THE ISRAELITES WERE COMMANDED to maintain their relationship with God by loving Him and obeying His voice. To express their obedience, however, they had to recognize their inability to fulfill the law by bringing sacrifices of atonement for their shortcomings.
Life and salvation were never promised as a reward for perfect obedience, the law assumed the imperfection of faith and obedience on the part of God’s people and thus provided the sacrificial system that atoned for sin. Israel’s ultimate hope rested in the mercy of God.
Jesus took upon Himself our sins, becoming our atonement and forever released us from the bondage of sin. We were prisoners to sin and all our lifetime were subject to death. He did not just cover us one time, but provided a lifetime of release from our prison of shame. He paid a debt we could not pay and swung open the prison doors releasing us from our slavery to sin. “You are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” I Corinthians 6:19b- 20
So now, our reasonable sacrifice is to offer ourselves as a bond servant. A slave is made to serve; but a bondservant has been set free, yet returns to his Master and chooses to serve them because the bondservant loves their Master. Love has always been the fulfillment of the law.
“that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.””
Deuteronomy 30:20 NKJV #runyourrace
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