1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Sacrifices.
Yesterday we were talking about the special GIFT of the seventh day Sabbath to mankind.
We discuss how that Sabbath was a special day of communing between God and Mankind. How even after the fall - even after Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the garden of Eden- God still met with them. When He met with them an OFFERING was necessary, a SACRIFICAL OFFERING, the OFFERING of SACRIFICE. Why was an offering of sacrifice made? Because man had sinned- separating Himself from God.
By all accounts God could have -and some would argue- should have just annihilated mankind at that moment. But God, whose compassion and love we can scarcely begin to comprehend had already decided if He were going to go ahead with the creation of mankind that there had to be some plan in place if mankind chose the path of sin rather than the path of love. He knew when He made the plans that the possibility was there because He was creating mankind with the power to CHOOSE. He didn't want creatures to be like animals, like puppets, but rather like Him, in HIS image. He wanted them to be able to choose right over wrong, love over evil, to willingly do this. Remember this--
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
The plan of salvation was in place before the world ever existed. God did not create mankind willy nilly and then go 'OOPS!' when they sinned. He didn't say a great big, 'UHOH!' He had plans in place because of the LOVE He possesses that we can only comprehend the tiniest bit of.
So while some might argue that God would have been better off just making mankind disappear they'd be wrong.
God did NOT do away with mankind, so why would He stop communicating with mankind? Why would He cut them off completely? Would that show them the plan of Salvation? Would that reveal the way to reunite with Him and be sinless? Would that destroy the evil of sin? It's ludicrous to believe that God would banish Adam and Eve and then never communicate with them again. The facts are- God did communicate with them and taught them how they could repair the huge breech that sin had created between them.
An understanding of their WRONG must come first. Without the comprehension of their wrong, of their sin, what good would saving them be?
Did they know they did wrong?
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Fear.
No longer covered in the light of God's righteousness but naked.
Hiding.
Beguiled.
Admission of wrong doing.
They knew, their eyes were opened to the realization they'd disobeyed their beloved Creator. They felt the incredible guilt instantly. The light of righteousness was GONE from around them. Do you honestly believe they were blind before sinning? NO. They were NOT blind, they were under LOVE'S protection, they were shielded by God's righteousness. Is a child blind because a parent doesn't allow them to watch bloody horror shows on tv? No. But once that child disobeys and watches a bloody horror show on tv then they can no longer Un-watch it, it cannot be as if they hadn't seen it, the damage is done. They might even view a lot of things around them in a different light depending on what horror show they witnessed and the psychological aspect to it. Adam and Eve were not blinded, they saw all the beauty of the garden, of the creatures that inhabited the garden, they met with God Himself and saw Him. They were not blind, but eating the fruit from the forbidden tree was an act that could not be undone. They saw instantaneously that their disobedience had consequences. While God had clothed them in His righteousness they never felt naked. It wasn't that they loved traipsing around in the innocence of nudity, they were clothed in God's light, God's righteousness! When His righteousness was suddenly gone they could see that they HAD no righteousness of their own! Why do you suppose their nudity shocked them after sinning? It was because they hadn't been naked spiritually! If you open your eyes and discover you're naked, you had to have been clothed before, right? You had to know you'd been clothed before. They HAD been clothed, truly they had.
2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2Co 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
2Co 5:3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
2Co 5:4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Isa 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Clothed with Christ's righteousness- no longer naked.
The garments of salvation- the robe of righteousness.
Before they sinned they were in a saved state, yes? They were in a PURE, SINLESS state. They had the ROBE of RIGHTEOUSNESS upon them!
Their FLESH eyes were opened to the selfish things of the flesh, they could no longer view things in the light of God's pure righteousness, they'd given that up and they felt the weight of it instantly.
The very first thing they did was make something to cover themselves but it couldn't compare to the glory of God's righteousness. How incredibly vulnerable they must have felt. Have you ever been lost in your life- not figuratively but literally lost and vulnerable? It's a very, very frightening experience. To suddenly be separated from God's righteousness had to be incredibly frightening for Adam and Eve. They wanted their clothing back! They wanted that covering back on them. They weren't rejoicing in their sudden nudity, they were fearful of it, they did not like it! They wanted to be clothed once more.
Fear.
No longer covered in the light of God's righteousness but naked.
Hiding.
Beguiled.
Admission of wrong doing.
They HID from God! You don't hide from someone out of fear unless you know you've done something wrong. How many children do this? They do something wrong and think if they hide from their parents it'll be better some how, or at least it will forestall immediate punishment. It's not strange for a child to hide when they've done something wrong, in fact a lot of adults probably wish they could hide too when they do something wrong and have to face the person they've harmed.
