Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "sacrifice"
Dawn in the Desert – Part 1
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
It is dawn in the camp of Israel out in the wilderness. The tent of meeting is prominently constructed in the center of the camp. The wall of curtains around the entire tabernacle worship structure sets apart this area from the day-to-day functions in the rest of the camp.
Around the outside of the wall of curtains are four camps:
1. the priests on the east
2. the Kohathite clan on the south
3. the Gershonite clan on the west
4. the Merarite clan on the north
These four camps encompass the entire tribe of Levi. The Levites are camped in that location according to the precise instructions of the Lord. The Levites, you see, keep the other tribes of Israel from approaching the Lord’s ministry at the bronze altar and inside the tent. The Lord chose the tribe of Levi to be His priests and ministry servants. The other Israelites were excluded by the Lord.
And speaking of the bronze altar, it was located before the doorway to the tent of meeting. Its purpose was to provide an appropriate instrument for the blood offerings which the Israelites presented to the Lord. The priests alone could sprinkle the blood on the altar. The priests alone were permitted to enter the tent to minister inside. These were the Lord’s choices, and His alone.
Well, every morning and evening a whole burnt offering was offered up on the bronze altar. These offerings were Old Testament types of the “living sacrifice” which the Apostle Paul made reference to in Romans 12:1.
But there was one significant difference to the whole burnt offerings of the Old Testament and the living sacrifices of the New. Allow me to portray a whole burnt offering, so that we may better understand this distinct difference.
Normally when an Israelite presented an offering to the Lord, he brought it to the priest at the bronze altar. He then laid his hands on the animal’s head to identify the animal as representing himself. Then the Israelite offerer slit the throat of his substitute sacrifice.
The animal, you see, represented the offerer. It died in his place. Even more, he killed himself vicariously, in acknowledgment that he is sinful and unable to approach the holy Lord. He deserved death for his sins, but he availed himself of this method of approaching the Lord, a method which the Lord Himself authorized.
In the case of the continual burnt offering which we are examining, an individual Israelite didn’t present it to the Lord. The morning and evening whole burnt offerings were on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. So who was to lay hands on the offering and kill it then? Hmm. Now that’s a toughie.
We’ll stop and ponder the question a bit, as we sit with Jesus a while. Tomorrow we’ll share the answer. See you then.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
It is dawn in the camp of Israel out in the wilderness. The tent of meeting is prominently constructed in the center of the camp. The wall of curtains around the entire tabernacle worship structure sets apart this area from the day-to-day functions in the rest of the camp.
Around the outside of the wall of curtains are four camps:
1. the priests on the east
2. the Kohathite clan on the south
3. the Gershonite clan on the west
4. the Merarite clan on the north
These four camps encompass the entire tribe of Levi. The Levites are camped in that location according to the precise instructions of the Lord. The Levites, you see, keep the other tribes of Israel from approaching the Lord’s ministry at the bronze altar and inside the tent. The Lord chose the tribe of Levi to be His priests and ministry servants. The other Israelites were excluded by the Lord.
And speaking of the bronze altar, it was located before the doorway to the tent of meeting. Its purpose was to provide an appropriate instrument for the blood offerings which the Israelites presented to the Lord. The priests alone could sprinkle the blood on the altar. The priests alone were permitted to enter the tent to minister inside. These were the Lord’s choices, and His alone.
Well, every morning and evening a whole burnt offering was offered up on the bronze altar. These offerings were Old Testament types of the “living sacrifice” which the Apostle Paul made reference to in Romans 12:1.
But there was one significant difference to the whole burnt offerings of the Old Testament and the living sacrifices of the New. Allow me to portray a whole burnt offering, so that we may better understand this distinct difference.
Normally when an Israelite presented an offering to the Lord, he brought it to the priest at the bronze altar. He then laid his hands on the animal’s head to identify the animal as representing himself. Then the Israelite offerer slit the throat of his substitute sacrifice.
The animal, you see, represented the offerer. It died in his place. Even more, he killed himself vicariously, in acknowledgment that he is sinful and unable to approach the holy Lord. He deserved death for his sins, but he availed himself of this method of approaching the Lord, a method which the Lord Himself authorized.
In the case of the continual burnt offering which we are examining, an individual Israelite didn’t present it to the Lord. The morning and evening whole burnt offerings were on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. So who was to lay hands on the offering and kill it then? Hmm. Now that’s a toughie.
We’ll stop and ponder the question a bit, as we sit with Jesus a while. Tomorrow we’ll share the answer. See you then.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Dawn in the Desert – Part 2
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
The person presenting an animal offering to the Lord at the bronze altar was the one who killed the animal. The daily whole burnt offerings were presented on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. So who killed those animals? That’s a toughie.
Not! As in the case of the individual Israelite presenting his offering, so too with the offerings on behalf of the entire congregation. The Lord determined every single detail. The Lord micromanaged the entire process. This is because man’s approach to the Lord is always on the Lord’s terms. Man gets to contribute nary a thing to the method of approach.
So, then, what were the Lord’s instructions for presenting the continual burnt offering on the bronze altar every morning and every evening? Just this, that His designated agents, the priests, were to present the offering on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. After all, that is why the Lord set them apart from the other tribes of Israel in the first place.
The priests stood between the Lord and the Israelites. They represented the Lord to the Israelites, and they represented the Israelites to the Lord. A fine arrangement for a covenant based on law. The Law demanded that man be perfect. An Israelite demonstrated his perfection or lack thereof by perfectly obeying every last detail of the Law of Moses.
