The Nature and Scope of Christ's Salvation

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

We saw earlier in this series that God has made provision for all men to be saved through the sacrifice of His Son. So what was the salvation that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross? Many think that salvation is receiving forgiveness for our sins, but although forgiveness for our sins is a very necessary part of salvation, there is far more to our redemption than just the forgiveness of sins.

The Scriptures teach us that all of mankind are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). In order to save mankind, it was therefore necessary for Christ Jesus to redeem us from both sin and death. The way that God dealt with our sin was to place the sin of the whole world on Jesus before He died on the cross. The above passage of Scripture confirms that truth to us, for it says that God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. The sin that God placed on Jesus was every sin committed by men, beginning from Adam and ending when the Lord Jesus Christ returns at the end of the age.

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

(Hebrews 9:27-28)

We have stated in this series thus far that Jesus died for the sin of the whole world. There are two categories of sin, however, that God the Father did not place on His Son when He went to the cross.

The first category includes all sins that will be committed by mankind after Jesus returns to the earth. The above passage of Scripture states that when Jesus returns to the earth, He will return apart from sin, for salvation. What does that statement mean? It simply means that the cut-off for the salvation of mankind takes place at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right up until the second coming of Christ, men can still believe in Him and thus be saved from their sins. But once Christ returns, the door of salvation will be closed, and it will be too late for men to be saved.

If that were not the case, then every unbeliever alive on the earth when Christ returns would be saved, for all will see Him and will no longer be able to deny His existence. However, Scripture plainly teaches us that men will continue in sin after the return of Christ, which is why He will rule them with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15). The rebellion of the army of the Anti-Christ at the beginning of our Lord's millennial reign and the rebellion of the army of Gog at the end of our Lord's millennial reign are both examples of the sins that men will continue to commit after our Lord's return. There will be no forgiveness for those sins, as they would not have been accounted for at the cross.

"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. "And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.

(Luke 12:8-10)

The second category of sins that God the Father did not place on the Lord Jesus when He went to the cross are the two eternal sins. The reason these sins are eternal is because God has decreed that these sins can never be forgiven. Because these sins can never be forgiven, the blood of Jesus Christ Himself cannot cleanse mankind from their stain.

One is the sin of denying Jesus as Lord, and the other is the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. Jesus mentioned both of these sins in the above quoted passage of Scripture, in which He taught us that these two sins can never be forgiven. All unbelievers commit the first of these two sins, and there are many who also commit the second. In both instances, there is no forgiveness for either of these sins, and so men who commit them will be guilty of them for all eternity.

When we say that Jesus has redeemed mankind from every sin, there is a qualification to that statement, for we are referring to every sin except the two categories mentioned in this section.

who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.

(1 Peter 2:24)

An important truth that we need to understand, as revealed to us by the apostle Peter in the above passage of Scripture, is that Jesus bore our sins in His body. In other words, Jesus was the spotless sacrificial Lamb of God, which is why John the Baptist taught us that Jesus was the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

Under the old covenant, the type and shadow of the sacrifice of Jesus was the sacrifice of a lamb or goat without blemish. God decreed that for the children of Israel to be cleansed from their sins, a lamb or goat without blemish had to be sacrificed for their sins. Before the lamb was killed, the individual would be required to place their hands on the head of the lamb or goat and confess their sins, which was symbolic of the transference of their sins onto the lamb.

There were two instances when hands would be laid on a lamb for the atonement of sins:

Individual Sacrifices for Known Sins: The first was when an individual knew that they had committed a transgression and wanted forgiveness for their sins. They were then required to personally place their hands on the head of a lamb before offering it to God for their atoning sacrifice. When they had done that, they would then receive forgiveness for their sins (Leviticus 4:27-35).

Corporate Sacrifice for Unknown Sins: The second was when the high priest would offer the cleansing sacrifice for the whole nation once a year on the Day of Atonement for all their sins committed in ignorance during the year. The high priest would then place his hands on the head of the goat on behalf of the whole nation before offering it to God for their atoning sacrifice. When the high priest had done that, the nation would then receive forgiveness for their sins committed in ignorance (Leviticus 16:21 & Hebrews 9:7).

I want you to notice that both sacrifices were needed for an individual to receive forgiveness for their sins. In other words, if an individual knew that they had sinned against God, they could not ignore that sin and rely on the sacrifice made by the high priest once a year to cleanse them from their sins, because the sacrifice made by the high priest was only for unintentional sins and sins committed in ignorance. Known sins had to be accounted for by the sacrifice of the individual themselves.

Known sins that were not dealt with in the correct manner would not be forgiven and would therefore remain. Not only that, but the sacrifice made by the high priest would be ineffectual in cleansing their unknown sins because God is not mocked and would not allow those sins to be cleansed while their known sins remained.

That was symbolic for the present time, for many saints have been misled to believe that because Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, every sin has already been forgiven and there is no need to confess and repent of their sins in order to receive forgiveness. However, although the blood of Jesus does cleanse all sins, as our High Priest He obtains forgiveness for our unintentional sins and sins committed in ignorance, but God still expects us to confess and repent of the sins we know about in order to receive forgiveness for those sins (1 John 1:9).

That same principle also applies to salvation, for there are some who mistakenly think that because Jesus died for the sins of the world, everyone's sins are automatically forgiven and so all will be saved. However, they forget that the known sin that all unbelievers commit remains unforgiven, which is the sin of denying Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Because their known sin is not forgiven, neither are they cleansed from their unknown sins either, which in their case is every sin that they have ever committed.

Michael E.B. Maher

Predestined to His Purpose

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