blessing

The crucifixion of Jesus brought an end to many traditions. The Temple was critically damaged so the sacrifices were compromised. There were the many who no longer felt compelled to follow the ones who led to the death of their rabbi. The Law was tempered in three short years of teaching, and people felt empowered to ask different questions than the politically correct ones.

Paul was transformed into the super apostle he was in order to provide some sense to the unrest. He was a brilliant student with the skill to learn quickly and adapt to the new knowledge. He was a keen observer of cultures and religions. He was physically tough, mentally sharp and spiritually sensitive.

Unfortunately he also dreamed of wiping out the new movement of Jesus' devotees. 

The Damascus road blinding of Paul by Jesus was to give Paul a living demonstration of the blindness that humanity was enduring. It was through the work of a different believer that Paul could regain his sight, demonstrating the critical importance of the Body of believers over the individual. It was Paul who was escorted to the wilderness for personal teaching by Jesus that applied the Old Testament to his life and teachings.

And what did Paul learn?

Freely give, even if nothing is received.

The flesh is a monster never to be trusted.

Love everyone, but love those in the body enough to help them grow into Christlikeness.

Don't ignore the Old Testament, but don't worship it either.

Christ on the cross is the final fulfillment of man's true problem. There is no need for other gods, traditions, or philosophies for man to live a good, full and pleasing life.

Paul learned, taught and lived how to be a blessing. Even when he was rebuking the Corinthians or confronting the Romans, his goal was harmony and blessing among the saints. 

May it be the same with us these days. May our blindness fall like scales  that we might see the needs around us!

birth

If you've followed the blogs to now, there is a steady theme focusing on the crucifixion of Jesus from the legal perspective of the sacrifice. Sacrifice provided a way to please God. Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel knew the ritual's requirements and followed them. Sacrifice was codified in the Law, practiced in the Temple, and despaired over during the dispersion. The sacrifices were endorsed by Rome because of their pacifying influence on the population (and because they were done by Rome for Romish gods).

The event of the crucifixion provides a screeching halt to the practice. The Temple is eventually destroyed and never rebuilt. There will be a Temple, and there will be a sacrifice, but the New Testament place those events into the end times scenarios. Jews may mourn the loss of sacrifice but it does not seem that God has empowered the ritual anymore.

It is safe to say that the crucifixion solved the legal condition brought on by the original sin committed by Eve, then Adam. A new relationship with people is available with God, who before could not personally abide with any form of sin in His Holiness. Now, through the blood of Christ splattered on the doorposts and lintels of a person's life (by faith), God can pass over the judgement on mankind to abide with us in the desert of this world. This is a drastic new relationship and is rightly termed a birth.

No one denies that a child is alive immediately prior to the birth event. One has to accept that the child is not free, is not capable, and is not independent until birth, however. So also is the person who has not applied the blood of Christ's sacrifice to their life. Original sin is like the walnut's shell to the nutmeat - an almost impenetrable covering to the outside world. The nut is not free to grow, cannot be fed by the world around it, and is not capable of an independent life. The shell must be cracked, the baby must be born, and we must be spiritually birthed at some point in life.

The sacrificial system is over because the final sacrifice is complete. Prophecy and practice collided on Calvary with God's foreseen solution. "It is finished" was much larger than a death breath, it was God's exclamation point on his covenants.

The result? The birth of the church, the gathering, without the restrain of the physical altar or sacrificial system. Free, capable and independent people gathered to enjoy the blessings of God and proclaim to the captive world the way out. The walnut shell can be cracked, the womb opened up, the life to live is available!

surety

Never cosign for a loan, instead, just give the person the money. That's Dave Ramsey's advice. The borrower is slave to the lender until the debt is paid.

Mankind finds itself in debt to holiness both in the sin were have done and the sin that we are. This causes the Lord God to turn His back on us because in his holiness he cannot behold the result of our sinfulness. We cannot behold Him either, or we should instantly die in our Fallen nature.

The gulf created at the Fall was terminal for man. God continued to reach out to man, made agreements, promises, covenants, gave the Law for direction. But still there was a failure in the system because no one person or action fulfilled man's side of the ritual. There was none righteous, none clean, none who could fulfill the dictates of the sacrifice.

And that is all it would take, just one pure sacrifice.

Millions of animals, from the beginning of life outside Eden, have been sacrificed. Not one of them were truly perfect or sufficient. They were tainted from the beginning of their earthly existence. Likewise human sacrifice is insufficient in most regards because of the sin factor. And without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sins. It is impossible that, by the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats, to be made clean from sin. Mankind needed someone to pay our debt, to cosign the warrant demanding our death and separation from a holy God.

This is where the necessity of the cross factors into the plan. God did not string us along giving us tidbits of hope in the sacrifices, the family, the Law, the Judges, the Temple, the kingdoms, the return, or any other supernatural intervention. Those were meant to teach us that mankind is unable to satisfy the demands of a holy covenant made with a holy God. It was always in the plan of the Trinity that there needed to be One of them that needed to fulfill the dictates of the prophecy in Eden "you shall strike his heel, he shall crush your head" (to the serpent). One of the Trinity had to be our bondsman to pay the bail price and hold our presentation to the court. This is the prime meaning of the word "surety". The debt will be paid, if not by the one who incurred the debt then by the surety who will "for sure" pay it out of their own pocket. This was always the hope of the Patriarchs and the prophecies. Oh, who will free me from this burden of sin and the debt that suffocates my thoughts, my goals and my will? Thanks be to God, who in

Jesus paid Our infinite debt in one lump sum - at the cross.

