“I Have Come to Do Your Will.”

Prayer – Lord, I’ve read what You said to God…twice in this scripture passage. “I have come to do your will.” God required a sacrifice for sin…but just animals were not adequate. He needed a perfect sacrifice. You, Jesus Christ, were willing to give up Your body…so that Your followers can be made holy. The ultimate sacrifice. Thank you. 

Sheep grazing in Israel
Could these animals take away sin?

The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, "You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, 'Look, I have come to do your will, O God—as is written about me in the Scriptures.'" First, Christ said, "You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them" (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, "Look, I have come to do your will." He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. Hebrews 10:1-10 

Jesus on the Cross
Holy Family Shrine
Gretna, Nebraska
I have come to do the will of God the Father.

Meditate. Consider sacrifice.

 

Do you think that animal sacrifices could ever provide a cleansing of your sins?

God set up a system for mankind to be forgiven for their sins…their transgressions against God. From the time of the fall of Adam and Eve when God sacrificed animals to make garments to “cover” the sin and nakedness of the first couple. Men and women continued to sin. When the Jews had their exodus from Egypt, God specifically commanded the people through Moses just how to perform animal and grain sacrifices for their sins.

Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. James 4:17

Sin is just simply a voluntary violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible person, or as Suzanne Wesley said… “Whatever weakens your reasoning, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes away your relish for spiritual things, in short, if anything increases the authority of the flesh over the spirit, that to you becomes sin, however good it is in itself.”

Yet these animals and grain offerings were not enough to permanently take away sin. Mankind has to be pure and holy, without sin to eventually stand before God. As the author of Hebrews tells us, the ultimate sacrifice is Jesus. He willingly and obediently gave His life to fulfill God’s requirements of a blood sacrifice to remove, not just cover-up sin. He came to earth to do the will of God. Without His ransom, we would be doomed to an eternal death. We can gratefully praise Him—that He fulfilled God’s will. Just as His last words on the cross were…“It is finished.” God’s plan has been fulfilled. Now we just have to watch and wait on the Lord for the final days. When the story of Revelation has been fulfilled, we will serve the Lord in the New Earth and New Jerusalem…forever. Eternity is a long time. We can rejoice together forevermore.

What choice will you make today to believe that Jesus Christ sacrificially died for your sins? 

Verse of Salvation ~ So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen. 2 Timothy 2:10

 

© 2024 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

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