December 02, 2020
For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. (Hebrews 10:1)
Every problem in our lives and in our world is a result of man's rebellion against the One who made Him. Since Adam’s sin in the Garden, every man has been sinful and separated from God at their birth. We are sinners and we have sinned continually. And the penalty for sin is always separation from God. (see Romans 6:23). This separation makes us incapable of living as we were designed to live.
FOR CENTURIES
… God’s means of atonement for man’s sins was a series of sacrifices of animals. This would sound unusual and ineffective, except that these sacrifices were a “shadow of the good things to come.” They were picturing the Messiah who would come as the perfect Lamb, the perfect sacrifice for our sin.
Men in those past days were forgiven and cleansed by faith in that coming Messiah. They were saved by looking to Jesus and the payment He would one day make for their sins before God. But these sacrifices had to be repeated (because they were a shadow, not the real thing) over and over again.
THE FULFILLMENT
… of those pictures was found in the person of Jesus Christ, the spotless, unblemished Lamb of God. Christ left heaven to become a man who was never separated from His Father because He never sinned. He perfectly obeyed the will of His Father and walked in seamless union with Him. He was the only man who could die in our place, taking the full punishment of our sin from the Father. He came for this singular purpose: to die in our place as the final and complete sacrifice for our sins.
Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But a body You have prepared for Me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure. “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God.’” (Hebrews 10:5-7)
“By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all … For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:10, 14)
Every sacrifice for thousands of years foreshadowed Jesus, but His sacrifice completely paid for all of man’s sins for all time, for all who would look to Him. After His death, we look back to Him, realizing He did the work necessary to make us right with God. He paid the penalty so we could be freely and fully forgiven!
AND THERE’S MORE
Not only did Jesus atone for our sins, He rose from the dead! This resurrection showed that He had conquered death, and hell, and the grave, but it also provided a Living Christ. He was and is ALIVE! And, after He ascended to heaven, He sent His Spirit to live inside every true believer.
And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them: After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them,” He then says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:15-17)
For those of us who believe—looking to Jesus alone, not to ourselves—there is complete forgiveness for all eternity and complete empowerment for the future. We have the living Christ in us! We have His law, not merely written in an external Bible, but written in our hearts because He is in our hearts! We live from the inside out. His life in us brings us to life eternally and gives us the internal desire and power to follow Him forever.
Hallelujah for the work of salvation completed in us by Jesus! Hallelujah for the power and security of our salvation through the perfect sacrifice and the perfect Savior!
Father, thank You for the perfect work of Your Son, Jesus! We glory in Him today (not in ourselves) and the completed work He did to save and sanctify us! Let us live today with confidence that we have all we need in Christ, both for here and for eternity!
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