The perfect sacrifice, the high place of mounded dirt, the uncut altar, the blood shed after death and spilt on the altar, the final declaration of resolution and atonement all conform to the dictates of ancient sacrifice.

Jesus

paid

it

all.

Have you signed on with the ultimate bondsman of all time?

passover

Egypt is primed for judgement, Israel is primed for freedom. Moses and Pharaoh are in the final stanzas of the last dance before closing time. Nine plagues done, one to come. The last plague God brings on Egypt is a full frontal assault on the pre-eminent god of the Egyptians - Pharaoh and his lineage, specifically the firstborn son, the next god on the throne.

All the firstborns in Egypt will be judged and killed in this plague. All of them in the land. So how does God manage the Israelites in this threat? With sacrifice and blood.

One lamb, consumed in whole, by a family or group of people, under one roof, roasted only, eaten in haste and ready to flee at daybreak. The sacrifice at twilight, blood on the door frame as a sign of following the ordinance. Follow these guidelines, all of them.

Passover. So the angel of death would see the blood then pass over the homes of the faithful and spare them the awful selective death of the firstborn. No blood on the doorposts meant someone in that household was going to die. The family had to follow every part of the ritual or they wouldn't be ready for the life to come and would lose the firstborns.

This substitutionary death, complete with blood splattering, is a foreshadowing of Christ's Passion and Crucifixion. Life was in jeopardy and God gave a way through the threat in both instances.

I find it amazing that the same elements of an acceptable sacrifice are present from the beginning of the narrative of God and his people. The elements commonly include a substitutionary death, perfection of the sacrifice, blood spilling, and simple altars. A common theme is the position of the "high place", or hill top as the location. Mankind knew and instantly responded to God's call to perform a sacrifice with a sense of what was right.

What do we learn? God solidfies the concept that only through sacrifice is a person or family saved from the consequences of spiritual death. Further we learn that the general consequences of community sin can be avoided by strictly adhering to the Word of the Lord and submitting to His sacrifice. Anything outside the strict guidelines is not enough to avoid the coming punishment. 

highplace

Genesis expands on the theme of the sacrifice in Genesis 15 and 22. Both events are pivotal to understanding the relationship between the sacrifice and God's covenants with people.

How does God confirm his agreement with Abraham? With and understood and well practiced ritual called the suzereignty ceremony. It was a treaty ratification between two Kings that designated that the agreement was morally binding on those who participated. Large animals were ritually sacrificed, cut in two and arranged down the sides of a path. Birds were sacrificed but not divided. The agreement was stated, then the one(s) who were bound to the agreement went down the path to signify "may I be like these animals should I break the agreement."

God restates his commitment to give the land to Abram, then travels down the lane alone. 

Sacrifice is necessary for a confirmation or agreement in God's economy. Genesis 15

The offering of Isaac is very interesting from many aspects. There are the basic parts of a sacrifice worthy of God: the high place, the altar of earth and a sacrifice. It is interesting that Isaac is not concerned about the trip until they are close to arriving to the location. Was it assumed that this was a normal part of everyday life? Abram assumed God would provide the sacrifice and it is further reasoned in Scripture that Abram figured that God would raise this promised child from the dead after the sacrifice was over. Genesis 22 shows that God did provide the ram for sacrifice but only after the test was successfully completed, Abram was willing to sacrifice the child of promise to obey God.

Some have said that God provided the ram because he does not require human sacrifice. However, this would place the cross and Jesus at odds with God's commands. Perhaps it is better to say that Isaac did not measure up to the known requirements for a sacrifice: he was not without defect. This passage does teach that God demands absolute obedience, which Abram passed. A secondary lesson is that children can be blessed if they follow their godly parents.

Thus, the closest a person came to being sacrificed for God was Isaac, who submitted to the trial without struggle. God endorsed sacrifice and participated in rituals involving sacrifice with Abram. However God did not demand Abram complete the sacrifice of Isaac instead accepting the ram as a substitute. One day there would be One worthy of that ultimate position of sacrifice. 

in sight of eden

Years passed after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Children were born, grew up, became productive. Abel, a son, tended animals. Cain, a second son, tended plants. Both knew something significant and knew how to do it right.

They both knew how to make an acceptable offering.

Abel offered the best of his herd and the best of the fatty portions for his offering.

Cain offered grain from his storehouse.

How did they know to make this kind of offering? How did they know what an acceptable offering was? And how was it that the conscience of Cain was disturbed when his offering was rejected? God seeks Cain out and asks him "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" Gen. 4:7

There are three important aspects of the offering shown in the Cain and Abel passage:

1. God had imparted the necessity of the offering to people, and offerings were a regularly practiced ritual. 

2. God had communicated the standards for offerings to the people alive in those days, even though the regulations were not written down until the Exodus. Adam, Eve, Abel and Cain all knew the standards and God was still conversing directly with people. There has always been a God-endorsed standard for offerings. 

3. God expressed the value of the offering for the person by equating the action with acceptance. By doing right the person was accepted, not just the offering as a covering or relief from the offense.

Necessity, standards and value for acceptance by a Holy God were known and practiced by people at the earliest stages of existance. Thus, when Jesus stated that he was about to fulfill the Law by his death he was declaring what others testified about him: it was a necessary action, at the highest standards, with the ultimate goal being acceptance by God for those who applied the sacrifice to themselves.

Here is the first clue about the incredible importance of Jesus and the crucifixion. It is a clue that most of us miss completely.