Proverbs 11:20
They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD:
But such as are upright in their way are his delight.
The changes in our culture, mostly the departing from agrarian society, have crippled our understanding of the beautiful principles laid out in the Old Testament. Those who believe that the first part of the Bible is no longer valid should also discard the second part, because it is conceived in the first. In essence, if you kill the Mom you also kill the seed conceived in her body.
Today we tend to think we can be familiar in approaching God, but He Himself said that He only delights in those who are upright in their ways. What is to be upright in our ways? In my book, just confessing to be a believer is not enough; many a believer is not upright. As always, the Hebraic mind requires any spiritual value to be validated by a physical action.
Approaching in a manner pleasing to Him is fully described in the book of Leviticus. If we remember our story until then, Moses, who had entered God’s cloud of glory while on Mount Sinai, could no longer enter therein once this cloud was located in the finally build Ark of the Covenant. What went wrong? Wasn’t the whole goal to be in communication with the Presence of God? The book of Leviticus ends this cliffhanger we are left with at the end of the book of Exodus. God finally calls Moses, not from the mount this time but from the Tabernacle, and He teaches him the means by which the people should approach Him. The word ‘sacrifice’ or ‘offering’ used in our English Bibles in the book od Leviticus doesn’t give true meaning to what was going on. The word actually used in the Hebrew text is a word we also find in the New Testament: ‘korban’ which means ‘a coming near gift’. The semantic emphasis is on ‘coming near’ not gift.
Our nature being sinful, we were to come in God’s Presence through the vicarious representation of the blood of a domesticated innocent clean animal. That blood, domesticated and innocent, would represent us before God for the sins of our flesh, until such a time when the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, would eventually clean our conscience which causes us to do all these bad things that are not pleasing to God.
There were three main ‘korban’ by which to approach God, and those define the spirit in which we are to enter in His presence. 1) The Sin Offering: parts of it are burnt to God, the rest given to the priests; this represents admission and confession of sin;. 2) The Burnt Offering: the whole sacrifice goes to God and represents a full and complete rededicated life to God after admitting and confessing sin. 3) The Peace Offering: God, the priests and the offeree share in the sacrifice and eat together in a big feast. This represents God’s acceptance of our fellowship with Him, because of the first two.
Thus are revealed to us the principles of integrity that make us acceptable to God. We must first admit and confess our sin, but we must also show the sincerity of our heart by true repentance and dedication by turning a whole new page in our lifestyle and starts obeying His Words. One doesn’t go without the other. Then, and only then, God sees the integrity of our hearts and is pleased in our presence.
They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the LORD:
But such as are upright in their way are his delight.
The changes in our culture, mostly the departing from agrarian society, have crippled our understanding of the beautiful principles laid out in the Old Testament. Those who believe that the first part of the Bible is no longer valid should also discard the second part, because it is conceived in the first. In essence, if you kill the Mom you also kill the seed conceived in her body.
Today we tend to think we can be familiar in approaching God, but He Himself said that He only delights in those who are upright in their ways. What is to be upright in our ways? In my book, just confessing to be a believer is not enough; many a believer is not upright. As always, the Hebraic mind requires any spiritual value to be validated by a physical action.
Approaching in a manner pleasing to Him is fully described in the book of Leviticus. If we remember our story until then, Moses, who had entered God’s cloud of glory while on Mount Sinai, could no longer enter therein once this cloud was located in the finally build Ark of the Covenant. What went wrong? Wasn’t the whole goal to be in communication with the Presence of God? The book of Leviticus ends this cliffhanger we are left with at the end of the book of Exodus. God finally calls Moses, not from the mount this time but from the Tabernacle, and He teaches him the means by which the people should approach Him. The word ‘sacrifice’ or ‘offering’ used in our English Bibles in the book od Leviticus doesn’t give true meaning to what was going on. The word actually used in the Hebrew text is a word we also find in the New Testament: ‘korban’ which means ‘a coming near gift’. The semantic emphasis is on ‘coming near’ not gift.
Our nature being sinful, we were to come in God’s Presence through the vicarious representation of the blood of a domesticated innocent clean animal. That blood, domesticated and innocent, would represent us before God for the sins of our flesh, until such a time when the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, would eventually clean our conscience which causes us to do all these bad things that are not pleasing to God.
There were three main ‘korban’ by which to approach God, and those define the spirit in which we are to enter in His presence. 1) The Sin Offering: parts of it are burnt to God, the rest given to the priests; this represents admission and confession of sin;. 2) The Burnt Offering: the whole sacrifice goes to God and represents a full and complete rededicated life to God after admitting and confessing sin. 3) The Peace Offering: God, the priests and the offeree share in the sacrifice and eat together in a big feast. This represents God’s acceptance of our fellowship with Him, because of the first two.
Thus are revealed to us the principles of integrity that make us acceptable to God. We must first admit and confess our sin, but we must also show the sincerity of our heart by true repentance and dedication by turning a whole new page in our lifestyle and starts obeying His Words. One doesn’t go without the other. Then, and only then, God sees the integrity of our hearts and is pleased in our presence.
No comments:
Post a Comment