The Lamb of Atonement - Mid Week 4 - March 26, 2014 - Text: Lev. 16:1-10

1The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, 2and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. 5And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 6“Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. 7Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. 9And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. 11“Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. 14And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. 15“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. 16Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.
 

Our theme for this year focuses our attention on the main character of the Passion, even the main character throughout the history of Israel and the Christian Church, the Lamb. So far we have talked about the promise of a Savior and the first sacrifice made to clothe Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. We have talked about God’s giving of the sacrificial system as a way of reminding people that the price for sin is death, that blood had to be shed. We watched as God tested Abram in asking him to sacrifice his son, his only son Isaac. And we watched as the lambs were sacrificed and the blood of the lambs was put on the doorpost and the lintels so the angel of death would pass over the homes of those with the doors marked in Egypt and how Jesus took this Passover Seder and out of it He has given us a new sacrament, His Holy Supper so that as we participate in His life, suffering, death and resurrection through our eating His body and drinking His blood, the angel of eternal spiritual death will pass over us so that we will have eternal life. This evening we have before us the giving of the lamb of the atonement.
 

As always, it is good to begin at the beginning. If we do not know or understand Genesis and the need for a Savior then how can we understand the Gospels and Jesus as our Savior? So, we need this continual reminder that in the beginning God created a perfect world. He created a perfect man and a perfect woman and He placed them into the perfect garden which He created. And He gave them only one command, perhaps as a way for them to give something back to Him, that is they were to obey Him by not eating of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The threat was that the day they would eat of that fruit they would begin to dye a physical death and apart from the Savior the Lord would send, they would die an eternal spiritual death.
 

Satan, a fallen angel, took on the flesh of a serpent, tempted Eve and Adam who subsequently disobeyed God, ate for the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and with that disobedience sin entered into the world. And with sin, came punishment in particular the world became cursed. And yet, the price for sin had to be paid.
 

Because God knew that Adam and Eve would not be able to pay the price for their sin of disobedience, because they could no longer be perfect as He is perfect, He immediately stepped in and promised to take care of their sin and He would do that by sending a Savior, a Redeemer, a substitute who would take their sin upon Himself and pay the price for sin, death.
 

Throughout history the problem of humankind is the problem of imperfection which is sin. From the very beginning God’s demand is perfection. We are to be perfect as God the Father is perfect. Yet, as we know and have just reviewed from our history, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin and imperfection into the world.
 

Not only is the world cursed, but because of their sin, Adam and Eve were punished and cursed as well. Adam and Eve were no longer perfect as they were originally created by God. So now, at the moment of conception, all humanity is conceived and born in sin, in imperfection. Imperfection cannot beget perfection. Our nature, now post fall into sin, is that we are conceived and born in sin. What free will Adam and Eve had at the beginning has now been tainted so our free will is truly a bound will, bound to sin and evil. Certainly within the civil realm we have some free will, but in the spiritual realm our every inclination is to sin. Our problem continues to be that man is not right with God, we are not at one with God.
 

Which brings us to this thing we call atonement. In our text we read God telling Moses, “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house” (v. 11). Aaron was a sinner and his sin separated him from God. In his sinful state he could not serve before the Lord in His house. Aaron had to be brought back into a right relationship with God before he could serve before the Lord in His house. And Aaron could not make himself right before God. It is God who had to make Aaron right. God’s solution was for Aaron to offer a sacrifice as a sin offering in order to make atonement, in order to be made at one with God again so that he might continue in service in the Lord’s house. Now, please understand, this sacrifice truly did not bring forgiveness in and of itself, but pointed to the one ultimate sacrifice that was promised in the Garden of Eden and reiterated continually through Israelite history.
 

In the same way, humanity cannot make itself right with God. We cannot make ourselves right with God. No amount of any sacrifice, be it a bloody or unbloody sacrifice can make us right with God. It is God who makes man right with Himself. Just as when we owe someone and have no way of paying what we owe, even more is this the way it is with God. We owe everything. We owe our very lives. We owe our blood. We owe our eternal well-being. And there is nothing we have or could do to ever earn or repay what we owe. It has to come from outside of us. We are conceived and born in sin. Every inclination of our hearts is evil all the time. Out of our heart proceeds all kinds of evil. Our atonement must come from outside of us. In accounting terms, our account is that man owes blood and life. The price for sin is death. The wages of sin is death. What sin costs is death and blood.
 

