the Father to be our final atonement for sin. Hebrews calls Him our ‘Great High Priest’ who once and for all, was crucified and set before God as an offering on behalf of Jews, Gentiles and the entirety of humanity. He was the perfect sinless sacrifice.

-But there is another element to this. Jesus is not only just a ‘sacrifice’ He is also a Great High Priest who has gone through the things that we go through. Is a part of the Trinity. So God didn’t just create a human who was meaningless, He actually sent a part of Himself to die on behalf of us.

-Not only is the gap filled……..it was filled with His own being.

Hebrews 2v14 onwards
We are people of flesh and blood. That is why Jesus became one of us. He died to destroy the devil, who had power over death.
But he also died to rescue all of us who live each day in fear of dying.
Jesus clearly did not come to help angels, but he did come to help Abraham's descendants.
He had to be one of us, so that he could serve God as our merciful and faithful high priest and sacrifice himself for the forgiveness of our sins.
And now that Jesus has suffered and was tempted, he can help anyone else who is tempted.
(CEV)

The gap is closed.

Appeal: How does this affect How does this affect OUR story?

But it does not end here. Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice that meant more than just an animal dying.

He was flesh and blood for more than 30 years. He experienced all things that we experience:

Hebrews 4v15
Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin!
So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.

When we sin-we create a gap between us and God.

But we can bravely and boldly come before the throne of God because Jesus, the One who fills that gap for us, knows every single weakness and temptation that we go through, and He can ‘intercede’ or go between us and God, as if He was our representative, and ask God for our forgiveness.

We need to choose to accept that offer from Him. He didn’t just do it so we could go about our daily lives doing what we want.

The gap wasn’t filled so we could please ourselves.

It was so that we could come into right relationship with Him. TRINITY. The trinity can be complete when we accept the offer of His ‘sacrifice’ for our sins that cause that gap between us and God.