Week Of Prayer At Harvest Bible Chapel

On the first day of the week, yesterday night, we began the Week Of Prayer at Harvest Bible Chapel.  Together, a couple thousand of the lay leaders were led by the pastors to pray for the church, our families, ourselves, our nation, our world, that God would work His Will in and through us.

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,
¹² and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

 

Matthew 6:9-13

Here's an email from my pastor telling all the details so you can participate in this Week of prayer:



Dear Loved Ones,

I am so thankful and encouraged as I see God at work at Harvest! Jesus says, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5. We have an amazing privilege to draw near to God in prayer. That’s why I am so excited to join you in calling out to God during our LIVESTREAM WEEK OF PRAYER. My prayer is that we will re-energize, renew, or rekindle our prayer lives as we engage in the various prayer activities this next week. We believe firmly in the power of prayer! Check out all the details below…it starts tonight!

KICKOFF—TONIGHT, Sunday, February 10, 7:15 P.M.Join us as our entire church comes together online for a prayer-focused time of teaching from Pastor James, guided prayer with Pastor Rick, and live worship from our team. Just visit the HarvestBibleChapel.org homepage tonight at 7:15 P.M., click the "Livestream Week of Prayer" banner, get your Bible—and get ready to pray!

LIVE DEVOTIONALS—Monday-Friday, February 11-15, 6 A.M.-9 P.M.For one week, every day, all day, you can take part in:

* Live Daily Devotionals—Join Harvest Pastors online, three times each day: 6 A.M.,12 noon, 8 P.M. Daily prayer devotionals are viewable all week long.

* Prayer Forum—Text chat with others at Harvest, along with our pastors on the topic of prayer.

* Prayer Wall—Post longer prayer comments, insights, questions, Scriptures, requests. Share what God is teaching you about prayer—and rejoice in how He is at work in one another!

* Prayer Resources—Dig into video and audio teaching about prayer from Pastor James, download "Unceasing Prayer", chapter 8 from Vertical Church, and check out other recommended resources.

CORPORATE PRAYER—Sat-Sun, February 16-17
* Pre-Service Prayer—Meet in the worship center (Studio A) 30 minutes prior to each service for prayer led by Harvest Pastors and Elders.

I am looking forward to hearing the testimonies of how God is using this week to grow His people. Have a great week of prayer!

You are loved,

Craig

Craig Steiner
Campus Pastor
Harvest Bible Chapel | Aurora

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.Ephesians 6:18

My Name Is Nicodemus

 

My name is Nicodemus, and I used to have everything in life.  I had money, prestige, comfort, honor and  respect of the people.  I was able to wear the clothing of the Pharisee that set me apart from the common sinner, and elevated me in their eyes.  They would be condemned by my apparent righteousness in comparison to their own paltry attempts.  How many times would I stand among the people in the temple with my nose in the air and my hands raised while a poor, lowly sinner appeared crumpled in anguish nearby; both of us prayed, but I declared to God:  I thank you that I AM NOT LIKE THIS SINNER!

You see, I was a prominent religious leader and teacher in Jerusalem.  In fact, I was known as the teacher of Israel because I had mastered my studies of the Talmud and all the laws.  I had them all down pat.  I gave my tithe of everything that came into my possession, even if it were as insignificant as the slightest mints and herbs.  I tithed it all!

I was at the pinnacle of success in my life.  I worked hard, and earned my way to the top of the heap.  I was in good with the Roman authorities, I was honored by Sadducees and Pharisees alike.  I had dreamed of being a good Jew, and even more, a great Jew!  The best of the best.  And I was.

But I had a problem that I was unable to share with anyone.  I was so revered by my colleagues and constituents that it was impossible to express anything that looked like doubt.  Oh!  Believe me, I believed every single word and promise of the law, the prophets and the writings.  I had memorized long passages of the these words.  But what I doubted, under my veneer of pride, was myself.  I knew the Word, but I also knew myself.  More and more, the Scriptures themselves would condemn me.  I often thought sinful thoughts, and sometimes even after confessing them, I desired to do them still!  I was trapped in my pride-filled shell; if I became authentic with anyone, then my house of cards would fall.

