自称为爱的上帝所创造宇宙中的一切都是“循环的”，即每个人都为他人服务，这就是爱的本质。上帝希望爱成为永恒的中心主题。

即使在死亡通过亚当和夏娃的罪进入世界之后，上帝仍然将死亡变成了生命的循环。祂的创造物将继续了解更多爱的深意并参与到爱的再创造之中。祂甚至就自私的后果发出警告（创世记 2:17）。 祂告诉人类，如果他们选择不顺服上帝，那么他们的生活将充满痛苦，他们的结局将是永远的死亡。

想象一下上帝在亚当和夏娃犯罪之前所创造的世界。没有什么东西会在寒冷的天气里被冻僵和死亡。没有动物会掠夺其他动物的生命。没有痛苦，没有死亡，没有悲惨。上帝创造了一个没有眼泪、悲伤、医院、医疗保健和军事防御的世界。

亚当和夏娃堕落之后，世界陷入了混乱。循环被打破，世界在罪的诅咒下煎熬。亚当和夏娃把它交在撒旦的手中（约翰福音 12:31）。 因为上帝爱祂的创造物，想要拯救它，但代价高昂。祂要独自承担这样的代价。拯救的代价不会以植物的生命为代价，不会以动物甚至有罪的人的生命为代价，不是整个星球的生命，也不是所有天使的生命。 祂，上帝，以耶稣的身分，要付出祂自己的生命。

为了展示祂的伟大牺牲，上帝命令他们按手在羊羔的头上承认自己的罪，然后将其宰杀作为祭品。这个献祭象征着祂代替他们死（利未记 1:1-3）。这种献祭羔羊的习俗是在伊甸园中赐给亚当和夏娃的（创世记 3:21），他们将把这个仪式传给他们的后代。但在一代人之内，这种仪式被扭曲并遗失了（创世记 4:3-7）。 只有少数忠心的人继续按上帝所要求的献牲祭。

上帝是嗜血的吗？毕竟，这些牲祭有点残忍。然而，这正是重点。罪是有代价的。上帝会赐下祂的生命之血来拯救祂的孩子。一只羔羊的牺牲将是一个可怕的提醒，提醒天使和人类罪恶的代价有多大，以及如何解决它。

在亚当死后很久、洪水结束之后，一个叫亚伯拉罕的人诞生了，他仍然忠于上帝。亚伯拉罕年事已高，与妻子撒拉难以生育。最后，他有了一个儿子，名叫以撒。神吩咐他带儿子上山献祭。于是，亚伯拉罕带着以撒上了山顶，并让以撒躺在他们共同建造的祭坛上。亚伯拉罕手里拿着刀。 他将刀举到空中要杀死以撒，然后听到上帝的声音告诉他停下来。上帝告诉他，在附近的灌木丛中扣着一只公羊可以代替以撒献上（创世记 22:13）——这是上帝展示祂拯救世界要付出昂贵代价的方式。上帝将要以公羊的身份降临，并会以自己的身份代替人类献上。这个强有力的故事揭示了，上帝为了拯救世界脱离罪恶而要承受的痛苦。

但是一个人怎么可能为别人而死呢？ 如果有人做错了什么，那么他们有责任承担自己罪行的惩罚，对吗？

这是一个谬论。 每个社会都充斥着人们用一个人的生命代替另一个人或一群人的生命的情况。 战争期间有多少次交换俘虏？ 一命换一命，还是一命偿多命？ 不仅如此，历史上还有无数次一个群体被征服，他们的国王或首领被杀，而留下了人民活着。 这些是一个人为他所代表的群体而死亡的例子。人们为他人献出生命，这和我们的君王，造物主为人类舍己牺牲并没有什么不同。

那么，如果上帝如此慈爱和公正，祂为什么要下令牺牲数百万无辜的动物？再一次强调，上帝是为了用这种死亡来预表基督的死。上帝要求献祭的动物必须无可挑剔，完美无瑕，因为耶稣要过一种完全地爱和顺服上帝的生活。

上帝并没有让人们把这些祭物扔掉，乃是用作祭司的食物（利未记 6:26）。上帝所规定的每件事都有一个目的，什么都不会浪费。想想看，它更像是美洲印第安人如何将整头水牛的各个部分都物尽其用。与之形成鲜明对比的是殖民者和拓荒者，他们只会取用水牛的一部分，剩下的任其腐烂。

