Genesis 22:1-2 ESV After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” (2) He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
What is Abraham to do in obedience to God in Gen.22:1-18? It was a 45 mile walk to Mt. Moriah, which is about a 3 days journey. The name of Moriah has many meanings. Knowing that God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on the Mount, it would be good to look at some of the meanings. Mount Moriah means, “to worship,” “a vision,” “high worship,” “Jah” (a name for God), “teacher,” “to crush,” and “exalted.” What a word! Abraham has been called to walk in total obedience and holiness. Abraham is seen as an intercessor and a prophet. After waiting for 20 years he has become the Father of the “child of promise.” He now has his own son, someone of great worth, who God is going to use to test Abraham's spiritual character. The statement “Thine only son” was the only one born of Sarah, and heir of the promise. The statement “Whom thou lovest,” shows how a child captures the affections of a parent’s heart. Abraham must have felt the outward struggle between God's command to sacrifice his son, and God's promise that in Isaac the world would be blessed. Many times we might miss the will and plans of the Father because in our mind they don't make sense and it would seem that one thing would cancel out the other. In faith Abraham believed that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead. When the moment came Isaac made no resistance to his father’s will. The binding with the rope was a sacrificial custom and really was not needed to restrain Isaac. Isaac believed that his father Abraham was obeying the will of God. This request would be hard for any father, but remember that Isaac was not just another son; he was the “son of promise.” When Abraham laid Isaac on the altar he was sacrificing all that God had promised. He was giving up his vision, his dream, and his future. Abraham laid his whole life and all his life dreams on the altar with his son. True Worship cost something. Genesis 22:5 is the first Bible reference to the word "Worship." One day we will learn that worship has nothing to do with music, but to bow the head, the body, the knees, or to lay before the Father in humility and fear. Not one verse in the Bible about worship is tied to music, a song or a team of musicians. This might be hard, but seek the Word and not your emotions for truth. Remember, true worship is done in Spirit and truth.
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Genesis 6:8-9 ESV But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. [9] These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
This is a continuation from lessons 1-10 given at an earlier date. We have seen that if we are to bring true worship before the Father we need to know first what it is. True worship is an attitude of the heart that walks hand-in-hand with God daily. (1st). We have seen first with Adam and Eve that we need to deal with sin correctly. (2nd). Then we saw with Cain and Abel that not all worship is acceptable to God and He is under no obligation to accept whatever sacrifice of worship and praise we choose to bring. We must worship His way and not ours. (3rd). Now we will look at the third aspect of true worship. We cannot offer true worship without obedience. Noah was a man who was “blameless,” meaning that he was a man of “integrity,” and a man who “walked with God”. We find that Noah worshipped God out of a life of obedience. Genesis 6:22 ESV Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. Genesis 7:5 ESV And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him. It is important that we see the word “all” when it refers to Noah and his obedience. Partial obedience is not enough in walking with the Father in worship. If I only obey God part of the time it usually means that I obey within the boundaries of my own desires that will not cost me anything. See the offering of Noah in Gen.8:20-21. We see the sacrifice of animals in worship. These are animals he just spent thirteen months on the Ark with. Noah dealt with his sin in the right way. It was an acceptable sacrifice before God and Noah was an obedient worshipper. This resulted in a sweet smell before the Lord. There can be no true worship without a heart and life of immediate obedience. Sometimes the act of obedience is very costly. The more the cost of the obedience the more of a sweet act of worship it becomes before the Lord. Hebrews 11:4 ESV By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
Hebrews 12:24 ESV And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. We saw in the last study that God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s. I would like to offer some more insights on this as we learn to offer a true act of worship. We said that Cain’s offering was not the firstfruits. Abel made the sacrifice to God a priority in his life. Abel knew that leftovers would not do, and that anything other then the best would be unacceptable. By giving of his flock Abel was giving from the blessing of God. But, by Cain giving his offering from the field he was giving from what he worked and tilled. He gave the fruit of his own hands instead of the blessing of God. We also see by the Scripture in Heb.11:4 that Abel’s sacrifice was “by faith” and that it revealed or witnessed that he had a righteous heart. All acts of worship and sacrifice should come “by faith.” In Heb.12:24 we see that Abel’s sacrifice of worship was a shadow to that which was to come. The Old Testament shadow always points to a New Testament substance. Abel’s sacrifice of worship was not only a shadow but also a great testimony of his faith. But that which was the substance, our Lord Jesus Christ, stands as a far greater act of faith and a greater testimony of sacrifice and worship. Abel was a martyr, because he died as a result of his accepted worship and Cain's jealousy. The same was true of our Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Abel called out from the earth for vengeance, and was followed by a penalty on Cain. So was the death of the Redeemer on His murderers, for they said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” The shadow has become a testimony to the substance that we are called to worship by bringing the right sacrifice by faith. Genesis 4:4-5 ESV And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: [5] But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
