Sonogram of a Savior

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement. Leviticus 17:11 (CSB)

Do you remember the feelings or thoughts you had when you saw your child or grandchild for the very first time on a sonogram? That indistinct, black and white alien-like blob was the promise of a new little life.

I would imagine you were overwhelmed by emotions of happiness and joy, excitement and anticipation. As a first-time parent, maybe you had a little fear. If it was your second or third baby, you may have had a lot of fear. Amen?!

If you don’t have children, I would still bet you were thrilled for those who shared their joyous news and sonogram images with you; just like I am every time one of my kids shares with me their joy and the first pictures of the life that is developing. It’s very exciting news!

Sonograms are a wonderful mid-20th century tool that can tell us the baby’s gender and how they are developing physically.  They give us some information but they don’t give us ALL the information. We don’t know what they’ll be like as a child or as an adult.  We don’t know what vocation they’ll pursue. Neither does the sonogram tell us what they’ll accomplish in life. Our picture of them is limited to the information the sonogram reveals. Still, we are able to see the beginning of a new life to come.

Well, I believe sonograms are older than the 1950’s because I see the Old Testament as Jesus’ sonogram. Today, with each sonogram performed as the pregnancy progresses, the baby that was once a blurry little blob starts to emerge and become clearer until we are finally able to see it in its entirety.  We get a very good idea of what the little one will look like. Likewise, through the Old Testament we see the image of a savior emerging. We see the beginning of a new life to come.

I would bet that if you’re reading this, you’re familiar with the creation story (Genesis 1) and how Adam and Eve sinned and were consequently separated from God (Genesis 3), thus, causing all of mankind to be separated from Him. But it was never God’s desire for His children to be separated from Him and, more importantly, He never desired to be separated from them. Maybe you recall that He actually visited Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8). If He didn’t desire a close relationship with them (and us!), why did He create mankind and why do we see Him having a personal relationship with them before the fall (their sin)?

There are so many verses in the Bible that tell us how much God loves us and that He is always with us. These verses definitely bolster the fact that God wants to be with us, but I believe the biggest proof that God does not want man separated from Him is the fact that He sent Jesus to us to be our propitiation, our blood sacrifice for our sins.

We learn in the Old Testament that God required a blood sacrifice for the payment of the Israelites’ sins. Leviticus 17:11 gives us insight into why He required this.  It says, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have appointed it to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, since it is the lifeblood that makes atonement. (CSB)”

The sonogram of the Savior is beginning to look a little clearer now, isn’t it? The image of Christ isn’t as blurry. We see that our holy God requires an atonement for sin and we therefore are able to see Jesus Christ not just present in the New Testament, but present since the beginning of creation. He may not be fully revealed yet, but our need for a savior is.

Not only is our need for a savior revealed, this foreshadowing of our Savior tells us what today’s sonograms can’t—the purpose He will have in life. He will become our substitute on Calvary. He will shed His blood so the shedding of our own blood won’t be required; much like the animal life sacrificed by the Israelites was a substitute for their own life—innocent blood shed instead of the sinner’s blood.

However, these animal sacrifices weren’t a once-and-for-all payment of sins like Jesus’ sacrifice was. They were a part of the Mosaic law (the law God gave Moses that the Israelites were to live by in order to be set apart from the rest of the nations) and had to continually be made. Not only that, they didn’t fully reconcile the Israelites to God.  These sacrifices served to strengthen their relationship with God by putting them in the proper position to Him by reminding them that He is a holy God and they were sinners. The animal sacrifices weren’t perfect enough to reconcile them to their holy God though.

But God hasn’t left us without a path to reconciliation.  He hasn’t left us eternally separated from Him. This sonogram of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament shows us that reconciliation is coming and as we read on in Scripture, we will see that God Himself is that reconciliation through His Son Jesus Christ. That it is His blood that was shed for the atonement of our sins.

While every life is precious and has purpose, there has only been one life in the history of mankind that to this day still gifts redemption and reconciliation to God. No one today, yesterday, or tomorrow is qualified to do what Jesus did and continues to do.

I can’t fathom the sorrow and to-the-bone grief I would feel if I saw the sonogram of one of my grandchildren and knew that as joyous as their birth will be, their life will be one of sacrifice and suffering to pay for what someone else has done. That suffering and dying will be the purpose of their life.

But all praise to God that I don’t have to because He sacrificed His own son for me and them…and you and yours.

Since creation God has desired to be with His people but sin separated us from Him.  Even so, while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Friend, do you see what sin has done to our relationship with God?

Do you want to be reconciled to Him?

Have you accepted the perfect, once-and-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ? To do so, simply believe that Jesus died for your sins (Acts 16:31). Believe that His blood was the substitute for your own and that His blood fully paid for your sins.

The sonogram of our Savior reveals to us the promise of a new life to come…His and ours.