Showing posts with label Sacrifice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sacrifice. Show all posts

Saturday, April 3, 2010

"It Is Finished"

When sin entered the world, so did death. For every sin mankind committed, something had to die. The practice of sacrificing animals, especially lambs, began.


Whenever Man sinned, an innocent animal would have to be killed, and by its blood that sin was cleansed. A sacrifice had to be constantly given, for we are constantly sinning.

The Jewish people under Moses sacrificed twice a day; in the morning at 10am, and in the afternoon, at 3pm. At the time of sacrifice, a priest would blow the shofar, a Jewish horn. At that moment, the lamb’s throat was slit, and all the religious Jews would pause for a moment, begging God to remember the final and perfect sacrifice He’d promised to Abraham. This practice continued for years.

About 2,000 years ago, Jesus hung on a cross. At 3pm, the shofar sounded for the sacrifice, and Jesus said, ‘it is finished.’ Then He died.

The daily sacrifices weren’t needed anymore, for He was the last, perfect, and sinless sacrifice.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Jesus' life: The cross

Jesus is love. He doesn’t have love; He is love. You cannot separate the two. If you have Jesus, you have love. If you have love, you have Jesus. Jesus can’t run out of love; it’s a part of His identity. Jesus is love. Jesus life is a perfect example because He didn’t just have love; He was love.

Let’s look at Jesus and His life on Earth. The reason he came was to die for us and to save us. He chose to leave heaven, live like a human for 30 some years, and then die a cruel death.

What did the cross do for Jesus? Nothing. It brought Him only pain. He sacrifice and lost everything He had.

What did the cross do for us? Everything. It gave us life and saved us.

Jesus didn’t put himself first, but He always put other first. If He’d been thinking of Himself and His own well being, He would have stayed in Heaven. But He didn’t. He chose to put others and their needs before His own.

Love is putting others’ needs before your own.