July 4, 2006

• I was thinking today, at the eve of the Fourth of July how many men and women have sacrificed themselves for our freedom. It seems fitting that tomorrow we will be dealing with Genesis 22. From the first sacrifice, when God sacrificed an animal for skins to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, we have had sacrifice in this world. Adam and Eve’s one act of disobedience has affected us from that time on. We will see sacrifices to cut covenant, sacrifices to God, sacrifices to atone for sins, sacrifices to give thanks, and satan’s imitation – sacrifices to idols.

  
  

  Let’s take Passover – where a lamb was required for a household (or two if the families were small). The lamb, innocent – young -sweet – pure, was brought into the house for a period of days and carefully examined for defects. In this period of time bonding with the lamb probably occurred (think of a puppy or a cat in a house with kids). At the time of the sacrifice many tears were probably shed for the life of this lamb, and people realized the deadly consequences of their sins – sin kills.

  
  

  For a sin offering, the person who sinned laid his hands on the head of the animal and participated in the sacrifice, his hands were bloodied by the death of the animal, and again it was brought home that sin kills.

  
  

  On the day of atonement, when the priest went into the Holy of Holies, again a sacrifice was required, and blood shed. The sad thing about all the above sacrifices is that they had to be repeated over and over because the shed blood of an animal was a temporary covering, it did not completely atone for the sins we committed.

  
  

  Then God did a remarkable thing, He sent His only son, pure, unblemished, holy, sin-free, to die for our sins and make a complete atonement for our sins. His death perfectly covered our sins, and if we accept His gift, lovingly given, his sacrifice, then we are righteous IN CHRIST JESUS. It is not something we did on our own, it is something He did for us.

  
  

  The death of Jesus was also a bloody process. He was beaten until His skin hung off of His back, a crown of thorns on His head, nails piercing His hands and feet, the spear piercing His side. He was bruised beyond recognition. And it is brought home to us that He was innocent and died for us, for me, for you.

  
  

  In Genesis 22 we are going to see a picture of the sacrifice to come with Isaac and Abraham, when Abraham is told to take his son, his only son (no mention of Ishmael), and offer him as a sacrifice. We will see the substitutionary offering presented, just as Jesus was the substitutionary offering for us.

  
  

  One of our church members spoke on this chapter and he presented an image that has stuck in my mind. He walked up to the altar with a hunter’s knife and a sharpening stone, and we could hear the scraping of the knife blade on the stone. He spoke about how a sharp knife would hurt less when you were cutting into something – and that Abraham must have walked up that mountain carefully sharpening his knife, so that no rough edge would cause unnecessary pain. I am glad that the outcome of Chapter 22 did not entail the death of Isaac, and I am also grateful that there was a resurrection, for without resurrection the sacrifice of Jesus would have been for nought.

  
  

  I thank God for loving us so much, and tomorrow I will start covering Genesis 22.

  
  

  Heather

  • 12:01 am
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