Jesus: Our Sacrifice and Inheritance

I love when God opens my eyes to catch glimpses of His plan in the Bible.  Through Old Testament prophets God spoke of a Messiah who would save His people from their sin.  The New Testament begins with the Gospels by hailing Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of this divine promise.  Because He came in humility cloaked in humanity, He was rejected by the very people He came to save.  The Jews were looking for one who would rule the nations with a rod of iron, yet that fulfillment is still to come when Jesus is revealed to the world the second time.  Jesus came as a servant of all, and died to set sinners free.  Jesus rose glorified three days later, proving He is exactly who He claimed to be, a message harmonised with the angels who announced his birth to disciples who followed Him in faith.  He is Immanuel - God made flesh - our Peace, my LORD and my God.

In the opening chapter of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, John addresses the letter to seven churches in Asia.  He does not claim to be the source of this revelation, but Revelation 1:5-6 says his words are "...from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, ⁶ and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."  John praises Jesus for His redeeming sacrifice and atonement through His blood.  He proclaims the position before God of all genuine disciples of Jesus, having been made "kings and priests" before God.

This knowledge provides a beautiful picture of the believer's calling and service throughout scripture.  As a Christian, knowing Christ has made me a priest unto God, there is a wealth of understanding and personal application in the Old Testament to consider.  Priests under the old covenant were of the tribe of Levi and specifically of the line of Aaron, the first High Priest.  Hebrews chapters 7-10 goes into great detail how Christ is a better High Priest than any man, for He did not enter the Holiest place with the blood of animal sacrifices, but through His precious blood.  Hebrews 9:24-26 says, "For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; ²⁵ not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another-- ²⁶ He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

Having established that Christians are made priests through the priesthood of Jesus Christ by His grace, I noticed a lovely picture in the book of Joshua.   Joshua 13:14 says, "Only to the tribe of Levi he had given no inheritance; the sacrifices of the LORD God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance, as He said to them."   The end of the chapter concludes with Joshua 13:33:  "But to the tribe of Levi Moses had given no inheritance; the LORD God of Israel was their inheritance, as He had said to them."  Is this a contradiction?  Verse 14 says the inheritance of the Levites were the sacrifices they were privileged and commanded to partake of, but verse 33 says the LORD God of Israel was their inheritance!  It is not one or the other, but both!  This points to Jesus Christ as being the sacrifice we partake of by faith, and that He is our inheritance.  It is not an inheritance to be received only after the death of the body, for the Holy Spirit even now is the down-payment of our inheritance Who dwells inside all who are born again (Eph. 1:10-14).

What God has promised to do He has done.  As certain as the historical account of the Bible is true, all that we read yet to take place will one day be fulfilled.  Since Christ has made us kings and priests unto God, let us boldly lay hold of our inheritance and walk in this knowledge.  Naboth refused the request of king Ahab to sell land given him by God as an inheritance, and it ended up costing him his life.  May our lives, purchased by God as HIS inheritance, be used for His glory as we stand steadfast in faith.