THE SUPREME SACRIFICE

THE SUPREME SACRIFICE

                In last week’s lesson on the Melchizedek Priesthood we learned that Jesus Christ has become the High Priest and Mediator of a better Covenant and while the first covenant remains as a foundation for the New Covenant and while all of its types and shadows serve to make a positive ID of Jesus as the true Lamb of God, we nevertheless do not need to borrow anything from the Old covenant in order to make the New Covenant complete.

            The New Covenant is absolutely complete in every way. It has a new and infinitely superior Priesthood as well as a change of Laws. (Heb. 7:12) It operates not as an external command but as an internal presence of Christ’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We learned that the Old covenant Law can only carry us as far as the foot of the cross and no further. And just as Moses could not take them into the Promised Land, but the crossing of the Jordon required a new leader namely Joshua who was a type of Christ, so neither can the Law of Moses take us over into the New Covenant for it must be guaranteed by better sacrifices than that of goats and calves and sheep.

            The Holy Spirit produces His fruit in us, which fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control. Genuine Holy Spirit produced love for God and for each other fulfills the Old Covenant in every way, so that in the New Covenant, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

            Jesus told the woman at the well that salvation is of the Jews and Galatians 3 tells us that Jesus, the Messiah and rightful King of the Jews was that one Seed to whom all of the promises were written so that when we receive Jesus, we receive all that is promised and by faith we become Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise. There Paul explains to us that the New Covenant is not based on the Law which came 430 years later, but upon the promises made to Abraham and rather than being carried out by the Levitical Priesthood, it would be carried out by an eternal High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.  Jesus, the divine Son of God.

            The death of Jesus on the cross brings an absolute end to all that came before. When we by faith enter into Christ’s death we die to self and to the world and to the Law of the Old Covenant… for “Through the Law we die to the Law in order that we may live unto Christ. Gal. 2:19 and so Galatians 2:19-21 becomes the great continental divide between two covenants and once we pass through Christ’s death on the cross, we are then raised by the power of Jesus’ resurrection. We are born again… no longer citizens of this world, but sons and daughters in the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

            People who feel that we must borrow from the Old Covenant or bring Old Covenant Law back into the picture to complete the New Covenant simply do not know the majesty, the power and the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ to bring us a New Covenant in His blood and animated by His Holy Spirit in order to bring many sons to glory.

            Paul is flabbergasted when he says to the Galatians: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Does He then who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you do it by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith? Gal.3:3, 5

            A study of the Melchizedek priesthood of Jesus should convince us once and for all, that the New Covenant is in every way superior to the Old Covenant of Law, for even though Moses can testify to the validity of the New Covenant, his covenant can in no way produce what the New  Covenant can produce. The Old Covenant could only produce servants, but the New Covenant gives birth to sons.

            Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 speak about this transition saying: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”

            We need to pay close attention to what the writer of Hebrews is saying because he is talking about the yearly sacrifice that took place on the Day of Atonement when the High Priest would go into the Most Holy Place carrying the blood of a lamb to sprinkle on the mercy seat for the sins of Israel. Likewise, Jesus as our High Priest carried His own blood into that greater tabernacle in heaven not made with hands and there He entered the Most Holy Place with His own blood. And the writer of Hebrews says this: “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that area sanctified.” In other words Jesus’ blood did what no other previous blood could do and we are perfected and sanctified by that blood which He offered once and for all. Heb. 10:9-14

            A great deal is said about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, but not nearly as much is said about the High Priesthood of Christ wherein all that He did by His life, death and resurrection is applied to our lives and brought into living reality. I guess this is partially because while life, death and resurrection provide ample lyrics for songs, a High Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek does not readily produce “sing-able” lyrics. So it gets left out. But in truth, all that Jesus left heaven to do on our behalf in this earth is brought to fruition in us by what Jesus is doing in heaven today.

            Our own living and vital connection with the Father is made possible through the role of Jesus Christ as our High Priest. But the truth of the matter is that if Jesus had not historically come to earth and entered the human race and lived the sinless life and then died for our sins, He would have nothing to minister to us today as our High Priest. So it is a package deal. When we have Jesus, we have it all and if we don’t have Jesus we have nothing.

            Our lesson this week is about the supreme sacrifice that Jesus made for us and it says: “We cannot imagine how blessed we are to have the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross as our means of obtaining forgiveness and being brought into a right relationship with God. We must never take for granted the death of Christ for our sins. Every blessing we have as Christians and our hope of eternal life we owe to Christ’s sacrifice.”

            We had a guest preacher at our church last night. He preached a powerful message with much encouragement and instruction. He preached about the storm on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves and he reminded us that if we are born again, then Jesus is riding in our boat as well. We need not fear the storms that come our way because the Peace Speaker is in our boat.

            As the story goes, there were many other little boats tagging along as the disciples made their journey. They were facing the storm as well, but Jesus was in the boat of His disciples. In other words, everyone in the world is facing the same coming storm that we are facing, but many do not have Jesus in their boat. He rides with those that belong to Him. Nevertheless they benefitted as well when Jesus calmed the storm.

            If our faith is in Jesus, then we can rest completely in Him. Jesus was asleep even as the disciples were thinking that they were about to die. It was not that Jesus didn’t care. It was rather that He had confidence that they were going to make it to the other side since He lived every day by divine appointment.

            Sometimes we may feel like we are sinking too. Waves threaten to capsize our boat… financial waves, marital waves, relationship waves along with an ever increasing storm of hatred and persecution threatens to sink us. Even nature itself seems to be turning against us in many places bringing devastation to crops and buildings or drought or floods, or hurricanes or tornadoes or dying oceans or earthquakes, or volcanoes or even manmade disasters. We are heading into the deep waters of the perilous times that Jesus warned us about, but Jesus also showed us that if we invite Him in He will ride in our boat as well and as David said: I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.”

            Everything that Jesus does FOR us and IN us and THROUGH is backed by His life, death and resurrection. We need not fear anything. Even as we face the greatest storm the world has ever seen, we know that Jesus rides with us in our boat. He has absolute authority and control over everything that happens in our lives. Even when He doesn’t answer our cries when or where or how we think He should, we can rest assured that He sees our lives from a bigger perspective. In His plan for our lives, He always answers right on time and so we can know that when the time is right he will stand up in our boat and command the wind and the waves to be still.

            His supreme sacrifice for us should by all means let us know that He will stop at nothing to get us to the other shore. Rest in Him today.