Sacrifices Revealed God's Forgiving Heart
Daily Scripture
Leviticus 16:18-19, 30; Isaiah 1:13, 16-18; Hebrews 10:4, 10-12
Leviticus 16
18 Aaron will then go to the altar that is before the LORD and make reconciliation for it: He will take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on each of the altar’s horns. 19 He will sprinkle some of the blood on the altar with his finger seven times. In this way, he will purify it and make it holy again from the Israelites’ pollution.
30 On that day reconciliation will be made for you in order to cleanse you. You will be clean before the LORD from all your sins.
Isaiah 1
13 Stop bringing worthless offerings.
Your incense repulses me.
New moon, sabbath, and the calling of an assembly—
I can’t stand wickedness with celebration!
16 Wash! Be clean!
Remove your ugly deeds from my sight.
Put an end to such evil;
17 learn to do good.
Seek justice:
help the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let’s settle this,
says the LORD.
Though your sins are like scarlet,
they will be white as snow.
If they are red as crimson,
they will become like wool.
Hebrews 10
4 … it’s impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
10 We have been made holy by God’s will through the offering of Jesus Christ’s body once for all. 11 Every priest stands every day serving and offering the same sacrifices over and over, sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right side of God.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Israel’s desert sanctuary, and later its Temples, held an altar at which people offered sacrifices that symbolically removed a sinner’s guilt. But when outward religion went on side-by-side with injustice and “conspicuous consumption” in Israel, prophets like Isaiah called those offerings “worthless” when divorced from following God’s principles in daily life. Only Jesus’ death on the cross (as the “Lamb of God”—cf. John 1:29, Matthew 1:21) ultimately revealed God’s power to forgive and make us holy.
- Isaiah said on God’s behalf, “Stop bringing worthless offerings.” What did the rest of the passage suggest made their sacrifices “worthless”? What made failing to seek justice, help the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow particularly “ugly” and “evil” in God’s sight? * What actions in our culture might the prophet list if he lived today? How can you actively move your community, your workplace, your family, and yourself toward God’s ideal in words and actions?
- One of Israel’s sacred poets expressed the absurdity of believing that the creator God somehow “needed” the animals that were offered in sacrifices (cf. Psalm 50:9-15). What was the spiritual message God sought to communicate in asking his people to sacrifice a lamb when they needed forgiveness? How did that sanctuary ritual, rightly understood, point forward to Jesus’ costly, self-giving love’s power to set us right with God?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you gave yourself to make your intense eagerness to forgive my sins crystal clear. Help me to offer you my heart, my inner being, before I offer you anything else. Guide me today and each day. Amen.
GPS Insights
Lauren Cook
Lauren Cook, who serves as the Entry Points Program Director at Resurrection, wrote today’s Insight. She is a self-proclaimed foodie, a bookworm, and is always planning her next trip. She has the sweetest (and sassiest) daughter, Carolina Rae, a rockstar husband, Austin, and a cutie pup named Thunder. She loves connecting with others so let her know the best place you've ever eaten, best book you've ever read, or best place you've ever been!
While James 2:26 is not included in today’s Scripture reading, I believe that it helps clarify the point for today: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
People have long struggled with the question about which is more important: believing with all our heart, soul, mind and strength or doing all the “right” things. Another way you may hear about this struggle is around those who wonder if God forgives everything, why does it really matter what I do or don’t do, as long as I believe and seek Him? There is also a third option: there are many of us who struggle trying to do both of these things—be the best believer and the best do-er of all the right things…or else. I’m in the third category (shocking, I know, for those of you who know me by now).
The truth is, we are called to have faith in action because faith that isn’t expressed through action is incomplete, while actions that are rooted in faith and flow from God’s love for us can demonstrate God’s love for all. It isn’t about doing the right things in the right order at the right time, or being the best believer who never has doubt or questions. It’s about seeking God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and then allowing our faith and the love we receive from Him to so fill our hearts that we cannot help but allow that to overflow to all those we encounter. Love overflowing takes the shape of seeking justice, helping the oppressed, defending the orphan, pleading for the widow. Love overflowing takes the shape of feeding our neighbor who has lost their spouse, cleaning the home of a friend battling an illness, offering our time, talent, and resources to those who need them.
God loves you, no matter what. His supply of love is endless and as you allow it to infiltrate your heart despite your mistakes, He is waiting to offer you forgiveness, life, joy, and hope in abundance so that it will overflow from you to others.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* “Divine accusations focus on those who carry out worship while ignoring the plight of society’s unprotected members. The description in 1:10-15…. details the care with which worshippers attend to sacrifice, festival, and prayer. Yet God desires attention to the needs of widows and orphans.” Patricia K. Tull, study note on Isaiah 1:10 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 1096 OT.
