Picking up where I left off, Romans 12:1 (CJB): “I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God's mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him; it is the logical "Temple worship" for you.”
So when we come before the Lord in prayer, while He is sitting on His mercy seat, are we presenting ourselves a sacrifice without blemish as commanded in the law? One might say, “If I had no blemishes, and Christ had no blemishes, there would be no reason to present myself as a living sacrifice.” That train of thought misses the entire point. The High Priest offers our sacrifice to God. The High Priest is already consecrated. “Without blemish” means without hypocrisy, in short. If we come before the Lord saying all the right words, and do that without a humble and contrite heart, God sees our blemish, and right away, He rejects our sacrifice. That’s Biblical according to…
Leviticus 22:24-25 (KJV)
24 Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land.
25 Neither from a stranger's hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you.
Malachi 1:13 (KJV)
13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
And any excuse to not comply – not by killing an animal on an altar – spiritually, as Romans 12:1 says, would be a “lame” excuse. Pun intended.
A New Testament counterpart to these scriptures could be Luke 3:8 (CJB) “If you have really turned from your sins, produce fruit that will prove it! And don't start saying to yourselves, `Abraham is our father'!”
To paraphrase that to apply to 21[SUP]st[/SUP] century Christians would be something like, “If you are really born again, live your life to prove it, and don’t say that just because you are born again all of your prayers should be answered just as you ask.”
We know that the purpose of God answering our prayers is to glorify himself and then we read:
John 15:7-8 (CJB) "If you remain united with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will happen for you.
8 This is how my Father is glorified -- in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim [disciples]… .
and see that God is glorified when we bear much fruit. Putting two and two together it becomes clear that WE have the greatest impact on whether God answers our prayers.
Then I ran into something else, apart from our spiritual condition but I got long-winded again so will put it in the next post.
So when we come before the Lord in prayer, while He is sitting on His mercy seat, are we presenting ourselves a sacrifice without blemish as commanded in the law? One might say, “If I had no blemishes, and Christ had no blemishes, there would be no reason to present myself as a living sacrifice.” That train of thought misses the entire point. The High Priest offers our sacrifice to God. The High Priest is already consecrated. “Without blemish” means without hypocrisy, in short. If we come before the Lord saying all the right words, and do that without a humble and contrite heart, God sees our blemish, and right away, He rejects our sacrifice. That’s Biblical according to…
Leviticus 22:24-25 (KJV)
24 Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land.
25 Neither from a stranger's hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you.
Malachi 1:13 (KJV)
13 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
And any excuse to not comply – not by killing an animal on an altar – spiritually, as Romans 12:1 says, would be a “lame” excuse. Pun intended.
A New Testament counterpart to these scriptures could be Luke 3:8 (CJB) “If you have really turned from your sins, produce fruit that will prove it! And don't start saying to yourselves, `Abraham is our father'!”
To paraphrase that to apply to 21[SUP]st[/SUP] century Christians would be something like, “If you are really born again, live your life to prove it, and don’t say that just because you are born again all of your prayers should be answered just as you ask.”
We know that the purpose of God answering our prayers is to glorify himself and then we read:
John 15:7-8 (CJB) "If you remain united with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will happen for you.
8 This is how my Father is glorified -- in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim [disciples]… .
and see that God is glorified when we bear much fruit. Putting two and two together it becomes clear that WE have the greatest impact on whether God answers our prayers.
Then I ran into something else, apart from our spiritual condition but I got long-winded again so will put it in the next post.