So on this one evening I went to meet this most extraordinary rabbi.  He did not rise under the authority of another rabbi, or in the revered schooling we offered.  No, he came, as it seemed, out of nowhere, with his own authority.  And though we haven't seem any miracles among our people for close to 1000 years, he came healing the sick, casting out demons and even raising the dead!  Many of these acts were done widely in the public eye and people--friends and foes, even demonic alike--testified boldly to his power.   And his teaching was not masterful manipulation of the pliable masses, nor was self grandisement to line his own pouch with wealth and notoriety.  In fact, he had none of these.  Wherever he traveled he borrowed his place of rest and food.  He accumulated nothing of his own, and he was even fond of saying, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me."  I could go on and on about this man who was creating an ever growing stir among me and my colleagues.   Everyone basically esteemed him as a madman.  And we purposed to drive him to a madman's end:  Death.

But, for me, there was that doubt I had, and here was one man who by his actions and words appeared to have the authority and purposes of God as his mission.  He was unmovable in his conviction of the truth of the Word, and of his adherence.  We would often accuse him of breaking laws--like the laws of the Sabbath.  But we knew, or at least I knew, that really there is no one among us that is truly righteous, regrettably, not even one.

So I came to him that night.  I had a busy day, with work in the Temple, with teaching the students, with making judgements with the law, with this and that.  I had determined to see Him, and whether it be by day or night, I would see him.  Night, of course, was even more convenient since  I was a little self conscious of "the teacher in Israel" going to the man we were accusing of doing the works of the devil himself.  But I told you I had determined to see Him.  So I came.  And it was night.

I also determined to begin with him on good terms.  So I addressed him properly, "“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”  I truly believed that whoever he was, he was not a lunatic fool, nor was a religious conman, but who he claimed to be was too much for me to swallow.  There was too much in the traditions of the elders that this man paid little or no attention to at all.  Perhaps we could speak face to face and come to terms with who he was.  His response to me was, not what I expected to move forward in our cordial greeting, but instead he spoke to what I really thought, intended and believed.  And so he spoke words that I have never forgotten because they became the beginning of the unraveling of my shell, my security and my soul.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  His words lay in the air between us for what seemed an eternity.  He knew.  He knew!  He knew that what was truly on my heart was whether I had done enough to be accepted by God, and of course by extension, into the kingdom of God.  His words pierced deep into my soul.  He knew that from my earliest youth, I strove with every effort I could muster to be good; to memorize every lesson, every scripture, to obey every command, and even every nuance of every perceived command.   And in the yes of all my peers, and all my masters, through all these years, I have done it.  I knew I could boast because I have worked exceeding hard to separate myself for God.  No charge of laziness could even stand against me.  He knew that, and he knew that what I feared the most of all was that with doing all this, IT WAS NOT ENOUGH!  If this man were a master arrow marksman, he would have just hit the dead center of my heart.

But he hit it in more ways than one.  As I said, I feared greatly if I had done enough to earn my way to be accepted before the Father into His kingdom.  I was already old, and I know very well the ways of man.  I have buried many of those I have called my friends and countless others who I do not know well.  Death is imminent, whether by the natural means of the end of mt days, or else by a chance fatal encounter with a wild beast or an unseen pit.  When?  I do not know or care.  Only that I know its coming ever closer.  Jesus knows I desire to be in God's kingdom when I pass from this life.

He hit me with his words as well, with his analogy.   Unmistakable implications!  "Unless one is born again".  What have I to do with my first birth?  Nothing at all.  So, then, what have I to do with this second birth to which he refers?  Well, by way of analogy, nothing.  And here, I find the thinking unacceptable and intolerable and against all I have ever known, and yet, also in that place of doubt that I have been wrestling with. My question simply restates the problem with the implications:   “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”  No!  No!  A thousand times no!  Of course a man cannot do anything in this matter; no more than I did anything in the days leading to and including my birth!

