The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Category: Lent

February 20, 2015

Lent Devotional: Leviticus 16:6-22

Leviticus 16:6-22 (click here)
Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.

Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.

And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. (Leviticus 16:6, 15, and 21-22)

Reflection
Grace does not mean that sin is simply swept under the rug. God is holy, righteous, good, and just…by his very nature he must deal with sin…and dealing with sin is always bloody because it deserves death.

So God, in his grace, provides a substitute to take our death for us. This is what the Old Testament Day of Atonement was all about. Aaron, the high priest, had a substitute bull for himself. The people had two substitute goats to stand in their place. One goat was sacrificed, pointing to the reality of what their sin deserved. The other goat was sent away into the desert, showing the reality that their sin had truly been taken away, removed.

God was not obligated to provide these substitutes…the people did not deserve them…they were freely given. This is grace…costly, bloody, beautiful grace.

Yet, can a bull or goat really be a substitute, a representative for a human being? Hebrews 10:4, “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” This is why the high priest had to perform this ritual again and again. It was never FINISHED. It was a symbol of what God was promising to do…of what God did do…through Jesus.

Jesus was our perfect high priest who didn’t even need to make a sacrifice for himself… yet he became our sacrifice! As fully human, he could perfectly represent us and be our substitute. As fully God, he could actually save us. And, Christ died in our place, taking what our sin deserved and removing it forever! Of his work he was able to say what the Old Testament high priest never could…it is FINISHED!

Hebrews 10:11-12, “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…”

This is grace…costly, bloody, beautiful grace.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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February 19, 2015

Lent Devotional: Exodus 33:18-34:8

Exodus 33:18-34:8 (click here)
Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 33:18-19 and 34:5-7)

Reflection
We see the glory of God when we see who he is! In answer to Moses’ request, God reveals the very core of his nature. He is a God of grace, he abounds in love and in faithfulness. He is the covenant keeping God! Yet, he is also holy. He doesn’t just pass over sin and pretend that it doesn’t exist. He doesn’t sweep things under the rug. No. He righteously deals with unrighteousness!

How can these things fit together? How can God be both gracious and yet judge sin?

The people of Israel would learn over and over again that God would accomplish this miracle by providing graciously a substitute to take the penalty for their sin. He did so, ultimately, through the cross of Christ. In the cross we see God’s righteous judgment poured out upon sin…AND…we see God graciously forgiving sinners, we see his love abounding towards us!

This is freely given! God will be gracious to whom he will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom he will show mercy. This grace cannot be earned…God must give it! And, he loves to shock the world by choosing to be merciful and gracious to those we see as least deserving…because this highlights the truth grace is never deserved or earned!

Who do we see as least deserving of grace? A former friend? An enemy? A relative? A nation? ISIS? A people group? Who do we see as least deserving of grace? If our answer to that question is not “everyone…” then we are misunderstanding grace altogether. No one deserves grace.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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February 18, 2015

2015 Lenten Daily Devotionals

Each day the Lenten season, I am emailing out a devotional to many of the members of SVCC. I will also be sharing these devos via blogging. Hopefully, I will post first thing each morning, but definitely by 12pm. The first devotional may be found below. These are designed to accompany the SVCC Lenten reading guide which may be found here: 2015 Lenten Reading Guide.

In these devotionals I will give a link that will take you to the entire reading for the day if you would like to read it. I will actually include a few of the verses upon which I will focus my reflections. In the reflection section I will make a few brief comments which I hope will spur your own thinking and prayers.

Lent is meant to be a season of repentance and fasting that prepares our hearts for the coming celebration of Easter (fuller explanation here). Repentance is a reminder that we need to be saved from our sin…we need a Savior. Fasting reminds us that we are not in need of the things this world offers, but in desperate need of Jesus.  So the point of Lent is that we need Jesus…we need Easter. It is my prayer that these daily devotionals will simply help remind us daily of our need for Christ.

Genesis 4:1-16 (click here)
In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:3-7)

Reflection
Why did the Lord have regard Abel’s offering and not Cain’s? This is the first question which pops into our minds upon reading the passage. Truthfully, we ask this question because of a deeper question pushing in our hearts, namely, “How can I know the Lord will have regard for what I offer to him?” Unfortunately, this is the wrong question altogether!

Our question about Cain and Abel assume that the difference must be in the offerings they made. There is something about Abel’s offering that makes it acceptable and something about Cain’s that renders it unacceptable. This type of thinking reveals that we are looking in the wrong place. We are looking at the offerings when we should be looking at the offerers! The text mentions the people before the offering! God had regard for ABEL…and his offering. God did not have regard for CAIN…and his offering.

Abel presented his offering in faith. Cain, apparently, did not. The problem wasn’t with what was offered, but how it was offered.  Abel’s was offered in faith while Cain’s was offered to earn the Lord’s regard.  This is why Abel received the grace, because it can only be received through faith and never by works!

Our sacrifice to the Lord is the perfect lamb, Jesus, who offered himself! And by faith in his sacrifice, we receive the grace of the Lord.  If our hearts resemble that of Cain, angered by the grace that others have received, then that is simply evidence we have not actually received grace ourselves because we have been trying to earn it…which is impossible. Grace, by it’s nature, is undeserved, unearned, and unmerited.

This Lent… do not be angered by grace… receive it by faith and be saved by grace.

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