They sacrificed to God, but worshipped other Gods.
As a new believer, I was preoccupied with going to heaven. It took me some time to recognise that God’s concerns are not those of men. Men want to go to heaven. God wants to come to earth.
The gospel of the kingdom of God is about God coming down to earth. That is one of the things that differentiates our faith from all other faiths. Jesus, the creator of the heavens and the earth, came down from heaven to earth. He then told us to pray that God’s kingdom would come on earth, and that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus Himself is coming back to establish God’s kingdom on earth.
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John says:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (Rev 21:1-3).
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God With Us
God said to Moses concerning Israel:
Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (Ex 25:8).
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I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. (Ex 29:45).
So, a tabernacle was built for the Lord on earth in Israel. And the glory and presence of God dwelt there.
Holiness of God
Our house help left at the end of last year. So, I prayed to God for new help. He gave us a lady called Christiana. But the first thing that happened was that Christiana nearly killed me.
We use pure water to cook. But the pure water had finished. So, Christiana used tap water. But our tap water is not from the waterworks. The water comes from a borehole, goes to an overground tank, and then to a tank in the roof. We hardly ever clean these tanks. So, the water was dirty.
When I ate the food, I nearly died. My stomach received it as poison and had to force it out. My stomach was in turmoil, and I had to go to the toilet again and again to expel the poison from my body.
Why would God give me a house help that would poison me? What should you do in this situation? Run into the refuge of the scriptures. Don’t lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5). Love believes all things. (1 Corinthians 13:7). In everything give thanks. (1 Thessalonians 5:18). All things work together for good. (Romans 8:28).
Why did this happen to me?
The Holy Spirit used this incident to teach me a crucial lesson on the holiness of God. My stomach rejects anything impure. God rejects anything imperfect.
Consuming Fire
When Moses made the Old Covenant with God on Mount Sinai:
The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. (Exo 24:17).
God’s holiness is so absolute and perfect that it makes Him a consuming fire. If anything comes near God, His holy fire either purifies it totally or destroys it completely. Therefore, the writer of Hebrews counsels:
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. (Heb 12:14).
God’s consuming fire does one of two things. It either destroys anything corruptible before it gets anywhere near God, or it refines and perfects it, making it incorruptible.
Malachi says:
(God) is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Mal 3:2-3).
God says in Leviticus:
I am the Lord, who makes you holy. (Lev 22:32).
Ordinary water cannot cleanse spiritual corruption. True purification requires internal renewal and divine forgiveness, not mere external washing. While water symbolizes purity, man’s heart is corrupted by inner sin, which requires spiritual cleansing by God rather than mere rituals.
When Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus, he feared for his life. He cried out:
“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” (Isa 6:5-7).
Fear of God
A pastor friend of mine prayed insistently to see God. Then one night, in a dream, he found himself in a big field. Suddenly, fire broke out. The fire started chasing him. He ran and ran until he woke up in a sweat.
God was that fire. The pastor must have been a baby Christian at the time. Knowing him now, I believe that today, he would not run. The fire would cover him, and he would not be burnt.
God says:
Thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. (Isa 43:1-3).
Failure of Israel
Israel was unfaithful to the laws of the Old Covenant. The people’s approach to God was ritualistic. They sacrificed to God and continued in their sins. God says:
These people draw near with their mouths and honour Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men. (Isa 29:13).
And so, their sacrifices were unacceptable:
For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me. (Jer 6:20).
They sacrificed to God, but worshipped other Gods.
They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they did not know, to new gods, new arrivals that your fathers did not fear. Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you. (Deut 32:17-18).
In any case:
It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. (Heb 10:4).
God is a Spirit. Therefore, the sacrifices that are acceptable to God must be spiritual.
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5).
The blood of bulls and goats only purifies the flesh. But God is not flesh. God is a Spirit.
Jesus says:
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:6). CONTINUED.
[email protected]; www.femiaribisala.com
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