The price for sin is death and the price for sin had to be paid. In the Old Testament, during the days of the Children of Israel, as the Lord chose the nation of Israel to be His people through which He would send the Savior of the world, in order for them, and us, to understand our sin and the seriousness of our sin, God instituted the sacrificial system which was meant to show the seriousness of sin, the price for sin, and ultimately to point to Jesus who would take care of our sin.
 

The sacrificial system was set up so that animals were slaughter, on a daily basis. Daily blood was shed as a reminder that the price for sin was death. Blood was shed in order to remind the people and us that God is serious about sin and that sin is a serious breach between God and humanity. We are separate from God and we cannot draw ourselves to Him. We are not at one with Him and we cannot make ourselves one with Him. We cannot atone for ourselves.
 

The sacrificial system include the sacrifice of animals including and especially lambs. Lambs were chosen to be sacrificed because of their mild nature, that is because, as Jesus tells us, they are like weak, needy human beings. All we like sheep have gone astray. We need a shepherd. We need someone to care for us. Just as sheep cannot care for themselves, neither can we care for ourselves and especially neither can we spiritually care for ourselves. Lambs were chosen for slaughter pointing to Jesus the Lamb of God.
 

Jesus was born as one of us, except that He was born without sin. He was not born separate from God but as one with God, being God Himself in human flesh. Jesus was able to shed His blood as a payment, a once and for all payment for our sins and for the sins of all people, of all places, of all times. Jesus sacrifice was enough. To declare that we need to add anything to Jesus sacrifice of Himself is to deny His atonement sacrifice for us.
 

We are conceived and born in sin. Every inclination of our hearts is evil all the time. Sin separates us from God and we cannot gap that separation. In order to be brought back into an at one with God relationship, in order to be atoned with God we look outside ourselves. We look to Jesus who is the One who gave His life as a substitute for our life to bring us back into that right relationship with Himself and God the Father. We rejoice in His sacrifice for us because we know that His sacrifice was and is enough and we say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Passover Lamb - Mid Week 3 - March 19, 2014 - Text: Exodus 12:5-7 (1-28)

Our text is Exodus 12:5-7 but I will read the whole in context, verses 1-28: 1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. 14“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.” 21Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ ” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

Our theme for this year focuses our attention on the main character of the Passion, even the main character throughout the history of Israel and the Christian Church, the Lamb. We began two weeks ago talking about the promise of a Savior and the first sacrifice made to clothe Adam and Eve. Last week we followed along as the Lord tested Abram and told him to sacrifice his son, his only son Isaac and how God provided a substitute in the ram caught in the thicket. We were reminded that this sacrifice as was the case with all the Old Testament sacrifices did nothing except point to the one ultimate sacrifice of Jesus as our substitute on the cross. This evening we continue seeing this pointing as we recount the first Passover and connect that Passover with Jesus celebration of the Passover with His disciples and the giving of the Lord’s Supper from that Passover celebration.
 

Abraham had a son, Isaac. Isaac had a son Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons. One son, Joseph was hated by his brothers because of their jealousy that he was their father’s favorite. The brothers sold their brother who eventually ended up in Egypt as second in command only to Pharaoh. During the famine, the sons of Jacob discovered their brother Joseph and afterward, in order to take care of his family, Jacob took his family to Egypt where there was food. The children of Israel spent almost five hundred years in Egypt. Toward the end of their time in Egypt one of the new Pharaoh’s came into power who did not know the history of the Israelites and because of the fear of the children of Israel, the Egyptians began to place the Israelites into bondage, into slavery.
 

After a number of years, the Lord heard the cry of His people Israel and so the Lord called Moses to lead the people out of their slavery in Egypt. Now the life of Moses was such that as a baby, because of the command of Pharaoh to kill the infant boys, he was hidden until he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter who gave him to his biological mother to be raise until weaned. Moses was raised and educated in the schools of Egypt until he was forty years old. After he discovered his Israelite heritage and after defending a fellow Israelite and killing an Egyptian, Moses fled into the desert. Moses married a daughter of a priest of Midian, Jethro and lived and learned in the wilderness for forty years. After forty years the Lord came to Moses and spoke to him and called to him from a burning bush. The Lord called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt.
 

The Lord’s plan was the annihilation and pillaging of Egypt by His people. In order to accomplish His plan and purpose, the Lord first sent nine plagues each plague attacking and defeating one of the false gods of the Egyptians, indeed showing that the Lord God of Israel is the one and only true God. After the first nine plagues had already happened the Lord sent one final plague which brings us to the Passover celebration.
 

The tenth and last plague on Egypt was the sending of the Angel of Death who would pass over all of Egypt, killing the firstborn sons of all the families as well as all livestock. However, the angel of death would pass over those houses that were marked with the blood of a lamb, thus important and specific instructions were given to the children of Israel in order to protect and redeem the firstborn in every house in Israel. And these instructions not only saved the firstborn in Israel, but also pointed to the one ultimate lamb that would be sacrificed for the sins of all people, of all nations, of all times.
 

First the lamb that was chosen for the sacrifice, in order to have its blood put on the door post and lintel of the house had to be a spotless lamb. The lamb had to be without defect. The lamb had to be a year old and after it was selected on the tenth day, it was not slaughtered until the fourteenth day. The lamb needed to be of such a size that it could all be consumed by the family or by more than one family sharing a lamb.
 

When the lamb was slaughtered its blood was caught in a bowl. Using a bunch of hyssop, the blood put on the doorpost and lintel, the sides and tops of the doors making the sign of the cross. It was this blood that the angel of death would see and thus pass over that house.
 

The lamb was cooked, roasted on the fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The lamb was to be complete consumed. Any left over lamb was to be burned in the fire in the morning. The lamb was eaten with unleavened bread and they were eaten in haste. They were eaten with their belts fastened, their sandals on their feet and their staff in their hand. They were to eat and be ready to flee from Egypt.
 

The Lord sent the angel of death to strike all the firstborn in Egypt from both man and animal, from the lowest servant to the highest even Pharaoh. In so sending the angel of death the Lord executed His judgment on the Egyptians. However, the angel of death passed over those houses marked with the blood. It was the blood of the lamb that was a substitute for the firstborn in Israel.
 

After this first Passover and when the children of Israel went into the desert and even the promised land, this meal was to be a memorial meal, a meal to remind Israel of all that God had done for them and continued to do for them.
 

What does this mean and what is the significance of this Passover meal? When we remember that the first Passover was a foreshadowing of the things to come, we get a better understanding of the things to come. It was the Passover lamb that pointed to the Lamb of God, Jesus.
 

The Passover lamb was to be a spotless lamb. The lamb had to be spotless otherwise it would not be worthy of giving its life, of shedding its blood for those for whom it was to be sacrificed. Jesus is the lamb of God. Jesus is spotless, sinless, perfect and holy. Jesus had to be spotless, perfect and holy because God’s demand is holiness, “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Jesus had to be perfect in order to be able to trade our imperfect life for His perfect life.
 

The Passover lamb was selected and slaughtered. Its blood was collected and with a hyssop branch it was painted on the doorpost and the lentil of the house, that is the sides of the door, and up and down motion, and the lintel, the top of the door, a sideways motion, thus indeed making the sign of the cross. Jesus shed His blood for us for us on the cross. At the Lord’s Supper we drink His blood, in, with, and under the wine, thus participating in His death on the cross. The Passover lamb was roasted and the people ate of the meat of the lamb. Jesus died on the cross as the sacrifice, the once and for all sacrifice for our sins. At the Lord’s Supper, in, with and under the bread we eat of the Lord’s body, thus participating in His sacrifice.
 

When the angel of death came through Egypt, it passed over the houses that were marked with the blood of the sacrificed lamb. When the angel of eternal spiritual death passes through this world and even more so on the day of judgement, he will pass over us who have been marked with the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
 

When Jesus celebrated the Passover Seder with His disciples, at the point of the finding and redeeming of the middle matzah, the matzah that had been broken and hidden, He blessed this matzah, broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, Take and eat this is my body. Then, at the point of drinking the third cup of wine, the cup of redemption, Jesus took the cup, gave thanks and gave it to His disciples saying, Drink of it all of you this cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you show the Lord’s death until He comes. In other words, for us to do this in remembrance of our Lord is to do this in participation of His Sacrifice so that His life becomes our life, His death becomes our death, His resurrection becomes our resurrection and His eternal life becomes our eternal life.
 

The Lord’s Supper is His Supper in which He gives to us His very body and blood to eat and drink and through which He gives us all the gifts and blessings He has to give, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. And we respond and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Substitute Lamb Foreshadowed - Mid Week 2 - March 12, 2014 - Text: Gen. 22:1-14

Our text is Genesis 22:1-14: 1After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 2He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. 9When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 12He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” This is our text.
 

Our theme for this year focuses our attention on the main character of the Passion, even the main character throughout the history of Israel and the Christian Church, the Lamb. Last week we began by talking about the promise of a Savior and the first sacrifice made to clothe Adam and Eve. This week we move forward past the birth of the son promised to Abraham, Isaac and to God’s testing of Abraham. Through this testing of Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, Isaac we will see a foreshadowing of God the Father and His giving of His only Son.
 

Before we get to Abraham, let us review the first promise. As you recall, at the creation of the world and all things out of nothing, God created the perfect man and the perfect woman and placed them in the perfect garden. God even gave them the ability to respond by obeying His command to not eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God even set the price for the sin of eating the fruit. The price for sin was set at death, physical death and apart from Him, faith in Jesus eternal spiritual death, or hell.
 

Adam and Eve did sin. Satan came to them in the form of a serpent, questioning God’s Words and promises so much that Eve and Adam also questioned God and disobeyed by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Upon eating the fruit not only did they know good, but now they knew evil as well and they knew that they were naked and so they were ashamed. They were indeed naked before God because God knows all things and God knew what they had done, so that no amount of clothing, no amount of fig leaves would be able to hide their nakedness and sin from God. God knew that Adam and Eve sinned and that their sin would cost them their lives, their physical lives in a few short years and their eternal lives if their sin was left unpaid. So God, in His great and unfathomable love stepped in and promised Adam and Eve to send a Savior, a Redeemer, One who would come and pay the price for their sin and trade His life for theirs and for all people.
 

The price for sin was set at death. Blood had to be shed. The Savior, the Redeemer would take care of the price for sin by shedding His own blood. In order for the Redeemer to be a Redeemer to trade His life for theirs, the Redeemer would have to be one of them, a human being, thus the Redeemer would be truly God, born of a human woman making Him truly human and truly divine.
 

After many years, indeed, after the flood and the tower of Babel, after God cleansed the world, or attempted to cleanse the world with a flood and after the nations and cultures of the world were separated through the mixing of the languages, after many years God moved to begin to fulfill His promise to send a Savior, a Redeemer.
 

Of all the people on the earth, God, in His grace, mercy and wisdom, chose a man, Abram. Abram was not a perfect man, nor was he completely righteous in God’s eyes. As a matter of fact we are told that he also worshiped other gods or idols (Joshua 24:2). God chose Abram and promised him that the Savior of the world, of all people, of all nations and cultures would be born through His Seed, his descendants. God promised Abram a son and even though God took some ten years to fulfill his promise, He did give Abram, whose name He changed to Abraham, a son, Isaac. When Isaac was ten to sixteen years old God tested Abraham. God called to Abraham and told him to take his son, his only son, Isaac and to go and sacrifice him on the mountain the Lord would show him.
 

Abraham obeyed God, not knowing until later that this was a test, but simply obeying God’s command. Abraham gathered the wood he would need for the sacrifice, saddled his donkey, took his servants and his son and went to the place the Lord would direct him. His son, Isaac went willingly though probably naively.
 

At one point Abraham left his servants with the animals, placed the wood for the sacrifice on his son Isaac and went off to sacrifice his son. Although he was unaware of his father’s intentions, Isaac willingly carried the wood for his sacrifice, thus foreshadowing how our Savior, Jesus would carry the wood of His own cross to be crucified on the very wood He carried.
 

As for Abraham, he believed God’s promise that the Savior would be born through his descendants. He had no reason to doubt God’s word and even though he did not know nor understand why God would ask him to sacrifice his son, he believed that God would still fulfill His promise, perhaps through giving him another son, or raising Isaac to life after the sacrifice. Abraham did not know, but acted in faith, as God gave him faith and as God moved him in faith.
 

Abraham believed God. He told his servants that he and the boy would go and make sacrifices, even though they had no animal only wood and that they, both of them, would return. Abraham did not know how God would do it, whether He would provide a substitute, as he explained to Isaac along the way, that God would provide, but he believed God’s promises and so he acted in faith.
 

Abraham obeyed God and God provided for Abraham. God provided a ram for the sacrifice. God provide Abraham and Isaac with the faith necessary to obey God’s command. And God continues to provide for us even today.
 

God is the prime mover. God created all things out of nothing. God created a perfect world and when His perfection was tarnished He promised to provide for its recreation. God promised a Redeemer. And it is not that God forgot, but as God remembered His promise, so He chose Abraham and promised that the Redeemer would be born through His line of ancestry. God foreshadowed the fulfillment of His promise as He tested the faith of Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son, his only son, as God would sacrifice His Son, His only Son. But not only did God call Abraham, promise Abraham and then test Abraham, He also strengthened Abraham to obey Him.
 

God commanded Abraham, gave him faith and strength to obey and at just the right time He provided a substitute. So in our world, at just the right time God the Father sent His Son, His only Son to be born of a woman, to be born under the Law, to fulfill all the Law and the prophets, perfectly for us in our place. The price for sin was set at death, blood had to be shed. Abraham was asked to shed the blood of his only son, and yet God provided a substitute. And yet, the almost sacrifice of Isaac, the sacrifice of that substitute ram and all the sacrifices of the Old Testament truly meant nothing as far as paying any price for sin. All the sacrifices of the Old Testament merely served the purpose of pointing to the one ultimate final sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
 

God’s substitute for us is Jesus. Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus was not given a substitute, but freely took our sins and freely gave His life for ours. Jesus shed His blood. Jesus died to pay the price for our sin. Jesus was sacrifice for us because of His great love for us.
 

Of course, we will not leave here without being reminded of the rest of the story that is that Jesus did not stay dead, but rose victorious over sin, death and the power of the devil. Jesus ascended to the place from where He descended where He is today continually watching over us, ruling over us, and interceding for us. And He sends His Holy Spirit to give us the gifts He has earned for us and He gives us those gifts as we make regular and diligent use of the means of grace, being in Bible class and divine service. And we rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Revisiting the Fallacy of Tolerance

I cannot stand people who are intolerant. Did I read that correctly? Did someone not think before they spoke? Happens all the time. So, are people that claim to be tolerant really tolerant? Or can anyone be truly tolerant? Read on and find out.

I cannot believe our society would put someone in jail for stealing. I cannot believe our society would put someone in jail for killing someone. I cannot believe our society would condemn someone just for having an affair with another man’s wife. It is so hard to imagine the our society is so intolerant.

If it is not clear by now, we do not live in a tolerant society, but there are individuals, and groups in our society that like to practice selective tolerance. Personally, I do not believe in tolerance. I do not believe that we as a society, nor as individuals should be tolerant of immoral, illegal and deviant behavior. How do I determine what is immoral, illegal and deviant? As for immoral and deviant, I refer to what God says is sin. As for illegal, I refer to our legal system. And to be clear, just because something is legal does not necessarily mean that it is moral or normal, indeed some things that are legal are immoral and deviant according to God’s standard, thus according to my standard.

The First Promise and The First Sacrificial Lamb - Ash Wednesday - Mar 5, 2014 - Text: Genesis 3:15, 21

Our text is Genesis 1: 15, 21: 15I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. 21And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. This is our text.
 

Our theme for Lent through Easter this year focuses our attention on the main character of the Passion, even the main character throughout the history of Israel and the Christian Church, indeed, the main character of all Holy Scripture, the Lamb. We will begin with the promise of a Savior and the first sacrifice made to clothe Adam and Eve. We will follow God’s giving of the sacrificial system as a way of reminding people that the price for sin is death, that blood had to be shed. We will see the lamb as the main character pointing us toward the One Lamb of God and His once and for all sacrifice on the cross. We will witness Jesus giving us His Holy Supper wherein He gives us His body and blood to eat and drink, thus participating in His life and His death. And finally we will witness and participate in His resurrection foreshadowing our own resurrection to eternal life where He will welcome us into His heavenly home and robe us with His robes of righteousness. This evening we begin by taking up the theme of the first promise and the first sacrificial lamb.
 

Some of you may have seen the tie I often like to wear that simply states, “In the beginning God created. . .” I like that tie because it states what needs to be stated, especially in a world which is constantly denying the truth of Holy Scripture. In the beginning God. In the beginning God created, all things, our of nothing. Although our world has attempted to get people to believe otherwise, the fact remains that God was there at the beginning and He tells us how He created all things out of nothing. God said it and that settles it.
 

God created all things out of nothing and then God created a perfect man and a perfect woman and placed them in a perfect garden which He also created for them. God gave them work to do, to tend the garden, not as a punishment, but as a joyous living of their lives.
 

Yes, in the beginning God created all things out of nothing and in the beginning, all things were perfect and holy. In the beginning there was no death and dying. In the beginning Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with each other and with God. Of course, we are living after the fall into sin, so we really have no idea of what that might have been like.
 

Sometime after creation, that is after God created the perfect world and after He created the perfect angels, one of the angels, Lucifer by name, which, by the way, his name means light bearer making one wonder what high position he may have had in heaven. Anyway Lucifer thought more highly of himself, rebelled against his creator, even God Himself and was cast out of heaven because of his insubordination.
 

This fallen angel, Satan himself, being cast out of heaven hates everything that is of God. He hates God and all God created. He is a liar and the father of lies. He is deceptive and his whole purpose and goal is to destroy everything that is good and from God. This Satan approached Eve and Adam who was with Eve, in the garden and questioned them concerning their relationship with God. His tempting question to them is very similar to the question he uses to tempt today as well. To Adam and Eve he simply asked, “Did God really say?” Did God really say you could not eat from a certain tree. Is God taking away your freedom? Today we hear this question asked, “Did God really mean . . . what He said?” And I would add, does God really mean what He says in His Word?
 

Eve and Adam listened to Satan, believed Satan, disobeyed God and sinned. Their sin brought imperfection into the perfect world. Their sin brought God’s just judgment and curse on the world.
 

After Eve and Adam sinned God came calling and He came calling the one who was created first, the one who was in charge and responsible, He came calling Adam. Adam made excuses and blamed Eve, and even God Himself. Eve blamed the serpent. And so God meted out His just judgement and punishment. Cursed was the serpent, the instrument Satan used to tempt Eve and Adam. The serpent was cursed to crawl on his belly all the days of his life and was to become a bane for humanity.
 

Next, cursed was Eve. Her curse would include pain in bearing the image of God, in procreation and child bearing and a continual desire for her husband, that is both a desire for a husband as well as a desire to usurp his role as the responsible party for the family.
 

And finally cursed was Adam and the earth. The earth was no long perfect, instead, thrones and thistles and weeds would constantly be a bother as Adam would work and sweat to raise food to eat. And the ultimate curse was the consummation of God’s threat that dying they would die. Adam and Eve began to die a physical death. Rather than live forever in perfection on this earth, now because this earth was cursed as were they, now they were destined to die and their bodies would return to dust. Death and dying were now a part of the imperfection and curse of the world. Adam and Eve also died an eternal spiritual death, or at least they would be doomed to such an eternal spiritual death had not God continued with His promise to send a Savior, a Redeemer to pay the price for their sins.
 

Thanks be to God that He immediately stepped in and made a promise. God’s promise was, I will send a Savior who will have His heal bruised in other words, He will die. Of course, God did not give all the specifics concerning the Savior He would send when He first announced that He would send a Savior, and perhaps it might be better said, He would send a Redeemer, that is He would send someone who would redeem, trade His life for the life of all people. He did say that this Savior, this Redeemer would be the son of a human woman, in other words this Savior would be a Redeemer in that He would be a human being trading His life for the lives of all humanity.
 

He also let us know that in dying, the Savior will defeat Satan, or as He tells it, Satan’s head would be crushed. The price for sin was set in the beginning at death, physical death and apart from God, eternal spiritual death. Satan demands this payment. The price for sin must be paid and God promises right here in the beginning that He will pay the price.
 

The next words we have is that God provided clothes for the man and the woman. God made garments of skins, skins from animals which were killed, meaning that blood was shed. Although this was not spoken of as the first sacrifice, indeed this is what we have witnessed, the sacrifice, the shedding of blood for the sin of Adam and Eve. Yet, this sacrifice did not pay the price for the sin of Adam and Eve. This sacrifice merely provided for a covering of clothes for them to wear to cover their bodies, to cover their sins. This sacrifice, as is true for all sacrifices throughout the Old Testament simply pointed to the cross, the one ultimate sacrifice for all people, once for all.
 

In the beginning God created all things perfect and holy. In the beginning God set the price for disobedience and sin. The price for sin was death. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned. Immediately God stepped in and promised to pay that price for them and for all people. Even to this day, by faith in Jesus, we will not pay that price. In the Garden of Eden it was the sacrifice of the lamb that foreshadowed that Jesus would be the Lamb of God who would pay the price. On Calvary Jesus paid the price for sin, earning forgiveness for all people. Through the waters of Holy Baptism, through the words of confession and absolution, through the very Word of God, and through the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ, He distributes and gives out that forgiveness that He earned and we know that with forgiveness is life and salvation. On the last day He will raise up me and all believers and He will give to me and all believers eternal life, robing us with His robes of righteousness and stirring in us to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.