Satisfaction from Sacrifice
This is a strange but beautiful statement, is it not? The words do not seem to go together at all. To a specific group of people however, they do. Hearing the word satisfaction usually recalls things that would pleasure us. Take a few moments to reflect on the things that give you satisfaction. Here were three things that came to my mind food, entertainment, and social interaction. All these things are good and life-giving, and I am glad they are in my life. But, how does something like sacrifice bring satisfaction? Sacrifice in our culture has such a negative connotation to it.
What if a sacrifice was the vehicle to save all of creation?
This sounds like something that is completely radical, and it is. I believe that if we truly grasp the awesomeness of the sacrifice that was made for us, we can truly have satisfaction.
Recently I have been overwhelmed by this reality. In my Bible reading I started the book of John. Chapter six verse thirty-three says, “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the whole world.” Without context this statement seems downright strange. I will provide a brief summary of the context needed to understand this statement. The person here speaking is Jesus, in this small statement he is proclaiming that he IS the sacrifice that will give us satisfaction. He is referencing bread that was received by the ancestors of the people he was speaking to. It was called manna, and God used it to satisfy the needs of the Israelites. Using that example, he is saying that he is better than manna God satisfied for their ancestors ages ago. In saying this, he begins to show how he is beautifully God and man and knows the Lord’s will.
Historical context aside, WHAT A BOLD STATEMENT!
Coming down from heaven is a radical statement. You must reconcile two things quickly, first that there is heaven and second Jesus was the son of God. These two things are hard enough to fathom in themselves.
BUT THEN HE SAYS HE GIVES US LIFE! How beautiful is it that?
This has completely wrecked the way that I perceive things the past few days. I have held the idea very loosely that this is for…
EVERYONE…
Since I have become a Christian, I have struggled to believe that Jesus changes my eternal destiny. The more I sit in the mirror of the word of God, the more I see my flaws and the more I see how beautiful Jesus is. However, I can tend to keep this to myself.
It is for EVERYONE!
This brings me back to this idea of satisfaction by sacrifice. I need to understand that the only way that I can have true satisfaction is by looking at the sacrifice. The sacrifice is what gives me life. Not to any circumstance or emotion, but the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we must acknowledge that the satisfaction that other people are longing for is the sacrifice that Jesus accomplished. It is our mission to proclaim that news to every soul we meet!
