Looking To The Cross | Day 15 | Romans 3:21-26

We have all heard the saying nothing in life is free.

There is an intuitive nature to boast in our efforts to earn something independently of another. We shun help when someone offers it to us.

Back in Eden, the first couple sinned and fell short of God’s intention for humankind to dwell in His presence and reign as God’s representatives on earth. God came in a storm to Adam and Eve after the most miserable failure of obedience. In response, Adam and Eve hid.

They sewed fig leaves together to conceal their problem from God. In short, they failed to be righteous. God’s people Israel were no different. 

The Law was God’s standard for righteousness but was never intended to make them righteous. The only way to be righteous for Adam’s race would be through an act of obedience by God’s Son to satisfy the requirements of sacrifice for sin.

The first sacrifice was an animal to provide skins as adequate covering for Adam and Eve’s nakedness. Israel’s history testifies to a system of sacrificial offerings to cover for the sins of Israel. However, only one sacrifice could accomplish the righteousness that one could not earn. Everything points to a sacrifice that would end all sacrifices to make righteous the unrighteous.

This gift of righteousness can only be received by faith. Habakkuk writes, “the just shall live by faith.” Humanity can only experience complete restoration by receiving the righteousness of God in faith. Faith then is the key to being in the right relationship with God. However, it is not faith for faith’s sake. It is faith in the Person of Christ for our redemption.