Hebrews 1:1-3
God...Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Words have power. What are we attempting to convey with our conversation, our quotes of scripture, and the context in which we place them?
The verses quoted above reveal a distinct truth: the Son of God is a reflection of the character of the Father. Thus Jesus is not a different representation of the God of the old testament. The God of the old testament is of the same gentle, loving, understanding, gracious, merciful, just and good nature that Jesus expressed throughout His ministry on earth. Many however, when they read the OT, see a different picture. They believe the Father is of a much sterner character than the Son. They believe the Father is impatient, quick to judge, eager to inflict punishment, and looking for fault and failure in order to give Him opportunity to criticise, punish, requiring even destruction and death. For anyone hoping to share the gospel with anyone, the above misunderstanding regarding who God is, and what He is like, needs to be cleared up. We cannot share the gospel with power when the attitude we show, and the words we share, reveal a God who doesn't exist.
1 Samuel 15:22
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
So why sacrifice? Why does God require sacrifice and the shedding of blood in order to make good our relationship with Him? Or does He? We see above Samuel questioning that concept. Does God delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? The answer is no. He prefers obedience.
Psalm 50:9-11
I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
You cannot give God anything. He already owns everything, every creature on earth belongs to Him.
Psalm 51:16,17
For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
God does not want sacrifice. He takes no delight in burnt offering.
Isaiah 1:11-13
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? Saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand, to treat My courts?
Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination to Me; the new moons and the Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
Sacrifices and offerings are an exercise in futility and vanity. Even sin.
Micah 6:6-8
Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Is that the next logical step if God demands sacrifice? Offering our children?
Jeremiah 19:1-5
Thus saith the LORD, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
If the offering of your children to God never at any time entered even into the mind of God, how are we to understand Genesis 22? The request by God to Abraham, to offer as a burnt sacrifice on an altar “the son whom thou lovest”, is clearly a problem, and one which we need to understand before we can make any progress in informing others that God is a God of love and mercy.
Genesis 22:1,2.
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
If we read other scriptures, it is clear that such practices in the nations of Canaan and surrounding areas were common. Here is one example where Moses is warning Israel of the temptations that will face them when living in their new land...
Deuteronomy 12:30,31
Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise.
Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every abomination to the Lord, which He hateth, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
So here is Abraham in the midst of nations whose practices are such that depict gods who are bloodthirsty and demanding. And Abraham hears the voice of God telling him to do likewise as his neighbours. Moses does not inform us as to the emotional state of Abraham at the time. Moses' narrative is very simple, and does not venture into what Abraham was thinking and the emotional turmoil that he must have been experiencing. The love and care that God had shown Abraham previously is about to go up in smoke. “Surely not. You are one of those gods?” Yet Abraham obeyed. God had previously promised Abraham several times that from Isaac, there would be nations, even kings. Descendants and land. Abraham still believed, and he expressed that faith when he said to his servants, “I and the lad will come again unto you”. Isaac's question, which Abraham must have been dreading, “where is the lamb for the burnt offering”, elicited from his father one of the purest expressions of the gospel in the OT.
And in the Hebrew language can legitimately be expressed...
“God will provide a lamb, Himself, for a burnt offering”.
We know the story. But the question remains, why? Why go through this exercise if God didn't intend at the time for Abraham to do as God requested?
I think that simply telling Abraham “ I am different from those gods. I am a God of love” was not enough. What God was essentially revealing to Abraham was
“I am not that kind of God”.
The gospel is not such as we are to offer something to God in order to atone or please God that we may earn forgiveness. Righteousness by faith...keeping covenant with God...the story of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation...the everlasting gospel that we are to share with all our neighbours, friends, work mates strangers and relatives, is a gospel of grace, a gospel in which it is indeed very good news whereby God has done everything necessary to accomplish our fullest and complete salvation, and all we are required to do is believe it. There is nothing we can offer, not even our own flesh and blood, that can in any way improve, or make any more certain that we are fully redeemed and set free from all condemnation. The power of sin...the power of the enemy over us...the condemnation of the law, they are all broken.
By grace are we saved through faith, and not of works. Lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8
Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6.
In Genesis 15 we read the story of the confirming of the covenant that God made with Abraham. God Himself passed between the pieces of animals (a contextually relevant practice of the time) and it was as if God was saying, “If I break my covenant that I am making with you, then let me be as these broken creatures”. God did not require Abraham to make any Promise. All Abraham had to do was believe, And that is all we are required to do. And Israel, when they broke the covenant, what did God do? He allowed Himself to be broken in our stead.
“God will provide a Lamb, Himself, for a burnt offering”.
That is the God we love and serve. That is the God of the Bible. That is the story of scripture.
That my friends, is the gospel.
PS. There is a number of nuances that are relevant to the sacrificing of children to false idols. Anything that takes precedence over God, is an idol. That includes sports. Extreme and otherwise. If, because of your encouragement and support, your son, an expert now in paragliding, is killed because his wings failed to open, have you sacrificed the life of your son for the sake of the idol you both worshipped? Just thinking out loud. A life devoted to any sport, from soccer to surfing, baseball to football, can waste the life and cost one his salvation. I think I'm treading on a few toes now.
