luminosa

Jesus atoned for the sins of many people, as opposed to the animal sacrifices of the Israelites. God offered up Jesus as the one who would redeem mankind from the bondage of sin. In the passage we studied, the Word of God states that Jesus justified many because we have ALL strayed away from God's ways. Jesus took upon himself the sin and punishment reserved for us all. The Word of God says that Jesus is the high priest who will sprinkle and cleanse "many nations". That certainly sounds like universal salvation to me. Jesus' saving grace is wasted on some people in the sense that they refuse to humble themselves and admit that they need a savior. They will not recognize the fact that we all fall short of God's glory and we desperately need Jesus, day in and day out, not just for our salvation but to be able to walk in righteousness daily. May God help me to continue to desire to see the lost saved!

Sin is not trivial in God's eyes. Sin is costly and the price we must pay is too high. Ultimately, we pay with our very lives, condemned to eternal separation from God. I believe He allowed animal sacrifice to show us that something had to die (that's how serious the penalty is) in order for sin to be blotted out. An animal which had nothing to do with our wrongdoing had to suffer, and at the hands of the sinner no less! That is horrible. How much more impacting is it to realize that God's son, (who is God) subjected Himself to the punishment? Sin is ugly and horrible Holiness can only be attained God's way. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. God is awesome. He is LOVE. I praise Him and lift Him up. I magnify Him and give him all the glory

The basic elements of sacrifice are: confession of sin, animal offering:animal as scapegoat taking upon itself the sin of man, killing and bloodshed of animal. The elements that are still necessary today for forgiveness of sins are confession, the need for a substitute to take our deserved punishment, the shedding of blood and death. Animal sacrifice is no longer needed because the Lamb of God became the perfect sacrifice once and for all time. Jesus stepped in and took our punishment upon Himself. The blood of animals would not do. God created us to have dominion over animals and so animals were not adequate enough to serve as an atonement and washing away of our sins. It had to be the Best of the Best. How awe inspiring, the supreme act of love on behalf of all humanity. May we praise and give glory to the Lord forever and ever, Hallelujah!!

Modern people consider animal sacrifice to be primitive and cruel. Some people might feel that there are more humane ways to draw closer to God. There are many people in modern society that are active in animal rights groups and are vehemently opposed to any type of activity they might consider cruel towards animals. Large segments of the population now live in urban and suburban areas. These folks have little contact with farming animals which are typically the kind used for sacrifice. Many people have pets that are dear to them and would not be able to conceive of killing animals for any reason.

We should be angry at sin because it is selfish, destructive and brings about death. The word of God says that the wages of sin is death. Sin is the tool Satan uses to drive a wedge between God and us and to ultimately bring about our demise. Uncontrolled anger lashes out indiscriminately. God has not dealt with humanity in the way we deserve; we would all be toast if He allowed Himself uncontrolled anger. With Jesus, God has given all humanity the opportunity to repent and turn to Him for forgiveness. His anger will come to those who stubbornly refuse to accept their sinfulness and reconcile themselves to God. So, no one gets away with anything

We can know that John spoke of Jesus as a sacrificial lamb because this is the method that Jews employed to deal with their sins; they typically sacrificed animals. The statement that Jesus comes to take away the sins of the world can be thought of as radical. After all, the Jews thought of themselves as the special possesion of God (which they are) and that everyone else were foreigners and heathens. Jesus came to make it possible for people of all races and nationalities to become joint heirs. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!

According to Pastor Ralph's exposition, an ephod is a sacred garment worn by the high priest. The ephod may have looked like the artists' rendition found in the exposition. It is similar to a tunic and it was probably woven from hammered gold, very fancy.

Gideon asks each man to give him an earring from the spoils of the war. Gideon, in my view, was not wrong in taking a reward. I don't think there was anything wrong with asking for the earrings; the people gave them as a gesture of appreciation. The sin in this case began when Gideon made the ephod out of the golden earrings. The ephod became the target of the people's worship. It perhaps represented their deliverance and it became an idol. They forgot that their salvation is of God. God Himself instructs us not to worship idols.

