tasted a measure of that suffering in our own lives. Isaiah ch.53 is a place where we behold Him in His painful crucifixion and death. Mary of Bethany discerned the heart and mind of Jesus as He prepared himself and His disciples for His “going away” from them to be lifted up on the cross. In her supreme public act of devotion to Jesus, she breaks open a jar of costly nard and proceeds to pour it on Jesus, her beloved Saviour. Mary’s anointing oil was upon the garments of Jesus (as with the priests), but she poured it also on His body, so that when He was crucified and when His life-less body lay in the tomb, the fragrance of the spices on his body filled the most holy place of the tomb. When the disciples of Jesus criticised Mary for her extravagant act of anointing, Jesus rebuked them by saying, “For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial” (Mat.26:12). He was also saying to Mary that He understood her thinking behind her action.
Consider the Meaning of Atonement & Propitiation Significantly, the vocabulary and the phrases, the imagery, and the theology of sacrifice for sin has been woven into subsequent scriptures as part of the unfolding theme of salvation. The sacrifices are irrelevant to us except for their typological significance and their dramatic and dynamic fulfilment in Christ who is the complete fulfilment, the antitype in His sacrificial death for us. The sacrifices of Israel speak loudly to us today and they give to us crucial insights into the death of Jesus and they speak vital truths regarding salvation. If, as with most of us, the whole thing about sacrifices seems irrelevant, then we have failed to take account of the content of Hebrews and the confident way in which the writer handles the chapters we have New Life Radio – Talk No 19
20 Derrick Harrison
17/02/2021
