Hebrews 7:26-27
²⁶ Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. NIV

This is simply one of many references that tell us that Jesus offered Himself for our sins. It is important to remember that He is holy and blameless, a Lamb without spot or blemish. Our sins alone nailed Him to that cross. None of His suffering derived from His own sinfulness or malevolence, for He has none. He was both high priest and sacrifice and He offered Himself for the sins of the world.

Hebrews 10:5-6
⁵ Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
⁶ In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

The Son declared on His exit from heaven that He knew the Father had no pleasure in the animal burnt offerings and sin sacrifices. Because His heart is to always bring pleasure to the Father,[1] He did something about it. “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” He said. He came to save us, but His motivation was to bring pleasure to His Father. In the salvation story, it is the love shared in the Godhead that is paramount. The miracle is that He decided to share that love with us!

Hebrews 10:9-10
⁹ Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
¹⁰ By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

By declaring His intent to come, Jesus took away the first to establish the second. What was the first? The burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin contained in the Law. He placed Himself in their stead and thus fulfilled the law. It wasn’t simply a sacrifice for sin, but sacrifices, offerings, and burnt offerings as well. And if we fail to apply to our lives all that He fulfilled, we are sure to be unfulfilled.

It was through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ that we are sanctified. While the sin sacrifice focused on the blood, the burnt offering focused on the flesh. Only choice parts were burned on the altar in the sin offering, but all the flesh was consumed by the flames in the burnt offering. The sin sacrifice of Jesus Christ brought us justification, atonement. But our sanctification was imparted through the burnt offering of His body, for it was in the burnt offering that the worshipper consecrated himself to God—and this consecration was a sweet smelling savor to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:2
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.

He gave Himself for us. He is our offering! Praise God, we don’t have to go to the sheep market anymore! Our sins are washed in the blood of the Lamb. But not only that, our lives can be a sweet smelling savor to God because by Christ’s burnt offering we’ve been sanctified! Hallelujah! That’s something to shout about! God doesn’t turn His nose up at us. When we apply the blood of the burnt offering, He leans down to fill His nostrils with the sweet savor of our consecration!

Every parent knows what this is like. Your own children smell different. When you hold them close and breathe in deep, it warms your soul. “This is my child,” you say. You know their scent and closeness to it brings you joy. We even know this from the animal kingdom. How many times have we been told not to pick up the little bird that has fallen out of its nest because our scent would cause its mama to reject it? When we’ve applied the blood of Jesus, it’s His frankincense and myrrh that the Father smells. It’s not the stench of sin He savors but the sweet smell of the Savior. Thank You, Jesus!

Ephesians 2:13-19
¹³ But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
¹⁴ For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
¹⁵ Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
¹⁶ And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
¹⁷ And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
¹⁸ For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
¹⁹ Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God…

The scribe was right—to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is the greatest law. But how is one to love God when we are born in a state of enmity against Him? How could we ever approach Him without a covering sacrifice? We cannot. But what we couldn’t do for ourselves Jesus accomplished for us. He is our peace offering. He has brought shalom between us and God[2] and crucified the enmities that separated us from each other. And now we enjoy the full fellowship of the covenant community. His love has overcome, and we are members of the household of God, fed from His table.

We are a royal priesthood. In the shadow type of Israel, the office of priest and king were divided. But God promised to heal the breach and make of the two, one.[3] Other men have served as types of the priest/king: Moses, David, and Melchizedek, the archetype. Jesus was the fulfillment of all these. He is King of kings, Lord of lords, and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. The priesthood no longer comes from the bloodline of Aaron; it is imparted through a blood bath from Jesus.[4]

1 Peter 2:5, 9
⁵ Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
⁹ But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light…

We are a holy priesthood and are supposed to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. It is only because of His sacrifice that we can offer up sacrifices that are acceptable to God. We’ve already seen that the Father takes no pleasure in the animal sacrifices. Only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ fulfilled righteousness and the requirements of holiness. And because He was our sin, burnt, and peace offering, we can offer these sacrifices by Him and gain a blood-cleansed conscience.

[1] John 8:29
[2] Rom 5:1
[3] Zec 6:12-13
[4] Rev 1:5-6