Dawg. What about Jesus' statement "it is finished" and the fact that the sacrifice is done "once for all?"
It is that very "once" that I'm talking about. We're not doing another or adding to Jesus's sacrifice, we're participating in THAT ONE sacrifice.
It almost trivializes it to say that that's the "calculus" of eternity, but I don't know how else to say it.
There is one turning point in the history of the kosmos, only one - the "Tetelestai", the mighty shout of triumph, theyielding of the spirit. Well might the earth shake, the veil be torn, the graves be opened. All the old rules were turned upside down, and the universe was set not in a new direction but in an entirely new way of moving, one in which the old renewed and blemishes beautified, and wounds healed, and griefs gave joy. That the whole thing didn't go up in smoke at that point still gives me pause -- but the God who can sneak into the world as a little baby, not disguised as one but Truly one, well, He seems to like surprises.
It is that sacrifice which, as we believe, is on our altars. It is the telos and perfection of all sacrifices.
Bed time.