Jack Rendel

J & Z Publications

Five Symbols of Jesus’ Sacrifice

Jack Rendel 
 

Discouragement! Your “small ship” may have just collided with an “iceberg” of discouragement! You feel like you are going down...and for the last time. George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilization, once told me that he would get discouraged about 20 times day!

I get discouraged as well. When things don’t work out the way I want them to work out I can get discouraged. When someone “rags” on me I can get discouraged. When I struggle with my own sins I can get discouraged. I hope this message will encourage you to look at Jesus and thank God for his sacrifice. As Jesus grows in our vision we see just how big a Savior he really is!

Look across the stories in Mark 14:1-16:8, and you will notice that there are five “parallel” stories or scenes that present Jesus’ sacrifice under 5 symbols. Those five symbols are the perfume poured on Jesus by a woman, the bread and wine of Jesus’ new covenant, a sheet which covered a young disciple, a prisoner by the name of Barabbas, and the veil of the temple.

I. Reading 14: 3-5 … Jesus Is Anointed: The Ideal Sacrifice, A Sweet Smell To God. 14:3-9

3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. 4 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? 5 It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly (14:3-5 NIV).

Sweet Smell

After a long hot day doing physical work, or after a long trip, or maybe a football game (match), it is so refreshing to take a shower and splash on some perfume or cologne. Others will be thankful you did!

Sweet Smelling Sacrifices

The book of Leviticus, given by God through Moses, tells us that the sacrifices that the Lord commanded Israel to offer were a pleasing smell to God.

Leviticus chapter 1 and verse 9 says, But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the LORD. AV/KJV In some 14 or 15 references in Leviticus we find that offerings were “a sweet smelling savor”, or “pleasing aroma”, to the Lord.

Not Animals But The Son

Ultimately, God was not pleased with those sacrifices of animals, but he was pleased with the obedience of his Son. Notice the emphasis on how Jesus did God’s will as recorded in the letter to the Hebrews.

Hebrews 10:6-9

6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had had no pleasure. 7 ¶ Then said I, Lo (Look), I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God. AV/KJV

When Jesus was baptized the voice that came from heaven said, “Thou art (You are) my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” Mark 1:11 AV/KJV

Worth a Year’s Wages

The story tells us the perfume was worth a full year’s wages. How much do you make in a year at your job? Imagine that! Jesus accepted the woman’s act because he knew his sacrifice was worth that and much more. It was worth more than the whole world to whoever would receive it.

We Are Not Worthy

To offer ourselves to God is not valid because we are not worthy. We are contaminated by sin. The smell would not be very pleasing. Isaiah 64:6 says, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. AV/KJV

Snuff boxes

There was a period of time in history when people thought taking a bath was not good for one’s health. They took few baths so they smelled very bad! But they had a way of overcoming the problem. They carried snuff in a box. Snuff was ground up tobacco, allowed to ferment for a long time, to which a spice such as jasmine or cloves was added.  (Microsoft Encarta, “Tobacco”, ©®1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.) As they met and conversed with people they took pinches of snuff and inhaled it to block out the horrible smell of the other person. Spiritually we are like the person who has not had a bath in a long time. We’re not acceptable to God!

Christ’s Fragrant Sacrifice

In contrast to our dreadful “smell” the apostle Paul described the sacrifice of Christ as a fragrant aroma: Ephesians 5:2 …Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

II. Reading 14: 22-24 … The Bread And Wine, Symbols Of The New Covenant: Symbols Of The Sacrificial Basis Of The New Covenant 14:22-26

22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body." 23 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them (14:22-24 NIV). 

Constitutions

When new countries come into existence, the people who live in them write new covenants called constitutions. But for this covenant, or agreement, to become a reality sometimes the citizens have to spill their blood and give their bodies in wars of independence.

Signs Of Agreements

In the farming area where we live I hear people lamenting the passing of the days when an agreement or sale could be sealed with a hand shake. Now you have to fill out legal papers. Jesus went much further. The signs of his covenant where bread and wine, representing his body and blood. Notice, please that Jesus did not say, these symbols are your body and blood, but my body and blood! He would sacrifice himself for us not us for him!

Signs Of The Covenant

The bread and wine are the signs of the body and the blood of Jesus of the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was sealed with blood but this one with a better sacrifice, that of Christ, a sacrifice that was offered once forever. (Hebrews 9:28 and 10:10)

III. Reading 14: 51, 52 … A Young Disciple Leaves A Sheet Behind And Runs: The Sacrifice That Covers - The Sheet That Covered The Youth 14:51, 52

51 A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, 52 he fled naked, leaving his garment behind (14:51-52 NIV). 

The First To Run Away Naked

The young disciple who followed Jesus was not the first one to find himself naked. Adam and Eve were discovered. When they sinned they hid from God. They did not want to be discovered naked. God did a wonderful thing for them. He made them clothes from the skins of animals. (Genesis 3) That young man lost two things that night, the cloth with which he covered himself physically and his Master, the Lord Jesus. He needed those two things, a material piece of cloth to cover him physically and the Lord Jesus to cover him spiritually.

The Garments Of Salvation

In Galatians 3:26 and 27 Paul writes, “26 You are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” NIV

Isaiah, chapter 61 and verse 10, says, I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has  clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. AV/KJV

A Wedding Dress

This verse in Isaiah mentions the brides and grooms. When a young couple in ministry in Spain were about to be married in the 1960s they did not have a wedding dress for the bride so they started to pray that the Lord would give them a dress. Being on Operation Mobilization as new trainees, and involved in the early years when finances were very tight, they were very careful with expenses. In one of the OM conferences, someone, who was about to be married, told the bride that someone else had lent her a dress. If she were happy with the idea she would lend her the dress as well. She was only being lent the dress because after her there was another woman who needed to use it. Four young women used that dress at their weddings. The Lord provided for their needs and those of others with that dress. The wonderful thing is that in the case of the clothes of salvation, there are sufficient for each to have his or her own.

