considered by us all.

We proceed therefore to point out several aspects of

this basic truth.

We have seen before that the word sacrifice has a fairly wide meaning,

including the sacrifice involving death or the shedding of blood, and the

gift or present that demands neither.  We learned that the logical outcome of

the grace of God manifested in Christ towards us, is that we should present

our bodies unto God as living sacrifices, and that this is our reasonable

service.  It appears therefore that all service will be tinged with sacrifice

if it be the real thing.  Of the twenty occurrences of thusia 'sacrifice' in

Paul's epistles, fifteen occur in the epistle to the Hebrews.  It is the

epistle of sacrifice.

We have the:

sacrifice offered by the High Priest of Israel (Heb. 5:1; 7:27; 8:3);

sacrifices of the Tabernacle (Heb. 9:9; 10:1,5,8,11);

sacrifice offered by Abel (Heb. 11:4); the heavenly reality of Christ's

one Sacrifice (Heb. 9:23,26; 10:12,26);

and lastly, the reasonable service of the believer (Heb. 13:15,16).

When the apostle would encourage the Roman saints in their 'reasonable

service', he brings before them 'the mercies of God' (Rom. 12:1).  In Hebrews

13, he introduces his exhortation to offer the sacrifice of praise (Heb.

13:15) by revealing to the believing Hebrew, what he had in Christ.  'We have

an altar' (Heb. 13:10).  'We have' is a recurring note throughout this

epistle, and we must 'have', before we can be exhorted to action:

'Seeing then that we have a great High Priest ... Let us hold fast our

profession' (Heb. 4:14).

'For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the

feeling of our infirmities ... Let us therefore come boldly unto the

throne of grace' (Heb. 4:15,16).

'We might have a strong consolation ... which hope we have as an anchor

of the soul' (Heb. 6:18,19).

'We have such an High Priest, Who is set on the right hand of the

throne of the Majesty in the heavens' (Heb. 8:1).

'Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the

blood of Jesus ... Let us draw near' (Heb. 10:19,22).

'We have an altar ... Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the

camp, bearing His reproach.  For here have we no continuing city, but

we seek one to come.  By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of

praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks

to His name.  But to do good and communicate forget not: for with such

sacrifices God is well pleased' (Heb. 13:10 -16).

The words of Hebrews 13:15, 'the fruit of our lips' are quoted from the

LXX version of Hosea 14:3.  The equivalent verse in the Authorized Version,

is Hosea 14:2, which is a translation direct from the Hebrew, and reads, 'So

will we render the calves of our lips'.  The Revised Version endeavours to

make the passage clearer by translating 'So will we render as bullocks the

offering of our lips'.  This however does not go far enough.  If any

departure from the letter is justified, then it should have been done

thoroughly and all the figures of speech resolved.