To re-enter the true place of worship we have learn over the last 8 studies that... 1. SIN MUST BE DEALT WITH IN GOD'S WAY: God taught Adam and Eve that sin would have to be dealt with His way before man could re-enter the place of worship. In the Garden of Eden we saw that there is a right way and a wrong to deal with sin. We will see now that there is a right way and a wrong way to worship. In the life of Adam’s children, Cain and Abel, we will see that not all worship is acceptable to God. 2. NOT ALL THAT WE CALL WORSHIP IS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD: Somewhere in the Christian arena we have come to believe that God is obligated to accept any act of worship that we choose to bring in any way we choose. But this idea is not in line with the teachings of the Word of God. The Father is not obligated to accept any act of worship that man chooses to bring before Him. In reading Gen.4:2-5, why do you think that God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected the offering that Cain brought? Could it be that Abel’s sacrifice was an animal and Cain’s was not? Could it be that Abel’s offering was the “firstfruits” and Cain’s was just an offering? God had already established that there could be no covering of sins or worship without the shedding of blood. Cain wanted worship but he wanted it with the work of his own hands and not the way established by the Father. It is believed that 3 things were wrong with Cain’s worship sacrifice. (1). It was the wrong offering. (2). It was not the firstfruits. (3). It was given from a wrong heart. This reveals that we cannot worship God any way that we please. The heart of the outward and the inward sacrifice must be right. The outward sacrifice we give to the Lord must be what He asked for. It must come from the right inward sacrifice, a heart with pure motives. Lest we think that this is just an Old Testament thought or doctrine we need to reread Romans 12:1-2 and see that the word "acceptable" is there. God does not nor will not just accept anything we offer. Rom 12:1-2(ESV) I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Hebrews 9:22 ESV And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
The detail of Adam and Eve’s “sin covering” is not given in their Biblical account. It only states that God made or “killed” an animal to cover them with the skin. Throughout the Old Testament we see the picture of the altar and the sacrifice. So through this we conclude that Adam and Eve understood the importance of the sacrificial animal to cover their sins. This understanding that they had was passed on to their children and then carried on from generation to generation. In today's culture of animal rights, we would look at the sacrifice of an animal as cruel and barbaric. But, at the same time we kill 4,000 babies a day in the name of "choice." We take these types of stands today because we do not fully appreciate the seriousness of sin as God sees sin. In the Old Testament, the sacrifice of animals stands as a reminder of our own guilt before God and the need for our Lord Jesus Christ to stand as a substitute for us. Adam and Eve understood that innocent animals died in their place so that they could have a relationship with the Father and hopefully re-enter that time of worship they had once enjoyed. Place yourself in Old Testament times for a minute. The people were mostly tillers of the land, (farmers). They raised those innocent lambs from birth. The people would have grieved over the death of their little lamb knowing that it should be them that died for their sins and not their animals. Sin is costly. Coming back to a place of worship is costly. The bottom line of the teaching of Adam and Eve is that if we are to return to a place of worship, a place of walking hand-in-hand with God daily then we must deal with our sin God’s way, which is embracing the work of a cruel rugged cross and the death of an innocent savior on our behalf. John 1:29 ESV The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
In the Garden of Eden the worship of God had ended. How could sinful man restore that place? Could we ever re-enter the place of worship that Adam and Eve had known? Seeing that our definition of worship in these studies has been “walking daily with God in the Garden”, can we hope to restore this worship? Yesterday in part 6 we looked at the 3 things that Adam did in response to his sin. The first thing that Adam and Eve did was to try to hide themselves from one another. They were husband and wife and yet the self-consciousness produced by the sin of disobedience caused them to hide from one another in shame. Man still tries to hide or cover up sin from one another. We see Adam and Eve’s conscious sense of shame in that they tried to hide from each other and from God. Sin separates us from one another and from God. We see that their attempt to “cover themselves” was not acceptable to God. No sin is covered without the shedding of blood. So if our relationship with God is to be restored to true worship it must start with God and in God’s way. There is no covering or removal of sin without the shedding of blood. Man cannot deal with his own sin. Adam and Eve’s attempt to cover their nakedness and sin with fig leaves was the best that they could do. God must deal with it through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only God can atone for our sins. We must be willing to deal correctly with our sin by coming to the work of the cross to restore true worship. Daniel 2:22 ESV He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.
