For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
A wise man makes his father happy. His father’s critics will be silenced by the son’s behavior.
If the Lord has redeemed you, speak out! Tell your story at every opportunity. Each of us has a story to tell. Some of us were lost and homeless, some of us were imprisoned, some were foolish, some faced dangers from the forces of nature. However, when we cried out to God, when we turned to Him, He saved us from our distress and showed us how to live our lives. He will rescue us from trouble and provide for us. Let us give thanks to the Lord for what He has done for us and tell our stories to those who will listen.
Under the old covenant, the blood of goats and bulls was used to purify people of ceremonial impurity. The high priest took an offering of such blood into the Most Holy Place to intercede with God for the people. This Most Holy Place was a copy of the one in heaven. Christ has entered into the Tabernacle in heaven (the one which the earthly Tabernacle was a copy) and offered His own blood as a sacrifice to purify everyone, once and for all time, before God. Christ offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and, since He was perfect, He only had to make this sacrifice one time.
This once and done nature of Christ’s sacrifice is part of what makes it different from the myths and legends which bear it some resemblance. Almost all of the myths which people compare to the Gospel story involve the god dying and rising from the dead each year as part of the cycle of the seasons. Christ’s death and resurrection are not like those myths created to explain the seasons in that Christ died just once and rose from the dead to eternal life. Instead of being a metaphor for the changing of the seasons, Christ’s death and resurrection are about God, once and for all time, reconciling mankind to Himself.
Some of the leaders of Israel came to Ezekiel asking for a message from God. The message they received was not the message they had hoped to receive. God condemned them for asking for a message from Him. The reason for God’s condemnation was that they had come for a message from God, but they intended to continue to worship idols. They wanted to be like the people’s around them. They fully intended to continue offering their children as sacrifices so that they would not stand out as different. They wanted the benefits of worshiping God without being different from those who do not. That is not one of our options. We can be just like those around us. We can live our lives so as to be accepted by those who deny God. Or, we can live our lives worshiping God. God will not accept our worship if we live like those who do not worship Him, who deny His very existence.