Sacrifice is defined as "the act of depriving oneself of something for the sake of attaining some goal or for the sake of someone else" (From the new webmaster dictionary) We can sacrifice time, positions, conviniencies, integrities, honour, power etc because we want to achieve peace for our people, name for family, educational qualification for ourselves or even sacrificing our lives for the safety of someone in danger. The beginning of sacrifice is found in the primitive ages of man and among all nations of antiquity. In some societies for example, cows and goats must be sacrificed before they embark on any warfare. In my village, when we were very small, if you woke up in the morning and saw small chicks and coins in a plate, you will begin to wonder whose child was sick in the night. So there are many shades and types of sacrifices.
In sacrifice, a lower being offers to the higher something he values most for something great he is expecting. That is why in idol worship,Satan, mimicking our relationship with God, demands life sacrifices and or blood sacrifices. In the Bible when great blood sacrifices are given, God is moved. When He wanted to test Abraham's obedience in (Gen.22:1-4), ""take your son, your only son-yes, isaac, whom you love so much-and go to the land of moriah. sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which i will point out to you." The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac. Then he chopped wood to build a fire for burnt offering and set out for the place where God had told him to go. On the third day of the journey, Abraham saw the place in the distance." Because Abraham was ready to offer his son to God, God counted it for him as righteousness.
The sacrifices of Hezekiah, David, Solomon etc were accompanied by great by great slaughtering of livestock. An innocent animal had to die for the sake of someone's offence and its blood was shed for the atonement [covering of sin] of the offender. As the Bible says "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins" (Heb. 9:22).
However, when God decided to deal with issues of man's sin once and for all, He did not choose bulls and goats; He did not chose the priests and chief priests, rather He chose His Son whom He loved to humbly lay down His life and be humiliated to be an only sacrifice for entire mankind. There is no sacrifice greater than dying for someone else irrespective of the relationship.
It is therefore important we accept that it was for us that this ultimate sacrifice was made on the cross of Calvary. We should reverence and honour the Lord Jesus Christ for subjecting Himself to rejection, chastisement, oppression, shame, pain, mockery and above all death on the cross of Calvary. He was made naked before friends, enemies, neighbours and indeed the entire humanity.
He was spat upon, bruised and suffered various forms of humiliation and He endured them all. This is nothing but ultimate sacrifice.
He did no violence yet He was stricken and despised and was judged by ordinary men even though the Son of God. He had the powers to reject these forms of torture but He chose to die.
You should come to realize that there was a time in history when God sent His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to be crucified on the Cross of Calvary - the innocent for sinners, the King of Kings for the lowly, the rich for the poor, the everlasting God for the vile man, the uncorrupt for the corrupt, the Holy for the unholy etc and through His surffering and obedience God accepted His sacrifice and is now willing to reconcile us to God because of that He sacrificed; this sacrifice though free has cause Jesus Christ His integrity, His blood and His nature. That was why the Bible says in the book of (Phil. 2:5-11) "Your attitude should be the same that of Christ Jesus had, though He was God, He did not demand and cling to His rights as God. He made Himself nothing; He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form He obediently humbled Himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Because of this, God raised Him up to the heights of heaven and gave Him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father."
Have you accepted this sacrifice? Jesus has died for your sins. All it requires from you is to humble yourself and accept the ultimate sacrifice He made for you on the cross of Calvary. You can do this by accepting that you are a sinner and by repenting and confessing your sins to Him. Then ask Him to come into your life to wash away your sins by His blood. Ask Him to forgive your sins, confess Him as savior and Lord. Begin to appreciate that His death and resurrection is actually for your personal deliverance from sin and its attendant consequences.
Remember, God is merciful,faithful and just to forgive all your sins for Jesus' sake no matter how great it weighs.He will definitely accept you and give you a whole new life.
If you have never consciously accepted this sacrifice before,please bow your head now and take the following steps:
* Realize that you are a sinner and all your personal righteousness are not acceptable to God.
* Ask God to forgive you of all your sins based on the ultimate sacrifice on the cross of calvary.
* Ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior.
* Believe by faith that He has come into your heart.
* Tell someone today that you have accepted Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the cross.
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