The Greatest Possible Sacrifice

Geoff Thomas

John says, He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world (I John 2:2). Jesus' death was an atoning sacrifice. The word 'blood' is used almost 300 times in the Old Testament and some 100 times in the New Testament. The blood is the sign of life forfeited because of sin. The great New Testament phrase about the blood is this: without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22).

We know the idea of sacrifice from various areas of human life. Recently there was a programme on TV about the Welsh opera singer Bryn Terfel. The interviewer began by saying that Bryn Terfel sang with such apparent ease you could almost believe he didn't have to try. Bryn Terfel wasn't very pleased with that remark, and by the end of the programme the presenter had changed his tune, saying to him, ‘You have made a point of telling me how much hard work you do, how much studying you do, how much effort goes into it.’ Hadn't a man like that interviewer crossed paths with enough of the world's greatest violinists and pianists to hear them recount how they practise for nine hours a day even though they are so famous that they could earn their huge performance fee even if they just turned up and chatted to the audience? Hasn't he heard of Jonny Wilkinson the English rugby fly-half? For him a day without practice is a shocking void, something seriously hard to live with. A man puts an advertisement in the local paper to sell his car. It is well below book price and he advertises it like this, ‘Owner anxious to sell: will sacrifice.’ A dying patriot declares, ‘My only regret is that I have but one life to sacrifice for my country.’ A mother sacrifices her own career for the sake of her husband and family. When you sacrifice, you give up something of value in order to get something of even greater value.So in the Old Testament we are again given simply the model or type of what the great sacrifice is going to be. We see God's people bringing the best beast from their flocks to the House of God to make a sacrifice on the altar as an atonement for their sin. They are giving up something that is valuable - an animal that would be a meal for a week for a family - in order to get something of greater value - forgiveness and peace with God. This is pointing forward to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who throughout his life makes sacrifice after sacrifice. He chooses to remain single, and to live in obscurity in a remote rocky village, and to work as a carpenter, and to keep the law of God completely - the moral law, the civil law and the ceremonial law. He does this without fail, always loving God with all his heart, and loving his neighbour as he loves himself. He never gives a slick answer, he never threatens, he is never depressed, he is never dissatisfied with God's will even when the cup he is given to drink is very bitter. He strives though prayer and his knowledge of Scripture to make his body a living sacrifice which he gives to God. It costs him misunderstanding from his family, and hatred from the world, and bloody sweat. That is something of the sacrifice he makes, but he has to do that to fulfil all righteousness for those he loves.

Finally on Calvary he groans and suffers through the hours of official torture. Nails are driven through the hands and feet of his naked body and he is lifted up to hang on a Roman crosspiece. Pontius Pilate's cynicism is pinned in three languages above his head. He suffers heat and buzzing insects and unimaginable pain. He endures the constant sneers and chants of those who hate him who are enjoying seeing him slowly dying - they are the kind of people who can munch popcorn and chat and joke amongst themselves at an execution. He knows the terrifying abandonment of God's comfort and presence so that at one point he quotes this Scripture in the opening words of Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

What is the Lord Jesus Christ doing on that central cross? He is the Lamb of God who is taking away not the sins of individual Israelites but the sin of the world. He is sacrificing his own life for something he wants more. Think of it: he is choosing to lay down his own holy life, a life that had no beginning but was always with God, a life in this world from Bethlehem which was a life full of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness and goodness - that one divine and human life he lays down out of love for people who are not like that at all, who are the very opposite of that, selfish, arrogant, proud, mean-spirited, unforgiving, critical, tough, cruel, lustful, murderous, violent people. They were not thinking of sacrificing their lives for anyone, but he comes and lays down his perfect life as a sacrifice for us sinners because he loves us so much.

You can understand a man laying down his life for his friends. You can comprehend a parent laying down his or her life for a child - pushing them out of the way and being hit by the speeding car herself. Such nobility is gloriously understandable, but who has ever heard of this, the incarnate God choosing to sacrifice his life in this appalling way out of love for pimps and perverts, cheats and liars, bored godless blasphemers? It is the strangest event in the whole universe. It is also the mightiest and most glorious. He gives his life so that they don't have to lose their lives, but can live with God forgiven and accepted, and be with God for ever as his beloved ones. God is utterly satisfied with the sacrifice Christ has made. He responds in wonder, love and praise to it. ‘Welcome my beloved ones!’ he cries and flings the doors of heaven open to us. The sacrifice has been accepted and all who are covered by it are pardoned.