Genesis 3:21
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
Genesis 4:4-5
4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.
Hebrews 9:22
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Hebrews 10:16
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Let me share a little something with you. There was a time when I wanted to hear God’s voice.. and couldn’t. Many years ago, before Christ, I was at a particularly low point in my life. I won’t go into details because it’s not integral to today’s lesson, except for this one little part: I prayed. I prayed to God. That prayer went something like: “God. I always talk to you, but you never talk back.” I was desperate. I needed help. More help than I could fathom coming from a human source. I needed divine intervention. I went on to pray: “God, if you ever let me hear your voice, I’m yours… all the way.” I didn’t hear anything. No thunder, no lightning, no voice from heaven, nothing.. for seven more years.
Then one day, I was playing dominoes and drinking vodka with a friend of mine and He invited my wife to church. My wife is a PK: a ‘Preacher’s Kid’ and even though we weren’t living ‘saved’ (nothing about me was ‘saved’ at this juncture in my life), she was ‘comfortable’ going to church (another lesson for another day). When she came home that day after ‘church’, she was ‘walking on air’. There was a visible difference in her countenance. She gushed about how much she liked it and how different it was than other churches we had visited. To make a long story short, about 3 weeks later I found myself sitting on a folding chair, in little room, in little store front church with 4 or 5 guys I didn’t know and bible that I had been given years earlier. Monday night was Men’s Brotherhood’ night and I had been invited to come. That’s when it started…
I’m sitting there with my bible open to the third chapter of John and the pastor is talking and… the words began to leap from the pages. I’m listening and reading and all of a sudden, it’s as though the bible and the preacher are speaking to me about me… I was having an experience. I was hearing God. I was caught; hook, line and sinker. I came back the next night for Ladies’ Missions and the next night for Prayer Service and the next night and the next…. I didn’t have a choice really. I had never experienced anything so wonderful, so dynamic, so moving as … hearing God. I had been waiting for a long time, all my life really and for at least the last seven years particularly. That prayer, so many years ago, so many miles away had never left me. When I heard His voice, I was His.
Not long after beginning this journey, I did what a lot of new believers do: I purposed to ‘read the bible’ cover to cover (I still haven’t made it yet… may be this year). When I got to Genesis, chapter four, I read the passage above and asked God a question about the passage: Why was Abel’s offering accepted and Cain’s not? You have to take my word for what happened next. Three days later, sometime before day, while still asleep, I had a dream unlike any I’d ever had before, an epiphany. I was suddenly in ‘the Garden’, yes ‘that’ Garden, watching as God made clothes from animal skins, ‘covering’ for Adam and Eve, to cover their ‘shame’. And I heard a voice, a loud voice from ‘somewhere’ say: “Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin”. Trust me, I was only at Genesis 4, I hadn’t made it to Hebrews yet. Something ‘broke’ inside me that morning. When my wife woke up she discovered me; kneeling on the side of the bed, bawling. Not weeping, not just crying. Bawling, I couldn’t stop. I haven’t ever been the same since.
Beloved, Isaiah 53 represents (in my mind) the clearest, most succinct explanation of the Gospel in the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments. Right here, all parties are represented: God, Jesus and us: you and I. Please take note of the position each party takes in this prophetic look forward at the Cross. God punishes Jesus because of our sin. Jesus willingly accepts that suffering and punishment. We do nothing.. Nothing except, assume that He got what He deserved. Wander aimlessly away from the scene, like sheep, while He was healing us. It wasn’t enough that He died for us, but He suffered. And on that long road, that ‘Via Dolorosa’ meaning ‘the way of suffering’, Jesus healed, saved, delivered humanity. With the stripes He suffered during the beating ordered by Pilate, Jesus healed –ism and –itis, every malady, every virus, all sickness, all disease was dealt with in those moments. Then, with the burden of the Cross, down that long road to Golgotha, He bore our weakness, our infirmity, our sin. On the Cross, He bore our ‘shame’. Suspended between heaven and earth, the ultimate sacrifice, the propitiation (look it up) to God for our sins, our transgressions. Then, with His final breath, He spoke these words: ‘It is Finished” . In the Aramic, “Tetelestai” meaning “Paid in full”. The price for our rebellion, our disobedience, our sin then, now and forever more settled with God by the crucifixion of Christ. Glory! It’s feeling like Easter up in here!
Isaiah 53 ends by showing us how satisfied God is with what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. He exalts Him. He rewards Him richly. A picture of the Resurrection. God raises Jesus from the grave and exalts Him above all principalities and powers. Gives Him a name above any other and…. He makes a place for us; you and I, in His Kingdom. A place where you cannot be accused, cannot be shamed, won’t ever get sick, want for nothing… the whole deal. In God’s Presence… eternally. Beloved, what we know is not all there is to know. What I have to say is not all there is to say. What we’ve seen is not all there is to see. It has not entered into our hearts, we cannot imagine, really, what God has accomplished for us, His Church, through Christ. I’ll close with theses simple words: Love never fails
Blessings,
.wb
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails.
epiph·a·ny
noun \i-ˈpi-fə-nē\
plural epiph·a·nies
Definition of EPIPHANY
2 : an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being
3 a (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure
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