By Abdu Rafiu
It cannot be for nothing that we human beings are endowed with the faculty with which to reflect, to weigh and examine, to think and in the words of a wise man, think and think until thinking hurts. Over the Ages, there have been pronouncements and concepts which have been accepted hook, line and sinker without deep introspection to test their verity. Take for example the loving wishes that a departed soul may rest in peace. In obsequies, open obituary pages, read torrents of wishes in condolence register, or listen during sympathy visits, it is “May he rest in peace in the bosom of the Lord.”Some are wont to say ‘in perfect peace.’ Yet, scientists tell us about the Law of Motion. This law does not permit of a standstill whether here on earth or in the Beyond. Movement in the Beyond is even faster in the lighter parts of the Beyond. It is in the depth of the Dark Region that ponderousness is pronounced. What was taught was “The Realm of Peace.” What man has clung to and which he utters without second thoughts is the distortion which may, in fact, be a curse, albeit inadvertently meant.
In the same way, for centuries since the departure of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, from this world, it is said especially during Easter: “Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the Sin of the World.” What this is interpreted to mean in Christendom is that the Lord Christ was a sacrificial Lamb and by His death on the Cross He has carried away the sins of the world. The statement was credited to John the Apostle (John 1:29). This is the way it is reported in Dakes Annotated Reference Bible; in Holy Bible, Illuminated Family Edition; as well as in the pocket edition containing The New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs distributed by Gideons International. Christian Standard Bible puts it slightly differently even though all connote the same meaning. Its version quotes John as saying: “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
The statement credited to John in this version sits well with us human beings as man would like to push his burden to others to carry. Having someone else to carry his can massages man’s proclivity to relieve himself of responsibility. In some other editions, the translation by Martin Luther is preferred. That reads: Behold the Lamb of God that beareth the sin of the world. According to higher knowledge spreading on earth today, it is his that is correct. The phrase taketh away is substituted for the word beareth. Regardless of the difference in their meanings, believers just concluded and still do till today that the Lord Christ died to take away the sins of the world. This is ingrained in children and in the youths as well as new converts to Christian Faith. It will not be out of place to ask: Were these the sins from when human beings first set foot on earth as well as those from up to when Christ left? At the time, was it also futuristic in application? In other words, does this cover from when He left and up till the present time?
Things have gone worse since He left. The decline in human conduct and sinning was going rapidly downhill such that Prophet Mohammed had to be sent to arrest it. By the time he came in 571 A.D., mankind had gone back to their old ways and sins. He knew the Truth given by the Lord Jesus and he proclaimed It unrelentingly. Again, no sooner he departed the world than human beings brought down the high and lofty Teachings to the human level.
The question for which we may also need to provide answers is whether it was conceivable and practicable for the Lord to carry sins from the sinful world to the sinless paradisiacal Realm, the Divine Realm where He has His Abode and Throne. To do what there? To pollute His Realm? Sin cannot even enter Paradise, the Spiritual Realm, the Home of human beings. It is said: “Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out of thence till thou hast paid the last farthing!” (Matthew 5: 26-29). We also read: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may enter the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.” (Revelation 22: 14). The earlier verses (Revelation 11- 12) state as follows: “Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy go on being made filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; and let the holy go on being holy.” “Look! I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me to repay each person according to what he has done.”
What is being said in these passages is that Paradise that we long to go does not permit of a single speck of dust, and no one will leave the material world which comprises parts of the Beyond and this earth. The consequences of thoughts, for example, are reserved for a part of the Beyond that is known as Fine Gross Matter while those of speeches are reserved for the Region of Medium Gross Matter. Those of actions are experienced in Coarse Gross Matter which is this earth. It should, however, be remembered that even actions are first preceded by thoughts, and additionally sometimes by speeches. There are noble thoughts and there are upbuilding speeches; these have ennobling and uplifting consequences laden with blessings and they turn our inner gaze upwards—to the Light. The influence of thoughts and speeches on the visible material can be either rewarded or punished. Such can be within the remit of earthly courts.
