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for the sins of mankind. And the Messiah was sacrificed on the exact day of Passover, at the exact time
when Israel slayed their lambs in celebration of Passover, at 3:00 PM.

The Feast or Day of Atonement was a day when the people offered up a sacrificial lamb for the sins of
the people. But that day illustrated another day when God would send His only Son to earth as the lamb
of God. Christ was born at the time of year of this celebration, probably on the exact day of
Atonement.

So, God used illustrations throughout the Bible to help us understand spiritual concepts as well as to
look forward to special days when God would accomplish miraculous things.
God’s Plan of Redemption Progressively Revealed

Pre-Abrahamic Revelation

From the very beginning, God has instructed mankind on how to obey Him and what things they should
not do that would harm them. He was very direct in his statements!

Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may
surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of
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good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eatof it you shall
surely die.”

But the consequences of man’s disobedience were far-reaching. Upon Adam
and all mankind to follow him, sin brought fear, pain, grief in work, sickness, a returning to dust (aging)
and separation from fellowship with God (rejection from Eden). Even today, we all suffer under the
curse of sin, including the entire creation. War, starvation, plagues, sickness, and death cover the front
page of almost every newspaper or blog. Nothing has changed.

Some people question the goodness of God by asking, “If God is so good, why is there so much pain and
suffering in the world?” The answer is simple. God is good all the time. Pain and suffering are a result
of man’s sin, not a lack of God’s goodness. Pain and suffering are a consequence of sin. By choice, man
sins. As a result, he suffers from the consequence of his choices. By an act of his will, man chooses to
sin and suffer.

Sin was so rampant in Noah’s day that God chose to destroy all but a remnant of all He had originally
created. God illustrated His plan of redemption by telling Noah to build an ark. The ark would provide
salvation from destruction and judgment to come if Noah and his family entered it. Noah’s family
entered the ark’s door to escape the physical destruction of the flood. God was illustrating to mankind
that they must enter into another type of ark for salvation. God would provide another “door” to save
people from the coming eternal judgment. Jesus Christ cried out, “I am the door of the sheep … I am the
door, If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

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