Failure to perfectly obey the Law in all its minute details 24/7/365 exposed the Israelite as a lawbreaker, a sinner. The wages of sin is death, so the Israelite had to die. He couldn’t approach the holy Lord.
Which was where the animal sacrifices came in. The Lord employed this temporary expedient to permit the Israelite to kill himself in effigy, so to speak. After he died for his sins by means of a substitute offering, the penalty for his sins was paid and he no longer needed to die for them. Hence he was enabled to approach the holy Lord, there no longer being any sin on his accounts payable ledger.
Much of what I’ve explained applied specifically to the sin offering, not the burnt offering. However, every blood sacrifice (i.e., animal sacrifice) was killed before being offered on the bronze altar. This implied that sin first was judged before any other aspect of man’s relationship with the Lord was implemented.
So the priest killed the lamb—the continual burnt offering was always a lamb. Next the priest cut the lamb into its constituent parts and placed the parts on the bronze altar. The parts remained there all day, burning until they were entirely consumed. The entire animal, minus the skin, was consumed by the fire of the bronze altar. The skin represented the sin nature, which can never be presented to the holy Lord.
Whew! Offering blood sacrifices on the bronze altar is hard work. Let’s take a breather and return tomorrow to continue our labors. Now let’s be refreshed in the prayer closet with our Lord.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The person presenting an animal offering to the Lord at the bronze altar was the one who killed the animal. The daily whole burnt offerings were presented on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. So who killed those animals? That’s a toughie.
Not! As in the case of the individual Israelite presenting his offering, so too with the offerings on behalf of the entire congregation. The Lord determined every single detail. The Lord micromanaged the entire process. This is because man’s approach to the Lord is always on the Lord’s terms. Man gets to contribute nary a thing to the method of approach.
So, then, what were the Lord’s instructions for presenting the continual burnt offering on the bronze altar every morning and every evening? Just this, that His designated agents, the priests, were to present the offering on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. After all, that is why the Lord set them apart from the other tribes of Israel in the first place.
The priests stood between the Lord and the Israelites. They represented the Lord to the Israelites, and they represented the Israelites to the Lord. A fine arrangement for a covenant based on law. The Law demanded that man be perfect. An Israelite demonstrated his perfection or lack thereof by perfectly obeying every last detail of the Law of Moses.
Failure to perfectly obey the Law in all its minute details 24/7/365 exposed the Israelite as a lawbreaker, a sinner. The wages of sin is death, so the Israelite had to die. He couldn’t approach the holy Lord.
Which was where the animal sacrifices came in. The Lord employed this temporary expedient to permit the Israelite to kill himself in effigy, so to speak. After he died for his sins by means of a substitute offering, the penalty for his sins was paid and he no longer needed to die for them. Hence he was enabled to approach the holy Lord, there no longer being any sin on his accounts payable ledger.
Much of what I’ve explained applied specifically to the sin offering, not the burnt offering. However, every blood sacrifice (i.e., animal sacrifice) was killed before being offered on the bronze altar. This implied that sin first was judged before any other aspect of man’s relationship with the Lord was implemented.
So the priest killed the lamb—the continual burnt offering was always a lamb. Next the priest cut the lamb into its constituent parts and placed the parts on the bronze altar. The parts remained there all day, burning until they were entirely consumed. The entire animal, minus the skin, was consumed by the fire of the bronze altar. The skin represented the sin nature, which can never be presented to the holy Lord.
Whew! Offering blood sacrifices on the bronze altar is hard work. Let’s take a breather and return tomorrow to continue our labors. Now let’s be refreshed in the prayer closet with our Lord.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Dawn in the Desert – Part 3
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
The whole burnt offering represented the offerer—in the case of the daily morning and evening offerings, the entire congregation of Israel was represented. Because it was entirely consumed in the fire of the bronze altar, it typified that the offerer was entirely offered up to the Lord.
The sin offering was presented to typify the Lord’s judgment on the offerer’s sin. That wasn’t the main thing portrayed by the whole burnt offering. Rather, by presenting to the Lord a whole burnt offering, the offerer signified his whole (or total) dedication to the Lord. The Israelite’s entire being was devoted to the Lord. Nothing was left out, except, of course, the sin nature (typified by the skin, which was not burned on the bronze altar).
Let’s refresh our memories as to what this study is about. We are assaying Paul’s exhortation to the Christian to present himself to the Lord as a living sacrifice. Is the issue starting to lose its fuzziness and come into focus now? The Israelite of old symbolically presented himself to the Lord wholly, entirely, by means of the Lord’s whole burnt offering ritual. The ritual typified this on the part of the Israelite.
The Word of God for the Israelites (i.e., the Law of Moses) authorized this process as legitimate. The Israelite believed the Word of God to him (i.e., faith in the Word of God); so he performed the ritual precisely according to the Lord’s directions (obedience to the Word of God). The priests stood between the Israelite and the Lord to insure nothing was done in contradiction to the Word of God. This was the Lord’s way under the Old Covenant.
Under the New Covenant we don’t present animal substitutes on a bronze altar. The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s once-for-all perfect offering. The Lord Jesus fulfilled the entire Law on man’s behalf. This included fulfilling the spiritual truth behind every different type of offering. The cross of Christ is the antitype of the bronze altar, where the Lord Jesus was offered up to God on man’s behalf.
The eternal Son of God took upon humanity and became one of us. He remains God’s Son still, but at a point in time He also became true man. He is the God-man. He is the only way to reunite God and man, even as He did so in His own Person.