Certainly all the I have done in life hasn't sealed in my mind and heart that I am acceptable to God.  And now, in the face of God--so it seems--Jesus affirms my worst possible nightmare, and my only hope at the same time.  Now my rhetorical question hangs in the air.  Not confounding him, though, but rather condemning me!  His response drives the same reality: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Now what I thought was unmistakably clear has made me feel completely undone:  I can not contribute to this second birth at all.  And to be in the Kingdom of God--which is my passion--I must have had the first, fleshly birth done to me as all men have had, but also this Spiritual birth done to me.  And the imperative of this matter cannot be understated.  What hangs in the balance here is the prize which I seek:  eternal life.   There is no entering this, not now,. not ever, without this new birth.  What of the wind?  Again, the wind does its work over people made submissive by the wind's interruption in our lives.  No one commands the wind!  No one sees the wind!  No one really understands the wind!  But its effects are clearly seen in a myriad of ways.  Can anyone find and bind the source of the wind?  Not even a philosophical possibility,  And he is saying, therefore, SO IT IS WITH THIS SPIRITUAL LIFE.  I understand what he is saying, but I am stunned by what this means.

I'm stunned too that the message from my youth is DO THIS and DO NOT DO THIS and in these is eternal life.  "Jesus, How can these things be?”  

Again, he stings me with his response.  But less so with these words:  “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?" Already my pride is crushed.  I feel more like the little boy in the first days of religious instruction, than the "Great Nicodemus, teacher of Israel!"  In my heart I feel numb to the loss of authority and position, and a stirring of passion for truth,  And what Jesus says resonates with all I have read and seen in the Scriptures.  It only dismantles the lies of my fellow brothers and myself that we have constructed to justify our own wickedness.  Am I willing to pursue truth and to reject lies, even if they constitute all my life framework?  Truth is that great pearl of immeasurable price.

^"Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." 

Again, as I have known from childhood that story of Moses and the people of Israel.  When afflicted by the deadly serpents, those who believed only had to exercise that belief and look at the bronze serpent Moses had placed on the pole.  They did not have to do anything, but turn their eyes from their sin and look at the bronze serpent.  Could all this life pursuit turn out to be this simple?  A transaction of simple belief?  An expression of trust alone?  No action to be taken, no list of things to check off my list--how I have loved AND hated those lists over my lifetime!  Now Jesus makes it clear that there are no lists.  No opportunities to boast for the one who orders his life well over the one one who simply, humbly believes.

Yet who does Jesus say is this object of belief?  For Moses, the bronze serpent on the pole could save no one from the deadly disease.  It was powerless in every way.  Then, it was a turning of the eyes toward the serpent because God had commanded it.  This is all.  And as i review the great Scriptures throughout I see that Abraham too believed God and that belief--not his faltering on again, off again actions--was counted to him as righteousness.  God gave this to him as a gift.  So with Isaac.  So with Jacob.  So with David.  By adherence to the Law, not one soul has been declared righteous!   The Law has served as a schoolmaster as it were to teach us of God, and to lead us to believing in Him!  Yet without that simple belief, the same law, like a witness in a court testifies against us and condemns us.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

My name is Nicodemus, and I used to have everything in life. Now, I have LIFE.  And this life is in Jesus, the Son Of God!

____________

  John 3:1-21 

 

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

A Look Back At The Gospel In Isaiah 52:13-53:12

 

 

 

Harvest Bible Chapel

Through a hastily planned change of my work schedule, I was assigned to work on various carpentry projects in downtown Chicago at the Harvest Bible Chapel "Cathedral Campus" yesterday.  This is a beautiful building donated to our church on the corner of Walton and Dearborn Streets.  The last time I had been here, was days before it opened in September 2012.  For about 125 years, this building has been a beautifully crafted temple of doom. Teaching in the building has been man centered, and without real hope for all its existence as a unity church in the very early years, and as a Masonic Scottish Rite Cathedral in the most recent hundred.  This church is now a powerful beacon of hope and light of the Gospel in this area of America's city of big shoulders.

 

Moody Church

Situated just over a mile to the north is another great beacon of light, the Moody Church--so named for the 19th century evangelist D.L. Moody who founded it.  Preachers here have been faithfully teaching the Word of God here since 1925.  Here, the power of the Gospel has been faithfully proclaimed.  Here I ventured after I was finished with my work to hear another faithful preacher teach this powerful truth, "the Gospel".   This was the final message in an annual Bible Conference called Founders Week, jointly hosted by the Moody Church and  the Moody Bible Institute.  The preacher on this Friday evening (2/8/13) was Pastor John MacArthur, someone whose teaching has been a great source of understanding and spiritual growth for me for over the last three decades.

 

Knowing the Jesus Christ of "The Gospel" was central to everything that took place during the evening meetings, including the music, the prayer, the testimony.  Pastor MacArthur began his remarks by speaking of the most significant chapter in the whole Bible; one which he challenged us to meditate on and to memorize.  This chapter, he said, is the first Gospel account, and the most comprehensive account of the Gospel.  My mind raced to consider which chapter he spoke of.  I thought first of John 1 which introduces the full humanity and deity of Jesus Christ.  Or, John 3 where Jesus presents Himself as the object of belief  in the Gospel leading to eternal life.  But then he said that this chapter also included details of Jesus' death, resurrection and burial.  Hmmm.  Perhaps Acts 7, when Stephen--Christianity's first martyr--faithfully preached the Gospel.  All these chapters I refer to are written as historical accounts of the real events and teaching that occurred during Jesus final three years on earth, about 1,980 years ago. 

 

But then Pastor MacArthur said that the chapter to which he referred to was the same one the Ethiopian traveller was reading aloud in his chariot as recorded in Acts 8 to whom the Holy Spirit sent Philip,

 

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.  (Acts 8:34-35)

 

What these two men read and discussed was in part Isaiah 53:7-8,  the powerful Gospel account given more than 700 years before Jesus was born!  Pastor MacArthur then, walked us through the whole passage of Scripture, Isaiah 52:13-53:12 - 

 

¹³ Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 
¹⁴ As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
¹⁵ so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.  Isaiah 52:13-15 is written from the voice of God referring to His servant.  This is the future Messiah.  In verse 13, He will (1) act wisely, that is live correctly, or successfully.  This indicates that what is to follow is part of the calling of this Servant; (2) He will also be God.  He is called "high and lifted up" and "exalted".  These are the exact terms Isaiah uses to describe God as seen on His throne in Isaiah 6.

 

Verse 14 indicates that while He is God, and doing the wise things, (3) His form will become terribly marred even to the point of gross disfigurement, the first reference to Jesus' death by crucifixion.  Yet, verse 15 shows what verse 13 first pointed out:  In this "marring", the Servant acts wisely, and (4) sprinkles many nations.  He impacts the world! and in due time (5) kings and leaders will recognize who He is.

 

53:1 Who has believed what he has heard from us?  And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  The speaker in the text changes in v. 53:1 from God announcing the Servant to Israel if the future looking back at this Servant.   The "us" is the future repentant Israel bemoaning the fact that generations of Israelites rejected what they now see.

² For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  Jesus came among the Israelites like a simple plant or root, unnoticed by the nation at large.  He did not come with great pomp and circumstance.  He wasn't desired by the people of Israel.
³ He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Jesus was despised and rejected by the men He came to save.   He was associated with sorrow and grief, and the Israelites failed to esteem Him.  Notice again the "we" esteemed Him not.   But remember, all this was part of the plan (52:13). 

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.   While Jesus came to bear the sins of Israel, "we" esteemed Him to be someone that was rejected by God, when the opposite was actually true. 
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.   The Servant would be pierced for the sins of His people.  He would be crushed for us.  On Him would be laid the punishment we should get, resulting in peace-with-God; by His marring wounds, we are granted spiritual healing. 
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.   "We" went astray, turned to "our" own way while "our" sin was laid on Him.

⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?  Verse 7 and 8 were quoted as part of what the Ethiopian read when Philip came to him in Acts 8.  Here, Jesus' unjust trial, and His quiet sheep-like response is described.  He was sheep-like in His not retaliating and fighting, but also in the sacrificial nature of His death.  For what purpose?  Again, "for the transgression of my people".
⁹ And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.  Jesus, the Servant of God, died with the "wicked", He was crucified between the thieves, while He was innocent of any crime, neither violent or deceitful.

