I'm Thankful we don't have to do That!

Leviticus 1:3-5
If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you. You are to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting...

Luke 23:44-46
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

As I read through the book of Leviticus, my heart skipped a beat when I came across the verses about sacrifice. When the folks in the old testament presented a sacrifice to God, they sorted through their herd and found a blemish free animal, "a male without defect." Not only did they give up their best, they had to kill it and burn it themselves—among other things. If you read the first few chapters of Leviticus, you get the picture that the business of sacrifice was messy, the kind of mess that would make me turn my head away. The people responsible for making the sacrifice literally got their hands dirty. They dealt with the blood and the cleansing.

But then something miraculous happened. Jesus came to live as a man on this earth. At the end of his short life here, he took the place of that perfect, spotless animal. Soldiers walked him through the streets, beaten and bloody, carrying his cross. On Golgotha, men nailed Jesus to the cross. His blood spilled when they sunk a spear into his side and stuck a wreath of thorns on his head. Jesus died as the sacrifice for our sins. We no longer need to offer animals to be forgiven or accepted by God. The Lord who loves us more than we understand, gave his life. HIS LIFE. We don't need to sort through a herd or flock, we just need to look to God and ask forgiveness.

I don't know about you, but I praise God that I no longer need to carry a lamb to the altar, instead Jesus is the only sacrifice I need. He's the ultimate offering. Thank you God for your grace.