对于素食者或纯素食者来说，这可能很难被接受，但它更应该令人信服。上帝的本意是让所有这些牺牲都成为对良心的一个重要提醒：自私的代价是高昂的。它是以上帝儿子的生命为代价的。 如果正确理解祭祀的意义，就是要教导人们罪是多么严重，从而促使他们放弃罪恶和自私的方式，变得善良、有爱心、有同情心。祂希望他们学会行公义和好怜悯。祂要他们给孤儿伸冤，为寡妇辨屈。祂希望他们成为爱的倡导者（以赛亚书 1:16-18，阿摩司书 5:24）。

这种变化靠我们自己是无法做到的。我们对善与恶的定义如此不同，甚至难以坚持自己对是非的定义。我们会在某天倡导美德，但第二天却放纵私欲。我们对别人撒谎，也在自欺欺人。我们内心混乱的道德感，源于对善恶真义的困惑。

但是上帝说祂会来找我们，祂会宽恕我们（约翰福音3:16）。祂说祂会用充满爱的心代替我们自私的心（以西结书36:26）。祂将使我们成为祂的居所（哥林多前书3:16），会洁净我们的罪孽和不义（约翰一书1:9）。祂会将善与恶的真义放在我们心中（诗篇119:11）。 如果我们与祂保持联系，祂应许会从内到外改变我们（约翰福音15:9,10）。

耶稣一生都在彰显上帝的爱。祂医治病人，给穷人带来希望，并向所有人伸出援手。祂告诉人们上帝的爱以及一个平等与爱的国度。祂告诉祂遇到的每个人，如果他们愿意，就可以加入这个爱的国度。祂告诉他们，这个国度的基础是自我牺牲和谦卑。

然后耶稣做了两件不可思议的事来证明祂国度的真理。

在最后的晚餐上，门徒们一直在争论谁是神国中最大的。晚饭准备好了，门徒靠在桌子周围的枕头上（这是一种中东的饮食方式）。桌子的一端放着一个水盆，摆着水和毛巾，但没有仆人来洗。每个门徒都认为自己比身边的人更好，并没有去做仆人的事。耶稣从桌边起来，走到盆边。祂把水倒在里面，然后去给每个门徒洗脚（约翰福音 13:1-17）。

这是一件大事。耶稣是一位拉比和师傅。祂是房间里最重要的人，虽然他们不知道，但祂还是全宇宙最重要的人。

然而，祂谦卑自己，为所有门徒洗脚。当时的人们穿着凉鞋，走在肮脏的道路上，给别人洗脚是一件很低下的工作。然后祂转向门徒，对他们说：“我是你们的主，你们的夫子，尚且洗你们的脚，你们也当彼此洗脚。”（约翰福音 13:14）。

这将成为基督教的基础。上帝的国度建立在谦卑地自我牺牲和爱的概念之上。 当你看到某人具备这种态度时，你就会知道谁才是真正的基督徒。

基督为向世人展示这一真理原则所做的第二件事是什么呢？祂死在了十字架上（约翰福音 15:13）。

弟兄姐妹们，我们想通过本平台分享更多国外本会优质影像资料。因为人手有限，希望招募一些志同道合的主内同工，做英文视频字幕翻译，视频字幕合成制作，视频中文配音，配音对轨制作。有意者请留言输入“义工申请”。以马内利！

In Christ

The God who claims to be love created everything in the universe to be “circular,” in the sense of each one serving another, which is the essence of love. And God wanted love to be the central theme for all eternity.

Even after death entered the world through the sins of Adam and Eve, God turned death into a circle of life. His creation would continue to learn more and more about the depths of love and participate in its recreation. He even gave warnings about what the results of selfishness would be (Genesis 2:17). He told humanity that if they chose to live in disobedience to God, then their lives would be filled with pain and that their end would be eternal death.

Imagine the world that God had created before Adam and Eve sinned. Nothing ever froze in cold weather and died. No animals preyed on the lives of other animals. No pain, no death, no misery. God created a world free from tears, sorrow, hospitals, healthcare, and military defense.

After the fall of Adam and Eve, the world flew into a tailspin. Cycles were broken, and the world suffered under the curse of sin. Adam and Eve had placed it in the hands of Satan (John 12:31). Because God loved His creation, He wanted to save it, but it was going to be costly. It was going to cost Him, personally. It would not cost the life of a plant. It would not cost the life of an animal or even a sinful human being. Not the life of the whole planet, either. Not the lives of all the angels. It would cost Him, God, His own life in the person of Jesus.

In order to demonstrate what His great sacrifice would be, God gave them a command to confess their sins on the head of a lamb and then kill it as an offering. This offering was to represent Him dying in their place (Leviticus 1:1-3). This practice of sacrificing a lamb was given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:21), and they were to pass on the rite to their children. But within one generation the practice was distorted and lost (Genesis 4:3-7). Only a small number of faithful people continued to sacrifice what God had required.