When He became a man, the Lord Jesus temporarily set aside His prerogatives of deity. He didn’t stop being God: He temporarily stopped exercising His power and authority as God. Instead He walked in His human body, living according to the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hurray for Jesus! All hail our King! Let’s bow before Him now. We’ll continue this topic on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The whole burnt offering represented the offerer—in the case of the daily morning and evening offerings, the entire congregation of Israel was represented. Because it was entirely consumed in the fire of the bronze altar, it typified that the offerer was entirely offered up to the Lord.
The sin offering was presented to typify the Lord’s judgment on the offerer’s sin. That wasn’t the main thing portrayed by the whole burnt offering. Rather, by presenting to the Lord a whole burnt offering, the offerer signified his whole (or total) dedication to the Lord. The Israelite’s entire being was devoted to the Lord. Nothing was left out, except, of course, the sin nature (typified by the skin, which was not burned on the bronze altar).
Let’s refresh our memories as to what this study is about. We are assaying Paul’s exhortation to the Christian to present himself to the Lord as a living sacrifice. Is the issue starting to lose its fuzziness and come into focus now? The Israelite of old symbolically presented himself to the Lord wholly, entirely, by means of the Lord’s whole burnt offering ritual. The ritual typified this on the part of the Israelite.
The Word of God for the Israelites (i.e., the Law of Moses) authorized this process as legitimate. The Israelite believed the Word of God to him (i.e., faith in the Word of God); so he performed the ritual precisely according to the Lord’s directions (obedience to the Word of God). The priests stood between the Israelite and the Lord to insure nothing was done in contradiction to the Word of God. This was the Lord’s way under the Old Covenant.
Under the New Covenant we don’t present animal substitutes on a bronze altar. The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s once-for-all perfect offering. The Lord Jesus fulfilled the entire Law on man’s behalf. This included fulfilling the spiritual truth behind every different type of offering. The cross of Christ is the antitype of the bronze altar, where the Lord Jesus was offered up to God on man’s behalf.
The eternal Son of God took upon humanity and became one of us. He remains God’s Son still, but at a point in time He also became true man. He is the God-man. He is the only way to reunite God and man, even as He did so in His own Person.
When He became a man, the Lord Jesus temporarily set aside His prerogatives of deity. He didn’t stop being God: He temporarily stopped exercising His power and authority as God. Instead He walked in His human body, living according to the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hurray for Jesus! All hail our King! Let’s bow before Him now. We’ll continue this topic on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Dawn in the Desert – Part 4
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
The eternal Son of God temporarily laid aside His prerogatives as God. He took upon Himself humanity, becoming a man of like nature with us. He eternally is God. At a point in time He became a man, and He now remains a man forevermore. At the same time He is still God.
As a man Jesus walked the earth without exercising His prerogatives of deity. Instead He obeyed the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is one way the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for man.
We too are to be born again, and then we are to live in our human body according to the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Guess what? When we describe this arrangement, we are expressing the definition of the whole burnt offering! Hallelujah! Our study is bringing us to a better understanding of the whole burnt offering.
But under the New Covenant we don’t present burnt offerings on a bronze altar. So how does all this understanding affect us today? Just this, that we are to present our body to God as a living sacrifice. Don’t you remember? And this brings us to the distinct difference between the whole burnt offerings of the Old Covenant and the living sacrifices of the New.
Muse upon the scenario we portrayed back in the wilderness in the camp of Israel. It’s dawn and the morning burnt offering is being presented to the Lord at the bronze altar. The priest did what again to that little ol’ lamb? He invited it home to meet the family? No, that wasn’t it. He fed it to the big bad wolf? Not even. I got it! He took it to the movies? Naw. Still not the right answer.
Okay. So you tell me the correct answer. What did the priest do to the lamb of the continual burnt offering? Ah, I see by the look on your face that you remember what we discussed. Yes, that’s right! The priest slit the lamb’s throat, then cut the poor thing into its constituent parts and burned them to smithereens on the bronze altar.
That was the end result of the burnt offerings under the Old Covenant. Now do you see the difference between that and the living sacrifices under the New Covenant? Yes, you got it right again! Praise the Lord! The Old Covenant whole burnt offerings were killed, while the New Covenant whole burnt offerings (aka “living sacrifices”) are presented to the Lord alive and breathing. A significant difference, wouldn’t you say?
But not so fast! The real and true burnt offering—the antitype (the Lord Jesus)—did die on the cross (the bronze altar). Even more, any true Christian also died on that cross “in Christ”. He is our substitute whole burnt offering, just as He is our substitute sin offering and every other type of offering. We don’t live because of our own righteousness. We live because He died for our sins and then imparted to us His righteousness.
I like it! Thank you, Jesus. Let’s go to Him now and do just that. We’ll finish our subject in the next study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The eternal Son of God temporarily laid aside His prerogatives as God. He took upon Himself humanity, becoming a man of like nature with us. He eternally is God. At a point in time He became a man, and He now remains a man forevermore. At the same time He is still God.
As a man Jesus walked the earth without exercising His prerogatives of deity. Instead He obeyed the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is one way the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for man.
We too are to be born again, and then we are to live in our human body according to the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Guess what? When we describe this arrangement, we are expressing the definition of the whole burnt offering! Hallelujah! Our study is bringing us to a better understanding of the whole burnt offering.
But under the New Covenant we don’t present burnt offerings on a bronze altar. So how does all this understanding affect us today? Just this, that we are to present our body to God as a living sacrifice. Don’t you remember? And this brings us to the distinct difference between the whole burnt offerings of the Old Covenant and the living sacrifices of the New.