It is also being made plain in the verses that each person bears responsibility for what he thinks, says or does until the weavings drop off him, also off his soul. All activities are deposits on the soul, to uplift or press it down. It is, therefore, not possible for a person to carry the sins of another. Everyone has to atone for his own wrongdoing, weaknesses and faults and it is he alone that can forgive the wrong his neighbour has done to him and vice-versa. The Lord is, therefore, incapable of taking unto Himself the sins of mankind. What the Lord came to do out of Love was to show mankind the way out of sins and to forgiveness of sins. These are till today through His Holy Word of Truth. The Word of Truth points to the Laws which He said He had not come to abolish but to fulfill. The Laws made no exception for Him. He could therefore not harvest what He did not sow.
He had to say no one comes to the Father except through Him, which is through the Truth that He taught and which spells out the Will of God. As this column has said repeatedly, this Will is manifested in the eternal and self-enforcing Laws of Nature, otherwise known as Divine Laws or the Laws of Creation. When there is deviation from them it is tantamount to sin and rebellion against the immutable Holy Will of the Almighty Creator. National laws are patterned in the form but hardly in content with the Laws of Nature. Lawyers sensing the superiority of Laws of Nature sometimes invoke what they call Laws of Natural Justice. National laws are manifestations of the collective will of the legislators. These are aimed at protecting the citizens; seeing to their well-being and progress. Violations are resented because they interfere with the law in which are inherent orderliness and peace, joy and happiness. International laws are to ensure orderliness, peace and respect for human dignity as well as harmony in the interactions between and among nations. Any nation that breaches an international law is taken before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Every action, thought or speech produces ethereal threads which are woven into the tapestry of life. For every thought, speech or action it is the power of The Most High God that is used. As such we are accountable for the way the power has been used. It is neutral like electricity which can be used to build or to destroy. The threads are linked inseparably to the producer. They are woven by the servants of the Most High called Nature Beings whose loyalty is incomparable. The thoughts or speeches take on forms. These form power centres attracting similar thought forms from far and wide. Because thoughts of evil predominate– instead thoughts of love, kindness and goodness to be on the ascendancy– hate, wars, blind destruction of lives and property, killings, banditry, kidnapping and sundry aberrations are ravaging our world as the unspeakable price mankind have to pay. The way to forgiveness of sins and redemption, therefore, lies only in goodness and overcoming weaknesses and faults which is made possible through only heeding the Laws bearing the Will of God. And so it is said we cannot be living in sin and expect His Grace to abound. (Roman 6:2).
It is instructive to note that the Revelation of John came after the departure of Christ from the earth. If by His death he had carried away the sins of mankind we would not have been required to, as a matter of personal responsibility, to wash our robes immaculately clean. The robes refer to our souls and filth, dross accumulated on them would no longer have been there. There would have been no works to be judged by the Son of Man, the Justice of the Most High in the End-Time, the Age of the Holy Spirit. “I come quickly”, it is said of the Son of Man, “and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Christ Himself said of these times: “The Son of man shall come in the Glory of his Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.”
From the foregoing, it can be seen that since the Lord Jesus sowed only love and thought of peace even in the face of deliberate provocations, he was not connected with the ethereal threads of the sins of mankind and could not, therefore, die for their sins nor could He have carried them away. He died because of the sins of mankind as they did not recognise Him as the Messiah and rejected Him as the Saviour. The parable of the householder (Matthew 21: 33-39; Mark 12: 1; Luke 20:9) says it all: “There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.”
