20060129
    Leviticus 2-3 contain more commands as to how the sacrifices of the Jews were to be conducted. Consider, however, why anyone would make such a sacrifice. Was it because it was commanded? In part yes, but what is the more important aspect of sacrifice? Psalm 51:16-17, among other places, tells us that the nature of sacrifice is not that the act is performed, but that it is performed with a contrite heart, yearning for God’s mercy and will.
    In that way, the faithful Old Testament Jew practiced a form of the very same faith we have now as Christians. They sacrificed because they had faith that the sacrifice was meaningful, and the meaning of that sacrifice was the promise of the coming Christ. For us today, our faith is in the ultimate sacrifice, that of Jesus on the cross. We know now, as the faithful Jews knew then, that our faith in that sacrifice brings us before God purified by His promise to us, and in that promise we have the hope of the faithful.
    Sacrifice is a difficult and garish thing to think upon, but as Christians we cannot forget that our ransom was paid with the ultimate price, not with the blood of a lamb sprinkled on an altar, but by the Blood of the Lamb shed for us on Calvary. In that death, we can rejoice, for with it our sins died. And with Christ’s resurrection, we can rejoice again, because the resurrected and ascended Lord went to his Father, on our behalf, like the fragrance of that old offering to declare our sin cleansed and prepare a place for us at the Father’s right hand.
DLH
