J ESUS IS GREATER THAN ANYONE AND ANYTHING starts with the declaration that Jesus is the heir of all things. Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God. Jesus is the Savior seated at the right hand of God.

To prove the point, the book of Hebrews goes through a litany of greatness beginning with the angels then proceeding through Moses the lawgiver, and then the priests. At each stop, the writer proves the proposition that Jesus is the greatest. Greater than angels. Greater than Moses. Greater than priests, even the high priest.

He’s not finished. Today we see that Jesus is greater than our sacrifice. More than that, the author of Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus is the greatest sacrifice. Earthly priests offer sacrifices in the tabernacle or temple, which are copies of the throne room of God. Jesus entered through a “greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands” (Heb. 8:11). The wilderness tabernacle, the Jerusalem Temple were copies of the heavenly temple. While priests could enter the earthly temple, Jesus entered the heavenly temple.

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WHILE THE PRIESTS SHED THE BLOOD of goats or calves or lambs, Jesus offered his own blood.

In the old sacrificial system, the sacrifice could only atone for what had happened, so no sooner had a sacrifice been offered than the clock started ticking towards the next sacrifice. Jesus’ sacrifice is the greatest in that it was offered once for all the world.

“And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.”

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IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE that we could ever forget Christ’s sacrificial work and move back toward to the idea of sacrifice. Yet it’s easy to do just that. Now we don’t cut up a bull and burn it as an offering, a sacrifice, to God. We don’t do that. That’s not what I’m talking about. But we can fall back into thinking that our sacrifice can affect God’s view of us. It is something we can do that makes God see us differently.

We can see church attendance as a way to curry God’s favor. We can see Bible reading as a way to maintain good standing with God. We can see godly living as progressing our standing in the sight of the living God. We can see a whole list of good things, beneficial things as a means to forgiveness. A sacrifice that earns God’s “good child” award.

What church traditions in your life replace the substance of redemption in Christ’s faithfulness?

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WE OFTEN APPROACH OUR LIFE WITH GOD in terms of sacrifice; I sacrifice my Sunday mornings to go to church, or I sacrifice profits in order to be ethical, or I give up revenge for the sake of turning the other cheek. Sometimes we do a cost/benefit analysis and decide that the sacrifice is not worth what we get out of faith, so we walk away.

Yet the truth is that although those acts, those sacrifices may be worthy, they cannot, as Hebrews says, “cleanse our consciences”; they cannot obtain our “eternal redemption”; and they cannot empower us to “serve the living God.”

We are reminded of our redemption — that we who were once slaves, separated from the mercy and kindness of the living God, are now free. When Christ sets us free, we are free indeed.

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WE UNDERSTAND — OF OUR SERVICE to the Lord — that our lives will never be lived in perfect harmony with God’s will, but Christ certainly makes it possible for us to live with compassion.

Because Jesus’ sacrifice is greater than whatever we can sacrifice, the life promised through him is not dependent on our little bit of faith.

The main word is that Jesus died ONCE FOR ALL. He died on Good Friday for all the people of the world then and now. One sacrifice for all time. It is not a sacrifice that has to be offered over and over again. Once and for all, for all. ONCE FOR ALL — once for all people, once for people of all times, once for people of all places, once for people of all races.

Enjoy all the people who are included in the FOR ALL.

— Keith Cardwell