Religion or Redemption

How sad is man’s preoccupation with religion! It is religion that so often keeps people from their redemption. Consider the evidence: the Jewish religious leaders sought cleansing before God at Passover time. So they wouldn’t defile themselves by entering a Gentile home, even the home of the Roman governor, Pilate. In their zeal to observe the Passover ritual, they unwittingly helped fulfill the ultimate Passover sacrifice, the death of Jesus Christ. Man so often seeks religion, but God offers relationship with Him by redemption! Religion cannot achieve relationship with God. Rituals cannot earn redemption. The events just before Calvary remind of this.