¹⁰ Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.  Just like prescribed in Leviticus 4-7, Jesus was made a guilt offering.  Yet unlike the typical guilt offering, His was "prolonged" and "prospered" to where He would have and see offspring.  A reference to His resurrection.  God would accept the sacrifice of His Servant.
¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.  Though the crushing of Jesus was painful to the Father, His guilt offering was satisfied.  The righteousness of the Servant would be imputed to "many" as He bears our sin; definitely 2 Corinthians 5:21 in view.
¹² Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.  So the Servant would share in the victory over death with the "many" and with the "strong" through His death.  In His death, He was numbered as a sinner because He bore the sin of us all.  And His resurrection role is further intercession for the sinners He is saving!

 

 All this put together provides a powerful testimony of the Gospel, the "good news" that Jesus bore our sin in His own body, was crushed as our guilt offering, was accepted as our satisfactory sacrifice, and was brought back to life by the will and power of God that He would share in the Work that He has accomplished.

 

What's left then to consider regarding this Gospel:  What will be your response?

 ______________________

On Today With Everything I Have

For the second time this week, I am sitting in an emergency room chair shifting uncomfortably, trying without success to drift into an elusive sleep.

The times I have been here--or a place like it--over the past several years have been too many to count. The experiences generally blend into a single element of a much larger picture.

It's occurring to me again that while I sit here in this chair best suited for Papa Bear, my dear wife Mineke is--again--experiencing physical health issues and is getting much needed treatment, care, and now rest after days of throwing up and dehydration.

How easy it is for me to focus on my comfort level of the moment and then forget this. How easy it is to have my mind consumed by the events of the day, the schedule of tomorrow, the financial concerns; you know I could go on.

Jesus zeroed in on this as an issue of walking in faith, trusting Him in all situations. Allowing yourself to be fully on what circumstance He has called you to; and what precious people He has called you to share life with. In Matthew 6:34, our Lord puts it this way: "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." I want to be all there on today.

Father, please forgive me for being self absorbed and failing to put my all into attending to the needs of Mineke, my wife, my fellow heir in Your calling of life.

She is resting, her eyes are gently closing; we have a few minutes before the doctor returns with instructions. Up on the wall, the hands on the face just moved into the new day; now I'm thinking through capturing these thoughts:

On Today

Lord, too often I am seeing

That I miss what I am being

In lieu of affections somewhere else.

I labor on toward a prize

Not designed to avert my eyes

From the grit of living right before me.

You called me in life to live

In dynamic relation give

Sacrificial love to those in my reach.

Though heaven in due time will call

And earthiness from me will fall

Today's the place needing my attention.

Fill me with Your spirits power

For demands of this very hour.

That I might be Your hands and feet here.

Groaning Creation

Today's Reading:  Leviticus 1-3; Mark 3

For generations, a lamb was slaughtered for our sins to make us acceptable before the Lord. In our generation, Jesus' sacrifice makes those who believe acceptable to God

__________

 

Groaning Creation

 

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  (Romans 8:18-22)

 

In more ways than one has creation suffered under the sin of its human element.  Thorns and weeds grow more readily than other plants, carnivores seek to kill and eat their weaker prey, and even the strongest among the animal kingdom succumb to human hunting needs and sporting expeditions.  Humans often will mistreat animals and randomly destroy God's creation to develop a convenience.

 

But here in Leviticus, we are are shown the most direct way that Creation groans under the weight of sin, awaiting the full redemption of man.   Animals directly paid for the wickedness of man.  Its sobering to see how many animals had to die to make temporary atonement for the sins of men and woman for many generations.  And here we see God prescribing the sacrifice of bulls, sheep, goats, turtledoves, pigeons all for the sin of people. 

 

Statutory

 

That these sacrifices are laws of God is affirmed over and over, even in 3:17, " It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”  People did not randomly come up with this plan.  It was all part of God revealing His plan to His people.

 

Sacrificial

 

It may seem an obvious observation, but I'll make it clear here:   The animal was dieing on behalf of the sinning men and women. 

 

“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock." (1:2)

 

The animal was compelled to pay the price of a debt it did not incur.  This was true of the animals and fulfilled eventually in Jesus Christ:

 

 ^"For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,  how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Hebrews 9:13-14).

