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. For then would
not they have ceased to be offered?
Because the worshippers once
purged should have had no more
conscience of sins. But in those
sacrifices there is a remembrance
again made of sins every year.
Hebrews 10:1
Let me paint this picture: an Israelite is bringing a sacrifice, maybe a lamb, or a turtledove, or some harvest. As he goes to the tabernacle he smells the aroma of the smoke of the burning of an animal. He knows that once a year the high priest goes into the most sacred place to offer a blood offering for sin. Furthermore, he attends all the festivals as commanded. Why? The best reason is: he knows that he is a sinner. How does he know? Because he knows he fails the law in some manner all the time, further he knows that he himself cannot remove the stench of sin from himself, and he goes with sacrifice in hand, attends all the festivals in order that God will remove that stench of sin that he cannot remove. Salvation for this Israelite is a continually sacrificing and the need for the high priest to go into the most sacred place once a year, every year, year after year. All this gave hope that one day this renewal of sacrifices and the need for the high priest every year to make an offering for the sins of the people would come to an end for their hope was in the promised Messiah who would fulfill what was missing this worship for it was only a shadow of the good to come.
The writer of Hebrews is making it very clear that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah, the one prefigured in the Old covenant with all the sacrifices and festivals and the need for the high priest to enter every year into the Most Sacred place. Jesus was the ultimate blood sacrifice for it was God in flesh that died and had the blood of His flesh poured out and it was this Jesus Christ who rose again, alive, bodily, and it was Jesus Christ who entered into the Most Holy Place and that place was at the right hand of God, once for all time never to be repeated and by this sins could be removed for and eternity.
There are those in religious organization that would object to my saying the Jesus Christ is God. The old Arian theology by Arius taught that Jesus was a created being and at best then He was "a god." Jehovah Witnesses are Arian in theology and believe and teach the same theology and say that Jesus could not have sinned, or that Jesus could have sinned, depends which organization believes. Well! If Jesus could not sin, then He must be God for only God cannot sin. If Jesus was created to not sin then He is on an equal plane with God but wait, to have this Spirit He and not be able to sin as God, then He must be begotten of God and to have His Spirit and by of the same substance or essence. If Jesus could sin then we would not have an assurance that our sins would be paid, nor would God for He would have had the ability to choose. God would have to wait to see how all this worked out and if it did not work out as planned then He would have to institute another plan. You mean that God could not by His Will establish a plan that would be successful? God would in some way make a mistake? How then could God be an Omniscient God if this was true? The only way that success could be assured is that God Himself would take on flesh by sending the Logos, His Word, the Creator, to be His Only Begotten Son to die and satisfy the debt of sin.
Another problem that is having its way in the world is the Mormons who teach and believe that the souls, albeit created by God are eternal and that includes Jesus for He is a soul although the most intelligent soul and used by God to fulfill His purpose to save man from sin. Satan too is a spirit as Jesus and to say that both are created spirits by God is to say that Satan and Jesus are brothers. That is Gnosticism at its foundation. One turned bad the other good. Really? That means that both had choices and once again there would be no way to know which choice either Satan or Jesus would make, God would be sitting in the wings waiting for all this to work out. Of course another problem is that God is anthropomorphize for they teach that He has a body. One false teaching leads to another.
All these heresies faced the early Christians and the Holy Spirit inspired men to write the truth so that those Christians would have the facts concerning Jesus and their salvation. We today are facing those same heresies although they are wrapped in some new color, some new cloth attempting to conceal the truth that they are teaching heresy. We have that writing today thousands of manuscripts all teaching the Orthodox theology, accept for those corrupted texts that contain Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, Sabellianism, Docetism, as found in such translations as the NIV, ESV, ASV, etc. that are used in many Churches ignoring the majority of manuscripts. Ears are tickled, and Dr. Oz, and Dr. Phil type of philosophy and ideology has taken the place from the truth of Scripture, the Gospel has been rewritten to fit what people want to hear and the real Gospel is almost forgotten. We need to turn back to the truth of the Gospel as taught in the Bible, no excuses for what it says, no rewriting it to fit the what the people want to hear, they, we, all of us, not to hear the truth. Jesus is God! Jesus is the Savior! Jesus makes eternal intercession once for all time! Now we have the responsibility to live according to what He taught us as how to live. The question is: Will we do it?
Come now, and let us reason
together, saith the LORD,
though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow;
though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. If ye
be willing and obedient, ye shall
eat the good of the land.
Isaiah 1:18-19
The sacrifice acceptable to God: our obedience
Richard L. Crumb
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