The sacrifices in the Old Testament were not for God but for us. When they slaughtered an animal and laid it on an altar and burnt it, watching the smoke rise to heaven, it was their guilty conscience that was being appeased not Gods wrath. God declares through the prophets Sacrifices and burnt offerings You do not desire and You do not delight in sacrifice, but rather the goal of sacrifice and what God delights in (because it draws us near to him) is a contrite heart. This was the purpose of sacrifices and burnt offerings. With the ritual of slaying the animal and communally offering it to the Lord and watching the smoke rise to heaven, it was an act of contrition of heart and cleansed their guilty conscience which caused them to sense the nearness and presence of God. Because as Paul says, we are alienated from God IN OUR MINDS through our evil behavior. God has never withdrawn from us, for in him we live, move, and have our being. All the alienation is in our minds, all the separation is in our guilty conscience. But the act of sacrifice was a ritual of contrition of heart to appease and cleanse their conscience. The sacrifices were never for God but for us. This is the same thing the sacrifice of Jesus is for. God offers himself, and while revealing his self-giving love and his heart of forgiveness to us, as we draw near to the cross we experience contrition of heart because of HIS offering to us and because of HIS love. The blood of Jesus speaks greater than the blood of bulls and goats because it is the offering of God to us and not our offering to him. It is US who drink the blood and eat the body because it is our conscience that is being appeased and cleansed. He offers us himself, and with it all of his forgiveness and love, uniting us to his heart. We respond with changed hearts as his love is shed abroad within.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 17:22:29 +0000
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