PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Leviticus 7-9
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“What you are to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” (Leviticus 9:6)
We were made to live with God, to experience and reflect His glory and greatness.
Our rebellion has disconnected us from God, and from really knowing God.
God’s glory is so great, and our sin so great, we can’t survive being with God.
This sense of God’s greatness is lost on us, but it was also lost on the people then.
They were formed and trained to experience God through statues and creatures.
They associated ‘god’ with perverse and violent rituals and beliefs.
God had to change the way they thought about God, and themselves.
These bloody offerings are vastly different than the sacrifices of other religions.
They exposed the seriousness of sin, but also the wonder of grace.
Through these dramatic sacrifices, God shows us the value He places on us.
He wants to live with us, to ordain us as His partners, to make us great again.
All these sacrifices symbolize what it takes to do that; ultimately what Jesus had to do.
God doesn’t want blood, God wants us; sin needed to be condemned for that to happen!
God does not punish sin to shame us; He condemns sin to restore us, to make us glorious!
PRAYER
Lord, all this ‘gory’ makes me squirm. But it helps me grasp the ‘glory’ of God’s love, revealed in Your bloody sacrifice, to restore me as God’s child. Glorious!
Am I being too casual as to who I am when I become a ‘child of God’ – taking on the priestly role – as follower of Jesus – I become a temple of the living God! When I read about all the rituals – including the 7 day ordination with all the animal and other sacrifices – it says to me that I can’t take my role lightly. My offering of myself as a follower of Jesus must also be cleansed of sin! Jesus made an end to all animal sacrifices – the sprinkling of blood. But what doesn’t end is my need to be cleansed of sin. Thank you Jesus!
Lord, I have no idea what you’re trying to say to me in this passage.
Help me see more clearly. Help me see through the text into Your heart.
Thank You for sending Your Son to die for me so I don’t have to kill animals just to talk with you.
This is how you shall live – in relationship to me. All of it is God’s doing and we must respond to what He asks. This is my Father’s world and He claimed it through these rituals/through the blood of Christ Jesus. All I need to do is believe and live out of that belief. Alive forevermore in the blood of Christ my Saviour.
Alive, alive, alive forevermore.
My Jesus is alive, alive forevermore.
Alive, alive, alive forevermore.
My Jesus is alive.
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia,
My Jesus is alive forevermore.
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia
My Jesus is alive.