READ: ROMANS 3:21-26; 6:14; EPHESIANS 1:3-10

I have started a program to read through the Bible in ninety days. That means I’ve been reading a lot from the Old Testament each day. Wow, if there’s one thing I’m learning through my reading, it’s that we have so much to be thankful for when it comes to Jesus, His death on the cross, and the way He gave Himself as the one sacrifice to pay for all our sins.

Before Jesus came, God’s people, the Israelites, were living under the law. The law proves that all of us fall short of God’s glorious standard and reveals our need for Jesus (Romans 3:23-24). In those days, people were required to offer animal sacrifices regularly to cover their sins. Yet, in faith they looked forward to the day God would fulfill His promise to deal with the sin problem once and for all, even though they didn’t know how He would do it.

And God did fulfill His promise—Jesus came as the final sacrifice. He is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). His death on the cross does not merely cover our sins but removes them. So now, we no longer need to offer sacrifices. Because of the death of Jesus, we know grace. A grace that changes our lives. A grace that is available to all of us, no matter how badly we have sinned. Because of the death of Jesus, we are redeemed. All our sins are forgiven. They are forgotten (Isaiah 43:25). We can have a special relationship with God because we are connected to Him through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

It’s easy to forget what the death of Jesus really did to change our lives. It’s important to remember just how different life was for God’s people who came before us, for those who lived before Jesus gave Himself as the perfect sacrifice. • Emily Acker

• What does it show us about the character of God that He sacrificed Himself for us?

• How is the permanent forgiveness Jesus offers different from the temporary covering of animal sacrifices? If you want to learn more about Jesus’s forgiveness, check out our “Know Jesus” page.

God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)