The Final Offering

A child born into royalty could take much for granted.  This child would not know hunger or cold like the starving daughter of a farmer whose parents cannot afford wood to heat their dwelling.  It must be a severe famine indeed to impact the palace kitchen of the king and queen.  The prince or princess would never know the feeling of a parent imprisoned or the need to help raise little brothers or sisters with servants at the ready.  The fact their father is the king would influence their perspective and attitude.  It would take losing everything to begin to realise how much of their lives was foreign to the rest of the subjects of the realm.

After coming to Jesus Christ as poor beggars, our heavenly Father has adopted us as His own children by faith in our Saviour and LORD.  Our humble background as street urchins creates a very different problem to the one raised in the luxury royalty affords:  we do not realise what is ours as children of God.  God has fitted us with a robe of righteousness and we use it for a dog's mattress.  Instead of drinking from the goblet of heavenly joy and peace we try to satisfy our thirst lapping from puddles fouled by the hooves of horses and donkeys.  We have the best teacher in Jesus and the Holy Spirit who has provided the word of God but we are not familiar with the material or God's patient methods of teaching.  We are more taken watching boys wallow in a street fight than comprehending spiritual truths that transform our lives from within.  A man who learned to navigate the sewers in darkness as a boy suddenly finds himself through the Gospel accepted, embraced, washed, and thrust into a life he never imagined as a child of God.

Before stepping foot into the palace a common person would have heard many things about the king, and a lot of them would be untrue.  There are many things he would continue to believe until he was corrected or learned by experience.  So it is for us who are children of God by faith in Jesus.  Religions and "spiritual" people are riddled with error when not grounded in Bible truth, and we are naturally hostile towards God and His ways.  The scriptures explain to the unregenerate the wisdom of God appears foolishness (I Cor. 2:14).  When we are born again our disjointed souls are snapped into the proper orientation--like when a dislocated knee is set.  Our eyes are opened to see lavish blessings we could not have dreamed were possible given our past.

One of these is found in the book of Hebrews.  The writer sets the stage by saying Jesus came according to the will of God to establish a new covenant which supersedes the Law of Moses.  Hebrews 10:10-18 says, "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹¹ And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵ But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ¹⁶ "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," ¹⁷ then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." ¹⁸ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin."

Isn't it amazing followers of Jesus have been sanctified through Him once for all?  Through Jesus we are perfected forever as those being sanctified.  God no longer deals with us according to our sin but the grace of God and just forgiveness through the Gospel.  Because He does not remember our sins and lawless deeds any more, having provided remission of these, "there is no longer an offering for sin."  There is literally nothing we can do to add to the sacrifice Jesus has made for us, no penance or lessons to be learned:  when Jesus said "It is finished!" it is true concerning the payment for our sins and acceptance into His fold by faith in Him.  After His resurrection Jesus taught His amazed disciples that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations (Luke 24:27).  The foundational precept of nearly all religions in this world emphasise what man must do to be accepted by God:  Christianity is unique in declaring what God has done so sinful men by faith in Jesus alone are declared righteous and sanctified.

Praise be to God for His marvelous love towards men!  We were lost and without hope in the world, had no power to save ourselves, blind and headed for hell, and the Light of the World shines upon us by the grace of God.  As citizens of heaven whose eyes have been opened let us open our hearts to receive the timeless truth of the Bible and the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth.  We are blessed for coming to Christ in faith at the first, but let us also go on with Him--growing in love towards God and more fully understanding the implications of our inheritance as children of God.  In light of what Jesus has done it is our reasonable service to offer ourselves as living sacrifices unto God, rejoicing to serve and glorify Him now and forever.