Muse upon the scenario we portrayed back in the wilderness in the camp of Israel. It’s dawn and the morning burnt offering is being presented to the Lord at the bronze altar. The priest did what again to that little ol’ lamb? He invited it home to meet the family? No, that wasn’t it. He fed it to the big bad wolf? Not even. I got it! He took it to the movies? Naw. Still not the right answer.
Okay. So you tell me the correct answer. What did the priest do to the lamb of the continual burnt offering? Ah, I see by the look on your face that you remember what we discussed. Yes, that’s right! The priest slit the lamb’s throat, then cut the poor thing into its constituent parts and burned them to smithereens on the bronze altar.
That was the end result of the burnt offerings under the Old Covenant. Now do you see the difference between that and the living sacrifices under the New Covenant? Yes, you got it right again! Praise the Lord! The Old Covenant whole burnt offerings were killed, while the New Covenant whole burnt offerings (aka “living sacrifices”) are presented to the Lord alive and breathing. A significant difference, wouldn’t you say?
But not so fast! The real and true burnt offering—the antitype (the Lord Jesus)—did die on the cross (the bronze altar). Even more, any true Christian also died on that cross “in Christ”. He is our substitute whole burnt offering, just as He is our substitute sin offering and every other type of offering. We don’t live because of our own righteousness. We live because He died for our sins and then imparted to us His righteousness.
I like it! Thank you, Jesus. Let’s go to Him now and do just that. We’ll finish our subject in the next study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Dawn in the Desert – Part 5
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
The born again person died to sin “in Christ” on the cross. He rose out of the tomb “in Christ” and now lives the new resurrection life “in Christ”. Christians don’t have their own righteousness. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
What all of this means is that we can now, because we are already born again, present our body to God as a living sacrifice. We already died for our sins “in Christ” on the cross. We now live His new, righteous life because we rose out of death “in Christ”. Christ died and now lives. “In Christ” we do too. Hence we are free to live as whole burnt offerings to God.
Yes, the blood offerings were killed and remained dead. But that was the Law’s judgment on sin. In the New Covenant we are not under Law but under grace. Jesus already paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind by dying on the cross for us. He fulfilled the Law for us. In doing so God’s righteousness was upheld. Sin demands death for its wages.
But death couldn’t hold Jesus. Three days later He rose out of death in newness of life, in resurrection life. Sin and its penalty was left in the tomb. Sinners remain dead in the tomb. A new creation, eternal and without sin, came out of the tomb. Saints come out of the tomb.
Now those who are born again (aka “saints”) are alive and able to live entirely for God. We are free to do so, but we can refuse to do so. I have to willingly present my body as a “living sacrifice”, as a whole burnt offering, to God in His service. You too have the same choice to make. But do not be mistaken. No one has this choice to make until they are first born again as a new creation in Christ Jesus.
So are you born again? If not, you can become so right now. Simply look by faith to Jesus on the cross and recognize that He died for your sins there. Identify yourself on the cross with Him. This fulfills the Old Covenant part where the offerer slit the throat of his substitute offering.
Ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you for your sins, sins which led Him in love to willingly die on the cross so that you might live in Him. By faith believe He does forgive you because the Word of God teaches this is so.
Then by faith in the Word of God come out of the tomb in newness of life “in Christ”. Go forth and live the resurrection life which He freely bestows on you, no longer a slave to sin but now a willingly bond slave to righteousness.
Ah, you have just presented yourself to God as a living sacrifice. Congratulations. The journey is a lifelong one and the going frequently encounters rough winds and vicious waves. But not to fret. The Lord is on your side. What can man do to you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The born again person died to sin “in Christ” on the cross. He rose out of the tomb “in Christ” and now lives the new resurrection life “in Christ”. Christians don’t have their own righteousness. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
What all of this means is that we can now, because we are already born again, present our body to God as a living sacrifice. We already died for our sins “in Christ” on the cross. We now live His new, righteous life because we rose out of death “in Christ”. Christ died and now lives. “In Christ” we do too. Hence we are free to live as whole burnt offerings to God.
Yes, the blood offerings were killed and remained dead. But that was the Law’s judgment on sin. In the New Covenant we are not under Law but under grace. Jesus already paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind by dying on the cross for us. He fulfilled the Law for us. In doing so God’s righteousness was upheld. Sin demands death for its wages.
But death couldn’t hold Jesus. Three days later He rose out of death in newness of life, in resurrection life. Sin and its penalty was left in the tomb. Sinners remain dead in the tomb. A new creation, eternal and without sin, came out of the tomb. Saints come out of the tomb.
Now those who are born again (aka “saints”) are alive and able to live entirely for God. We are free to do so, but we can refuse to do so. I have to willingly present my body as a “living sacrifice”, as a whole burnt offering, to God in His service. You too have the same choice to make. But do not be mistaken. No one has this choice to make until they are first born again as a new creation in Christ Jesus.
So are you born again? If not, you can become so right now. Simply look by faith to Jesus on the cross and recognize that He died for your sins there. Identify yourself on the cross with Him. This fulfills the Old Covenant part where the offerer slit the throat of his substitute offering.
Ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you for your sins, sins which led Him in love to willingly die on the cross so that you might live in Him. By faith believe He does forgive you because the Word of God teaches this is so.
Then by faith in the Word of God come out of the tomb in newness of life “in Christ”. Go forth and live the resurrection life which He freely bestows on you, no longer a slave to sin but now a willingly bond slave to righteousness.
Ah, you have just presented yourself to God as a living sacrifice. Congratulations. The journey is a lifelong one and the going frequently encounters rough winds and vicious waves. But not to fret. The Lord is on your side. What can man do to you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Dawn in the Desert – Part 1
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
It is dawn in the camp of Israel out in the wilderness. The tent of meeting is prominently constructed in the center of the camp. The wall of curtains around the entire tabernacle worship structure sets apart this area from the day-to-day functions in the rest of the camp.
