0897. Offerings, Fulfilled in Christ

Offerings, Fulfilled in Christ

"Bat with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

"Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you" (1Pe_1:19-20).

1. He was a willing sacrifice. In this He was the fulfillment of the type of the slain Lamb. "Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body Thou hast prepared Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. * * By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb_10:5-10). Jesus Christ said, "I have power to lay My life down, and I have power to take it again." Jesus went as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep, dumb before the shearers, He opened not His mouth. He was a willing sacrifice.

2. Christ died substitutionally. This was true of the Old Testament offerings. The priest placed his hand upon the head of the goat and confessed the sins of the people. Abraham saw this truth in the ram caught by the head in the thicket. He understood in that ram the substitutionary work of Christ. So Christ died for others (see Heb_7:24-28). He became "sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2Co_5:21). He suffered, the just for the unjust. It was upon Him that the Lord placed all our iniquities.

3. Christ was without spot. The Old Testament offering was without blemish (see Exo_12:5). "How much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God" (Heb_9:14). In I Peter we read that Jesus was the "Lamb without spot and without blemish." Such an One, Who knew no sin, Who had no sin, was surely able to bear the sins of the world.

4. Jesus Christ offered up His own Blood. "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" (Heb_9:12). Our Lord loved us and washed us in His Blood. There are those who discount the story of the Cross and the red stream which ran from Calvary, but that red stream was set forth by many sacrifices, from the time of Adam and until the types met their fulfillment in the Cross of Christ.

5. Jesus Christ died an acceptable offering. "Now the God of Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the Blood of the everlasting covenant" (Heb_13:20). After Christ, our sacrifice, had died, God brought Him forth from the dead. That is, God accepted the work which Christ accomplished on the Cross. "This man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Heb_10:12). Not only was He brought forth from the dead, but He was acclaimed at the Father's right hand, the accepted One.

Thus we have at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the Heavens, an High Priest, Who became flesh, Who was obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. "Wherefore God hath exceedingly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name" (Php_2:9).

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR