Exodus 29:38-43 AMPC
Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old shall be offered day by day continually. [39] One lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb in the evening; [40] And with the one lamb a tenth measure of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering [to be poured out]. [41] And the other lamb you shall offer at evening, and do with it as with the cereal offering of the morning and with the drink offering, for a sweet and satisfying fragrance, an offering made by fire to the Lord. [42] This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tent of Meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you to speak there to you. [43] There I will meet with the Israelites, and the Tent of Meeting shall be sanctified by My glory [the Shekinah, God's visible presence].
The picture in the Old Covenant was that sacrifices had to be offered on a daily basis to cover sin and maintain relationship with the Lord - so that His Presence could be manifest in the Tent of Meeting.
Certainly it was a bloody business requiring the priests to have certain skills of butchery and in fire to burn the flesh.
For us today it makes us recoil in horror and it should. In reality it exposes how far away we are from the Lord in our fallen nature and how we need a perfectly innocent substitute to atone (pay for) for our sins.
Who can get through a day without offending and hurting a holy God?
Christians believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, dying ONCE FOR ALL as an eternal sacrifice to make reparation available for those who turn to Him.
Hebrews 10:10 NLT
For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
So that let's us off then, doesn't it?
.....Not so fast... there still is the need for a daily sacrifice.. but it's a different kind.... a living one... a laying down of our own desires to take up what Jesus wants us to be:
Romans 12:1-2 NLT
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. [2] Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Perhaps this is the hardest sacrifice of all? To smash the altar of "self" and replace it with what Jesus wants and desires for us.
He wants our thoughts, dreams and desires transformed on a perpetual basis - He wants to write His Ways on our hearts with His "indelible ink".
That's why it's vital not to let the culture around us erase God's Word for convenience and to legitimise sinful lifestyles. This in effect is being conformed to the world.
If the culture cuts across God's Word we must stay true to what He says - not because of cold legalism, but because of love for Jesus.
How can I be a sacrifice for Jesus today?
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