Jesus Christ, The Greater Sacrifice

In 1 Kings 16-18, when King Ahad took power and reign over Israel, he did great evil in the sight of God. He married Jezebel, and worshipped Baal, a pagan god; even building a temple and an altar.

Wanting to bring the people of Israel back, The Lord then sent Elijah to have a contest on Mt Carmel against 450 prophets of Baal. Obviously, after much effort, the Baal gang failed miserably; unable to call down fire for the offering.

When it was Elijah’s turn, he took twelve stones, one to represent each of the tribes of Israel, and he used the stones to rebuild the altar in the name of the Lord, and dug a large trench around the altar. Then, he piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. He then order water to be poured over the offering and wood 3 times. Everything was drenched and the water overflowed into the trench.

1 Kings 18:38 Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!

The heavenly fire of God came down and consumed all of the offering. And not only that, the entire altar including the wood, the stones, the dust and even the water is burned up.

When Jesus Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God, came; He chose to be nailed on the wooden cross, and took upon Himself all of God’s fury judgement, for our sins. Jesus Christ took all of the judgmental fire and consumed it all by Himself. At the end, after the judgement was completed, He cried out, “It is finished!”

Instead of being consumed by the judgment, like any other sacrifice, Jesus Christ remained and was still alive! He didn’t die from the judgment of our sins. He died after He completed His mission and dismissed His spirit.

You see, in the OT, when Elijah called down the the fire, the fury judgement is greater than the sacrifice that the entire wet altar is consumed. But in the Gospel, when Jesus, the Lamb of God, offered Himself as the sin offering on our behalf, He is greater than the divine judgment that when the judgment is fully exhausted, the Sacrifice remains. Like a champion fighter, Jesus took the blow and remains.

Jesus Christ, our Savior is greater than the ultimate judgment! He is the victorious Lamb on the throne!

Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant. (Hebrews 9:13-15 NLT)

Jesus is no ordinary sacrifice; He is the greater sacrifice; the perfect sacrifice. With Christ as our Saviour, our sin is never greater than Him. Never forget that.

By truly knowing the value of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, will we know how much we are saved into His eternal arms of love.