Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
    but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
    as it is written of me in the scroll of the book’” (Hebrews 10:5-7; all Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version).

In the Old Testament, the Israelites worshiped God through an elaborate system of animal sacrifices. Lambs, bulls, and other animals died, their bodies burned on the altar to cover a variety of the people’s needs, including the forgiveness of sins, and as a means of expressing gratitude for God’s blessings.

However, the author of Hebrews 10:5-7—quoting Psalm 40—reveals something profound: God’s ultimate desire was never for the death of animals. Instead, Christ declares, “A body have you prepared for me.”

This speaks directly of Jesus Christ. He became the “Lamb of God” who takes away the sin of the world, and His cross became our new, final altar. Because of His perfect, once-for-all offering, we never again need to offer animal sacrifices to atone for our sins.

The passage in Hebrews 10:7 highlights the true nature of Christ’s sacrifice: obedience. Jesus didn’t just offer his life on the cross. He lived His entire life with the mindset, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.”

Jesus’s entire life was a living sacrifice. He never had the luxury of setting aside His mission for personal indulgence. His life was wholly devoted to His Father’s will, a complete act of surrender that culminated in His death. The body prepared for Him was the means by which He lived out this perfect obedience.

The writer of Hebrews is quoting from the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, when he says, “a body you have prepared for me.” The original Hebrew in Psalm 40 says, “You have given me an open ear.” The difference in wording, expressing this statement in two different ways, leads us to a single truth: Jesus came to listen to, receive, and fully execute His Father’s will. He calls us to do so as well by following Him.

Because Christ offered this perfect sacrifice of obedience, we are sanctified—set apart—for the forgiveness of sins and new life. This means that while we are not saved by anything we offer, we are called to respond to His grace by offering our own lives to Him in return. This is our act of thanksgiving.

We are called to offer a personal sacrifice, not of animals, but of our daily lives and bodies. We may not offer the blood of bulls on an altar, but we offer our time, our energy, and our will to His service and glory:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

Ultimately, the kind of sacrifice God truly desires is what Proverbs 21:3 affirms: “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”

Like Christ, we are given a body—a life—to do God’s will. When we come to Christ by faith, He places His Holy Spirit within us, writing His law on our hearts and giving us the insight to know and do His will. Our spiritual worship, our true fellowship offering, is the ongoing, daily surrender of all that we are to Christ in obedient love.

I would like to hear some of your thoughts. How do you live as a living sacrifice? Share your thoughts in the comments field below.

Copyright © 2025 Michael E. Lynch. All rights reserved.