The greatest sacrifice ever made
The greatest sacrifice ever made
Do you know what a sacrifice is? It is giving something up, or offering it up for someone or
something. It could be our money for tithing, could be giving to the poor, praying for the lost,
giving a child up, or it could be giving your own life up for another or for Christ’s sake.
Jesus gave His own life up for everyone, He was the sacrificial lamb. Let’s back up some; if we
go to the Old Testament in Genesis 22:1-19, the sacrifice of Isaac. “V1 And it came to pass after
these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said unto him,
Abraham: and he said, behold, here I am. V2 And he said, take now thy son, thine only son
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
V3 And Abraham rose up early in
the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son,
and clave the wood for burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had
told him. V4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
V5 And Abraham said unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass: and I and the lad will
go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
V6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt
offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they
went both of them together.
V7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father:,
and he said here am I, my son. And he said, behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb
for a burnt offering?
V8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt
offering: so they went both of them together. V9 And they came to the place which God had told
him o; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son,
and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
V10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took
the knife to slay his son. V11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and
said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said Here am I. V12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon
the lad, neigher do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing
thou has not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
V13 And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD It shall be seen.
V15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,
V16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou has done this thing,
and has not withheld thy son, thine only son: V17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in
multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the sand which is upon the sea shore: and thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies:
V18 And in ty seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
because thou hast obeyed my voice. V19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they
rose up and went together to Beer-Sheeba: and Abraham dwelt at Beer-Sheba.” This story is an
analogy of what is to come.
We see all over in the gospels of Jesus predicting He will die and
come back to life. If you look at Hebrews 9:11-15 it talks about the Blood of Christ. “V11 But
Christ being come an high priests of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, hat is to say, not of this building;
V12 Neither by the blood
of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. V13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: V14 How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
V15 And for this cause he is the mediator
of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that
were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance.” Now, let’s skip down to Vs 24-28 V24 “For Christ is not entered into the holy
places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God or us:
V25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest
entered into the holy place every year with the blood of others; V26 For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
V27 And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment: V28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of
many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation.”
Therefore, we see through these scriptures that no sacrifice can cleanse and make
us whole except the blood and body of Christ. That is where people get the Idea of the Lord’s
Supper. The bread is for His body and the wine or grape juice is for His blood.
That is found in
Luke 22:16-20 “V16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in
the kingdom of God. V17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks and said, Take this, and divide
it among yourselves: V18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the
kingdom of God shall come.
V19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave
unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
V20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood
which is shed for you.”
That is a pretty clear picture on when Jesus died on the cross, His blood
“poured” out and His body was “broken”, they pierced His side with a spear and water and
blood spilled out from His heart. In John 3:16-17 it says “V16 For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life.
V17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that
the world through him might be saved.” Now let’s look at life through the spirit in
Romans 8:1-4 “V1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
V2 For the law of the Spirit of lie in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. V3 For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: V4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in
us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Isn’t that great that because of our faith
Jesus lives in us, He set aside Moses law and died under “grace”, “Amazing grace”, “Marvelous
grace”, Truly He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! Have you ever heard
of the Roman road to Salvation? It is something I learned in Sunday School, I will start out with
two scriptures in John.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Now let’s look at
John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.
” Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
” Romans 4:25 “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”
then its Romans 5:8 “ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.”
And the last one is Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” As you look at all these
scriptures you can see that this was an amazing act of love Jesus did and yes Jesus death was
graphic and bloody,
but it was the “only” way for Jesus to save us and paid our debt because
He loved us (sinful people) so much and wanted us to spend eternity with Him in heaven when
our life here on earth is done. He did this as an act of grace. When we have Christ in our hearts
we can truly see the greatest sacrifice ever made. Amen