Slaughter

 

I already wrote on the gruesome nature of the sacrifices offered in a previous blog post, but in Leviticus 1-3, graphic description of the slaughter is given:

 

"Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; ⁹ but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord." (1:1-9)

 

The butchering, dismembering and burning of the bull is frankly, offensive.   Then there is the throwing the blood all over the altar.  During this period, animals were raised for this purpose.

 

Serious

 

In these opening pages, the fact that a sacrifice was needed, and that these animals would be the sacrifice created a place of grave seriousness.   Look at the death as a result of our sin!  This is no laughing matter.   Often, we take sin very lightly, but the need for these sacrifices shows how literally deadly serious this matter is.  Don't you think that a fledgling nation like Israel could have benefited from the food these animals would have produced rather than this slaughter and burning?   How about the extreme labor and resources it took to raise and prepare the animals for this?  Further, how about the dedication of God's holy word to this instruction?   Any question whether God is serious about the weightiness of sin, and the need for the animal sacrifices?   Hebrews 9:22 sums it this way:  "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."  Serious and necessary.

 

Specific

 

The prescriptions of which animals to be sacrificed, and exactly how they were sacrificed was very specific.   Parts of Leviticus describe the anatomy of an animal with medical precision.  Consider:

 

"And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the Lord, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, ⁴ and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys." (3:3)

 

The message came across very clear:  God is concerned with the specifics of the sacrifices.  When we think for a moment that God will lightly consider our own sin, or faults at the day of judgement, we are sorely mistaken.   God's detailed concern shown here displays a careful quality of God that should lead us to shudder over our sin.  "God doesn't distinguish the details of how I come to him, right?"  Yes He does.   For you and I, salvation is through Jesus Christ, and Him alone.

 

 Symbolic

 

All the sacrifices killed were symbolic of the ultimate fulfillment in Christ. 

 

^"Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,  for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,  so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."  (Hebrews 9:23-28)

 

Since the death of Jesus, sacrifices were no longer needed, because they symbolized His perfect sacrifice.  And once that was offered once for all, the illustration became obsolete.

 

As Creation groaned during that time, the intent was to reveal who God was to His people, and bring the weight of sin upon all humanity leading to repentance.

 

A Bloody Mess

Today's Reading: Exodus 28-30; Matthew 27 

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A Bloody Mess

 

It's impossible to read Exodus 28-30 or Matthew 27 without wincing and wiggling in my seat over the gruesome bloody mess. It's impossible to escape the fact that all that died in these actions died as sacrifices for the ransomed souls of others, including me.

 

I marvel over the extent which God goes to cermoniously illustrate the sacrifice for our sin.  In painstaking blood-shedding detail, the Lord determines who can be priests in ancient Israel, what the priests need to wear, and what the priests are to do.  This includes which specific animals need to be slaughtered.

 

I'm not a regular hunter, but I have seen a quartered deer killed, and prepared to be carried out of the woods.  Just last week, I saw a mutilated creature on the side of the state highway slain as road kill.  Blood smeared everywhere within several feet of the majority remains of the animal.  As I sped by, I was unable to be clear as to what animal this bloody mess once was.

 

The Bible is not a tidy little story of neat little events in the lives of God's little people.  There was an entire geneological line of Israelite men devoted to the systematic slaughter of thousands of lambs, goats, bulls and pigeons on every day through every year from the days of Moses until the day of Jesus' death recorded in Matthew 27 about 1600 years later.  These men--called priests--stood in a symbolic way between the sin of the Israelite people and the consuming holiness of God.

 

The sacrifice of an animal on behalf of a human dates back to the days of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Following their catastrophic choice to embrace sin, Genesis 3:21 says, "And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them."  Whatever animal that was that God killed to cover their shame, it points to these facts of acceptable sacrifice for our sin:  (1) The sacrifice is selected and killed by God's authority and (2) The sacrifice itself did not sin.  Its stunning to see God in love initiating the solution to the problem of sin from the first sacrifce in Genesis on.

 

In Exodus 28-30, the sacrifice is also selected by God, and the animal's death is demanded by God, and the particular animal did no sin of its own. 