Matthew 10:26 ESV Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. What keep Adam and Eve from re-entering a place of worship with the Father? What would keep us from entering a place of worship with the Father? The answer...trying to keep our sins hidden. In order to re-enter the place of fellowship and worship with the Father Adam needed to deal with sin in the right way. There are 3 things that Adam did about his sin that was wrong. We will deal with these individually as the devotionals continue. 1. He tried to hide his nakedness from Eve, his wife, by a covering of fig leaves-Gen.3:7 2. He tried to hide from God-Gen.3:8 3. He tried to blame God and Eve for his sin-Gen.3:12 Today mankind as a whole is doing the same thing. We try to hide our sins from one another, we try to hide from God, and we try to blame everyone else for our sin decisions, adopting a victim mentality. These 3 things keep us from a proper fellowship with the Father and keep us from true worship. Remember, we identified true worship as “walking daily with God in the Garden”. Genesis 3:8 ESV And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
How in this world can a sinful man worship a Holy God? We don’t have to go far in the Bible to see a serious break in the relationship and fellowship between God and man. Just 3 chapters into the Bible we find a willful act of sin by man by exercising independence towards God and deciding to go his own way. Can you imagine how Adam and Eve felt when one day they are walking in the Garden of Eden in worship with God and the next day they are exiled from the Garden and from His presence? For the first time they felt grief, emptiness and fear. In one act they exchanged the worship of God for rebellion against God. It that one act of rebellion they ceased to “reflect” the image of God in their lives. They also decided in that one act of rebellion that God was not “worthy” of being their authority. In that one act of rebellion they replaced God with “self” as their final authority. Now they ruled their own lives. God could no longer be seen in their lives and choices. Their worship came to an end, as they could no longer walk in the cool of the Garden with their Father. How could they restore their relationship and fellowship with God? Was there something that they could do to get God to take them back? Man could not close the gap between himself and God. God would have to act before sinful man could return to a place of worship. Sin would have to be dealt with by God and in God’s way to restore mankind. Exodus 25:9 ESV According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
Hebrews 8:5 ESV Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. There is no teaching in Scripture that helps us understand God’s plan for mankind in salvation and worship like the study of the Tabernacle. It is a “divinely designed building”. In the study of the Tabernacle we will find the true place, way, and time in God’s redemptive plan and God’s worship with man. Man was created to worship God. Adam walked in perfect relationship and fellowship with God. Sin changed all that. Because of the fall of man, fellowship and worship was “cut off”. Man’s relationship with God needed to be rebuilt through God's redemptive plan. This relational rebuilding plan of God was progressive. With each step over a period of 4,000 years God was revealing His nature and character and teaching the shadow of the One who would bridge the gap between man and God, between Heaven and earth, our Lord Jesus Christ. In the upcoming lessons we will look at worship from Adam to Abraham. This will cover the time frame of about 4,000BC to 1,900 BC. It is amazing that Gen.1-11 covers over 2,000 years of history as God calls man to salvation and worship. Hebrews 9:23 ESV It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. Rev. 13:8 ESV And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
God, who was unapproachable because of His holiness and majesty, made a way for sinful man to stand before Him. We looked at the Tabernacle in study #2. Let me say that the Tabernacle is more than just a part of Christian history. It was the Tabernacle that helped prepare man for our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever asked yourself, “Why did God have man go through the 4000 years of the process of the Tabernacle, the Priests, and the Law if He knew that it would not work in making mankind righteous?” God knew that these things were more than just experiments on His part. God knew before the foundation of the earth that His Son would die for the sins of all mankind. Yet the Tabernacle and later the Temple taught us volumes about the plan of God in salvation and worship. We know from Scriptures that the Tabernacle was a “picture” of the true Tabernacle in Heaven. The Tabernacle and all that went with it; the Law, the Priests, and the sacrificial system are a shadow of good things to come of the substance. That is why the Bible uses 50 chapters devoted to the teaching of the Tabernacle. Yet only 2 chapters are devoted to the entire creation of mankind. Heb 8:5-6 ESV They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” (6) But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. Heb 10:1-4 ESV 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. (2) Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? (3) But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. (4) For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:1 ESV For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
