“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.