Eve said she was beguiled, that's NOT a good thing. Eve didn't defend herself by saying she ate the fruit of her own accord, she KNEW this wrong act had been encouraged by the serpent. She was beguiled, she put herself in the situation to be beguiled. She believed the beguiler when he told her something contrary to what God had already said. She listened to the voice of one speaking out against God, bad mouthing Him. She had NO reason to even minutely believe that her beloved Creator was keeping good from her, NONE, not a single reason! Yet she listened to the beguiler.
They KNEW they'd done wrong and that was and is the first step to comprehending our need to atone for that wrong. God quickly made them realize that there would need to be a MEDIATOR, that they couldn't in and of themselves atone for what they'd done.
The offering of a sacrifice, a DEATH was necessary, and not only was a death necessary it was the death of an INNOCENT. Animals are innocent, they never consciously commit any evil. They might be trained to do evil, but even then they are victims of their trainers. They might kill out of instinct but there is NO malicious intent, for that to happen there has to be reasoning and animals just do not have the higher thought of mankind. It wasn't generally wild animals brought to sacrifice but tame ones, very, very innocent of any wrong doing. Lambs led to the slaughter. Innocent lives that had never been meant to be killed. Man was to eat --
Gen 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
The animals hadn't been created to be killed and eaten, or killed as a sacrifice.
If you've ever loved an animal you know the mere idea of having to sacrifice that animal is completely heartbreaking.
God instituted the sacrificial offerings all pointing to Christ, and those sacrificial offerings ended when Christ Jesus became our ultimate sacrificial Lamb- the Lamb of God.
Joh 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
No longer did earthly sacrifices which were only examples of the Lamb of GOD sacrificing Himself, have to be given, they'd served their purpose. The ceremonial laws were nailed to the cross. In the earthly temple the veil was torn in two.
Mat 27:50 Once again Jesus shouted, and then he died.
Mat 27:51 At once the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and rocks split apart.
(CEV)
So how were those left to live? Those who had been raised to offer sacrifices? They'd still offer sacrifices but NOT imitating the LAMB of GOD sacrificed. He'd BEEN sacrificed! There was no longer a reason to look towards the Messiah, He'd come!
Now people had to look towards a RISEN CHRIST! They had to believe upon HIM and the SACRIFICE He'd made for them! They had to be BORN again into a new SPIRITUAL birth! From then on their sacrifices would be SPIRITUAL sacrifices!
1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise
Mar 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
We still and forever have the all important gift of God's to mankind at the beginning- the Sabbath day and we can STILL commune with God on this day! We can still bring our spiritual sacrifices to Him. We can present our broken and contrite hearts- hearts that realize the state of sinfulness they possess and their only hope is in Christ Jesus' righteousness, His forgiveness, His love. We can LOVE God with all our heart- not just a sliver of it. We can love our neighbors, our fellow man as we would be loved. We can present our living bodies, our LIVES to HIM and through HIS mercies , by HIS grace He will make us holy as we can never make ourselves.
None of us can take a coal off the alter and touch it to our own lips.
None of us can take our filthy unrighteous off ourselves and replace it with righteousness.
We must present ourselves TO GOD, a will, living sacrifice ready for Him to do all He needs to do in us.
On the blessed, holy day of the Sabbath we have this unique period of time set aside to live solely for our God.
Do away or change this wondrous GIFT given to us from Creation?! GOD FORBID!
Many might wish to ignore it and pretend it doesn't matter, but it does, it really, really does.
Every Sabbath we are called to remember our beginning, our fall, our redemption, our future in Christ!
Every Sabbath we are called to remember that there was a time when God and Man were in full communion with one another.
Every Sabbath we are called to remember the day is HOLY only because our God deemed it so!
Every Sabbath we are called to remember that even before the world was created a plan was made to save us should we fall.
Every Sabbath we must remember the greatest Sacrifice ever made all in order to save us!
Every Sabbath we must praise our God for HIS mercy, HIS love!
Every Sabbath we must seek God knowing He will speak to us through His HOLY Word!
We are BLESSED by this GIFT God made for US, and to reject this very special gift is to reject His love, His truth, it is to reject HIM.
ALL GLORY, HONOR, and PRAISE, ALL THANKFULNESS, ALL LOVE UNTO OUR GODS, the FATHER and the SON WHO AGREE IN ONE. ALL THROUGH HIM, THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT!
Spiritual Sacrifices.
