The perfect sacrifice
First he said, ‘You neither want nor are you pleased with sacrifices and offerings or with animals burnt on the altar and the sacrifices to take away sins.’ He said this even though all these sacrifices are offered according to the Law. Then he said, Here I am, 0 God, to do your will.’ So God does away with all the old sacrifices and puts the sacrifice of Christ in their place. (verses 8,9)
Read Hebrews 10:1-10
The daily and yearly sacrifices and offerings prescribed by the Old Testament law were a constant reminder to the worshippers of their sins. The fact that they had to be repeated demonstrated their powerlessness to remove sins. ‘For the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins’ (Hebrews 10:4). All these sacrifices could do was point beyond themselves to the one great sacrifice of Jesus Christ that would once and for all take away the sins of the world.
The human body that God gave Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. It was offered to God in sacrifice in total obedience and self surrender. It was in this body of flesh and blood that the Son of God learnt obedience in suffering and death. Through this one perfect sacrifice the old order, prescribed in the Old Testament law, was superseded, and a new order, the New Covenant, was established.
We Christians rest our hope of salvation on this perfect sacrifice of our Lord, trusting his word and promises and placing ourselves unreservedly in his hands. Each day we can go confidently into life, because we know we have a reliable, eternal and all-powerful Lord and Saviour.
I praise and adore you, Lord Jesus, for your perfect sacrifice that takes away my sins and makes me holy in God’s sight. Help me each day to live in thankfulness to you and in loving service to others. Amen.
By Kevin Schmidt, in “God’s Assurances for each day” (LCA, Openbook Publishers (2004)
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