Slain from the foundation of the world

Jesus Christ is, “The lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world // The lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (Revelation 13:8, John 1:29)

Scripture’s reference to Christ as, “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world” tells us that the efficacy or effect of His sacrifice is not limited by time, but has been available to all men “from the foundation of the world” – just as if it had been made before the creation of the world. Or to put it another way, “the efficacy of His Son's death extended backward as it also extends forward from that day on Calvary” (Lenski's Commentary on Rev. 13:8). That truth is a very important part of the salvation message, for if the effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice did not extend backward in time (just as if He had been crucified before the world was created), it would not extend forward in time either. In which case, we would need a new sacrifice for any sins committed after His death on the cross.

SALVATION BEFORE CHRIST

    Because the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice is not limited by time, the covenant of grace is actually older than the covenant of the law, and those believers who lived and died prior to the time of Christ were justified and saved in the same way we are justified and saved. In fact, that is exactly what the Apostle Paul was trying to tell us when he said, “The covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul” (Galatians 3:17). Therefore, because salvation has always been by grace, and the law cannot save anyone, the primary purpose of the law was to point people to Christ (Galatians 3:24, Romans 3:19-20, Hebrews 10:3,10).

    If Abraham had been justified by his works he would have had something to be proud of, but his works were not what pleased God, for the Bible says that “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:2-3). Moreover, I would like you to take special notice of the word “righteousness,” for only one thing can make a person righteous in the sight of God and that is the total and complete forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:4). Therefore, since the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin, Abraham’s sins had to be washed away by the blood of Christ, and that fact is proof positive that he had access to the same forgiveness that we do (Hebrews 10:4, Acts 4:12).

    Because Job was trusting in that forgiveness, he could speak of his Redeemer in the present tense saying, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Likewise, David could say, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity” (Psalm 32:1-2 and 13:5). And, Isaiah could refer to Christ's death on the cross in the past tense (as if it had already happened) saying, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Or, in the present tense saying, “I will have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy redeemer” (Isaiah 54:8).

MERCY NOT SACRIFICE

    Since Abraham was saved by grace, you might wonder why the law was given at all. Moreover, the Bible answers that question when it tells us that the law came because of transgression (Galatians 3:19). Nevertheless, it’s purpose was not to minimize sin, but to cause it to abound (Romans 5:20). In other words, the purpose of the law was not to make people righteous before God, but to establish some basic rules for conduct while exposing their guilt and showing them their need of a Savior. That is important because people will not look to Christ for mercy until they realize that they are sinners in need of His mercy (Romans 5:20). Therefore, the law was given to help those living before the time of Christ to be saved by grace (Galatians 3:24).

    The fact that Ten Commandments were literally “written in stone” gives them a special status as the foundation of the political law. Furthermore, a proper enforcement of those laws not only provides us with a certain amount of protection, but also results in getting people to take sin seriously. While many of the other regulations given by Moses did not carry any political punishment, they helped the people living before the time of Christ to see that they were not doing everything that God’s law required (Acts 15:10).

    This brings us to the next set of laws given by Moses, namely those requiring animal sacrifice. Since the Bible plainly tells us that sacrifices were for the forgiveness of sins, while also telling us that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, it should be clear that it was not the act of offering a sacrifice that brought forgiveness (Numbers 15:25, 28, Hebrews 10:4). On the contrary, while the ceremony gave the person bringing the sacrifice God’s promise of forgiveness, they received what was promised in the same way that Abraham received it, and in the same way that we receive it, namely through faith in God’s promise of mercy (Galatians 3:6,22, Psalm 13:5). [Leviticus 4:20,26,31,35, Leviticus 5:10,13,16,18, Leviticus 6:7, Leviticus 19:22.]

    Therefore, when someone who felt a burden of guilt brought his sacrifice to the priest, he went away believing that God’s anointed priest (who was a type of Christ) had made atonement for his sin, and that his transgression was covered by the blood. As a result, his assurance of salvation did not rest on faith in his own righteousness, but on faith in God’s mercy (Psalm 13:5). And, because Christ is God, faith in God’s mercy was a form of faith in Christ. In that way, the law pointed people, through type and shadow, to Christ, and even today, those sacrifices help us to understand the significance of His sacrifice.

CONCLUSION

The fact that Christ’s sacrifice is not bound or limited by time, is a very important part of the salvation message. For, if the effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice did not extend backward in time (just as if He had been crucified before the world was created), it would not extend forward in time either. In which case, we would need a new sacrifice for any sins committed after His death on the cross. And, we know that such is not the case for the Bible tells us that Christ’s sacrifice is everlasting (Hebrews 10:12).