By Doug Redford
Have you ever thought or said, “I wish I had a dollar for every time that ____”? (The blank would include something that you’ve often done or experienced during your lifetime.) Consider this: suppose you had a dollar for every sacrifice that took place under the old covenant system of sacrifices. Who can calculate how many lambs, bulls, rams, and goats were slain to provide atonement for the Israelites’ sins? Hebrews 10:11 tells us that “day after day” and “again and again” a priest would offer “the same sacrifices” (New International Version). Given the variety of sacrifices required within the Law of Moses and the period of time during which they were offered (well over a thousand years), to receive a dollar per sacrifice would make a person set for life!
Hebrews 10:11 also highlights the fact that all of these sacrifices “can never take away sins.” Here’s something else to consider: even if we did have a dollar for every sacrifice offered, it still would not come close to paying the necessary price for restoring our relationship with God. The psalmist wrote, “No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them—the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough” (Psalm 49:7, 8). All of the sacrifices presented under the old covenant were “only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves” (Hebrews 10:1). The sacrifices only fore-shadowed the once-for-all sacrifice given by Jesus at Calvary. Regardless of our material wealth or social status, we must all come to the cross as beggars. Augustus Toplady, author of the classic hymn Rock of Ages, stated it well: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.”
Peter and John prepared the Passover meal that Jesus observed with his disciples (Luke 22:7-13), but that night Jesus was preparing himself to become the true Passover sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29) and fulfill what the sacrifices under the old covenant anticipated. At Communion, we hold in our hands those emblems that remind us to cling to the cross: the bread and the juice, representing the body and blood of our Savior. Because of his all-sufficient sacrifice, we are indeed set for life—eternal life.
Doug Redford has served in the preaching ministry, as an editor of adult Sunday school curriculum, and as a Bible college professor. Now retired, he continues to write and speak as opportunities arise.
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