IV. Reading 15:6-11 … Barabbas Or Jesus: A Substitute Sacrifice - One Dies For Another 15:6-15

6 Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. 9 "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead (15:6-11 NIV). 

Handcuffed!

At 9 years of age a person we knew was handcuffed by a policeman. An evangelist who had been a policeman came to her church. He asked for a volunteer to come up to the front. Her dad was a policeman so she volunteered. He put handcuffs on her to illustrate how sin has us bound. He then took the key and opened the cuffs and explained that Jesus is the “key” who releases us from sin and its punishment. That girl accepted the Lord that night. (John 1:12)

For Barabbas

Jesus died in the place of Barabbas. Symbolically Jesus died for all of us. 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit … NASB-u

In any case this moment must have been one of great joy to Barabbas because he had escaped the cross! He was freed of his chains. For the believer in Jesus there is a moment of freedom when he accepts Jesus as his substitute under the condemnation of sin. This jubilation might compare in some way to that felt by the people of Paris when their city was freed by the allies during the Second World War.

“From the height of Montmartre, the Saboyarde, the bell of the  basilica of Sacre-Coeur which weighed seventeen tons, constructed by an earlier generation of Parisians to thank God for liberating Paris and France from the Prussians, quickly answered the call of the Great Bell of Notre-Dame. One after the other, from one end of the city to the other, all the churches rang their bells to announce the good news. In a matter of moments the skies above Paris vibrated with the sounds of the one hundred bells of the city of Paris. Parisians, appearing at their windows, wept with the joy and emotion.” (¿Arde París?, Dominique Lapierre y Larry Collins, p. 464, Plaza y Janés, 1989. Translation into English by Jack Rendel.)

Who Is To Blame?

As a child we may have had fights with our brothers and sisters, and as far as we were concerned the other child was more to blame for the fight than we. When our parents arrived on the scene and began asking “who” did “what”, we blamed the other for the fight. In this scene in the gospel we see how the one who was to blame was released! The one who was innocent was turned over to one of the cruelest deaths ever invented in the history of mankind, and he died in this way for our sins.

V. Reading 15:37, 38 … The Death Of Jesus: The Sacrifice Which Opens The Way – The Veil Of The Temple Torn From Top To Bottom 15:33-41

37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. 38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (15:37-38 NIV).

The Veil

There were two rooms in the temple, the holy place and the holy of holies or most holy place, where God focused his presence in a special way on earth. The high priest was allowed to enter the most holy place only once a year. He had to enter with the blood of sacrifice for his own sins and the sins of the people. Only with the blood of sacrifice could the high priest enter. At the moment Jesus died, this way or ‘door’ to God was flung wide open with the tearing of that separating veil from top to bottom.

“Shi ya bude kofa”

In February of 2006 while on a trip to Niger and Nigeria, I had been going over my Hausa, the language I learned as a child in Africa, and one phrase I was relearning was “Shi ya bude kofa”, meaning “he opened the door”. That is what Jesus has done for us. He opened the door to heaven for us.

His Bride Accompanies Him

When someone makes great sacrifices in a war they are sometimes recognized and decorated with a medal. This may open up a way to the king, primer minister or president of the country. We met a couple whose husband had been a pilot in the Second World War. They were on the way to that nation’s capitol to be recognized by the head of state. His wife accompanied him because of her close and special relationship to the pilot as his wife. Well, in the case of Jesus he has done the same for his bride. His sacrifice has opened up a way to God and he takes us, his bride, with him, to the Father.

The Veil That Is His Body

Hebrews 10:20 tells us that we can now enter the Most Holy Place by a new and living way opened for us through the veil, or curtain, that is his body.

Bringing Us To God

In the 4th scene, where we “met” Barabbas, we mentioned a portion of Scripture that we find in Peter’s first letter. 1 Peter 3:18 says, Because Christ also suffered once, the just for the unjust, in order to bring us to God, having died in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit… (My paraphrase.) Here we have that phrase, “to bring us to God”. Jesus opened up a way to bring us to God.

Conclusion:

What a joy, what a pleasure, what a memory to know and think about these things. Let’s be thankful for these marvelous spiritual blessings. God has been incredibly good to us!

And is this not a wonderful message to share with others? Let’s tell the world about him.

Let’s keep witnessing as a church. Let’s keep ministering to others. Let’s translate the Bible into other languages. Let’s send out workers. Let’s pray for them. Let’s support them financially!

Remember:

1. Jesus has made us acceptable to God by his sweet smelling sacrifice.

2. He has made us participants in a new agreement or covenant, based on his sacrifice and not our sacrifices or the sacrifices of animals.

3. He has covered us with his person, a garment of salvation and righteousness.

4. He has released us as prisoners from the just judgment of God having become a substitute sacrifice in our place.

5. And finally, he has taken us into the very presence of God, the creator and ruler of the universe.

There are not words enough to express all that Jesus has done for us through his sacrifice!

(In the following table of contents the second row of scenes is shaded. These are the stories which contain the 5 symbols we are considering in this study.)
 

VI.       MARK 14:1-16:8    HOW WILL THE MESSIAH ESTABLISH HIS KINGDOM?

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