Sacrifice

A Beautiful Mind tells the story of John Nash, a brilliant mathematician whose career and life were crippled by schizophrenia. Nash taught at MIT until schizophrenia and delusions took over his life. After years of struggle, he began teaching at Princeton and went on to win the Nobel Prize for his theory of the dynamics of human conflict as it relates to economics.

Toward the end of the movie, Nash is invited into the professors' lounge by a man who has just told him he's being considered for the Nobel Prize. Nash is uncertain of how he should respond; he wonders if his mind is fabricating a dream. He even asks a student whether the man is real or a hallucination. When Nash is convinced that the man and his invitation are genuine, he still resists, feeling unworthy of the exclusivity of the professors' lounge. He never enters this lounge, aware that his episodes of psychotic behavior are well known by faculty.

Nash walks warily through the gothic entrance and sits at a table. Unexpectedly, the professors begin to walk over to John's table and lay down their pens in front of him. This is a tradition Princeton faculty use to honor highly esteemed colleagues. One by one, the professors acknowledge their love and support for the troubled man who, despite difficulties, stayed the course: "It's an honor, John." " It's a privilege, John." "Congratulations, John."

Exodus 27:1–8 NRSV

You shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide; the altar shall be square, and it shall be three cubits high. You shall make horns for it on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it, and you shall overlay it with bronze. You shall make pots for it to receive its ashes, and shovels and basins and forks and firepans; you shall make all its utensils of bronze. You shall also make for it a grating, a network of bronze; and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners. You shall set it under the ledge of the altar so that the net shall extend halfway down the altar. You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze; the poles shall be put through the rings, so that the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. You shall make it hollow, with boards. They shall be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

The Need for Sacrifice

The Need for Sacrifice

The Need for Sacrifice

Isaiah 59:2 NRSV

Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Sacrifice meets the requirements of the Law so that true worship can be made, that connection and community with God can be had again.

The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 1 1. An Altar

The altar of burnt offering, with its shed blood, represents the great gospel truth of atonement for sin through the vicarious sacrifice of Christ (Isa. 53:4-7, 10; Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:5–7; Heb. 13:10–12; 1 Peter 1:18, 19; Rev. 5:9). The very position of this altar, near the door of the court, indicates that the sinner’s first need is to have his sins washed away by the blood of Christ (see Heb. 9:13, 14; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 7:14), and that until this is done he must not presume to worship God or even enter into His presence (Heb. 9:22). The altar witnessed to man’s guilt and his need of atonement and reconciliation, and then assured him that these had been made (John 1:29; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18, 19; Col. 1:20).

The Source of the Sacrifice

The Source of the Sacrifice

Psalm 50:10 NRSV

For every wild animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

We know that those who had committed sins were to bring offerings before the Lord to be burned, this was even done in the ordination of Aaron and his sons, as well as the inauguration of the tabernacle itself. Before the priests would administer sacrifices for the people they needed to offer sacrifice for themselves and their families.

While the people were taking care of the animals that were to be sacrificed, they were indeed the possession of God rather than man. Every creature created belongs to God, they only fall into our care for a time. This is made clear for the purpose that we know that the Sacrifice that makes us able to be together with God, comes from him and not us.

The Means of the Sacrifice

Leviticus 9:24 NRSV

Fire came out from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

Leviticus 9:22–24 NRSV

Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he came down after sacrificing the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being. Moses and Aaron entered the tent of meeting, and then came out and blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

The Fire which consumed the Sacrifice came from the Lord. It was a manifestation of His glory. the Fire that was on the altar of Burnt offering was to be kept burning, day and night, as a reminder of the presence of the glory of God. The consuming nature of his character when faced with sin was the first image everyone who entered the tabernacle would see. The power of his consuming glory.

Immediately after we read of this wondrous account of the inauguration of the tabernacle, we see an example of what is called strange fire, and what it does to those who try to offer it.

Leviticus 10:1–2 NRSV

Now Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his censer, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered unholy fire before the Lord, such as he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

Leviticus

Nadab and Abihu took not the fire from the altar of burnt offering, but put their own fire in their censers to burn incense before the Lord. The fire they offered was unholy, because it was not the Lord’s Fire. The means by which the sacrifice was made, and by which the prayers could then be offered up to the Lord, was corrupted by Nadab and Abihu, and they were struck down for it, to demonstrate the seriousness of what needed to be. They demonstrated a disregard for God’s instructions, and a desire to approach God for worship under their own merit rather than the merit of the glory of God, manifested in the fire that ignited the altar of burnt offering.

A number of years ago, I was in a Sabbath School class, and the discussion was regarding the sharing of the gospel, and how it is shared effectively.

One woman in the class shared her experience with some of her friends and coworkers who were not believers, and was expressing her frustration that they were not coming to the Lord, were not accepting Jesus as savior.

She stated “I find it difficult to convince anyone that they need Jesus because we’re all worthy to receive his grace.”

The trouble with this statement was, quite simply put, that we are not worthy to receive his grace.

If we were worthy to receive the favor that God gave us, then it would not be grace and mercy anymore.

Everything about the sanctuary, even the sacrifices, are God communicating one key message: you belong with me.

The Result of the Sacrifice

Leviticus 9:23 NRSV

Moses and Aaron entered the tent of meeting, and then came out and blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.

Leviticus 9:23

This is the text that immediately precedes Fire coming out from the Lord and consuming the burnt offering and fat on the altar. This text is immediately preceded by Aaron offering the sin offerings upon the altar of Burnt Offering in

Leviticus 9:22 NRSV

Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them; and he came down after sacrificing the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the offering of well-being.

Moses and Aaron are able to come before the Lord and Worship Him.

The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Volume 1 1. An Altar

The altar of burnt offering, with its shed blood, represents the great gospel truth of atonement for sin through the vicarious sacrifice of Christ (Isa. 53:4-7, 10; Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:5–7; Heb. 13:10–12; 1 Peter 1:18, 19; Rev. 5:9). The very position of this altar, near the door of the court, indicates that the sinner’s first need is to have his sins washed away by the blood of Christ (see Heb. 9:13, 14; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 7:14), and that until this is done he must not presume to worship God or even enter into His presence (Heb. 9:22). The altar witnessed to man’s guilt and his need of atonement and reconciliation, and then assured him that these had been made (John 1:29; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18, 19; Col. 1:20).

When we look at the Result of the sacrifice, that forgiveness may be given to those who confess their sins to him as says

1 John 1:9 NRSV

If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The Ultimate purpose of the sacrifice, when accepted, when appropriately applied in the day of covering, Yom Kippur, more commonly called the Day of Atonement, We see the fulfillment of the blessing that Paul writes to the Christians in Thessalonica

1 Thessalonians 5:23 NRSV

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

All of this done, because God says “You belong with me”

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, pointed to by every sacrifice made upon the altar of burnt sacrifice, tells the world “You belong with me” and I’m the one who made the sacrifice to make it happen.