my old testament reading this morning had me in Numbers 7. this is NOT one of the more lively, exciting passages i have ever read. it takes place in the 12 days following the original setting up of the tabernacle and the consecration of the altar. on each successive day, a list is given for what each chief among the tribes of israel brings to offer for his tribe. it's a fairly long list with each one bringing a couple silver bowls full of grain, a gold bowl full of incense, oxen, bulls, goats and lambs... and... EACH ONE BRINGS THE SAME LIST OF STUFF! it gets fairly repetitive, but there is an impressive tabulation at the end: after 12 days, they'd brought 2,400 shekels of silver (60 lbs.), 120 shekels of gold (3 lbs.), 12 bulls, 24 oxen, 72 rams, 72 male lambs, and 72 male goats - and this was just the first 12 days of the sacrificing that would continue on for hundreds of year! All pretty mindblowing, but how does this account relate to me now? and more importantly, what does it teach me about God?
well, my new testament reading just happened to have me in Luke 23. (God is so cool the way He works out even the little details of what i'll be reading together in a day!) what's Luke 23 about? Jesus' trial before pilate and herod, His suffering at their hands, and His crucifixion.
the verses that immediately spring to mind are 1 Peter 1:18-19, "knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." praise God that He did Himself what i could never do, even with stacks upon stacks of sacrifices: pay the price for my sin with the blood of His own Son. may the preciousness of that impress itself more and more and more on me, and may the idol of my self-sufficiency be replaced by His all sufficiency!
Hebrews 10:1-4, 12-14
"for since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? but in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year. for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.... but when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool at his feet. for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified."
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