Tuesday, January 2, 2018

"Without the Shedding of Blood" January 2 Readings: Genesis 4-7


Today's Reading - Genesis 4-7


Background

"People are basically good."

Whoever said that didn't read the Bible. Genesis 4-7 (especially 4-6) tells of the rapid decay of human culture after Adam and Eve's sin until God saw that mankind was irretrievably sinful and decided to flood the earth.

Genesis 6:5 puts it succinctly, "every inclination of the human mind was nothing but evil all the time." Not much wiggle room there, is there? Not every human being is a Hitler or a Dahmer, but we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. 

That's why we need a Savior. One time, God sent a flood and started over. But to us, God has sent his Son. The rainbow reminds us that God's grace, not his judgment, is our hope. 

Devotional - Without the Shedding of Blood


I love salad. I love vegetables. I really do. They are wonderful when they accompany real food! I am deeply offended though when someone tries to pass off vegetables as a whole meal. I need something substantial!

I am kidding of course (well, sort of). You eat what you please and I won't be offended in the least. You can eat vegetarian, vegan, fruitarian, or any way you want. But you can't worship God that way!

When the world was young, Cain and Abel both decided to bring a sacrifice to God. Cain brought the best that he had, a vegetarian sacrifice. It was the best he had, given in sincerity to God. Abel, the rancher, brought his sacrifice to God as well, an all-beef (mutton?), blood sacrifice. It appears that both men brought sincere sacrifices from pure hearts, but Abel's was acceptable to God and Cain's was not. God refused Cain's sincere vegetable offering.

Why? There are two lessons to learn from this passage, Genesis 4:3-5. First, we do not get to come to God any way we please. We may not need to dress up or put on airs, but when we come to God we must come the way he demands. The Israelites would later be told to worship at the Tabernacle. Worship at the high places was a sin against God. You couldn't just worship anywhere you chose and any way you chose. You had to worship God's way in God's place. In the New Testament, we come to God through Jesus Christ - and Christ alone.

And that is the real key here. Worship requires a blood sacrifice. The writer of Hebrews would later say, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." The OT system of sacrifices required the shedding of the blood of bulls and sheep and goats. But Jesus was slain as the Lamb of God, slain once for all for the sins of the world.

The worship of the One True God is a bloody worship! I am afraid there is too much Christian vegetarianism today - Christianity without the mention of the atoning sacrifice of Christ! That is no more acceptable today than it was when Cain offered it.

Father, I thank you that Jesus offered the sacrifice acceptable to you for the forgiveness of my sins, and the sins of the world. I worship you as my King and my Savior - the one who forgives my sin

Think and Pray


Thank God for the blood of his Son that paid for your sins - the perfect and powerful sacrifice that God accepts as full payment!
Remember that we come to God on the basis of the work of Christ, not our own desires, our own will, or our own ways. We come to God God's way - through Christ.

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