Yesterday we were talking about the special GIFT of the seventh day Sabbath to mankind.
We discuss how that Sabbath was a special day of communing between God and Mankind. How even after the fall - even after Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the garden of Eden- God still met with them. When He met with them an OFFERING was necessary, a SACRIFICAL OFFERING, the OFFERING of SACRIFICE. Why was an offering of sacrifice made? Because man had sinned- separating Himself from God.
By all accounts God could have -and some would argue- should have just annihilated mankind at that moment. But God, whose compassion and love we can scarcely begin to comprehend had already decided if He were going to go ahead with the creation of mankind that there had to be some plan in place if mankind chose the path of sin rather than the path of love. He knew when He made the plans that the possibility was there because He was creating mankind with the power to CHOOSE. He didn't want creatures to be like animals, like puppets, but rather like Him, in HIS image. He wanted them to be able to choose right over wrong, love over evil, to willingly do this. Remember this--
2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
The plan of salvation was in place before the world ever existed. God did not create mankind willy nilly and then go 'OOPS!' when they sinned. He didn't say a great big, 'UHOH!' He had plans in place because of the LOVE He possesses that we can only comprehend the tiniest bit of.
So while some might argue that God would have been better off just making mankind disappear they'd be wrong.
God did NOT do away with mankind, so why would He stop communicating with mankind? Why would He cut them off completely? Would that show them the plan of Salvation? Would that reveal the way to reunite with Him and be sinless? Would that destroy the evil of sin? It's ludicrous to believe that God would banish Adam and Eve and then never communicate with them again. The facts are- God did communicate with them and taught them how they could repair the huge breech that sin had created between them.
An understanding of their WRONG must come first. Without the comprehension of their wrong, of their sin, what good would saving them be?
Did they know they did wrong?
Gen 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Gen 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Gen 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Fear.
No longer covered in the light of God's righteousness but naked.
Hiding.
Beguiled.
Admission of wrong doing.
They knew, their eyes were opened to the realization they'd disobeyed their beloved Creator. They felt the incredible guilt instantly. The light of righteousness was GONE from around them. Do you honestly believe they were blind before sinning? NO. They were NOT blind, they were under LOVE'S protection, they were shielded by God's righteousness. Is a child blind because a parent doesn't allow them to watch bloody horror shows on tv? No. But once that child disobeys and watches a bloody horror show on tv then they can no longer Un-watch it, it cannot be as if they hadn't seen it, the damage is done. They might even view a lot of things around them in a different light depending on what horror show they witnessed and the psychological aspect to it. Adam and Eve were not blinded, they saw all the beauty of the garden, of the creatures that inhabited the garden, they met with God Himself and saw Him. They were not blind, but eating the fruit from the forbidden tree was an act that could not be undone. They saw instantaneously that their disobedience had consequences. While God had clothed them in His righteousness they never felt naked. It wasn't that they loved traipsing around in the innocence of nudity, they were clothed in God's light, God's righteousness! When His righteousness was suddenly gone they could see that they HAD no righteousness of their own! Why do you suppose their nudity shocked them after sinning? It was because they hadn't been naked spiritually! If you open your eyes and discover you're naked, you had to have been clothed before, right? You had to know you'd been clothed before. They HAD been clothed, truly they had.
2Co 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2Co 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
2Co 5:3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
2Co 5:4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Isa 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Clothed with Christ's righteousness- no longer naked.
The garments of salvation- the robe of righteousness.
Before they sinned they were in a saved state, yes? They were in a PURE, SINLESS state. They had the ROBE of RIGHTEOUSNESS upon them!
Their FLESH eyes were opened to the selfish things of the flesh, they could no longer view things in the light of God's pure righteousness, they'd given that up and they felt the weight of it instantly.
The very first thing they did was make something to cover themselves but it couldn't compare to the glory of God's righteousness. How incredibly vulnerable they must have felt. Have you ever been lost in your life- not figuratively but literally lost and vulnerable? It's a very, very frightening experience. To suddenly be separated from God's righteousness had to be incredibly frightening for Adam and Eve. They wanted their clothing back! They wanted that covering back on them. They weren't rejoicing in their sudden nudity, they were fearful of it, they did not like it! They wanted to be clothed once more.
Fear.
No longer covered in the light of God's righteousness but naked.
Hiding.
Beguiled.
Admission of wrong doing.
They HID from God! You don't hide from someone out of fear unless you know you've done something wrong. How many children do this? They do something wrong and think if they hide from their parents it'll be better some how, or at least it will forestall immediate punishment. It's not strange for a child to hide when they've done something wrong, in fact a lot of adults probably wish they could hide too when they do something wrong and have to face the person they've harmed.
