The Union of Two Sacrifices

“But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.” Leviticus 1:9

A very prominent preacher in our church once said: “salvation is the union between the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice of yourself.”  Despite what popular theology may say, this is a statement backed up by the word of God.  It is true that Jesus died and offered himself willing to pay the debt of mankind sins, but that did not automatically save everybody.  The scripture tells us that we must also present ourselves a willing sacrifice, acceptable unto God, and be conformed to the image of his Son, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  The sacrifice of Jesus stands forever, calling the sinner to the selfsame state that Christ was; that is, “thy will be done.”  The sacrifice of yourself (your plans, your will, your wishes, etc.) brings you into union with Jesus’s standing sacrifice once for all, and that makes your offering which is then ordained by fire (aka the Holy Ghost) a sweet savour to the Lord.

In the Old Testament and under the old covenant, which is our schoolmaster; the Jewish people had to go to the Law if they wanted to find atonement for sins.  The only salvation that was offered was that which was found in the law.  The law told them that if they were to be saved they have to offer a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord.  This was to be a lamb or bullock, their best, and a firstborn male.  It was to be brought to Aaron or the sons of Aaron, and prepared in a special way by them, because they were the priest of the Lord.  Once this was done, and the sacrifice was made, the offering was to be burnt with fire on God’s holy altar.  The offering was then acceptable unto God and so was the soul that willing brought it.  What does this mean and how can we apply it to our day and generation?  Does God still expect us to bring farm animals to the sons of Aaron in order to obtain salvation?  Certainly not, however we are instructed to bring something to God; ourselves.  The whole of who you are is to be prepared through forgiveness and laid on the alter (spiritually speaking of course).  Your plans, your wishes, your will, your heart, everything you have or hope to have, must be killed and laid on the alter.  This is the death that Jesus spoke of (Mat 10:39), this is crucified with Christ (Gal 2:20), and this is being dead to sins (Rom 6:2).  The old man must die, for the new man to live.  However, your sacrifice is not enough to obtain salvation.  You need Jesus.  You need the blood of Jesus.  You need the atoning power of that precious Lamb of God which was sent to take away the sin of the world.  Jesus Christ died on the cross, and his sacrifice was enough to put away sin.  This does not automatically mean that you are forever covered by his blood and that you can sin all you please because Jesus paid it all.  No, it means that the blood of Christ has PAVED the way so that we might have access to the holiest of all; through his merits.  We have sin on our garments, sins committed, and awful carnal sin; this is not something that we can sacrifice for, this is not something that we can cleanse ourselves of; we need Jesus.

Jesus Christ is the high priest for us that prepares us before God.  He is the sacrifice for us, atoning for that which we could not, and making a way for us to become what we would not (holy); finally he is the fire that falls on us once we get in the place and lay our all on the alter.  It takes his sacrifice, our sacrifice, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost to bring us salvation.  His blood alone may contain the power and presences to abolish sin, but without your consent and sacrifice there is no covenant so it is not applied.  You may sacrifice and give all in efforts to obtain favor with God, but with the merits of Jesus there is no salvation.  It takes the union of sacrifices, which is witnessed to you by the Holy Ghost.