Thoughts in Worship

Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Audio Link: https://www.spreaker.com/user/reachmanyradio/thoughts-in-worship-10-25-2017

This is devotional thought number 42 in our devotional series, “Removing the Veil: Sanctuary Living in the 21st Century.” Our subject is: You Are Accepted!

“And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” (Leviticus 1:1–5).

For today’s devotional thought, we are going to keep it very simple. We are all sinners. That is our nature. We were born this way. Before we committed treason against the law of God, our nature was sinful. This is why, even children of the living God, with their sins forgiven could not see the face of God, anytime throughout history. Moses, the one whose countenance was alight from being in God’s presence did not even experience the fullness. God said that no man can see Him and live. Thus, the Lord promises to give us incorruptible bodies at the Second Coming. If we keep faith in God, He will continue to perfect our characters and then give us bodies to match. Good.

We are all sin committers. That comprises our behavior. This is different, though related to my first point. Being sinners (don’t get to caught up into my word choice, as I am just trying to make a distinction) is an inherited tendency toward evil. Our father Adam sinned; therefore, we are predisposed to his condition. Being sin committers is about choice. When we choose to cultivate the tendency toward evil, and actually commit a sinful act, we need forgiveness, cleansing, and reforming power from God. The blessing is that God has given us all we need, in Christ, to overcome our cultivated sin habits, and positions us to one day receive glorified bodies to match our holy characters. I said this would be simple, not simplistic. Our first stop in the sanctuary towards dealing with the sin conundrum is the altar of burnt offering. We have already talked about Jesus being the beautiful gate/door through which the sinner must enter in order to be saved. Now we have to deal with the sin problem head on.

There are many facets of the burnt offering, but today let’s start with the most basic. Since all have sinned and need forgiveness, we need to confess our sins. A symbol of that confession and faith in the Savior was to voluntarily bring a blemish-free sacrifice, lay hands on the sacrifice, and kill the sacrifice. The priest would, among other things, take and apply the blood on behalf of the sinner, so he could be atoned for/forgiven. Since the sacrifice represents Christ in His perfection, the animal needed to be from a clean species and without blemish. In the book of Malachi, God condemned His people who dared bring torn sacrifices. Jesus was perfect. The sinner laid hands on the sacrifice to confess his sins and symbolically transfer those confessed sins to the innocent sacrifice, which became the sin bearer. Then the sinner had the kill the innocent animal. Whose sins caused the death of Jesus? His? No! He never sinned. Ours....