Eve said she was beguiled, that's NOT a good thing. Eve didn't defend herself by saying she ate the fruit of her own accord, she KNEW this wrong act had been encouraged by the serpent. She was beguiled, she put herself in the situation to be beguiled. She believed the beguiler when he told her something contrary to what God had already said. She listened to the voice of one speaking out against God, bad mouthing Him. She had NO reason to even minutely believe that her beloved Creator was keeping good from her, NONE, not a single reason! Yet she listened to the beguiler.
They KNEW they'd done wrong and that was and is the first step to comprehending our need to atone for that wrong. God quickly made them realize that there would need to be a MEDIATOR, that they couldn't in and of themselves atone for what they'd done.
The offering of a sacrifice, a DEATH was necessary, and not only was a death necessary it was the death of an INNOCENT. Animals are innocent, they never consciously commit any evil. They might be trained to do evil, but even then they are victims of their trainers. They might kill out of instinct but there is NO malicious intent, for that to happen there has to be reasoning and animals just do not have the higher thought of mankind. It wasn't generally wild animals brought to sacrifice but tame ones, very, very innocent of any wrong doing. Lambs led to the slaughter. Innocent lives that had never been meant to be killed. Man was to eat --
Gen 1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
The animals hadn't been created to be killed and eaten, or killed as a sacrifice.
If you've ever loved an animal you know the mere idea of having to sacrifice that animal is completely heartbreaking.
God instituted the sacrificial offerings all pointing to Christ, and those sacrificial offerings ended when Christ Jesus became our ultimate sacrificial Lamb- the Lamb of God.
Joh 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
No longer did earthly sacrifices which were only examples of the Lamb of GOD sacrificing Himself, have to be given, they'd served their purpose. The ceremonial laws were nailed to the cross. In the earthly temple the veil was torn in two.
Mat 27:50 Once again Jesus shouted, and then he died.
Mat 27:51 At once the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and rocks split apart.
(CEV)
So how were those left to live? Those who had been raised to offer sacrifices? They'd still offer sacrifices but NOT imitating the LAMB of GOD sacrificed. He'd BEEN sacrificed! There was no longer a reason to look towards the Messiah, He'd come!
Now people had to look towards a RISEN CHRIST! They had to believe upon HIM and the SACRIFICE He'd made for them! They had to be BORN again into a new SPIRITUAL birth! From then on their sacrifices would be SPIRITUAL sacrifices!
1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise
Mar 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
Mar 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
We still and forever have the all important gift of God's to mankind at the beginning- the Sabbath day and we can STILL commune with God on this day! We can still bring our spiritual sacrifices to Him. We can present our broken and contrite hearts- hearts that realize the state of sinfulness they possess and their only hope is in Christ Jesus' righteousness, His forgiveness, His love. We can LOVE God with all our heart- not just a sliver of it. We can love our neighbors, our fellow man as we would be loved. We can present our living bodies, our LIVES to HIM and through HIS mercies , by HIS grace He will make us holy as we can never make ourselves.
None of us can take a coal off the alter and touch it to our own lips.
None of us can take our filthy unrighteous off ourselves and replace it with righteousness.
We must present ourselves TO GOD, a will, living sacrifice ready for Him to do all He needs to do in us.
On the blessed, holy day of the Sabbath we have this unique period of time set aside to live solely for our God.
Do away or change this wondrous GIFT given to us from Creation?! GOD FORBID!
Many might wish to ignore it and pretend it doesn't matter, but it does, it really, really does.
Every Sabbath we are called to remember our beginning, our fall, our redemption, our future in Christ!
Every Sabbath we are called to remember that there was a time when God and Man were in full communion with one another.
Every Sabbath we are called to remember the day is HOLY only because our God deemed it so!
Every Sabbath we are called to remember that even before the world was created a plan was made to save us should we fall.
Every Sabbath we must remember the greatest Sacrifice ever made all in order to save us!
Every Sabbath we must praise our God for HIS mercy, HIS love!
Every Sabbath we must seek God knowing He will speak to us through His HOLY Word!
We are BLESSED by this GIFT God made for US, and to reject this very special gift is to reject His love, His truth, it is to reject HIM.
ALL GLORY, HONOR, and PRAISE, ALL THANKFULNESS, ALL LOVE UNTO OUR GODS, the FATHER and the SON WHO AGREE IN ONE. ALL THROUGH HIM, THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT!
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