Around the outside of the wall of curtains are four camps:
1. the priests on the east
2. the Kohathite clan on the south
3. the Gershonite clan on the west
4. the Merarite clan on the north
Those four camps encompass the entire tribe of Levi. The Levites are camped in that location according to the precise instructions of the Lord. The Levites, you see, keep the other tribes of Israel from approaching the Lord’s ministry at the bronze altar and inside the tent. The Lord chose the tribe of Levi to be His priests and ministry servants. The other Israelites were excluded by the Lord.
And speaking of the bronze altar, it was located before the doorway to the tent of meeting. Its purpose was to provide an appropriate instrument for the blood offerings which the Israelites presented to the Lord. The priests alone could sprinkle the blood on the altar. The priests alone were permitted to enter the tent to minister inside. These were the Lord’s choices, and His alone.
Well, every morning and evening a whole burnt offering was offered up on the bronze altar. Those offerings were Old Testament types of the “living sacrifice” which the Apostle Paul made reference to in Romans 12:1.
But there was one significant difference to the whole burnt offerings of the Old Testament and the living sacrifices of the New. Allow me to portray a whole burnt offering, so that we may better understand this distinct difference.
Normally when an Israelite presented an offering to the Lord, he brought it to the priest at the bronze altar. He then laid his hands on the animal’s head to identify the animal as representing himself. Then the Israelite offerer slit the throat of his substitute sacrifice.
The animal, you see, represented the offerer. It died in his place. Even more, he killed himself vicariously, in acknowledgment that he is sinful and unable to approach the holy Lord. He deserved death for his sins, but he availed himself of this method of approaching the Lord, a method which the Lord Himself authorized.
In the case of the continual burnt offering which we are examining, an individual Israelite didn’t present it to the Lord. The morning and evening whole burnt offerings were on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. So who was to lay hands on the offering and kill it then? Hmm. Now that’s a toughie.
We’ll stop and ponder the question a bit, as we sit with Jesus a while. Tomorrow we’ll share the answer. See you then.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
It is dawn in the camp of Israel out in the wilderness. The tent of meeting is prominently constructed in the center of the camp. The wall of curtains around the entire tabernacle worship structure sets apart this area from the day-to-day functions in the rest of the camp.
Around the outside of the wall of curtains are four camps:
1. the priests on the east
2. the Kohathite clan on the south
3. the Gershonite clan on the west
4. the Merarite clan on the north
Those four camps encompass the entire tribe of Levi. The Levites are camped in that location according to the precise instructions of the Lord. The Levites, you see, keep the other tribes of Israel from approaching the Lord’s ministry at the bronze altar and inside the tent. The Lord chose the tribe of Levi to be His priests and ministry servants. The other Israelites were excluded by the Lord.
And speaking of the bronze altar, it was located before the doorway to the tent of meeting. Its purpose was to provide an appropriate instrument for the blood offerings which the Israelites presented to the Lord. The priests alone could sprinkle the blood on the altar. The priests alone were permitted to enter the tent to minister inside. These were the Lord’s choices, and His alone.
Well, every morning and evening a whole burnt offering was offered up on the bronze altar. Those offerings were Old Testament types of the “living sacrifice” which the Apostle Paul made reference to in Romans 12:1.
But there was one significant difference to the whole burnt offerings of the Old Testament and the living sacrifices of the New. Allow me to portray a whole burnt offering, so that we may better understand this distinct difference.
Normally when an Israelite presented an offering to the Lord, he brought it to the priest at the bronze altar. He then laid his hands on the animal’s head to identify the animal as representing himself. Then the Israelite offerer slit the throat of his substitute sacrifice.
The animal, you see, represented the offerer. It died in his place. Even more, he killed himself vicariously, in acknowledgment that he is sinful and unable to approach the holy Lord. He deserved death for his sins, but he availed himself of this method of approaching the Lord, a method which the Lord Himself authorized.
In the case of the continual burnt offering which we are examining, an individual Israelite didn’t present it to the Lord. The morning and evening whole burnt offerings were on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. So who was to lay hands on the offering and kill it then? Hmm. Now that’s a toughie.
We’ll stop and ponder the question a bit, as we sit with Jesus a while. Tomorrow we’ll share the answer. See you then.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Dawn in the Desert – Part 2
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
The person presenting an animal offering to the Lord at the bronze altar was the one who killed the animal. The daily whole burnt offerings were presented on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. So who killed those animals? That’s a toughie.
Not! As in the case of the individual Israelite presenting his offering, so too with the offerings on behalf of the entire congregation. The Lord determined every single detail. The Lord micromanaged the entire process. This is because man’s approach to the Lord is always on the Lord’s terms. Man gets to contribute nary a thing to the method of approach.
So, then, what were the Lord’s instructions for presenting the continual burnt offering on the bronze altar every morning and every evening? Just this, that His designated agents, the priests, were to present the offering on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. After all, that is why the Lord set them apart from the other tribes of Israel in the first place.
The priests stood between the Lord and the Israelites. They represented the Lord to the Israelites, and they represented the Israelites to the Lord. A fine arrangement for a covenant based on law. The Law demanded that man be perfect. An Israelite demonstrated his perfection or lack thereof by perfectly obeying every last detail of the Law of Moses.
Failure to perfectly obey the Law in all its minute details 24/7/365 exposed the Israelite as a lawbreaker, a sinner. The wages of sin is death, so the Israelite had to die. He couldn’t approach the holy Lord.
