A Heart Sacrifice

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Genesis 22:1-2

The thought of offering a child up to God as a sacrifice is appalling. But as we read the rest of this story, we find that God never wanted a human sacrifice, and He certainly didn’t want Isaac to die. He had plans for him. No. What God wanted was a heart sacrifice.

You see Abraham had lived most of his life childless. His wife, Sarah, was barren. And in that culture having children, having an heir, was a big thing. Abraham was 75 years old when God first spoke to him and promised to give him offspring. But then…nothing happened. For 24 years Abraham trusted even though he knew that his wife was barren and well past the age of childbearing. For 24 years Abraham waited, but no son. And then, finally, when he was 99 years old the Lord told him it was time for Sarah to get pregnant and at 100 years old, his son Isaac was born.

Most fathers love their children, but after waiting so long for Isaac, Abraham must have loved him dearly. I believe there was a danger of Isaac becoming an idol in his life. And if there’s one thing you can be certain of, it's that God will ask you to sacrifice whatever it is that you love most for Him. He wants to be first in your life. He wants to be first in your heart. And He will ask you to give up anything or anyone that threatens to keep your love from Him.

Jesus said the greatest Commandment is to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” (Matthew 22:37) And God expects nothing less than this from believers. If you dare to love anything or anyone more than you love Him, He will ask you to give it to Him.

Is there something or someone that you love more than the Lord? Jesus won’t accept second place in your heart. Lay it on the altar and offer it up to the Lord. Lay your dream of having kids or getting married at the Lord’s feet. Lay your ministry at his feet. Lay your wealth at His feet. Lay your very life at the feet of Jesus and tell Him that you love Him more than anything and everything else. If Jesus is whispering to your heart and asking you to lay something down, to sacrifice it for him, then follow in Abraham's footsteps and do it. 

Giving Up Our Mirrors

They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

Exodus 38:8

This isn't a passage of Scripture that you are likely to read. It's buried well into a sixteen-chapter section of Exodus that deals almost exclusively with the minutia of the tabernacle including lengthy discussions on the dimensions and details of the tent, its posts, its coverings, and all its furnishings and their utensils. In fact, the only reason you would likely come across is if you are working through a Bible reading plan that requires you to read the entire Bible. Yet, I always find that the Spirit mines treasures out of the depths of Scripture when I really dig into it. And that proves true here. 

The Israelites had taken up a love offering to gather all the materials they would need to construct their place of worship in keeping with the Lord's command. In this section of Scripture, we find how much gold they collected, how much silver, how much bronze, and all the other necessary materials as well. But no other individual or group is specifically credited for their gift like these women are. Why? What made their gift worthy of special mention?

First, it was a costly gift. A mirror would have been a prized possession for women living in a desert. It's not like there was a lot of pools of water around that they could see their reflection in! Assuming that they didn't have multiple mirrors, it meant that they would be considerably less able to manage and check their appearance. Can you imagine the possibility of living completely without mirrors for the rest of your life? So, it cost them something to give away this comfort and this control. It is also entirely possible that the only valuables these women owned were their jewelry and these mirrors. Without the ability to work and make money, this was a financially costly gift as well. 

Second, it was a wise gift. Many of the pagan religions of the day encouraged worshipers to engage in sexual acts with temple prostitutes as an expression of worship for these false gods. It isn't hard to imagine how people could get the wrong idea about these women who were standing at the entrance to the tabernacle, especially if they were beautifully dressed and attractively groomed. By giving their mirrors to the Lord, these women were committing to avoid allowing their presence at the tabernacle turn into something unholy. 

For you and I this should be a powerful reminder that requires expression. When we love someone, we do big and difficult things to express that love to them. And somehow by the act we remind ourselves again of just how much we do love them. When was the last time you gave an offering to the Lord that was actually costly for you to give? When was the last time you gave until it hurt? Maybe it's time for you to give a love offering to the Lord. If so, consider giving something or fasting from something that would also serve to safeguard you from some sin or excess in your life.

