Wrestling

Bear with me as I think out loud...

Just as the sacrifices of the Old Testament were only efficacious for the people if the Lord God recognized them as being so (in other words, someone offering a sacrifice did not obligate God to forgive them), so Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross is only efficacious because God recognizes it as efficacious. Because Jesus willingly laid down his life – God granted him the position as judge. Any person that Jesus judges as worthy of the Kingdom, God will recognize Jesus’ sacrifice as efficacious for that person, not holding that person’s sin against them. If Jesus does not recognize them, then they stand on their own, with an accusation against them and no defense (Matthew 7:21-23). I guess the realization here, for me, is that Jesus didn’t die for sins per se – he sacrificed/laid down his own life in faith that God would recognize his sacrifice as covering over sin for others. This is exactly how the sacrificial system worked – there wasn’t anything about the animal dying that made any difference to anybody for anything; it was the fact that God accounted the sacrifice as atonement. The sacrifice was representative of the obedience, humility and repentance of the one offering it. This is what David is getting at in Psalm 51, “You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” Maybe the difference here is too nuanced to be meaningful…difference without distinction in other words, I’m not sure.

Another Thing

God never demanded sacrifices in the Old Testament. No where does He say, “you must do this”. It is always presented as “when”, “if”, etc. Sacrifices were made for man – why? So that we could be near to God. So that we, mortal and unclean humans could approach and be near an utterly Holy God. When Paul says, “present yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12) – it is in line with this whole idea; we show God our devotion to Him, our longing for Him and our desire to be with Him by our obedience…by voluntarily laying down our lives in obedience.

13Bring your worthless offerings no more;

your incense is detestable to Me—

your New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations.

I cannot endure iniquity

in a solemn assembly.

14I hate your New Moons

and your appointed feasts.

They have become a burden to Me;

I am weary of bearing them.

15When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I will hide My eyes from you;

even though you multiply your prayers,

I will not listen.

Your hands are covered with blood.

16Wash and cleanse yourselves.

Remove your evil deeds from My sight.

Stop doing evil! (Isaiah 1:13-16)

God made it very clear that He has no interest in mere blood – or observance of his feasts and appointed times – out of sheer obligation. The spirit of the sacrifices was repentance – a posture on the part of the penitent of desiring a restored relationship with God. So, bringing it back to Jesus – the one who lived a blameless and spotless life – for him to voluntarily lay down his life…it is as a means of restoring the nearness and relationship to the father on the behalf of the created. God recognizes Jesus’ pure sacrifice because it was done out of complete obedience and surrender. In other words, because Jesus’ heart and motivations were pure, God credits his sacrifice as atonement for the sins of others. Another way of saying it would be that God isn’t demanding some kind of blood-sacrifice for the atonement of sins…Jesus lays down his life trusting that God will honor his sacrifice for the covering-over of the sins of others. Still another way of saying it - Jesus wasn't 'punished' for our sins; God wasn't looking for someone to take it out on. Rather, he volunteered to take our sentence instead - we were/are the ones who deserve to be punished because we have transgressed God's commands. He allowed us to exchange the consequences of our wickedness for the benefits of his righteousness.

All of this comes out of my own wrestling with the question of “why did Jesus have to die?” It seems like a fairly straight-forward question and seems like it should have a straight-forward answer, but when you start to compare the logic of the Christian Church up against the Levitical law, it wasn’t adding up. Specifically – Torah law prohibits the sacrifice of human beings (Lev 18:21, 24-25; Deut 18:10; Jer 7:31, 19:5; Ezek 23:37,39). How then, can Jesus be ‘sacrificed’ for the sins of humanity? You might say, “well, what about Hebrews 9:22 (“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins”)”? And I would bring you back to the difference (perhaps without distinction) that I pointed out earlier. The sacrificial system required blood – undoubtably – but that blood, by itself, was worthless. What made it mean anything was a) the heart posture of the one offering the sacrifice and b) God’s acceptance of that sacrifice. The same can be said of Jesus – simply dying meant nothing. It was his posture of obedience, humility and submission combined with God’s acceptance of his sacrifice…that’s what gives Jesus’ death meaning.

I feel like I’m covering the same ground over and over – can you tell I’m still wrestling?