Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. Psalm 40:7, 8.
The children of Israel were anciently commanded to make an offering for the entire congregation to purify them from ceremonial defilement. This sacrifice was a red heifer and represented the more perfect offering that should redeem from the pollution of sin. This was an occasional sacrifice for the purification of all those who had necessarily or accidentally touched the dead. All who came in contact with death in any way were considered ceremonially unclean. This was to forcibly impress the minds of the Hebrews with the fact that death came in consequence of sin and therefore is a representative of sin. The one heifer, the one ark, the one brazen serpent, impressively point to the one great offering, the sacrifice of Christ.
This heifer was to be red, which was a symbol of blood. It must be without spot or blemish, and one that had never borne a yoke. Here, again, Christ was typified. The Son of God came voluntarily to accomplish the work of atonement. There was no obligatory yoke upon Him, for He was independent and above all law. The angels, as God’s intelligent messengers, were under the yoke of obligation; no personal sacrifice of theirs could atone for the guilt of fallen man. Christ alone was free from the claims of the law to undertake the redemption of the sinful race….
Jesus might have remained at His Father’s right hand, wearing His kingly crown and royal robes. But He chose to exchange all the riches, honor, and glory of heaven for the poverty of humanity, and His station of high command for the horrors of Gethsemane and the humiliation and agony of Calvary….
The wounded hands, the pierced side, the marred feet, plead eloquently for fallen man, whose redemption is purchased at such an infinite cost. Oh, matchless condescension! Neither time nor events can lessen the efficacy of the atoning sacrifice.26Testimonies for the Church 4:120, 121, 124.
The Faith I Live By p. 199
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Esther and children as they are away this weekend. Rose
—-I’m really sick. I’ve been fighting an acute UTI for over a month. No antibiotic has worked. Now they tell me that I have a rare infection. Given a new rx that is strong enough to kill MERSA. (Not mersa) I’m scared, as it has a lot of bad side effects, and I don’t do well with new meds. Sylvia
—-Please pray for Angel. She was born with the umbilical cord around her neck. She’s in critical condition in the ICU. She needs a miracle right now. Maria
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Dear Friends,
When I was about 5, I was given a little beagle puppy for my very own. I was so happy to have this puppy friend! I had been so lonely because I was the only child in the neighborhood at that time. How I loved and cuddled that little dog. He was my “baby” whenever I played house.
Sadly, that little beagle didn’t last very long. One day, as I was pretending he was my little baby and decided to give him a bath. Now that might have been no problem if I had used pretend water. Instead, I gave him a bath in the icy water that was coming out of the drainpipe from the snow that was melting from off from the roof. After the bath, I had no towel to dry him so I just continued playing with my puppy. The poor little thing got thoroughly chilled that early spring day.
Because of that chilling, he got distemper and died. How terrible I felt when I was told that it was all my fault that I had killed my puppy! I cried and cried, but all the tears in the world could not bring my puppy back. I felt very guilty for a very long time. Eventually, I matured enough to understand that I had been too young to realize that my actions that long-ago spring day would result in such a loss.
Just as I did not realize that by giving my puppy a cold bath there would be grave consequences, so there are millions who are rushing down the path which leads to destruction without realizing what their end will be. Those millions go through life thinking that all is well, but in the end they will hear those frightful words, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt 7:23 Those consequences are far worse than what happened to my little beagle.
How often we, ourselves, act without thinking of the consequences. How many times we, ourselves, wish we could take back our own hasty words. God’s Word says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov 14:12 “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matt 7:13,14 May we allow our Dear Saviour to lead us, that we may, in turn, lead others in that narrow path that leads to His Glorious Kingdom is my prayer.
Rose
Source: https://rosesdevotional.org/the-voluntary-sacrifice-of-jesus-2.html
