Amish Voice, Nov 2016

The Amish Voice 2

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experience weren’t part of the equation in

the flow of the argument. My attention

was drawn outward, away from myself

and my efforts, to an event with which

my performance could not interfere. I

suddenly realized that my response and

my actions would not change anything in

the outcome of what the passage was

about to present. Whether I was a good

person or not, the events these verses

were talking about were independently

true and real, regardless of my condition

or feelings. No matter what efforts or

lack of efforts I would invest, I could not

change the truth about the events in the

passage and the authority that the Bible

gave to them. Hebrews 10 continues:

Wherefore when he

(Jesus)

cometh

into the world, he saith, Sacrifice

and offering thou wouldest not, but

a body hast thou prepared me:

Again, my attention and my line of

reasoning were drawn to something

outside of my personal experience.

Slowly, hardly daring to, I pushed aside

the question of my problem of sin, and I

focused on the argument.

My attention was drawn to two different

realities in the argument: one, an ancient

system of blood sacrifices that failed to

provide a perfect payment for sin; and

two, the Son of God who had been given

a body so that He could come into the

world to replace that system. I and my

own experience were not included in

either of these realities.

In burnt offerings and sacrifices for

sin thou hast had no pleasure.

Then said I, Lo, I come to do thy

will, O God.

All my life I had tried to do God’s will,

and I had failed. But here was a Man who

had arrived on the scene two thousand

years ago, and while all men before and

after him have failed, He claimed to have

had done the perfect will of God.

Above when he said, Sacrifice and

offering and burnt offerings and

offering for sin thou wouldest not,

neither hadst pleasure therein;

which are offered by the law;

Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy

will, O God. He taketh away the

first, that he may establish the

second.

Now I saw that the

whole question

of whether

or not my

sins could

forgiven

did

not

depend

upon me. I

was too far gone

to do anything about

my lost condition. Rather,

my forgiveness and salvation depended

on whether or not this Man would

succeed in His mission of earning

complete and perfect salvation that would

have the power to save me from my sin.

If He would fail, then there was no hope

for me, no matter what I did or didn’t do.

By the which will we are sanctified

through the offering of the body of

Jesus Christ once for all.

Interpreted in German:

“In velchem villen vir sind

geheiliget, Einmal geshehen durch

das opfers des Leibes Jesu Christi.”

It hit me that the reason Christ had come

into the world in a physical body was so

He could offer His body as a sacrifice for

my sins. The words brought a ray of hope

to my soul. This sounded like something

that God would accept on my behalf,

because it was something that He had

come up with, not me. And if He had

come up with it, then surely He would be

satisfied with it. Suddenly it hit me that

while I had been trying to make myself

holy and acceptable to God, He had

already done what it took to make me

righteous by allowing His Son to offer up

His body for me on the

cross. A feeling of

relief came over

realized

that it was

not

holiness

that made

right

with God, but

it was the fact that

Jesus offered His body

to make me holy. The work

required for my salvation shifted from

my hands into God’s hands, and that felt

so much better, because He knew what

was required, and He alone was able to

do it. And the amazing thing was, He had

already done the work by having Jesus

die on the cross.

“Once for all. . . .”

The words carried a powerful force of

persuasion. Since Jesus was perfect and

He was the one who was offered for my

sins, then only one sacrifice was required,

and nothing more was needed. My sins