Futility

And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

Hebrews 10:11

Does your life ever feel like an exercise in futility? Do you ever wonder why God allows you to stay stuck in your station in life with seemingly no hope of escape? Consider the Old Testament priests. Stunningly, the Bible tells us that a faithful priest under the old covenant was doomed to spend their life, day after day, offering the same sacrifices for sin over and over again that could never actually atone for sin. From a human standpoint this is the very definition of an exercise in futility. What a waste of time! But it wasn't. Even if the priests didn't know it, every single sacrifice offered in the Old Testament served a higher purpose than atoning for sin. Every sacrifice pointed forward to Jesus. So the priests didn't spend their lives offering pointless sacrifices, they spent their lives pointing forward to that more excellent sacrifice, Jesus. He offered a single sacrifice for sins by which we have been sanctified once for all (Hebrews 10:10, 12).

So what at first glance appears to be pointless is actually a beautiful reminder of what we are all supposed to do. We point to Jesus with our lives. Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, make sure your response points people to Jesus. You can be sure that no matter how great or how terrible your life is, God has allowed you to be in the exact place you are in so that you might point others to Him by your response. God appoints some to thrive that the world may see He is good. He appoints some to poverty so His goodness can be shown in providing for them. Some suffer that the world may see His tenderness and His power to rescue. Some are called to singleness so they can spend more time pointing others to Jesus. Others are called to families so they can raise up the next generation for Jesus.

Whatever circumstances God has put you in, He has put you there to point people to Jesus. So worry less about why God has allowed certain things in your life. You'll probably never be able to answer that question anyway. Instead, focus on how you are pointing others to Jesus in your circumstances, through your circumstances or even in spite of your circumstances.

Father, whatever my situation, help me point to Jesus with my life!

Atonement

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

I Peter 2:22-25

To be honest, I don't fully understand the weight of my sin. My generation makes "atonement" for our wrongs by saying "Sorry" or maybe "Please forgive me if I hurt you." We don't really comprehend the cost of our individual sins or the connection between those sins and death. For God's people who lived under the Old Testament sacrificial system the cost of sin was very personal. Today we often discuss this Old Testament practice with confused looks on our faces, even sometimes putting it down, but it really was a brilliant way for God to teach His people about sin and atonement. 

When an Old Testament Israelite sinned he couldn't just throw a half-hearted "sorry" out to God. He went out into his field and found a young animal without defect or blemish, and he took it to the temple. There he symbolically laid his hand on the animals head most likely as a sign of the transfer of his sin to the animal. Then he killed the animal with his own hands before it was burnt as an offering to the Lord to make atonement for his sin. Imagine how real the cost of sin was to him in that moment. He had looked the animal in the eye, laid his hand on its head, and killed the animal- probably by slitting its throat- with his own hand. All of this was a God-given object lesson in the seriousness of his sin. Praise God for patiently teaching His people!

I'm not saying I want to go back to this system of atonement. The truth is that the blood of animals can't atone for sin anyway. (Hebrews 10:4) The whole system was a sign, pointing out the penalty for sin and pointing forward to Christ who is the true "lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) What we have in Christ far exceeds what they had. Yet because we did not see Christ's death, it is all too easy for us to look at our sin cheaply. We are tempted to view Christ's sacrifice on the cross as universal at the expense of it being personal. In fact, it was both. Christ wasn't only the lamb who came to take away the sin of the world, but He was also the one who "bore our sins in his body on the tree." (I Peter 2:24) He bore your sin. He bore MY sin on that tree. The fact that Christ, though perfect, died to make atonement for our sins is a concept theologians call substitutionary or vicarious atonement. In other words, He took your place. He paid your penalty. His blood was applied to the dust of this earth. The very dust from which man was made, to which we will return and that also bears with us the marks of our sin from the Fall. (Romans 8:19-23)

This all has very practical import for how we live now. We dare not look at God's forgiveness as being cheaply attained. We dare not take our sin so lightly as to throw half-hearted apologies at God in our nightly prayers. Rather, we should repent of our sin with tears and mourning knowing the true cost of our atonement. That is not to say that we should fear somehow failing to atone for our own sins. We know that Christ alone has purchased our forgiveness, so we repent with confidence that we are forgiven by the blood of Christ. But knowing how precious that blood is ought to drive us to repentance that includes truly hating our sin. 

One thing more.  In a spiritual sense (but a very real sense nonetheless) because Christ died as our representative, you and I died to sin on that tree. Therefore, as I Peter 2:24 says we ought to truly die to sin and live for righteousness. Romans 6:1-14 says in part:

"How can we who died to sin still live in it?... We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin....So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."