Which was where the animal sacrifices came in. The Lord employed this temporary expedient to permit the Israelite to kill himself in effigy, so to speak. After he died for his sins by means of a substitute offering, the penalty for his sins was paid and he no longer needed to die for them. Hence he was enabled to approach the holy Lord, there no longer being any sin on his accounts payable ledger.
Much of what I’ve explained applied specifically to the sin offering, not to the burnt offering. However, every blood sacrifice (i.e., animal sacrifice) was killed before being offered on the bronze altar. This implied that sin first was judged before any other aspect of man’s relationship with the Lord was implemented.
So the priest killed the lamb—the continual burnt offering was always a lamb. Next the priest cut the lamb into its constituent parts and placed the parts on the bronze altar. The parts remained there all day, burning until they were entirely consumed. The entire animal, minus the skin, was consumed by the fire of the bronze altar. The skin represented the sin nature, which can never be presented to the holy Lord.
Whew! Offering blood sacrifices on the bronze altar is hard work. Let’s take a breather and return tomorrow to continue our labors. In the interim let’s be refreshed in the prayer closet with our Lord.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The person presenting an animal offering to the Lord at the bronze altar was the one who killed the animal. The daily whole burnt offerings were presented on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. So who killed those animals? That’s a toughie.
Not! As in the case of the individual Israelite presenting his offering, so too with the offerings on behalf of the entire congregation. The Lord determined every single detail. The Lord micromanaged the entire process. This is because man’s approach to the Lord is always on the Lord’s terms. Man gets to contribute nary a thing to the method of approach.
So, then, what were the Lord’s instructions for presenting the continual burnt offering on the bronze altar every morning and every evening? Just this, that His designated agents, the priests, were to present the offering on behalf of the entire congregation of Israel. After all, that is why the Lord set them apart from the other tribes of Israel in the first place.
The priests stood between the Lord and the Israelites. They represented the Lord to the Israelites, and they represented the Israelites to the Lord. A fine arrangement for a covenant based on law. The Law demanded that man be perfect. An Israelite demonstrated his perfection or lack thereof by perfectly obeying every last detail of the Law of Moses.
Failure to perfectly obey the Law in all its minute details 24/7/365 exposed the Israelite as a lawbreaker, a sinner. The wages of sin is death, so the Israelite had to die. He couldn’t approach the holy Lord.
Which was where the animal sacrifices came in. The Lord employed this temporary expedient to permit the Israelite to kill himself in effigy, so to speak. After he died for his sins by means of a substitute offering, the penalty for his sins was paid and he no longer needed to die for them. Hence he was enabled to approach the holy Lord, there no longer being any sin on his accounts payable ledger.
Much of what I’ve explained applied specifically to the sin offering, not to the burnt offering. However, every blood sacrifice (i.e., animal sacrifice) was killed before being offered on the bronze altar. This implied that sin first was judged before any other aspect of man’s relationship with the Lord was implemented.
So the priest killed the lamb—the continual burnt offering was always a lamb. Next the priest cut the lamb into its constituent parts and placed the parts on the bronze altar. The parts remained there all day, burning until they were entirely consumed. The entire animal, minus the skin, was consumed by the fire of the bronze altar. The skin represented the sin nature, which can never be presented to the holy Lord.
Whew! Offering blood sacrifices on the bronze altar is hard work. Let’s take a breather and return tomorrow to continue our labors. In the interim let’s be refreshed in the prayer closet with our Lord.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Dawn in the Desert – Part 3
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
The whole burnt offering represented the offerer—in the case of the daily morning and evening offerings, the entire congregation of Israel was represented. Because it was entirely consumed in the fire of the bronze altar, it typified that the offerer was entirely offered up to the Lord.
The sin offering was presented to typify the Lord’s judgment on the offerer’s sin. That wasn’t the main thing portrayed by the whole burnt offering. Rather, by presenting to the Lord a whole burnt offering, the offerer signified his whole (or total) dedication to the Lord. The Israelite’s entire being was devoted to the Lord. Nothing was left out, except, of course, the sin nature (typified by the skin, which was not burned on the bronze altar).
Let’s refresh our memories as to what this study is about. We are assaying Paul’s exhortation to the Christian to present himself to the Lord as a living sacrifice. Is the issue starting to lose its fuzziness and come into focus now? The Israelite of old symbolically presented himself to the Lord wholly, entirely, by means of the Lord’s whole burnt offering ritual. The ritual typified this on the part of the Israelite.
The Word of God for the Israelites (i.e., the Law of Moses) authorized this process as legitimate. The Israelite believed the Word of God to him (i.e., faith in the Word of God); so he performed the ritual precisely according to the Lord’s directions (obedience to the Word of God). The priests stood between the Israelite and the Lord to insure nothing was done in contradiction to the Word of God. This was the Lord’s way under the Old Covenant.
Under the New Covenant we don’t present animal substitutes on a bronze altar. The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s once-for-all perfect offering. The Lord Jesus fulfilled the entire Law on man’s behalf. This included fulfilling the spiritual truth behind every different type of offering. The cross of Christ is the antitype of the bronze altar, where the Lord Jesus was offered up to God on man’s behalf.
The eternal Son of God took upon humanity and became one of us. He remains God’s Son still, but at a point in time He also became true man. He is the God-man. He is the only way to reunite God and man, even as He did so in His own Person.