Is God bloodthirsty? These sacrifices were kind of harsh, after all. Yet that was precisely the point. Sin is costly. God would give His lifeblood to save his children. The sacrifice of a lamb would be a gruesome reminder to angels and humans about just how costly sin was and what it took to solve it.

Long after Adam had died and the flood ended, a man named Abraham was born and remained faithful to God. Abraham was a very old man who had trouble producing offspring with his wife Sarah. Finally, he had a son named Isaac. God told him to take his son up on a mountain and sacrifice him. So, Abraham takes Isaac up on top of the mountain and tells Isaac to lay on the altar that they built together. Abraham has the knife in his hands. He raises the knife into the air to kill the sacrifice and then hears the voice of God telling him to stop. God tells him that, instead of offering Isaac, there is a ram caught in the thicket close by (Genesis 22:13)—which was God’s way of demonstrating how much it would cost him to save the world. God was going to come as the Ram and would offer Himself in the place of human beings. This powerful story reveals what God Himself would suffer in order to save the world from sin.

But how can someone die for someone else? If someone has done something wrong, then they are responsible to suffer the penalty of their own crime, right?

This is a fallacy. Every society is littered with cases where people have substituted the lives of one person for another person or group of people. How many times during war have there been prisoner exchanges? A life for a life, or a life for many lives? Not only that, but there are countless times in history where a group of people were conquered, and their king or leader was killed but the people left alone. These are examples of an individual dying on behalf of a group that they represent. This is no different than our King and Creator giving His life on behalf of humanity.

Ok, but if God is so loving and just, why would He order the sacrificing of millions of innocent animals? Again, God required a death to point to the death of Christ. God required the animal to be spotless and perfect because Jesus was going to live a life of perfect love and obedience to God.

God didn’t have the people just throw these animals out, either. The sacrifices were used as food for the priests (Leviticus 6:26). God prescribed how everything would have a purpose, and nothing would be wasted. Think of it more like how the American Indians would use the entire buffalo and waste nothing, in contrast to the colonists and pioneers, who would just take some of it and leave the rest to rot.

This might be hard to swallow for vegetarians or vegans, but it should be even more compelling. God meant for all those sacrifices to be a weighty reminder on the consciences that selfishness is costly. It cost the life of the Son of God. The point of the sacrifice, if properly understood, was to teach people how bad sin was, and thus prompt them to abandon their sinful and selfish ways and become kind, loving, and caring. He wanted them to learn to do justice and love mercy. He wanted them to defend the orphan and plead for the widow. He wanted them to be advocates for love (Isaiah 1:16-18, Amos 5:24).

This kind of change is impossible for us to do by ourselves. We all define good and evil so differently. We struggle to uphold even our own definitions of right and wrong. We will advocate for good one day, but the next day indulge our selfish desires. We lie to others and we lie to ourselves. We have a confused morality within us because we are confused about the true definitions of good and evil.

But God says that He will come to us. He says that He will forgive us (John 3:16). He says that He will replace our selfish hearts with hearts of love (Ezekiel 36:26). He will make us His dwelling place (1 Corinthians 3:16). He will cleanse us from our sins and wickedness (1 John 1:9). He will put in our hearts the true definition of good and evil (Psalm 119:11). He promises to transform us from the inside out if we stay connected to Him (John 15:9, 10).

Jesus spent His entire life showing the love of God. He healed the sick, gave hope to the poor, and reached out to all people. He told people about the love of God and a kingdom of equality and love. He told everyone He met that they could be a part of this kingdom of love, if they wanted to. He told them that the basis of this kingdom was self-sacrifice and humility.

Then Jesus did two incredible things to demonstrate the truth of His kingdom.

At the last supper, the disciples had been arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of God. The supper was ready, and the disciples were reclining on pillows around the table (this was a middle eastern style of eating). A wash basin was sitting at one end of the table with water and a towel, but no servant had come to wash them. Each disciple thought themselves better than the next and didn’t move to take the place of the servant. Jesus got up from the table and went to the basin. He poured water in it and then went around and washed the feet of each of the disciples (John 13:1-17).

This was a big deal. Jesus was a rabbi and the master. He was the most important person in the room and, although they didn’t know it, He was the most important person in the universe.

Yet He humbled himself and served all the disciples by washing their dirty feet. People at that time wore sandals and walked through dirty roads. It was a gross job to wash someone’s feet. Then He turned to the disciples and said to them, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

This was to be the basis of Christianity. The Kingdom of God is based on this concept of humble self-sacrifice and love. You will know who is truly a Christian when you see this kind of attitude in someone.

What was the second thing Christ did to demonstrate this principle of truth to the world? He died on cross (John 15:13).

原文链接：https://www.apictureofgod.com/inchrist