Remember & Respond

One misconception about God that you may have heard is that His character was somehow different in the Old Testament than it is in the New. 

You may have heard that the Old Testament God was full of wrath and rules, and with the coming of Jesus, the New Testament shows us  a new, gracious, lenient God.

One important thing to take away from Exodus chapter 30, is that while the systems were different, God’s heart for reconciliation and relationship goes unchanged. 

In Moses’ final days of his mountain-top conversation with the Creator, we see God detailing instructions for the altar on which regular offerings and sacrifices were to be brought before him. 

The routine for the incense offering, the burnt offering and the dressing of the lamp, each served as a reminder to the people of God.  As they practiced these rituals, they were to remember the fellowship that they have with their Creator, that His presence was with them continually, and that he is worthy of worship. 

Along with these daily offerings, they were to make an annual sacrifice of atonement (Leviticus 16:11-28) cleansing them of their sins so that they could remain in a right standing relationship with the Father. 

It is important to note that these commands by God were not to earn a relationship, but an expression of the relationship that they already had with him. Because God is holy, he is unable to commune with sin. Because he is sovereign, he knows the frame of his people, and graciously provided a pathway for them to remain in his presence, despite their sinful nature. 

Before the construction of the tabernacle could begin, the Lord required that each person counted among God’s people, was to bring a half shekel to  “pay the Lord a ransom for his life…” (Exodus 30:12) 

The silver was to be melted down and used to construct the foundation for the tent of meeting, and the pillars that were to hold up the veil, separating the holy place from the most holy place, detailed in previous chapters. 

God, in his perfect wisdom, required a ransom from the resources that he provided to his people, to be used for a meeting place where they could commune with him. 

Because he is the same God in the New Testament, we see this picture again in Jesus. Jesus came to fulfill Old Testament law by standing in as our ransom, our atonement payment - once for all that choose to come to him. 

Those who make that choice, have freedom in Christ. Freedom from the law, and security in eternal salvation. 

We have that freedom because Jesus paid a price that we could never pay ourselves. In exchange, he asks that we present our lives as a living sacrifice to him. 

In Luke, Jesus tells his disciples just how great the cost of following him will be. In Chapter 14:26-27 he tells them that if they’re not willing to hate their “father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life,” they cannot call themselves a disciple of Jesus. 

He uses strong language here to describe the love and devotion required to follow Jesus in this life. He’s asking for all of us. He’s asking for his followers to love nothing else, and no one else above him. 

Because he is still the same loving God who knows our frame, he knows what a tall order this can be for us, but being the holy, sovereign, Creator that he is - he knows what he offers in return for our lives, far exceeds anything the world could offer us. 

 He’s given us his Spirit as a helper to challenge and convict, and to comfort and guide us into eternity if we are willing to continually submit to his leading.