Our Role in Christ's Sacrifice

In the Old Testament, sinners were required to bring an animal without spot or blemish, a perfect offering for their sin. Later, the Lord rebuked Israel for bringing the lame and the bruised, because they began to act as if God didn't deserve the very best offerings from His people.

Praise God, we are not required to bring the sacrifice for our sin, because God provided His Own Lamb, our Lord Jesus, as our sacrifice!

Indeed, there was nothing we could bring that would take away our sin. "Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain, could give the guilty conscience peace, nor wash away its stain!"

Rather, our sins are taken away once for all by the offering up of Jesus, our Lamb without spot and without blemish! He is perfect and harmless and without sin, and well-pleasing to God.

Praise God, we aren't permitted to provide the priest for the offering either, for our Lord Jesus is our High Priest. Our priests were always marred sinners themselves, who offered imperfectly before God.

But our Lord Jesus presents His Own Body and Blood before the throne of Heaven itself to make atonement for us, to purge us from all guiltiness, and to redeem us forever!

There is only one role sinners played in the offering up of the sacrifice of Jesus: we did the killing of God's Lamb.

It was required under the law that the sinner slay his own offering in sorrow, repentance, and faith, but our murder of Christ was done out of envy and hatred and contempt.

Wicked man's purpose in killing the Savior was not to make Him an offering for sin, but to destroy Him out of envy.

God knew He could trust wicked men to put to death His Own Dear Son at Calvary!