4.9.25

Good morning!

In Exodus 25:8 we were commanded to "build me a place that I can come and dwell within you." And, as history tells, this place can be polluted and we can push him out (Deut. 32). This dynamic interplay explains why so many sacrifices focus on unintentional impurities that could be fixed by a korbanot/offering; whereas deliberate sins require a much higher path.

Contrary to the majority opinion the sacrificial system was not an automatic get out of jail free card for those who willingly disregarded God‘s instruction. The temple offering ritually cleansed Israel, on an ongoing basis to handle the spiritual fallout of their human frailties. The Torah's ethical demands were supposed to be Israel‘s moral state and not evict God‘s presence. That's why both of those things, ritual and moral purity were essential to maintaining covenantal intimacy; that's the part that the sacrifices were supposed to do, especially the purification offerings. That is how Israel came into the place to meet God, a fitting dwelling place for the Holy One; not sacrifices that drive Him away.

The properly performed sacrifice attract, maintains the divine presence. That’s pretty clear throughout all of scripture. The right amount of sacrifice can bring the presence of God back when it has been driven away. It is repentance and sacrifice in that order. After repentance then comes an offering. Never is an offering accepted without the repentant heart.  Sacrifice is a divine attraction and I don’t mean that in some kind of magical sense, where you wave your hands and say a few words and the fairy dust brings God in. It’s a divine attraction in sacred service that creates this environment. The sanctuary is God‘s home. God will not abide in a polluted home. He likes a clean house. That's it. All of Israel‘s temple service was aimed at bringing God close.  In Leviticus/vayikra, God‘s calling Moses with affection. He’s inviting him into the divine presence and saying this is how we’re gonna do it. Teach the people. Show them every sacrifice offering, which in some sense answers the call. It’s a gesture from Israel to say "God, we see closeness with you and that is so different from the prevailing idea that Israel’s performing these things because God is angry and will not be pacified until something bleeds to death...that’s not consistent with God.

What was the difference between these offerings and the pagans offerings? They looked a lot like other sacrifices from the ancient world. And, definitely, there are some very clear parallels, but internally their meeting was transformed. Israel was not feeding the gods to pacify them. It's not about classifying a god. It was about the One True God, feeding the soul of his people through these things. That’s a very big difference! God forbid that we would put a baby on an altar as some kind of sacrifice to pacify an angry ancient near Eastern Canaanite god. Why did they do that? Because of the heart behind it, with the expectation that sacrifices are an end in and of themselves as a solution to a sin problem.

As many are celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it's a great time, by command, to put aside the leaven out of our houses (spiritual spring cleaning) and reflect on the intimacy with the Lord. As we all know, life doesn't always go perfectly, but our God always does move perfectly. Let's realign with Him and His ways :-)

He wants intimacy with you! With Passover 2025 in the rear view mirror, I want intimacy more than ever.

Chag Sameach Pesach!

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