When He became a man, the Lord Jesus temporarily set aside His prerogatives of deity. He didn’t stop being God: He temporarily stopped exercising His power and authority as God. Instead He walked in His human body, living according to the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hurray for Jesus! All hail our King! Let’s bow before Him now. We’ll continue this topic on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The whole burnt offering represented the offerer—in the case of the daily morning and evening offerings, the entire congregation of Israel was represented. Because it was entirely consumed in the fire of the bronze altar, it typified that the offerer was entirely offered up to the Lord.
The sin offering was presented to typify the Lord’s judgment on the offerer’s sin. That wasn’t the main thing portrayed by the whole burnt offering. Rather, by presenting to the Lord a whole burnt offering, the offerer signified his whole (or total) dedication to the Lord. The Israelite’s entire being was devoted to the Lord. Nothing was left out, except, of course, the sin nature (typified by the skin, which was not burned on the bronze altar).
Let’s refresh our memories as to what this study is about. We are assaying Paul’s exhortation to the Christian to present himself to the Lord as a living sacrifice. Is the issue starting to lose its fuzziness and come into focus now? The Israelite of old symbolically presented himself to the Lord wholly, entirely, by means of the Lord’s whole burnt offering ritual. The ritual typified this on the part of the Israelite.
The Word of God for the Israelites (i.e., the Law of Moses) authorized this process as legitimate. The Israelite believed the Word of God to him (i.e., faith in the Word of God); so he performed the ritual precisely according to the Lord’s directions (obedience to the Word of God). The priests stood between the Israelite and the Lord to insure nothing was done in contradiction to the Word of God. This was the Lord’s way under the Old Covenant.
Under the New Covenant we don’t present animal substitutes on a bronze altar. The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s once-for-all perfect offering. The Lord Jesus fulfilled the entire Law on man’s behalf. This included fulfilling the spiritual truth behind every different type of offering. The cross of Christ is the antitype of the bronze altar, where the Lord Jesus was offered up to God on man’s behalf.
The eternal Son of God took upon humanity and became one of us. He remains God’s Son still, but at a point in time He also became true man. He is the God-man. He is the only way to reunite God and man, even as He did so in His own Person.
When He became a man, the Lord Jesus temporarily set aside His prerogatives of deity. He didn’t stop being God: He temporarily stopped exercising His power and authority as God. Instead He walked in His human body, living according to the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Hurray for Jesus! All hail our King! Let’s bow before Him now. We’ll continue this topic on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Dawn in the Desert – Part 4
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
The eternal Son of God temporarily laid aside His prerogatives as God. He took upon Himself humanity, becoming a man of like nature with us. He eternally is God. At a point in time He became a man, and He now remains a man forevermore. At the same time He is still God.
As a man Jesus walked the earth without exercising His prerogatives of deity. Instead He obeyed the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is one way the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for man.
We too are to be born again, and then we are to live in our human body according to the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Guess what? When we describe this arrangement, we are expressing the definition of the whole burnt offering! Hallelujah! Our study is bringing us to a better understanding of the whole burnt offering.
But under the New Covenant we don’t present burnt offerings on a bronze altar. So how does all this understanding affect us today? Just this, that we are to present our body to God as a living sacrifice. Don’t you remember? And this brings us to the distinct difference between the whole burnt offerings of the Old Covenant and the living sacrifices of the New.
Muse upon the scenario we portrayed back in the wilderness in the camp of Israel. It’s dawn and the morning burnt offering is being presented to the Lord at the bronze altar. The priest did what again to that little ol’ lamb? He invited it home to meet the family? No, that wasn’t it. He fed it to the big bad wolf? Not even. I got it! He took it to the movies? Naw. Still not the right answer.
Okay. So you tell me the correct answer. What did the priest do to the lamb of the continual burnt offering? Ah, I see by the look on your face that you remember what we discussed. Yes, that’s right! The priest slit the lamb’s throat, then cut the poor thing into its constituent parts and burned them to smithereens on the bronze altar.
That was the end result of the burnt offerings under the Old Covenant. Now do you see the difference between that and the living sacrifices under the New Covenant? Yes, you got it right again! Praise the Lord! The Old Covenant whole burnt offerings were killed, while the New Covenant whole burnt offerings (aka “living sacrifices”) are presented to the Lord alive and breathing. A significant difference, wouldn’t you say?
But not so fast! The real and true burnt offering—the antitype (the Lord Jesus)—did die on the cross (the bronze altar). Even more, any true Christian also died on that cross “in Christ”. He is our substitute whole burnt offering, just as He is our substitute sin offering and every other type of offering. We don’t live because of our own righteousness. We live because He died for our sins and then imparted to us His righteousness.
I like it! Thank you, Jesus. Let’s go to Him now and do just that. We’ll finish our subject in the next study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The eternal Son of God temporarily laid aside His prerogatives as God. He took upon Himself humanity, becoming a man of like nature with us. He eternally is God. At a point in time He became a man, and He now remains a man forevermore. At the same time He is still God.
As a man Jesus walked the earth without exercising His prerogatives of deity. Instead He obeyed the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is one way the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for man.
We too are to be born again, and then we are to live in our human body according to the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Guess what? When we describe this arrangement, we are expressing the definition of the whole burnt offering! Hallelujah! Our study is bringing us to a better understanding of the whole burnt offering.
But under the New Covenant we don’t present burnt offerings on a bronze altar. So how does all this understanding affect us today? Just this, that we are to present our body to God as a living sacrifice. Don’t you remember? And this brings us to the distinct difference between the whole burnt offerings of the Old Covenant and the living sacrifices of the New.
