Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient. Not one sacrifice offered by any of the Levitical priests including Aaron himself was sufficient. Year after year, actually day after day, the priests continued to offer sacrifices over and over again for their own sins and the sins of the people. Sacrifice is not necessary any longer! Jesus’ sacrifice is enough for now and all eternity. Hebrews 7:27 says, “He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” The laws around the sacrificial system have all been fulfilled in Christ. We need not attempt to add to his sacrifice by offering our own sacrifices to what has been done for us. It’s enough in that Jesus offered himself for us on Calvary. When he said “it is finished” he meant it!
Many argue that it’s faith plus works that save us and often refer to James chapter 2 where Abraham’s sacrifice of his son was what justified Abraham because his faith climaxed with works. James 2:21-23 says, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’” But please note that Abraham did not sacrifice his son! God provided the actual sacrifice, the lamb caught in the thicket that was offered on the same mountain that Jesus would be crucified on. It was not Abraham’s sacrifice of his son that mattered. It was God’s sacrifice of his son that mattered. It wasn’t Abraham’s faith and Abraham’s works that led to his being justified by God. It was Abraham’s faith in God’s sacrifice. It was Abraham’s faith and God’s works.
When James goes on to refer to “faith and works” in relation to Rahab at Jericho, it’s not Rahab’s faith and Rahab’s works. It’s Rahab’s faith in God’s work of giving the land to His chosen people. She professed her faith acknowledging that God had given the land to the Israelites and recognized that “…the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.” In faith she hung out the scarlet cord as directed and was saved from the destruction that befell Jericho. Even the scarlet cord which Israel gave to her is symbolic of the blood of the lamb on the doorposts in Egypt as well as the blood of the Lamb of God that will take away the sins of the world. Just as the ram caught in the thicket saved Abraham’s son, so too did the bloody colored cord save Rahab and brought her into the genealogy of Jesus. It’s all about Jesus! He was sufficient to save Abraham! He was sufficient to save Rahab and He is sufficient to save you and me. Believe it, because it’s by faith we are saved!