Gideon understands that the one true king over Israel is God Himself. Gideon knows in his heart that God is the one who delivered them from the oppression of the Midianites. God, Creator of heaven and earth, our provider and saviour, deserves kingship over us. Becoming king is treason because it ursurps God's rightful place in our lives. It is giving authority over to a man, full of frailties and faults, instead of giving it to God. The Israelites probably thought it fitting for Gideon to be king because he led the charge against the Midianites. People sometimes are lured into idolizing mere mortals because they have attractive qualities: they are powerful, bold, rich, good-looking etc. What we forget though is that all good things come from God and if anybody's got these things, its because God has given them. The Israelites forgot that God masterminded and orchestrated their deliverance. They wanted to pin their hopes on Gideon, their conquering hero.

Gideon slays Zebah and Zalmunna because they killed his brothers. Gideon is being just according to the commandment in the Old Testament that says if a man kills someone he is a murderer and deserves to die. We are prohibited from exacting revenge because we are to allow God to be our God of justice. We are to let Him deal with those who have wronged us. Whatever we suffer here on earth pales in comparison to the glory we inherit in Christ Jesus in the time to come. This could be very hard for us in the flesh; our first impulse is to get back at people, but we are to mortify the flesh and be Christ like!

The cities of Succoth and Peniel refuse to aid Gideon's army because they want to have physical confirmation that Gideon indeed has wiped out the Midianites. They ask for the hands of the Midianite leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna. They show a lack of support and faith in God's plan. Gideon punishes Succoth and Peniel because they refused to help his men. It reminds me of "an eye for an eye"; when someone transgresses against you, you have a right to punish them and avenge the wrong doing. Succoth and Peniel's sin is in foolishly treating their own convenant brothers uncharitably. By doing so, they are disrespecting God's servants and God Himself. Succoth and Peniel show a lack of faith and obedience. Christians can be guilty of the same sin of Succoth and Peniel when we refuse to aid our fellow Christians. We sometimes don't want to be put out or inconvenienced.

Gideon must vanquish the remaining Midianite army to prevent the enemy from coming back again to oppress them. If we do not deal with problems in a decisive manner, problems will creep back up to the surface, bigger and more difficult to overcome. The danger lies in being ambivilent in our desire to be rid of things that shouldn't continue in our lives; we will fight the same battles over and over. Sin can be this way if we don't seek the Lord's help and decide to be rid of it once and for all.

Gideon asks the Ephraimites to cut the Midianites' escape route through the Jordan river. The Ephraimites are angry because Gideon did not include the tribe in his battle against the Midianites. Gideon handles this by playing down the importance of his accopmlishments, thereby soothing the Epraimites ruffled feathers. I learned that in conflict, a cooler head will prevail. Instead of acting defensively in certain situations, its best to let the Holy Spirit take over and allow us to respond diplomatically. The alternative is to become angry and cause a major rift.

Gideon's camp was split into three groups in order to make it appear that Gideon's army vast and huge. The enemy would feel as if they were surrounded on all sides. The 300 trumpets sounding at once, the shattering of the jars and the torches were all designed to trick the enemy into thinking they were ambushed by a great army. The blazing torches, the noise of the trumpets and the jars crashing all add to the feeling of imminent danger and elicited panic and fear from the Midianites. The results of all this was that the Midianites attacked each other in all the fear and chaos. The strategy worked because God was behind it all, His plan was for the Midianites to destoy one another in the battle.

I think the rolling barley loaf represents the small band of Israelites that would defeat and overrun the vast army of Midianites. I'm reminded of young David armed only with a slingshot against gigantic Goliath armed with weaponry. The Lord shows Gideon the dream to encourage and rally him to follow His command. It's reassurance for Gideon. The Lord understands the way we think and that some of us need constant encouragement. God is good!!