Because animal sacrifice is no longer practiced by most of humanity, there are certain aspects of such sacrifices which are virtually lost to our understanding. Consider, for example, the very meaning of the word "sacrifice". To most people now, "to sacrifice" means "to kill". But in the Bible, "to sacrifice" never meant simply "to kill". The killing of the animal was only a part of the preparation for the sacrifice. It was not the sacrifice itself. "To sacrifice" meant to offer to God the animal that has been chosen, slain, and prepared for sacrifice.

This is an extremely important point, for even if an Old Testament worshipper chose the appropriate animal according to the Law, brought it at the ap pointed time to the place specified by God, presented it to the priest anointed with the holy oil and killed it before him, and followed every other precept required by the Law, there would still be no sacrifice unless and until the slaughtered animal was offered to God. The offering of the animal on the altar was the sacrifice. Everything that preceded that act, including the slaying of the animal, was only part of the preparation for the sacrifice. This principle holds true with the sacrifice of Christ. His death at Calvary was not itself the sacrifice. The crucifixion was the last, gruesome bit of preparation for his sacrifice, which took place after he arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, where he offered himself to God for the sins of the world. Sacrifices for sin were never ordained by God to be made on crosses, but on God's altar.

On the Old Covenant's Day of Atonement, Israel's high priest entered with the blood of goats and calves into the temple built by men's hands to make an atoning sacrifice for the nation (Lev.16), but "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us", "neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in" (Heb.9:24,12).

If Jesus had ascended into heaven before his death, he would have had nothing to offer to God for the sins of the world. The sacrificial Lamb had to first be slain and then offered to God for sin. It was necessary that Jesus, as high priest, have something to offer to God for man's sin when he presented himself to God (Heb.8:3).

If the story of Jesus had ended with the crucifixion, no atonement for sin would have been accomplished. Only the Father's acceptance of Jesus' sacrificial death accomplished that. Jesus' death was made effective for the forgiveness of sin only after he arose from the dead and ascended into heaven to offer himself to God as a slain Lamb. Paul made this observation in his letter to the saints at Corinth: "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain...and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins" (1Cor.15:14, 17). Why is our faith in Christ vain if Christ is not risen from the dead? Because the offering for sin was not made on the cross. Jesus had to be resurrected and ascend into heaven to offer himself to God for the sins of the entire world, for who but Jesus was worthy to approach the Father's altar in heaven to present his slain body to the Father for the sins of the world. We should always bear in mind that Jesus did not ascend into heaven because his atoning work was finished. He ascended as our high priest to finish his atoning work. There, in the holiest place of heaven, Jesus "appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb.9:26). It was this sacrifice of Christ, not simply his wonderful earthly life or his horrible death, which purchased our redemption.

God's plan of redemption in Christ includes an oft- overlooked, yet essential, element. This is the Witness, or testimony, which God gave to man as proof that the sacrifice of Christ took place and was accepted. For those seeking the truth, God has provided something which can be used as a clear sign showing the way, something which bears irrefutable record to the fact that the offering of Jesus' body, "as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" was accepted by the Father as propitiation for our sins and that He "hath made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36).

What is God's Witness? The Bible tells us. In 1John 5:6, we read, "It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth." In verse 10, John calls the Spirit "the record that God gave of his Son", and he states that anyone who refuses to receive the Spirit is calling God a liar, because he is rejecting the Witness which God gave. Jesus had told his disciples, "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify [bear witness] of me" (Jn.15:26).

Man needed a Witness that Jesus' sacrifice was accepted by the Father because the event took place in heaven, where no man could see. The disciples, obediently waiting in Jerusalem, learned that Jesus had made his sacrifice and that it had been accepted only when the Father sent His Witness of it on Pentecost morning, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4).

Speaking in tongues, said Paul, is the sign that God gave to men to help them find the way of life (1Cor.14: 21-22). With so many religions claiming to be the true way of God, the Father knew He would have to give us something concrete by which to judge men's claims. Thank God, we do not have to decide for ourselves who has God's Spirit and who does not. The Spirit gives its own witness when He washes a soul from sin, just as he bore witness through the tongues of those humble disciples in Acts 2:4. Referring to this divinely inspired utterance, Paul reminded the believers in Rome, "Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, `Abba, Father'. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Rom.8:15-16).

Another sobering thought to which all this leads us is that since "conversion" occurs when the Spirit of God is received (Rom.8:9), the disciples were converted, or born again, on the day of Pentecost when they received the Holy Ghost. The Spirit wasn't available to indwell them before Jesus ascended (Jn.14:17) because the sacrifice hadn't taken place. More than once, Jesus spoke to his disciples of the conversion, or new birth, which they would experience when the Holy Spirit came (Mt.18:1-3; Lk.21:31-32; Jn.16:20-22). Unfortunately, many teach that one is converted, or born again, before he receives the baptism of the Holy Ghost. But there is no scriptural support for that notion. Take Paul, for a prime example. How many among us, even ministers, thoughtlessly speak of Paul's "conversion" on the road to Damascus, as if that is what the Bible says. But the Scriptures clearly state that Paul received the Spirit three days later in Damascus, and that only then were his sins washed away (Acts 9:8-9, 17; 22:11-16).

Both the pain and the love which attended Jesus' crucifixion are beyond our ability to express. His loneliness, and the grace which filled his heart in those dying moments can scarcely be imagined. Saying that his sacrifice took place elsewhere does not diminish either the wonder or the necessity of the crucifixion. We know he had to die. However, if we are to fully appreciate our Lord's saving work, we must see that he also had to rise from the dead. So much attention has been focused upon the cross that the importance of his ascension is often overlooked. Now, with a balanced perspective of The Sacrifice of Christ, which appreciates both his death and resurrection, we may more perfectly respond to the love freely offered to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.