2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
There are some reoccurring themes in the Scriptures that I’m sure the Lord wants us to understand. One of them is the issue of a substitute sacrifice and another is the practice of setting up some kind of memorial or practice to remind us of important covenant promises made. Repeatedly God has delivered the message that we need to take our covenant relationship with Him and with each other seriously, that we are blessed when we do and cursed when we don’t. The latest series of messages has been about the oneness of the covenant, meaning special ties that we share in the course of being covenant partners. I don’t apologize for having so many messages on this subject, because it is so very important. These ties bring us into a koininea relationship with God and with each other. That matters, because it means that we are called to care about and for each other, as well as live in love and obedience to God. It is, I am sure, the reason that God’s purpose for the church is to edify and unify ourselves as the Body of Christ.
EX 13: 11-16 helps us to understand the basis of substitute sacrifices. “The Lord will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, which He solemnly promised to you and your ancestors. When He gives it to you, you must offer every first-born male to the Lord. Every first-born male of your animals belongs to the Lord, but you must buy back from Him every first-born male donkey by offering a lamb in its place. If you do not want to buy back the donkey, break its neck. You must buy back every first-born male child of yours. In the future, when your son asks what this observance means, you will answer him, ‘By using great power the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the place where we were slaves. When the king of Egypt was stubborn and refused to let us go, the Lord killed every first-born male in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. That is why we sacrifice every first-born male animal to the Lord, but buy back our first-born sons. This observance will be a reminder, like something tired on our hands or on our foreheads; it will remind us that the Lord brought us out of Egypt by His great power.’” This passage from the Torah helps us to understand God’s will with regard to the sacrifice of the first-born male and also how a substitute sacrifice can be deemed acceptable. It is a reminder of God’s power used to release the ancient Jews from Egyptian slavery, but it goes a lot further than just that. After all, what was the work of the cross but the sacrifice of God’s first-born Son to give us release from slavery to sin?
Let me pick up on a comment made in EX 13: 16, “…a reminder, like something tied on our hands or on our foreheads…” This is clearly the basis for the wearing of philacteries [also known as tifilla] by devout Orthodox Jews even today. These little black boxes, one tied to the forehead and the other tied to the upper arm in a set pattern, contain the same parchment papers printed with DT 6: 4-9 and 13-21 in Hebrew that are found in the mezzuzah. The latter is a small, decorated cylinder often with the first Hebrew letter of God’s name on the outside, shem. The mezzuzah is affixed to the door posts of a Jewish household or to its gate. DT 6: 4-9, 13-21 contains a message God doesn’t want any of us to forget. “Here O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One [the “Shema”]. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. Write them on the door posts of your houses and on your gates…Have reverence for the Lord your God, worship only Him, and make your promises in His name alone. Do not worship other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you. If you do worship other gods, the Lord’s anger will come against you like fire and will destroy you completely, because the Lord your God, Who is present with you, tolerates no rivals. Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you did at Massah. Be sure that you obey all the laws that He has given you. Do what the Lords says is right and good, and all will go well with you. You will be able to take possession of the fertile land that the Lord promised your ancestors, and you will drive out your enemies as He promised. In times to come you children will ask you, ‘Why did the Lord our God command us to obey all these laws? Then tell them, ‘We were slaves of the pharoah of Egypt, and the Lord rescued us by His great power.’”
This passage is so central to the will of God and so applicable today even as a part of the new covenant, the Covenant of Grace, that we are always benefited by returning to it over and over again. We, as believers in Christ, know that much of what happened in the OT foreshadows what we experience from the NT. This is no exception. The Promised Land of the OT is a foreshadowing of God’s Kingdom to be established in our future. We must be ready for it, sanctified and prepared to meet Christ in the air when He calls us. To do that, we must not forget the great covenant of which we are a part or how it is rooted in the old covenant given to the ancient Jews and still observed by traditional Jews today. God’s message is simple and consistent. He loves us and wants His laws to be written on our hearts, so that we claim Him as our One and Only God, and He claims us as His people.
PRAYER: O Lord, it wasn’t necessary for me to cite many passages today, because the two You led me to cite are the most basic found in the Scriptures. Their messages are ones that come from the very center of Your heart to us, so important that You repeated them often throughout the Scriptures in one way or another. You directed Christ to tell us in JN 8: 32, “You will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” When we understand the messages in Deuteronomy, You are setting us free from slavery to sin, slavery to certain spiritual death. You have given us Your Son as a substitute sacrifice on the cross; You have given Your first-born Son, so that we may have the opportunity to be saved for believing in Him. You are the only God, Whose power is supreme and sovereign. Just as You led the ancient Jews to the Promised Land, we believe You, through Jesus Christ, will lead us to Your Kingdom. We will be as we are from the moment we came to faith in Him, Your children, joint-heirs to that Kingdom with Him [RO 8: 15-17]. We are slaves to the righteousness You gave us and free for eternal life in joy and fellowship with You as long as we remain trusting, obedient and faithful. We acknowledge these blessings and dedicate ourselves to keeping our covenant agreements with You. You deserve nothing less that our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise, and thanks. We offer these in humility to You today and always. In Christ’s name, amen.
I am led to continue writing about God’s reminders of our oneness in covenant tomorrow. He teaches us so much more than I ever expect when He leads me to first write about a subject. This is one more manifestation of the love He has for all of us. We are truly a blessed people! Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn