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What does it mean to say that the God of the Bible is gracious? In this video, we’ll look at the Hebrew words for grace to understand the rich concept that has profound implications for how we see God. When we look to the biblical meaning of grace and understand God as gracious, we see a God who loves to give generous gifts to undeserving people.
Bible Summary
Today, our reading comes from Leviticus 1-4 as God gives specific instructions about the types of offerings that are to be made to Him on behalf of His people. These readings give us a preview of what the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus will look like.
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3 Responses
The number of different kinds of sacrifices and their instructions seems quite extensive! This really shows how special and important the sacrifice of Jesus was. He was the sacrifice that didn’t just equal these sacrifices, he equaled these sacrifices for all of time! That’s pretty amazing!
I was brought up Christian and have read the Bible many times and went to Christian school and know a lot about Christianity. Here is my question… I understand the meaning of my sacrifices and understand that when the Israelites sacrifice to other gods it is sin. It seems to me that it might confuse people as to why it is ok to sacrifice to God but not to gods. What do you tell people who ask why one is ok and one isn’t besides the obvious of worshiping the true God. Not sure if this question makes sense and if by me saying it answers my own questions or not.
It would appear that your question was also a question the Israelites would have had with the opening two commandments in Exodus 20 being:
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
We get upset when someone else gets credit for something we do at work, imagine being the creator of everything and having your creation praise a man-made idol! Yet, we do this every day by running after things other than God. Money, relationships, fame and recognition, etc.
Another thing to note was that the other “gods” were usually pagan and encouraged debauchery and sin. They weren’t just alternative “good gods” to the one true God, they represented the opposite of the goodness of God. Hope this helps!