A Perfect Ransom for All Mankind

From the pages of the Enterprise Newspaper
By Loretta Thomas...

 The birth of a baby…a miraculous conception, who as an adult became King of Kings, and He was a Mighty God…the Son of Almighty God!  This man was Jesus Christ. How did God’s Son become a perfect ransom for all mankind?
  
  During the course of history, there have been people who sacrificed their lives so that fellow humans might continue to live a few more years. What these people did has been viewed as noble and praiseworthy. Among those, laying down their lives was one whose death accomplished far more than that of all the others combined. This man was Jesus Christ. But, why was such a costly ransom price needed? 
   

  
  His sacrificial death on an execution stake laid the basis for humans to gain, not just a few additional years of life, but unending life. (Acts 5:30-31 NI). That Jesus Christ death accomplished so much has not been easy for most people to understand. When people’s lives are threatened by fire, floods, and the likes, the need for action and the benefits resulting there can be readily seen. But, it has proved to be an entirely different matter with Jesus laying down His life. Many have allowed His sacrificial death to be an obstacle to their embracing Worship of the Living and True God.
  
  The ransom involved needed to be one that could balance matters. What did this entail? At the time, the first man Adam transgressed God’s law; he forfeited perfect human life with its rights and prospects. Adam as an imperfect man now could only father imperfect offspring; men and women who would be incapable of measuring up to the Creator’s perfect standards. As the Bible puts it, “One man’s fall brought condemnation on everyone”. – Romans 5:18 Jerusalem Bible.

 Such a ransom for humankind must result in a balancing on the scale of justice…of what was forfeited. Adam lost perfect human life! So, the ransom price for the human race would have to be a perfect human life. Only a perfect human life could balance the scale of perfect justice. Not one of Adams descendants could provide such a precious price for himself or for anyone else. The incapability of mankind is well described in Scripture at Psalms 49: 7-9 NI, “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…that he should live on forever and not see decay.” 
  
  So, the Son of God lay down His perfect human life in sacrifice, thereby furnishing the valuable price needed for ransoming the human race Luke 1:35. He voluntarily stepped in and accepted the penalty that was meant for us. Notice what the apostle Peter wrote at 1 Peter 2:24 NI. In thus giving His soul, a ransom in exchange for many Jesus Christ brought the human race Matthew 20:28. 

  Thanks to our God for His boundless mercy in providing the ransom price needed for counterbalancing what was lost for us through Adam’s sin. Only the precious life of Jesus could meet the requirements of perfect justice. May God’s provisions move everyone to “want” to measure up to His requirements for having the sin atoning benefits of His Son’s sacrifice applied in their behalf.