Living Sacrifices

In Sunday School today, Matt was teaching from Romans 12:1, which says:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship."

While thinking about how we are living sacrifices, I was reminded of the things I've been learning in Leviticus, and of the things that I blogged about here regarding the commissioning of the priests, and it struck me that the symbolism of the tongues of fire which rested over the believers on the day of Pentecost went further than just to show that God dwelt in them now as He had dwelt in the tabernacle and the temple.  It also showed that they themselves were the sacrifices!

When God was commissioning the priests in the first tabernacle (Leviticus 9), they were instructed to offer several different offerings, and then God's glory appeared to all of the people, bringing fire fire out of the Holy place to where the alter was in front of the whole assembly, and burnt up the offering they had presented.  Then, when Solomon's temple was being dedicated (2 Chronicles 7:1-3), the same thing happened, God sent fire from heaven to burn up the offering they had presented to Him.  Then, at pentecost, when God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell His people, He sent fire to rest over each believer, because now, THEY were the offerings presented to God.  In the past, the people worshiped God through offering sacrifices at the altar, but now we worship, as Romans 12:1 says, through offering our very bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, and He confirmed His acceptance of our offering when He chose to dwell in us, just like He confirmed His acceptance of the tabernacle and the temple by choosing to dwell in them.

I LOVE how beautifully the imagery that God laid out in the Old Testament ties in with the reality of the gospel today!  I also love how the Spirit is using both my personal study of Leviticus and the things I learn in Sunday School to give me a bigger, clearer picture of Him.