Sacrificial Offerings 8

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Mark 15:25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

 

9.00 am. This was the same time as the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

Mark 15:33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

12 noon to 3.00pm.

This even was forecast by Amos the prophet. It could only be fulfilled at the cross.

Amos 8:9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.

The morning burnt offering was sacrificed at 9.00 am. The evening offering at 3.00 pm.

Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal at the same time with the same offering.

Jesus was put on the cross at 9.00 am, the time of the morning sacrifice, and died at 3.00pm, the time of the evening sacrifice.

John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

He is the greatest example of the burnt offering. He was totally committed to His Father and only desired to do His will, even though it embraced death.

Oh, that the church would do likewise, that they would desire to do only those things that please the Father; that they would offer to Him a burnt offering!

Matthew 27:39, 40 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

These words were hurled at the Lord Jesus as He hung suspended from the earth. They were words that He Himself had used on a previous occasion, at the beginning of His public ministry.

John 2:19-22 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

The burnt offering was the personification of total commitment. Embracing death, everything went up in smoke.

The devil wanted Jesus to come down from the cross. He wouldn't. He embraced it.

Save yourself. He wouldn't. This was the very purpose He came.

The very same is true of His followers today.

Come down off the cross.

Save yourself.

Remember the words of the Master.

Matthew 26:39, 42 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done