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Commentary on "Rejoicing Before the Lord: The Sanctuary and Worship"
Day 4: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 - Continual Burnt Offering
Overview
Today’s lesson looks at the continual burnt offerings offered for sin. It makes the point that the animal sacrifices of the Mosaic covenant were a shadow of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. The author makes the further point that true worship “first and foremost,” means “giving ourselves wholly and completely to god as a living sacrifice. When we give ourselves first, our gifts, our praise, and our hearts will follow.” The lesson ends by asking if the reader has “given everything over to Christ,” or is he retaining “some corner” of his heart which he won’t surrender.
Observations
On the surface, the words “sound” right. Underneath, however, there is still a missing concept: repentance and receiving the forgiveness of God and the new birth.
Adventism teaches that when one accepts Christ, they confess their sins, and Jesus’ blood then saves them from all their past sins. Ongoingly, however, they must continue to confess and repent in order to be forgiven--and if they are not forgiven for their ongoing sins, they will not be saved.
So when the lesson says a person must give himself completely to God as a sacrifice, the author means that this offering of oneself is the way to be forgiven, cleansed, and sanctified and thus to worship.
Paul, however, was talking to already born-again Christ-followers when he said to offer themselves as living sacrifices. This command was not for the purpose of being forgiven and right with God. This command was a consequence of already being forgiven and right with God. A person cannot hope to be cleansed and forgiven by trying to give everything over to God. This attempt results in utter frustration.
What Scripture tells us is that we must repent, believing in the only begotten Son of God in order to be saved (Acts 16:31; John 5:24).
Adventism sees sin as a physical thing, something transmitted in the gene pool. Scripture sees sin as spiritual, a dead spirit that is our natural state as citizens of the domain of darkness (Eph 2:1-3; Col 1:13) until God transfers us to the kingdom of His beloved Son and brings us to life (Eph. 2:4-9). If sin is physical, then salvation has to be about getting our behavior straightened out.
If, however, sin is spiritual, then salvation is about being made alive: born of the Spirit. As Jesus told Nicodemus, a person cannot see or enter the kingdom of God without being born of the Spirit.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:7).
We are sinners before we commit a single sin. As spiritual dead sinners, we cannot hope to give every part of ourselves over to God. All we can do is repent for our hopeless sin which we cannot, under any circumstance, avoid, even by prayer. As natural people, we are helpless to avoid sin, even though Ellen White said Satan cannot force anyone to sin.
Only when we repent and submit to the Lord Jesus, receiving His blood as our atonement and His life as our life, can we begin to surrender the parts of ourselves to God. When we are born again, that is the first chance we have of being able to submit ourselves to Him. Belief in the Lord Jesus is our salvation; this belief results in being born of the Spirit, and this new spiritual life means we can begin to surrender our temptations and impulses to God instead of acting on them or repressing them.
Summary
- No one can surrender every part of himself to God unless he is first born again.
- Sin is not a physical phenomenon; it is spiritual death.
- “That which is born of flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn 3:7).
- Only when we repent and receive the Lord Jesus’ blood on our behalf are we born again.
- When we are born again, then we can begin to surrender our temptations instead of indulging them or repressing them.
- Belief in the Lord Jesus is our salvation.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised July 17, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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Official Adventist Resources
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