Muse upon the scenario we portrayed back in the wilderness in the camp of Israel. It’s dawn and the morning burnt offering is being presented to the Lord at the bronze altar. The priest did what again to that little ol’ lamb? He invited it home to meet the family? No, that wasn’t it. He fed it to the big bad wolf? Not even. I got it! He took it to the movies? Naw. Still not the right answer.
Okay. So you tell me the correct answer. What did the priest do to the lamb of the continual burnt offering? Ah, I see by the look on your face that you remember what we discussed. Yes, that’s right! The priest slit the lamb’s throat, then cut the poor thing into its constituent parts and burned them to smithereens on the bronze altar.
That was the end result of the burnt offerings under the Old Covenant. Now do you see the difference between that and the living sacrifices under the New Covenant? Yes, you got it right again! Praise the Lord! The Old Covenant whole burnt offerings were killed, while the New Covenant whole burnt offerings (aka “living sacrifices”) are presented to the Lord alive and breathing. A significant difference, wouldn’t you say?
But not so fast! The real and true burnt offering—the antitype (the Lord Jesus)—did die on the cross (the bronze altar). Even more, any true Christian also died on that cross “in Christ”. He is our substitute whole burnt offering, just as He is our substitute sin offering and every other type of offering. We don’t live because of our own righteousness. We live because He died for our sins and then imparted to us His righteousness.
I like it! Thank you, Jesus. Let’s go to Him now and do just that. We’ll finish our subject in the next study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Dawn in the Desert – Part 5
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship [Romans 12:1].
The born again person died to sin “in Christ” on the cross. He rose out of the tomb “in Christ” and now lives the new resurrection life “in Christ”. Christians don’t have their own righteousness. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
What all of this means is that I can now, because I am already born again, present my body to God as a living sacrifice. You can too. We already died for our sins “in Christ” on the cross. We now live His new, righteous life because we rose out of death “in Christ”. Christ died and now lives. “In Christ” we do too. Hence we are free to live as whole burnt offerings to God.
Yes, the blood offerings were killed and remained dead. But that was the Law’s judgment on sin. In the New Covenant we are not under Law but under grace. Jesus already paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind by dying on the cross for us. He fulfilled the Law for us. In doing so God’s righteousness was upheld.
Sin demands death for its wages. But death couldn’t hold Jesus. Three days later He rose out of death in newness of life, in resurrection life. Sin and its penalty was left in the tomb. Sinners remain dead in the tomb. A new creation, eternal and without sin, came out of the tomb. Saints come out of the tomb.
Now those who are born again (aka “saints”) are alive and able to live entirely for God. We are free to do so, but we can refuse to do so. I have to willingly present my body as a “living sacrifice”, as a whole burnt offering, to God in His service. You too have the same choice to make. But do not be mistaken. No one has this choice to make until they are first born again as a new creation in Christ Jesus.
So are you born again? If not, you can become so right now. Simply look by faith to Jesus on the cross and recognize that He died for your sins there. Identify yourself on the cross with Him. This fulfills the Old Covenant part where the offerer slit the throat of his substitute offering.
Ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you for your sins, sins which led Him in love to willingly die on the cross so that you might live in Him. By faith believe He does forgive you because the Word of God teaches this is so.
Then by faith in the Word of God come out of the tomb in newness of life “in Christ”. Go forth and live the resurrection life which He freely bestows on you, no longer a slave to sin but now a willing bond slave to righteousness.
Ah, you have just presented yourself to God as a living sacrifice. Congratulations. The journey is a lifelong one and the going frequently encounters rough winds and vicious waves. But not to fret. The Lord is on your side. What can man do to you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The born again person died to sin “in Christ” on the cross. He rose out of the tomb “in Christ” and now lives the new resurrection life “in Christ”. Christians don’t have their own righteousness. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
What all of this means is that I can now, because I am already born again, present my body to God as a living sacrifice. You can too. We already died for our sins “in Christ” on the cross. We now live His new, righteous life because we rose out of death “in Christ”. Christ died and now lives. “In Christ” we do too. Hence we are free to live as whole burnt offerings to God.
Yes, the blood offerings were killed and remained dead. But that was the Law’s judgment on sin. In the New Covenant we are not under Law but under grace. Jesus already paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind by dying on the cross for us. He fulfilled the Law for us. In doing so God’s righteousness was upheld.
Sin demands death for its wages. But death couldn’t hold Jesus. Three days later He rose out of death in newness of life, in resurrection life. Sin and its penalty was left in the tomb. Sinners remain dead in the tomb. A new creation, eternal and without sin, came out of the tomb. Saints come out of the tomb.
Now those who are born again (aka “saints”) are alive and able to live entirely for God. We are free to do so, but we can refuse to do so. I have to willingly present my body as a “living sacrifice”, as a whole burnt offering, to God in His service. You too have the same choice to make. But do not be mistaken. No one has this choice to make until they are first born again as a new creation in Christ Jesus.
So are you born again? If not, you can become so right now. Simply look by faith to Jesus on the cross and recognize that He died for your sins there. Identify yourself on the cross with Him. This fulfills the Old Covenant part where the offerer slit the throat of his substitute offering.
Ask the Lord Jesus to forgive you for your sins, sins which led Him in love to willingly die on the cross so that you might live in Him. By faith believe He does forgive you because the Word of God teaches this is so.
Then by faith in the Word of God come out of the tomb in newness of life “in Christ”. Go forth and live the resurrection life which He freely bestows on you, no longer a slave to sin but now a willing bond slave to righteousness.
Ah, you have just presented yourself to God as a living sacrifice. Congratulations. The journey is a lifelong one and the going frequently encounters rough winds and vicious waves. But not to fret. The Lord is on your side. What can man do to you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
