The Perfect Sacrifice

(Hebrew 10:12) “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”

I love the sound of birds in full song as the sun is yet to break the horizon. They seem so full of life and their melody so sweet to the ear. I wonder how sweet the fruit of my life is to our Heavenly Father. I wonder when I cry out to Him is it sugary to His ear. It will be saccharine when I consider His grandeur, His will and when I present my body as a living sacrifice. However when I am all about self and no longer thankful for my Saviours forfeit here on earth, then I must be rather unsavoury. If likened to a bird in the early hours of the morning, I would probably fly with the noisy and aggravating birds that cry in the early hours of the morning waking people up before the buzz of their alarm clocks, leaving them rather irritated and not thankful.

When I look into the mirror, it then dawns on me, why and what it meant for Jesus Christ to be sent from God the Father to die on a cruel cross and pay the price for sin.

With great reverence I want us to try and put ourselves in God’s shoes this morning and try reason from His point of view. I realise this is almost impossible as He is so far above us in every way, but let us just consider his dealings with man. He created Adam after His likeness an in His image. The creator the one in control, the designer with the final say had a plan and he gave Adam instruction. Which Adam followed for a time until sin entered in and he disobeyed. Death then became a reality to them as their son eventually killed his brother, Cain killed Able! God then witnesses a somewhat horrific role that sin and death play on His creation. In fact man becomes so sinful that He determines to destroy them. Let us think about our Fathers emotions at this point in time; (Genesis 6:5-7) “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." Even the animals would now pay for mans sin.

I do realise it is hard for us to think as God thinks but let us try to understand how He was feeling in this place in history. What if I had the capabilities to design something that would aid me in daily living, let’s say I could design a robot; this robot would tend for me, clean and cook. On completion of the project I started it up and find instead of cleaning it make a mess and when it cooked it burnt everything. I do not think for one second that I would leave it to its own devises; I would unplug it and end its life right there and then. I may try and fix it but if it was unfixable I would destroy it, I am convinced of that. Thank God, that Noah found favour in His eyes and through him and his offspring the world was re-populated.

Then Moses has his encounter with God in the Wilderness and he is singled out to rescue the children of Israel out of slavery, in Egypt, on God’s command. The means in which God chooses to rescue them is a graphical display of His awesome power. Plague after plague depicts His sovereignty and His ability to shape and mould even peoples heart for His good pleasure; (Exodus 9:12) “But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken to Moses.” God in total control, even if you think He is not, He was and always will be in control. Moses is given the law of God. The Ten Commandments and is instructed to command his people to follow it. They follow well at times and terribly in other periods. A sin offering is required by the law for the forgiveness of sins. I want us to consider what this entailed. When a sin was committed then a sin offering was require to cover that sin an animal was to be sacrificed. An animal had to bleed to cover God’s requirement as He cannot bare sin, and is an offense to Him. Think about this ritual and the logistics it brought with it. It had to be repeated over and over and often for the same sin. Think of God’s patience in and through it all. Eventually, although the law is good and was instituted to teach us that we are sinful by nature and we cannot because of Adam’s fall keep God’s law, the law taught us that we needed a Saviour, we cannot save ourselves and need help and that is why God sent His Son to pay the price for sin. God is Love and this proves it! When the Lord Jesus cried out, “it is finished” that is exactly what He meant. The battle had been won, no more need to offer daily sacrifices so that we could find our acceptance before a holy God. “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” No longer does God require an ongoing sacrifice that is why I am able to commune with the only true living God, because I am covered and acceptable in the beloved all because of His sacrifice. God no longer looks at my sin but accepts me, because Jesus became a curse on my behalf so that I can go free. This is important to understand; if I sin and feel that because of my sin I am not worthy of God’s acceptance, then I undermine Christ’s work on Calvary, I am received because He was able not because I am able. The danger we as humans face in this truth is that we might feel that because we have been freed that we can continue in sin that grace may abound. The truth never changes; we should and will not have this attitude if we understand the magnitude of what it meant for Christ to die for me. But in theory, my sin has no bearing on my acceptance into God’s presence, I am only ever accepted because God the Father was happy with His Son’s sacrifice and sees His righteousness and not my sin. I trust we understand this truth. May we find liberty in serving our God as we have been freed from the law of sin and death? The war rages on but with correct thinking we can march on joyously to the Celestial City. Remembering the hope that is set before us, and may it squeeze ever so tightly that we must be reminded to breathe.

Signing off

Tyrone