In meeting with God for worship we realize that true worship is not something that we do our own way. It is not up to us to determine what God calls worship and what God calls acceptable in His sight. He has established the parameters of what He would call acceptable worship. What is the right way to worship God? Religion is man’s attempt to reach God and hold a daily relationship and fellowship with Him by our own efforts, standards and rules. Our ways to worship usually installs the ideal of "what is the easiest and what costs the least for me." True Christianity realizes that we cannot find God through our own efforts, nor can we worship God anyway we please. We as believers have liberty, but liberty abused is nothing more than returning to bondage. Just as there are right and wrong ways to approach God’s salvation there are also right and wrong ways to approach God’s worship. Throughout history God has chosen a WAY, a PLACE, and a TIME for man to worship. I know those who would say, "I can worship God at any time, place, or way that is in me." Really? Then why is the term "ACCEPTABLE" used so much in the New Testament? Example below. Rom 12:1-2 ESV I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and ACCEPTABLE to God, which is your spiritual worship. (2) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and ACCEPTABLE and perfect. For 500 years the Tabernacle was God’s place and way of worship, and the feasts were His time table. It taught two important truths about worship. First, the Tabernacle taught us about the presence of God among His people. Second, it taught us how a sinful man could approach a Holy God. Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. What comes to mind when you think of worshipping God? Where do you meet with God? Where do you worship Him? These are questions that have been debated for hundreds of years. Every culture has had a place or places set apart to worship God. It is important to remember however that it is God who takes the initiative in providing a way for man to meet with Him and to worship with Him. God throughout history has also taken the initiative in bringing man to the “right place” to worship Him. God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden for a place and time of worship. He met with them in the cool of the morning. There was no building, no music, and no structure; just God meeting with man for worship. Adam and Eve’s relationship with God was pure and unhindered. All that Adam did reflected the life and heart of worship. They were… (1) Sensitive to the voice of God, (2) Submissive to the will of God, and (3) Obedient to the Word of God. John 10:10 ESV The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
"that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Life. It is a great word. However, I feel that we as believers have missed it somewhat about what our Lord was speaking about. When we received the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior we did not "fix, renew, repair, renovate, or remodel" the old Adamic nature. The old Adamic nature died and we exchanged our broken down sin-natured life for the life of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that our Lord Jesus Christ did, He did as a Spirit-filled man and not as God. That is why we can do it also and live His way of life. The Lord Jesus Christ came to show us how to be the man as God created man to be, and that is to live a life by the Spirit that Adam and Eve never realized. One of the first counterfeits of Satan is to convince us that we don’t have this life, can't live by this life, and aren’t expected to live by this life, called the life of Christ in the Spirit, until we die. Galatians 2:20 ESV I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We dwell a lot on the "I am crucified with Christ" part of Gal.2:20, however, we miss that the life we live is not our life but it is the life of Christ in me. The Scriptures tell us how to live by this other life, how to live by the Spirit. It is the reality of how to live the Christian life. There is only one person who can live the Christian life and that is Christ. I cannot live the Christian life. But, I can let Christ live it through me. Therefore, we as believers need to come to the place where we can say, it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me. Otherwise we will continue striving to reach a mark by the flesh and judging others who have not reached our mark. |
AuthorCharles Morris. Founder and Senior Pastor of RSI Ministry, RSI School of Ministry, and RSI Publishing L.L.C.. Archives
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