No More Let Sins and Sorrows Grow
Since the fall of mankind, sin and all its consequences have reigned in the earth. People were born into a situation that they could not escape. They were slaves to a sin nature, and apart from the Jewish nation, there was no one with access to God. Even inside of the nation of Israel, the Law was the method of relating to God for that time. The Bible clearly shows that the Law actually increased mankind’s awareness of sin (Romans 3:20). In a sense, it gave life to (Romans 7:9) and made obvious the sin nature that was already in people. The system of sacrifices had been put into place for two main reasons. It was to soothe the consciences of people when they had transgressed the Law, and it was to point to the coming Lamb who would actually take away sin.
Prior to Jesus physically coming to the earth and entering into His ministry, no one had shown authority over the curse that had plagued humanity. Sin and sickness had reigned supreme over everyone. Jesus used the healing of people’s bodies to prove that he could forgive sins (Matthew 9:6). He never turned away a single sick person or refused to forgive a sin. He is our perfect image of an invisible God. Through Him, we see the picture of God’s true nature and desire for humanity. A picture that could not be clearly seen before Jesus came to the earth, even through the Law.
Everyone experiences salvation based on their own revelation of it. The more we know about what Jesus came to do, the more we can experience that salvation. Did Jesus simply die so that we could go to heaven, but basically live the same sorrowful life that mankind experienced before the cross? Or was there more? Out of Jesus’ own mouth He said it is the enemy (never God) who comes to steal, kill and destroy. But He came to give us life and life more abundantly. (John 10:10). Let us make sure this Christmas that we are honoring the mission of Christ to its fullest. This line in the song “No more let sin and sorrows grow” is a beautiful announcement of the freedom that Jesus was born into the world to bring. To truly remove our sins and sorrows (Isaiah 53:4) and show us what God is really like (John 14:9). These two things the Law could not do, but were accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ!
