Sacrifices, O.T. and N.T.

Old Testament Gospel Heb. 4:2

Israel in ancient days Not only had a view Of Sinai in a blaze, But learn’d the Gospel too; The types and figures were a glass, In which they saw a Saviour’s face.

The paschal sacrifice And blood-besprinkled door, Seen with enlighten’d eyes, And once applied with power, Would teach the need of other blood, To reconcile an angry God.

The Lamb, the Dove, set forth His perfect innocence, Whose blood of matchless worth Should be the soul’s defense; For He who can for sin atone, Must have no failings of His own.

The scapegoat on his head The people’s trespass bore, And to the desert led, Was to be seen no more: In him our Surety seem’d to say, “Behold, I bear your sins away.”

Dipt in his fellow’s blood, The living bird went free; The type, well understood, Express’d the sinner’s plea; Described a guilty soul enlarged, And by a Saviour’s death discharged.

Jesus, I love to trace, Throughout the sacred page, The footsteps of Thy grace, The same in every age! Oh grant that I may faithful be To clearer light vouchsafed to me!

Olney Hymns, by William Cowper, from Cowper’s Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York

Allusions to Sacrifices

The N.T. is full of allusions to sacrifices, sacrifices that we perform in the cathedral of our bodies instead of at a temple. The totality of our being is to be presented as “living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). We also sacrifice with words of praise from our lips and the sharing of our resources with others. “Through Jesus, therefore let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hebrews 13:15–16). Giving our money to the Lord’s work is pictured as a “fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” (Philippians 2:17). We now, as the temples of God, are required to present sacrifices to Him, not the sacrifice for sin because Christ already accomplished that on the cross, but sacrifices of worship and thanksgiving.

Fan The Flame, J. Stowell, Moody, 1986, p. 74