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Jehovah Provides “a Ransom in Exchange for Many”Draw Close to Jehovah
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Who Provides the Ransom?
13, 14. (a) How did Jehovah provide the ransom for mankind? (b) To whom is the ransom paid, and why is such a payment necessary?
13 Only Jehovah could provide “the Lamb . . . who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) But God did not send just any angel to rescue mankind. Instead, he sent the One who could furnish the ultimate, conclusive answer to Satan’s charge against Jehovah’s servants. Yes, Jehovah made the supreme sacrifice of sending his only-begotten Son, “the one he was especially fond of.” (Proverbs 8:30) Willingly, God’s Son “emptied himself” of his spirit nature. (Philippians 2:7) Miraculously, Jehovah transferred the life of his firstborn heavenly Son to the womb of a Jewish virgin named Mary. (Luke 1:27, 35) As a man, he would be called Jesus. But in a legal sense, he could be called the second Adam, for he corresponded perfectly to Adam. (1 Corinthians 15:45, 47) Jesus could thus offer himself up in sacrifice as a ransom for sinful mankind.
14 To whom would that ransom be paid? Psalm 49:7 specifically says that the ransom is paid “to God.” But is not Jehovah the one who arranges for the ransom in the first place? Yes, but this does not reduce the ransom to a pointless, mechanical exchange—like taking money out of one pocket and putting it into another. It must be appreciated that the ransom is, not a physical exchange, but a legal transaction. By providing for the payment of the ransom, even at enormous cost to himself, Jehovah affirmed his unwavering adherence to his own perfect justice.—Genesis 22:7, 8, 11-13; Hebrews 11:17; James 1:17.
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Jehovah Provides “a Ransom in Exchange for Many”Draw Close to Jehovah
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11. (a) How would the ransomer “taste death for everyone”? (b) Why could Adam and Eve not have benefited from the ransom? (See footnote.)
11 Jehovah arranged to have a perfect man voluntarily sacrifice his life. According to Romans 6:23, “the wages sin pays is death.” In sacrificing his life, the ransomer would “taste death for everyone.” In other words, he would pay the wage for Adam’s sin. (Hebrews 2:9; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24) This would have profound legal consequences. By nullifying the death sentence upon Adam’s obedient offspring, the ransom would cut off the destructive power of sin right at its source.a—Romans 5:16.
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Jehovah Provides “a Ransom in Exchange for Many”Draw Close to Jehovah
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Finishing His Redemptive Work
16, 17. (a) How did Jesus continue his redemptive work? (b) Why was it necessary for Jesus to appear “before God on our behalf”?
16 Jesus had yet to finish his redemptive work. On the third day after Jesus’ death, Jehovah raised him from the dead. (Acts 3:15; 10:40) By this momentous act, Jehovah not only rewarded his Son for his faithful service but gave him the opportunity to finish his redemptive work as God’s High Priest. (Romans 1:4; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8) The apostle Paul explains: “When Christ came as a high priest . . . , he entered into the holy place, not with the blood of goats and of young bulls, but with his own blood, once for all time, and obtained an everlasting deliverance for us. For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with hands, which is a copy of the reality, but into heaven itself, so that he now appears before God on our behalf.”—Hebrews 9:11, 12, 24.
17 Christ could not take his literal blood into heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:50) Rather, he took what that blood symbolized: the legal value of his sacrificed perfect human life. Then, before the Person of God, he made formal presentation of the value of that life as a ransom in exchange for sinful mankind. Did Jehovah accept that sacrifice? Yes, and this became evident at Pentecost 33 C.E., when the holy spirit was poured out on about 120 disciples in Jerusalem. (Acts 2:1-4)
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