#DailyDevotion YHWH Has Provided (YRAH) The Sacrifice
Hebrews 13: 11 Every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” 17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
The Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sins. They were given as a testimony, a witness, a symbol of the true sacrifice that would take away the sacrificers’ sin. The Lord would count their sacrifices as atonement for sin because of the faith of the one sacrificing. The true sacrifice all these sacrifices were modeled on was Christ Jesus. He offered up himself once for all as a sacrifice for sin. He is the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world which Moses saw and received to pattern the sacrifices after, just like the Tabernacle.
Now Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God offering intercession for all those who trust in his sacrifice. He prays for our endurance and so governs the world that we would persevere in the faith. By his single sacrifice he has perfected for all time those being sanctified. Try as we might, we can never perfect ourselves or sanctify ourselves. That is Jesus’ work to, in, with and for us. He does this by gathering us around his gospel. The sacraments set us apart, seal us for the day of redemption, take away our sins, give us the Holy Spirit and grant us faith and the strengthening thereof. As it is written, Col 1:22 “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,” and again, Jud 1:24 “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy…”
The Holy Spirit made witness of this in the prophet Jeremiah. He foretold of a new covenant not like the one made on Sinai. On Sinai God wrote on tablets of stone. He gave commandments and sacrifices that would take away sins. He gave many rules, regulations and the like which would set his people apart from other nations. But now in the covenant made with the blood of Jesus, God has written the law upon our hearts when the Holy Spirit gives us the grace to believe on Jesus, the Son of God, whom God the Father offered as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. With the sacrifice of Jesus God swears, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” When we believe God, the Lord, has forgiven our sins and remembers them no more, then we know the Lord. If you do not believe this then you do not know the Lord. Through the forgiveness of sins we are changed into people who now bear good fruit, i.e. good works. We do the work of God, i.e. believe in the one he has sent, Jesus, and love our neighbor as our self. We don’t offer up sacrifices for sin anymore. We confess Jesus as our sacrifice and trust God’s promise.
Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the sacrifice of your only Son Jesus for our sins. Grant us faith to believe this and give us your Spirit that we may do your will in all our life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.