WORSHIP SONG for SUNDAY - In the Old Testament portion of the Bible, the Jewish people did church differently than we do. They were required by God to bring an offering which was usually an animal sacrifice of some kind. God required this and the offerings of the animals involved the shedding of the blood of these innocent creatures. I for one am glad that I didnt live in those times because worship back then always involved blood of some kind. In fact, God declared that without the shedding of blood there is no sacrifice for sins and that blood was required because life is in the blood. Thousands of innocent animals were sacrificed yearly and I can imagine the amount of blood associated with the way the Old Testament Jews did church! Lambs, oxen, sheep, goats, doves - all were sacrificed in a form of ritual that had great significance to the Jewish nation and of course to God Himself Who required it. This can be more than a little mystifying to us living in the 21st century....why the blood? Why the sacrifice of innocent creatures? What point was God making? Fast forward to the New Testament Book of Hebrews and the writer explains it clearly.... According to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. That is why the Tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven, had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real things in heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at Gods right hand. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. The Old Testament system was only a foreshadowing of what was to come - it was only an imperfect picture of a perfect, once for all sacrifice of blood. The blood of Jesus provided the finished work and the ultimate sacrifice so none is needed any longer. Today, the Follower of Jesus need not bring any offering or any sacrifice except the SACRIFICE OF PRAISE and the giving of THANKS unto His Name! I for one am glad that I live now and not back then and Im so thankful that CHRIST has paid the ultimate price for my sins! Today, as I enter His House, I bring the SACRIFICE OF PRAISE to my LORD!
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 11:02:42 +0000
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