What makes Jesus death so special? It’s not simply the fact that He laid His life down for us; men have been laying their lives down for their friends on battlefields around the world for centuries. It’s not even the fact that He rose again; God has been giving life to the dead for centuries too. No, it’s the fact that He is perfect; and only the perfect sacrifice of the Son was enough to pay for the sin of the world and open the way for us to be with Him, to bring us back to Him, for His delight and pleasure.
I was meditating on Isaiah 40:11 recently where it tells us “He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” As I did so I had a picture of being in Jesus arms as He carried me into the presence of the Father. Then, as I stood before God, I was the one carrying Jesus, the pure spotless lamb. My offering was His perfect sacrifice, the only sacrifice that’s acceptable and pleasing to Him.
Genesis 4 tells us the story of Cain and Abel, and God’s response to their respective offerings. “In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. And Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour.”
Genesis 4 tells us the story of Cain and Abel, and God’s response to their respective offerings. “In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. And Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour.”
Abel’s offering was a shadow of the firstborn lamb, a picture of Jesus’ sacrifice, and God was pleased with it. Cain’s offering was of the work of his hands; by his own efforts he tried to please God, but God would not even look upon it. And so it is for us; Jesus is the only sacrifice which is acceptable to God. In fact. He will not even look at our own efforts – whatever we do, we can in no way add to the salvation we have in Jesus.
This got me thinking too, about Psalm 24 where it says “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” I figure Cain’s hands would have been dirty as he worked the soil in his effort to produce an offering for God. Yet for all his endeavors, his offering was not acceptable.
This got me thinking too, about Psalm 24 where it says “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” I figure Cain’s hands would have been dirty as he worked the soil in his effort to produce an offering for God. Yet for all his endeavors, his offering was not acceptable.
It’s the same for us. Only the perfect sacrifice of Jesus is pleasing and acceptable to God. Only when we stand before Him with the pure spotless lamb as our offering does He look upon us with favour. The wonderfully GOOD news is that Jesus has done it all, ‘it if finished’. We have clean hands and a pure heart, sprinkled with His precious blood and made new in every way, so we can stand in the holy place of His presence, where Papa want’s us.
Anything else just makes our hands dirty!
“From eternity, the Father placed the responsibility of making us holy and blameless, and of bringing us before Him, into the hands of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“From eternity, the Father placed the responsibility of making us holy and blameless, and of bringing us before Him, into the hands of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Mike x
Wonderful! I love the way you think and the way you write. Oh, yeah, I love you, too!
ReplyDeleteGreat Mike,
ReplyDeleteReminded me of this piece I wrote a while ago.
Love you.
Dad
The Sacrificial Lamb of God.
He’d fallen to passions burning within
The man was wracked with guilt due to sin.
All sin’s against God and release has a price.
But how could he pay when the cost was his life?
Worthy of death, how could he pay?
But… glory to God, he’d provided a way!
The man could not pay but there is One who can.
And going to his flock the man searched for a lamb.
It had to be perfect for his God to accept,
In payment of his impossible debt.
Clutching his offering he went to confess
Taking the lamb to the priest to inspect.
But the priest hardly glanced at the sinner so fraught,
But carefully examined the lamb that he’d brought……..
Then came the words the man so longed to hear
“You may go free, your sentence He’ll bear”
“The lamb is perfect so your death he can die”
Oh what relief, oh what a joy, “Thank you!” he cried
“Thank you Lord, thank you, thank you again
For giving your Lamb so I’m not condemned!”
A.H.Temple. 2008
Thanks Dad - love your words too, must get the writing thing from you!!. M xxx
ReplyDelete