Why Christ Came
A guest post by Chad Ramsey.
If you have ever wondered why it was necessary for Christ to come to the earth, you need to pay careful attention to what is said in Hebrews 10:5-7. That passage states:
“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come — in the volume of the book it is written of Me — to do Your will, O God.’”
A careful examination of those words will reveal much about why our Savior left heaven and came to earth.
Christ came because God did not desire animal sacrifices.
The previous verse, Hebrews 10:4, sheds some light on this thought. It states:
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.”
Although sacrifices were commanded under the Law of Moses, they did little more than push the sins of the penitent individual forward. Thus, it took the blood of a man—the perfect lamb of God—to make the ultimate sacrifice. That, of course, is why a body was prepared for the Christ.
According to Hebrews 2:17,
“…He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
Christ came to do the will of God.
Because God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9), He devised a plan whereby man might be saved. And because God is just, His plan had to include a payment for sins man committed.
The author of Hebrews went on to say:
“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).
In other words, it was God’s will—prophesied throughout the ages—that Jesus would die for man’s sins. That’s why Christ came!
Chad Ramsey preaches for the Gloster Street Church of Christ in Tupelo, Mississippi. You can access their Bible classes and Chad’s sermons on Gloster Street’s YouTube page.
Chad was - and still is - “my preacher” from when I spent my high school and early college years at Gloster Street. I’m thankful to be able to share some of his writings with you.
