Portals of Prayer - A Daily Devotion from Concordia Publishing House
Devotional Reading for: 03/18/2010
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree. 1 Peter 2:24
In Old Testament times, God communicated His holiness through the bronze altar. God’s holiness requires the death penalty for every sin. Gross sins such as murder, adultery, and blasphemy required the execution of the perpetrator. For the less gross offenses—often unknown sins—God required the execution of a specified animal at the bronze altar. Through the bronze altar, God temporarily satisfied His holiness as these animals bore and died for the sins of the people. When God’s people offered thank offerings, the bronze altar made their thanksgiving holy, acceptable to God. When the people then ate of the remaining thank-offering flesh, they were eating a communion meal that had been made holy by association with the bronze altar. Now Christ on the cross is our bronze altar. Here, God’s requirement for holiness was met. The sacrifice of Jesus was holy, and His sacrifice on the cross permanently absorbed our death penalty as “He Himself bore our sins in His body.” Because of the altar of Christ on the cross, God accepts our thanksgivings, for they have been made holy.
O Holy Spirit, sanctify me continually by the altar of Christ on the cross. Amen.
Dear faithful readers,
It has been a joy for Concordia Publishing House to provide free access to Portals of Prayer each day. At CPH, we are always striving to provide resources that are current, timely, and useful. This includes offering our products using new tools for technology. On April 1, we will launch a new digital subscription (online) version of Portals of Prayer. After that time, we will no longer offer daily installments online for free.
We hope that your meditation of God's Word through these devotions has been a blessing, and that you will consider investing in the digital version of this treasured resource. We will be charging $10.00 a year to non-subscribers and $3.00 a year to subscribers already receiving the print edition. If you have specific questions or concerns, we invite you to email us directly at magazines@cph.org.
Thank you and God bless,
The CPH Magazine Team
About Portals of Prayer
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