How is the believer's sacrifice different from the Old Testament idea of a sacrifice?
The Old Testament sacrifice involved an animal killed, giving up its life, as Christ gave up His life on the cross. For the believer, it is a living sacrifice: presenting the body to God while alive, saying, 'Lord, here am I, use me,' because the believer has died with Christ yet lives.
Les explains that the believer is to present the body as a living sacrifice, simply saying, 'Lord, here am I; use me,' like Isaiah's 'Send me.' This differs from the ordinary sacrifice of an animal killed and giving up its life, or Christ put to death on the cross. The death the believer now dies is a substitutionary death in the person of Christ. Paul could say, 'I have been crucified,' yet he was alive and writing. Believers too have died in God's mind on Calvary and died when Christ died, but they are alive. So presenting the body is a duty, not a command, in light of all God has done, while we did nothing. Spiritually we stood before God stark naked with no hope.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
More Questions
What does it mean to present your body as a living sacrifice?
Presenting your body as a living sacrifice means simply saying, 'Lord, here am I. Use me.'