Ever since last November when I witnessed blood sacrifices at a local mosque, I have not been able to read about the sacrifice system in the Old Testament the same way. All of my senses are engaged now as I read through Leviticus where God outlines how Israel was to carry out sacrifices. That same queasy feeling in my stomach that I felt on that day returns as I read verse by verse. The smells of livestock, blood, sweat. The cheers of people gathered around. The knife. The symbolism of it all.
As I've read through the beginning of Leviticus the last few days and remembered with all 5 senses that day last year, God told me that that is exactly how repulsive my sin is to Him, that He gave Israel such a graphic picture through the sacrifice system so they would know how disgusting their sin was before Him. He takes sin very seriously.
Which is why the good news of the cross is so good! Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for us! When He cried, "It is finished!", He declared the end of the sacrifice system as He paid for sin once for all! We no longer have to make sacrifices. We don't have to do good works. We don't have to go through a priest. He's made the way to completely wash away our sins, making us holy and presentable before a holy God and giving us direct access to Him! WOW! We have good news to share!!!
May we see sin as God sees it. May we also see the good news of His perfect sacrifice. And may we live to tell those who haven't heard!
No comments:
Post a Comment