So many people think of the law of Moses as a bunch of legalistic rules by an angry God. “Cross me and I’ll blast you.” The law of Moses is an invitation to spread life, not a license to spread death. And the people were missing it (see Leviticus 4).
These offerings were a way to be made right. A way to be at one with God again. Atonement.
Yahweh is a God not of legalism, but of grace and love.
It became clear that humanity was going to need something deeper than countless animal sacrifices to atone for human sin. Something lasting. Something that would not just save us from endless death, but would change us into sources of life. We needed a greater sacrifice.
What we see in the sacrificial system is a God of incredible grace. A God who says, “I know you’re going to mess up. I know you’re going to choose death over life. I know you’re going to spit in my face. But I want you to come home, so I’m going to provide a way how.”
Isaiah 53:4-7, 11
Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.
He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth…
Because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.
That prophecy was written hundreds of years before Jesus. And yet we know now that he was its perfect fulfillment.
Ephesians 2:4-6
God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.
Because of Jesus, we’re not just allowed back into Eden, we’re given the responsibility to spread it.
In Christ, we are the shepherds and gardeners and stewards of a New Creation.
A new world made from the resurrection of this one. And every one of us has a part to play. We are the hands and feet of our king. And, when you surrender your life to this beautiful vision, that’s when you will experience the kind of abundant life you were always meant to have.
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'You Were Made for More' because God created you ON purpose FOR a purpose. This is the vision of Grace Church, led by Pastor Barry Rodriguez and based in Indianapolis, IN.
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