The greater sacrifice refers to Jesus eternal sacrifice once and for all, compared to the Levitical sacrificing of animals without blemish.(6) AS A LAMB WITHOUT SPOT, HE OFFERED HIMSELF AS A SACRIFICE FOR SIN
Isaiah 53 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
After I read the above verses, I began to cry. Why? According to scripture many will enter through the wide gate and only a few will enter the narrow gate that leads to life Matthew 7:13-14.
I cried because most people will never know divine love, how that breaks the Lord’s heart and mine as well because the Lord’s Holy Spirit resides within me. When I met Jesus, He was in His Glory and He revealed His divine nature to me.
As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.
Matthew 17:2 (NLT).
I did not see Jesus in his physical form like the disciples did. The disciples watched Jesus turn from his human form, into his divine form; although he is both human and divine simultaneously, lest I say something heretical. Jesus was already in his divine form when I encountered him on December 17, 2011. To know that most people will never experience Jesus divine love is the saddest thing I can think of. I am consistently aware of how often I fall short of God’s glory. I am acutely aware of how undeserving I am of Jesus love, mercy and grace.
The wretchedness of my sinful nature is so disgusting and painful. I know for a fact that I deserve eternal and carnal death, then I get reminded by the Holy Spirit of the following verse.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)
I am truly grateful for my identity in Christ! I am so happy to know that I am identified with Jesus sinless nature and not my own sinful nature!
I am blameless and free from accusation. (Colossians 1:22)
I really appreciate the last sentence in chapter 6. “The giving up of his spirit on the cross was perfectly voluntary on his part, in accordance with what he had previously said. He offered himself as a willing sacrifice, thus completing his earthly work. ” The reason why I appreciate this so much. Is because it shows me that Jesus father is not better than Jesus. That Jesus is
equally God and equally powerful. That Jesus by choice gave up his life for us, not because a more powerful being (The Father) forced his Son to die in our place.
The reason why this is so important for me is because it’s very difficult for me not to be afraid in a bad way of my heavenly father. My biological father has a violent temper in which I was on the receiving end throughout both my childhood and adult life. I would be terrified if Jesus were not as powerful or equal to his father in power. I know Jesus, and to know Jesus is
also to know his father. I get scared sometimes, because the word father has been so destroyed and defiled in my mind.
I am so grateful that Jesus IS GOD in human form. I get excited whenever I read that in scripture. Because if he was only some second-rate deity, I would always be fearful of what the father might do to me. I feel bad for saying this, but I am telling the truth about how I really feel according to my long and painful experience of having a biological father who was raised under not just the regular curse on humanity, but a generational curse in addition. I was struck by this generational curse as a result. I did play my own part in the curse, but I had a lot of encouragement from my unbelieving father to live life the wrong way. This particular reflection
paper was very emotional for me, praise Jesus. “‘It is finished!’ Oh, what pleasure do these charming words afford!
Heavenly blessings, without measure, Flow to us from Christ, the Lord:
‘It is finished!’ Saints, the dying words record.”
I am grateful that Jesus finished the work, and that the work of salvation was not left in the hands of mankind! If salvation was left in the sinful hands of mankind, we would screw it up and lose our salvation. Because Jesus completed the work at the cross, we cannot lose our salvation as false doctrine would teach.
“And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. I believe this was a mocking of Jesus. I do not believe that it means what we as Christians know what it means with reverence.
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. If they only really knew who Jesus was and still is, this never would have happened.
Bibliography
Charles Octavius Boothe, Plain Theology for Plain People (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017), 47, 48, 50, 51
