Ultimate Sacrifice!

For Saturday, September 6, 2025:

Hebrews 10:4 NLT: “It is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Animal sacrifices were the order of the day. God gave these instructions to Moses, who then told the priests and the people. Many would repent on the Day of Atonement, but sin would creep back into their lives. So these sacrifices were only a temporary fix. They did not solve mankind’s ongoing sin problem.

What would be better is a “once and for all time” permanent solution. Look out – here comes Jesus, the only one suitable to take away the sins of the world for all time. The Jesus-cure is effective as long as it’s needed, which could be forever! His obedience to the Father is never-ending.

Animal sacrifices originated in the Old Covenant, but Jesus as our Savior is from the New Covenant, a better way. You can only bandage a wound for a limited time. At a certain point, it becomes necessary to end the infection or lose the limb. God lets you choose, and He has provided His Son as the “once and for all time” solution. Choose wisely!

Sacrifices under the old system were required year after year, but Jesus is a “one and done” solution. Old Covenant sacrifices were a temporary fix, an imperfect cleansing, whereas Jesus provides the perfect cleansing. God does not want animal sacrifices. He wants our hearts!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

High Priest!

For Wednesday, July 2, 2025:

Hebrews 5:1 NLT: “Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins.”

The high priest stood between God and the Hebrew people. Since God called him, Jews believed their priest possessed holy authority. They could confess sins to their priest and present gifts of atonement. The gifts were actually for God.

On the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the priest would symbolically place the sins of the people onto the back of a goat, and shoo the goat into the wilderness, thereby separating the populace from their sins. That’s where we get the term “scapegoat.”

Jesus was endowed with that “high priest authority” by God. “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” But Jesus was eventually crucified and ascended back to the Father. So, where does that leave us?

When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom, destroying the separation between God and mankind. God did the tearing. Believers no longer need or desire a high priest. If we need to pray to the Lord, we can pray directly to him. If we need to confess and repent, we can speak with the Almighty. We pray to God “in Jesus’ name,” since Jesus is now our intercessor, the one who opened the gateway, clearing the path between God and mankind.

Unlike his predecessors, our high priest was perfect!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Scapegoat!

For Thursday, March 13, 2025:

Leviticus 16:26 NLT: The Lord said to Moses, “The man chosen to drive the scapegoat into the wilderness of Azazel must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water. Then he may return to the camp.”

On the day of Atonement, a priest of the Israelites would symbolically place everyone’s sins on the head of a goat, and drive that animal so far into the wilderness that it could not return. The object was to separate the people from sin. This is where we get the word “scapegoat.” The goat had done nothing wrong but was paying the penalty for the Israelite’s sins.

In a way, Jesus is our scapegoat. He was sinless, but on the cross, he took the sins of the world upon himself, leaving believers pure and innocent, suitable to take up residence in God’s heavenly kingdom. This exchange is God’s free gift to those who honor the Son with their faith. This free gift is called “grace,” an undeserved gift.

Today is the best day to commit or re-commit ourselves to Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. We want to be found without sin when heaven opens its gates. We want to see heaven from the inside!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship