Merciful and Just

Leviticus 17

11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

Life and blood are inextricably linked.  One does not need to be a medical practitioner or biologist to understand this simple fact.

Throughout the Torah, and certainly in Leviticus, there are numerous sacrifices that are required by God as a means of atoning for the sins of God’s people.  Why would God require such a seemingly barbaric practice?  If God really is omnipotent, couldn’t He come with a less barbaric way of dealing with the sins of mankind?

The blood sacrifice is a reminder that that the consequence of sin is death.  Paul writes in his letter to the church in Rome that the wage of sin is death. (Rom 6:23)  Sin is a choice.  We can choose to obey God.  We can choose to disobey God.  It is God that has granted us that choice.  Choices can be made--good or bad--but consequences for those choices cannot.  

Adam and Eve were innocent.  They were created unblemished.  They were created without sin.  After they sinned, their innocence was shattered.  Their bodies and souls were stained with sin.  They were no longer unblemished.  They brought on themselves, and all mankind, physical and spiritual death.  The consequence of their sin was death, physical and spiritual death, and their was covered with the hide of an animal that had to be sacrificed so it’s hide could be used.

The blood sacrifice, the ugly reminder of the consequence of our sin, goes beyond just any sacrifice.  The bllod sacrifices of the Old Testament required unblemished animals, those without defect.  

The blood of Christ shed at Calvary is the ultimate unblemished Lamb and the ultimate reminder of the consequence of sin.  If God did not punish sin He would be unjust.  By becoming the final pascal Lamb and suffering the consequence for the sins of mankind, God is both just and merciful.  Only the one true God could come up with the perfect solution to the sin problem.  He bore our sin and He suffered the consequence for our sins. In one act He shows His perfect justice and His undeserved grace.

The trouble with ministry is people

Numbers 11

11 So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have You brought such trouble on Your servant? Why are You angry with me, and why do You burden me with all these people? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so You should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing woman carries a baby,’ to the land that You swore to give their fathers?”

We are saved to serve.  There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation but once we are saved we have responsibilities towards our Savior.  The call to ministry, whether vocational pastor or lay person, is a call that requires the believer to deal with people.  The joke among some pastors is, “Ministry would be a lot easier if it were not for all the people.”

Too bad. God is in the people business.  “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)  The term brother goes beyond a biological brother.  Whether you consider it the brotherhood of the church or the broader brotherhood of mankind, the love of people is at the heart of Christ and should be at the heart of the Christian.

“But people are difficult,” you say.  Yes they are and you are among those that are difficult.  Ministry is not easy and it is not always pretty.  It goes beyond hospital visits to sweet, elderly people who have served in the church for decades.  Ministry opportunities often come in the darkest hours of a person’s life.  When people are hurting; when people are angry; when people feel hopeless; this is when the door is open to allow someone in whose heart is open to their plight.  Moses, the friend of God, the man that spoke to God directly, saw the ugliness of ministry and expressed his frustration to the God that called him to his ministry.  It does not change the nature of the call.