By John Greco
Animal sacrifices are gross. Just read through the book of Leviticus, and you’ll be glad you don’t live in the days of temple sacrifice. There’s blood being sprinkled, poured, wiped on the altar, and collected in jars. Animals are cut up so that some parts can be burned, others can be eaten, and still others can be taken outside the camp and burned differently. All in all, it’s a mess.
But there’s also something quite beautiful about it.
Through the sacrificial system, God made a way for His people to come close and worship Him. The tabernacle, and later the temple, housed the very presence of God. That reality defies our limited ability to comprehend, but it’s true nonetheless. God had come close. His space was sacred, and to keep our sinfulness and uncleanness from defiling God’s throne room on earth, the sacrificial system was given. The blood of animals purified the place of worship so that men and women could come near.
At their core, the various sacrifices described in the Old Testament were about worship. The people gave their livestock—the best of the best of what they could afford. It was costly, always an act of ascribing to God the honor due His name. There was no low-priced, discount option that would do the trick. A sacrifice was just that—a sacrifice to make.
Fast-forward to the New Testament era in which you and I live. Jesus has paid the once-and-forever price to atone for our sin so that those He has redeemed can draw near to God, no animal sacrifices required. The Holy Spirit now lives inside those of us who are believers. We are now the temple of God, so everywhere we tread is sacred space, especially when we gather together as the Church. But that doesn’t mean our days of making sacrifices are over.
What was planted in seed form in the Old Testament grows into full bloom in the New. So, we should expect that what was required of the sacrificial system under the Mosaic Covenant only expands under the New Covenant—and it does. God no longer requires the blood of bulls and goats. Now He wants us—you and me—given over to Him as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1–2). Everything we have, everything we are, and everything we do is to be given over to God. We are His, and our lives should show it.
About a thousand years before Christ, David got it. He wrote, “The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God” (Psalm 51:17). It is this “broken spirit’ and “humbled heart” that allows a person to become a living sacrifice. Pride has no place in the life of a Christian. We have been bought and paid for. We belong to God, and our lives ought to reflect this fact. Our sacrifices may not be as bloody as they were under the Old Covenant, but they ought to be even more costly.
Written by John Greco
4,986 thoughts on "Worship Through Sacrifice"
-
Hi there, this weekend is good designed
for me, because this time i am reading this great
educational article here at my residence. -
What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have
found It positively helpful and it has aided me out loads.I am hoping to give a contribution & assist different customers like its helped me.
Great job. -
We’re a gaggle of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community.
Your site offered us with useful information to work on. You’ve performed an impressive task and our whole community will probably be thankful to you. -
Excellent blog you have got here.. It’s difficult to find high-quality writing like
yours nowadays. I honestly appreciate individuals like you!
Take care!! -
This is the perfect webpage for everyone who wants to understand this topic.
You realize so much its almost tough to argue with you (not that I personally would want
to…HaHa). You certainly put a fresh spin on a topic that’s been written about for many years.
Excellent stuff, just excellent! -
Why viewers still use to read news papers when in this technological world the whole thing is accessible on web?
-
I have been surfing online more than 3 hours as of late, but I by no means found any interesting article like yours.
It’s beautiful value sufficient for me. In my view,
if all webmasters and bloggers made just right content material as
you probably did, the web will likely be much more helpful than ever before. -
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my
own weblog and was curious what all is required to get set
up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny?
I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100% positive. Any tips or advice
would be greatly appreciated. Appreciate it -
Greetings! I’ve been reading your web site for a long time now
and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Kingwood Texas!
Just wanted to say keep up the fantastic work! -
I’m extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog.
Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it is rare to see a great blog like this one these days. -
This is a topic that is close to my heart… Best wishes!
Where are your contact details though?
-
This is a topic that is near to my heart… Best wishes! Where are your contact details though?
-
Very nice write-up. I absolutely love this site. Keep it up!
-
What a information of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious know-how on the topic of unpredicted
feelings. -
Hello friends, how is all, and what you would like to say on the topic
of this article, in my view its in fact amazing designed for me. -
What a information of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious experience regarding unexpected feelings.
-
Get the very best information on local tree providers.
-
I’m not sure why but this site is loading extremely slow for me.
Is anyone else having this problem or is it a issue
on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists. -
Link exchange is nothing else but it is just placing
the other person’s webpage link on your page at appropriate place and other
person will also do similar in support of you. -
I pay a quick visit daily a few web sites and information sites to read articles or reviews,
except this weblog offers feature based content.
Comments are closed.
Post Comments (4986)