Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Restored relationships (5)

Reconciliation: end of conflict, restoration of friendly relations, reunion, bringing together (again), restoration of peace...

Restored relationship is really the simple meaning of the word reconciliation and it is the foundation of the Christian faith. The restored relationship between God and mankind is the first and most important level of reconciliation and certainly the most beautiful one. A second level that I want to mention on this blog is the reconciliation between God and His people Israel.

We have already seen in this series that a healthy relationship between God, the Creator of the Universe, and all mankind is possible as a result of the blood of Jesus that flowed once and for all when He was crucified. Colossians 1:19-20 describes it like this: For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [that is Jesus/Yeshua/Isa], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross

Blood, that has a negative sound to it, but biblically speaking life is in the blood. Without blood there is no life, even scientists know this :) Keep that thought...

Thousands of years ago God decided to dedicate one nation to be His very own, to set them apart. This is what holy means: to be set apart. Many people today reject this thought and are in disagreement with God (not a good place to be!) But whether people like it or not, it is still a fact. Leviticus 20:24-26 says: you are to be holy to Me, because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.

God did not choose Israel because they were so wonderful and so great, on the contrary, it was the smallest nation of all at that time! But He loved them and He had made promises to their ancestors, Deuteronomy 7:7-8: The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers....

It made God sad that they disobeyed Him all the time, for example by worshiping other gods and by neglecting His laws. He wanted to keep a healthy relationship with them, but sin kept defiling their friendship. So He set up a system for reconciliation: blood had to flow (the offering of animals) for the forgiveness of the sins of the people, with an annual summit called the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).

In most world religions we still see this: blood has to flow (whether animals or people) in other to please the gods... which we think is horrible. But, wait a minute, wasn't blood offering God's idea? What exactly did He had in mind when he set up the system for reconciliation? Let's take a closer look at that in the next blog.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing, Marja. I am grateful for what we have through Jesus' sacrifice and blood.

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  2. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness to His covenant. I remember reading that He considered wiping them out but then because of His promise to David.....He remained faithful.

    Once I spoke to an Israeli man about blood sacrifices but he stubbornly refuted saying that there are many ways to sacrifice in worship, naming the grain offerings, etc. We pray every day for the peace of Jerusalem and that our Jewish friends would find Jeshua.

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    1. Amen to that. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment!

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  3. Marja: Thank you for this informative post. God is faithful, even when we are not. We have heard about why God chose Israel as His nation in Sunday school class. God still gets sad when we transgress His desires for us.

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    1. That is so true Cecelia, we hurt God when we do not want to accept His plans for the nations and the people of the earth!

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  4. Hallelujah for the blood of Jesus!

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Thanks for your visit, it is my hope and prayer that this post was an encouragement to you! Feel free to leave a comment.