Sacrifice
I read Laura's post regarding Sacrifice, and thought I'd leave a comment. Unfortunately, what I have to say is a bit long, so I'm posting it here instead. Enjoy :)
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When you think about it, when lambs were sacrificed, there was no real "sacrifice" on the parts of the men who offered them up in place of their sins. Yes, sheep were the livelihood of many Israelites, but their flocks were huge in many cases because God blessed them as such. So the loss of one little lamb here or there in the end didn't really hurt anybody, financially anyway. But if you look at Passover, the command was to keep a lamb in the household as a pet for 4 days before slaughtering it. It was to be coddled, cared for, and loved. I'm sure that over the thousands of years, many a Passover lamb was given a name by the children who cared for it. There was a bond that was formed between that lamb and the members of the household it would be killed for. It trusted them implicitly, and that trust was ultimately to be broken. That is the sacrifice of the lamb. It's trust in sinful people had to be broken, and they had to bear the knowledge that it was their slavery to sin which had caused it's death. Or they should have realized this - though many Israeli’s never really did "get it."
When God chose to send Jesus to this earth, both trusted in one thing more than anything else: that we would indeed choose Life over death, if given the chance. Jesus trusted all of humanity with this, especially Israel. Israelis have had every clue they've needed to understand what Jesus did for everyone including them. Yet because of rabbinical teachings which mask this, they don't get it -- and so the trust Jesus placed in them has often been broken. I thank God for those Jews who do accept Jesus as their Messiah! In them, the trust has not been broken, but rather has been fulfilled. This is true with every Believer who calls on His Name, true. In fact, you could say that conversely even more trust was placed in non-Israelis because we have not had the benefit of the cultural understanding of God that Israelis have always had! We are fortunate, by all accounts, to even grasp at all what it means to be saved from our sins! We have so many philosophies to choose from in this world - we are fortunate that we too have been "grafted in" to God's olive tree. And so in us, the trust has not been broken either, but rather in us it is fulfilled as well. The difference is that back in the days when lambs were sacrificed, they trusted that they would -not- be killed. Jesus trusted that He -would- be killed, but also that -we- (Jews and gentiles alike) would choose Salvation through His Blood.
I agree that God gained more than He lost, and in the end, He didn't really lose anything. I was recently reminded of the stupidity of satan (who's so dumb that he would try to kill the only source of his life, and that source of course is God), as well as how satan does not play a fair game, and also how he can't be trusted. Think about it: who do you trust more, God or satan? Who delivers on promises, God or satan? The whole thing of Jesus' death is a paradox: God went through with His promise to kill His Son - satan was unable to keep his promise to kill God forever.
Yet God has lost all those who would rather trust in their own "goodness" or their own ways/understanding, than trust in Him. I find it interesting the way the Bible words some things about who chooses God vs. who rejects God. It isn't just in the choosing of God that we are Saved, but it's also in not rejecting God that we are Saved. If you think about it, those who have neither chosen nor rejected God, for lack of hearing about Him, are never said to be unSavable! Also, I've come to believe that those who are not given a choice now will be given that choice later. Who in their right mind would choose against Living a great Life for Eternity in His Love, if they really, truly understood what the options were? Also, how could I Love and serve a God who wouldn't, in the end, give that clear-cut, non-fuzzy choice to EVERY human being??? I suspect that it is OUR fuzzy understanding of the judgement day which has clouded our minds and caused us to think that some will be lost because they were never given the clear-cut choice to begin with. So what's the point in sharing the gospel? The point is to "set the captives free" from their bondage to the effects of sin in this lifetime. To do this is a true labor of love. It can mean letting Jesus work through us in secret to aid those around us, without us ever preaching at them. It takes real sacrifice to do this (I just watched "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" and learned what that really means.)
To sacrifice one's self, one's desires, one's way of life, even one's ideas and ideals, for the sake of bringing a better life to someone who may continually reject Life in return, is what it means to give up one's life for his or her friends. The personal cost is high, but Laura, I agree with you: the payoff is more than worth it, and so the sacrifice that seemed so big at first is greatly diminished later by that payoff.