When the torment and ridicule, the undermining of His Standing as unlearned and son of a mere carpenter, all to which the political and priestly establishments subjected the Lord Christ are put together for introspection, it is so self-evident that He had not come to die for the sins of mankind. He told His Disciples that He was being betrayed into the hands of sinners. He said His soul was “swallowed up in sorrow—to the point of death.” Those who had arrested Him led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had convened. Matthew reports that the “chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus so they could put him to death. But they could not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward.” At first the Lord kept quiet under inquisition. He spoke in answer to the question whether He was the Messiah, saying in future He would be seen “seated at the right hand of the Power and coming in the clouds of Heaven.” The high priest in reaction “tore His robes and said, ‘He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? Look, now you’ve heard the blasphemy! What is your decision? They answered, ‘He deserves death! Then they spit in His face and beat Him; others slapped Him.” Mockingly they said to Him, ‘Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who hit you?” The soldiers led him to their headquarters where “they stripped Him and dressed Him in a scarlet robe. They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and placed a reed in His right hand. And they knelt down before Him and mocked Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!’ “Then they spit at Him, took the reed, and kept hitting Him on the head. When they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the robe, put his clothes on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.” (Matthew 27: 27).
The footnote at the bottom of the Christian Standard Bible says “Roman flogging was done with a whip made of leather strips embedded with pieces of bone or metal that brutally tore the flesh.” It is further reported: “Those who passed by were yelling insults at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “The One who would demolish the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son Of God, come down from the cross.” The chief priests and elders similarly mocked Him: “He saved others, but He cannot save himself! He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe Him. He has put His trust in God; let God rescue Him now—if He wants Him! For He said, ‘I am God’s Son.’” The soldiers who had mocked him came to Him hanging on the cross and offered Him sour wine. He declined to drink it. In the same way even one of the criminals who were crucified with Him kept taunting Him.” Some women were weeping, but Christ said to them: “Weep not for me but for yourselves and your children!”
What further evidence can anyone be seeking to show that the death of the Lord was not in the Will of His Father? He was hounded and treated like a common criminal and murdered through the machinations of mankind constructed out of their free and inalienable volition! The Almighty Father Who is All-Love and Justice, Goodness personified could not have come through criminality, employing murder and filth to save mankind. He could not have wished such for His Son Whom He sent to bring Love to mankind and show them the way to eternal life. The hands and feet of the Lord Christ were nailed to the wooden cross. It was such that He could not move His body on the Cross. The consequent excruciating pains to which He was subjected was completely beyond imagining how much more experiencing it. One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear ‘’and at once blood and water came out.’’ In the agony, being Love, He still had the heart to pray to the Father to forgive mankind, His traducers in particular: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Nowhere is it heard of that you forgive what is right. You only forgive wrong. Another poignant proof of the heinous crime against Him was that the veil shielding the Holy of Holies was rent in twain—for all eyes to see. The separation between God and man had taken place. The crucifixion occurred at nine in the morning, the skies darkened, even at high noon, indicating that there was sorrow in all firmaments, the Nature Beings in charge revolting. Judas Iscariot the betrayer overwhelmed by the weight of his guilt and feeling remorseful upon the realization of his treachery sought to return the 30 pieces of silver he was paid to betray His Master. “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. However, Caiaphas and the elders rejected it as blood money not to be put in the temple treasury. Judas himself committed suicide and was buried where criminals were usually interred outside the city.
It is amazing that after more than 2,000 years and with all evidence to the contrary, mankind could still have held on firmly to the wrong belief and pernicious thinking that the Lord Christ came to die for us, and by His death he had taken away the sins of mankind. In the words of Herbert Vollmann in his treasure book, A Gate Opens, “Christ points out the way to forgiveness and redemption in His Word. He did not come to let Himself be put to death by men and thereby, as it were, demand of them to transgress His Father’s Commandment: ‘Thou shalt not kill.’” When it is said that Behold, the Lamb of God Who bears the sin of the world, it means the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ carries the wound marks as a visible sign of the sins of the whole of mankind. The Lamb bears the marks of the world’s sin as a perpetual accusation that crime was committed against the Son of God!
The Guardian