 

In Matthew 27, the sacrifice is the perfect Son of God--God in the flesh.  His death is demanded by the Father, and Jesus Himself had never sinned.   2 Corinthians 5:21 sums it up this way:  " For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  Jesus' brutal and bloody crucifixion then finished the work of satisfactory sacrifice (John 19:30) and tore the dividing curtain of the temple symbolizing the separation between God and man due to sin (Matthew 27:51). 

 

The prophet Isaiah speaks explicitly about the sacrifice of Jesus pointing out the characteristics: 

 

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:4-6)

 

In reality, Jesus Himself, was entirely unique.  As the true priest He stood  between the condemning sin of all people and the avenging, consuming justice of God.  But He stood as the ultimate priest and the sacrifice! 

 

Betrayal, Denial . . . Then What?

Today's Reading: Exodus 25-27; Matthew 26

God meticulously lays out plans for an ark and a tabernacle so He can be known by people; 

Judas and Peter both in the weakness of their flesh betray Jesus. What they do after their betrayals makes all the difference in their lives.

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Betrayal, Denial . . . Then What?

Some people deny Jesus right from day one.  These are, in the Bible, called "unbelievers".   This is not an insulting term, just descriptive, and consequential.  Following the oft quoted promise found in John 3:16 are other words, more sobering in their effect:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

Jesus clearly states that it isn't His mission in coming to the earth to condemn you and me in our sin;  rather, it is to rescue an entire race of people who are already condemned in their sin.  "Believing" in Jesus, then, is what makes the difference between eternal life and eternal condemnation.   The significance of denying Jesus therefore, could not be overstated in terms of consequences.   The Gospel witness John sums it up with crystal clarity: "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."  (1 John 5:11-12)

In Matthew 26, we are introduced to two key people, both of whom betray and deny Jesus.  Both do this dastardly deed in different ways.  Judas accomplishes this by losing confidence in Jesus as the promised Messiah, and selling out his former master to those who wished Him dead for the going price of a common slave.  Peter does a similar thing, but by caving in to the mounting pressure of watching from afar his master being dragged into the kangaroo court of the day, and a simple peasant girl "accusing" him of being one of Jesus' close friends.  Three times in the face of the guilt-by-association charge, he declares in escalating volume and anger:  I DO NOT KNOW THIS MAN!!!

What differentiates between a follower of Jesus and unbeliever, is, well, unbelief.  Unbelief may be a once for all declaration that is adhered to for a lifetime. but more often than not unbelief, like belief, is a growing, strengthening pattern of a person's life.   How do I respond to God's revelation in His Word?  Sensitively?  Seeking more information?  Wanting to understand the truth?   Then I am on a path that slowly develops into belief, and somewhere along this path, develops into saving faith.

Or do I respond to God's revelation in His Word with skepticism? with anger?  with rejection?  with mockery?  Then I am on a dangerous path of unbelief paving more and more miles on my path by the year.  In time, if we do not reject this path,  and turn off of it, it will take us to a point of ultimate destination: Condemnation of our sin,.

As Matthew 26 ends, we see Judas on a wickedly dangerous path of unbelief leading him to make decisions of perilous, historical, even scnadalous proportions.  And as the record of the the Gospels leaves us with Judas, never is there evidence of repentance.  Tragically his life ends in suicide, not a turning off that path toward belief, never willing to submit his own thinking to that of the Lord (Matthew 27:5).

Peter's story proceeds much differently.  Even before Matthew 26 is over, Peter is stunned by the fulfillment of Jesus' promise when the rooster crowed three times, and he wept over his sin bitterly.  As the record shows, his tears were tears of repentance, and he changed his course from denying Jesus to proclaiming Him throughout the then known world facing jeers, mockery, hatred, imprisonments and finally martyrdom without ever stepping again away from the path of increasing belief.

The question for you isn't "Have I denied Jesus?"   If you are an believer, by your very nature, you have denied Him.  Even as followers of Christ, under pressure of fear and unpopularity, rejection and persecution, we often deny Him by remaining silent when the opportunity is given to make it clear we know Him.

The question is this:  What did you do after you denied Him?  Did you continue the path of Judas in unbelief?  Than you already have sene where this will take you..   Or, did you repent of your unbelief, and your betrayal and your denial?  Then, the promise of Jesus in John 3:16 will truly be yours:  You will not perish, but have eternal life.