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When you think about it, when lambs were sacrificed, there was no real "sacrifice" on the parts of the men who offered them up in place of their sins. Yes, sheep were the livelihood of many Israelites, but their flocks were huge in many cases because God blessed them as such. So the loss of one little lamb here or there in the end didn't really hurt anybody, financially anyway. But if you look at Passover, the command was to keep a lamb in the household as a pet for 4 days before slaughtering it. It was to be coddled, cared for, and loved. I'm sure that over the thousands of years, many a Passover lamb was given a name by the children who cared for it. There was a bond that was formed between that lamb and the members of the household it would be killed for. It trusted them implicitly, and that trust was ultimately to be broken. That is the sacrifice of the lamb. It's trust in sinful people had to be broken, and they had to bear the knowledge that it was their slavery to sin which had caused it's death. Or they should have realized this - though many Israeli’s never really did "get it."
When God chose to send Jesus to this earth, both trusted in one thing more than anything else: that we would indeed choose Life over death, if given the chance. Jesus trusted all of humanity with this, especially Israel. Israelis have had every clue they've needed to understand what Jesus did for everyone including them. Yet because of rabbinical teachings which mask this, they don't get it -- and so the trust Jesus placed in them has often been broken. I thank God for those Jews who do accept Jesus as their Messiah! In them, the trust has not been broken, but rather has been fulfilled. This is true with every Believer who calls on His Name, true. In fact, you could say that conversely even more trust was placed in non-Israelis because we have not had the benefit of the cultural understanding of God that Israelis have always had! We are fortunate, by all accounts, to even grasp at all what it means to be saved from our sins! We have so many philosophies to choose from in this world - we are fortunate that we too have been "grafted in" to God's olive tree. And so in us, the trust has not been broken either, but rather in us it is fulfilled as well. The difference is that back in the days when lambs were sacrificed, they trusted that they would -not- be killed. Jesus trusted that He -would- be killed, but also that -we- (Jews and gentiles alike) would choose Salvation through His Blood.
I agree that God gained more than He lost, and in the end, He didn't really lose anything. I was recently reminded of the stupidity of satan (who's so dumb that he would try to kill the only source of his life, and that source of course is God), as well as how satan does not play a fair game, and also how he can't be trusted. Think about it: who do you trust more, God or satan? Who delivers on promises, God or satan? The whole thing of Jesus' death is a paradox: God went through with His promise to kill His Son - satan was unable to keep his promise to kill God forever.
Yet God has lost all those who would rather trust in their own "goodness" or their own ways/understanding, than trust in Him. I find it interesting the way the Bible words some things about who chooses God vs. who rejects God. It isn't just in the choosing of God that we are Saved, but it's also in not rejecting God that we are Saved. If you think about it, those who have neither chosen nor rejected God, for lack of hearing about Him, are never said to be unSavable! Also, I've come to believe that those who are not given a choice now will be given that choice later. Who in their right mind would choose against Living a great Life for Eternity in His Love, if they really, truly understood what the options were? Also, how could I Love and serve a God who wouldn't, in the end, give that clear-cut, non-fuzzy choice to EVERY human being??? I suspect that it is OUR fuzzy understanding of the judgement day which has clouded our minds and caused us to think that some will be lost because they were never given the clear-cut choice to begin with. So what's the point in sharing the gospel? The point is to "set the captives free" from their bondage to the effects of sin in this lifetime. To do this is a true labor of love. It can mean letting Jesus work through us in secret to aid those around us, without us ever preaching at them. It takes real sacrifice to do this (I just watched "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" and learned what that really means.)
To sacrifice one's self, one's desires, one's way of life, even one's ideas and ideals, for the sake of bringing a better life to someone who may continually reject Life in return, is what it means to give up one's life for his or her friends. The personal cost is high, but Laura, I agree with you: the payoff is more than worth it, and so the sacrifice that seemed so big at first is greatly diminished later by that payoff.
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posted by Caroline Talita Ishshah | 6:39 AM
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