Wisdom's Corner
Be a Good Sacrifice

In the Old Testament we read that God required His people to offer sacrifices to Him. This was true from the very beginning of man. We know from Genesis chapter four that animal sacrifices were done. Later when Moses gives the Old Law to the Israelites, animal sacrifice is commanded.

The animal to be sacrificed was to be an unblemished animal. This means that the animal was not to have any deformity on the outside. The animal was also to be unblemished on the inside. The priest would cut the animal completely in half. He would inspect it to make sure that it was the kind of animal that God would accept. Such an animal was considered clean in the eyes of God.

Now we know that many of the sacrifices were done as a representation of when Christ would give His life as a sacrifice for our sins. Christ lived a perfect life and was completely unblemished in His spiritual life.

The Greeks had words to describe animal sacrifices because they also sacrificed animals. But they were not offering their sacrifices to the true God. One of the words they used is found in Hebrews 4:13. "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

The word "opened" was used to refer to the act of slicing the animal's throat when the animal was first being sacrificed. And then the animal would be cut completely in half so that the animal could be inspected.

When we come to worship God, we must make sure that we are clean on the inside. God will not accept our worship if we are not. Just like the animal that was not perfect would be thrown away and not given as a sacrifice, so God will not accept our worship if we are not spiritually perfect. Of course, we know that Christ's blood can make us spiritually perfect in God's eyes. So we must make sure that we are in touch with Christ's blood so that it can cleanse us and make us perfect.

The only way to know how to have Christ's blood make us perfect is to study God's word, the Bible. In the Bible God tells us what we must do to contact Christ's blood. Make sure you can present yourself as a good living sacrifice when you come to worship God (and remember that not every thing you do is worship).

Until next time, keep reading and studying your Bible. And if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 1999

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)