Title: Worship with True Sacrifice
Worship with true sacrifices
Hebrews 11:4
Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. A belief is a concrete, sure guarantee, like a security or contract. Our ancestors in our faith were recognized by God with this very faith. By this belief, we know that all things were created by the word of God, and therefore we know that I myself am a noble being made in God's image. The lives of people with this belief are bound to be very different from those of other people. People who have this faith fully love and trust God, and are willing to accept and obey God with gratitude for all that God does in their lives. And he dedicates his life to God.
martyred faith
From now on, Hebrews 11 tells the story of the heroes of faith who were victorious with this faith. However, the first hero of faith is Abel, who was martyred because of that faith. Those who decide to live by faith here are bewildered. I promised myself to live by faith, but the result was death! Wouldn't people see this and give up the race of faith altogether? Wouldn't it have been better if we had put the story of great leaders like Moses and David at the outset? What do you think?
But we can learn a profound lesson here. Putting martyrs first is a very wise choice. Because it is essential to be clear from the outset what the cost of faith in Jesus Christ is, and to show that this belief is well worth the price. We already know many people who gave their lives for this belief. Are you living your life of faith with this determination?
The sacrifice of Cain and Abel
Adam's sons, Cain and Abel, offered sacrifices to God. “After the years passed, Cain sacrificed from the produce of the earth and offered it to the Lord, and Abel himself also offered the firstborn of the sheep and their fat; and the Lord accepted Abel and his offering, but did not accept Cain and his offering” (Genesis 4). :3-5a) God accepted Abel's offering and not Cain's. What was the difference between the two rituals?
The offerings of Cain and Abel appear to be the same outwardly. They were all faithful to their profession and religion. The same is true of Abel and of Cain. Cain worked hard in the field and came to the altar to offer sacrifices to God. But why did God accept Abel's offering and not Cain's?
view as a matter of sacrifice
There are two main interpretations of this issue. One is the view that there was a problem with the offerings offered by the two men. Another view is that the person offering the sacrifice had a problem.
The traditional interpretation believes that the reason God accepted Abel's offering and not Cain's was because of the sacrifice. Cain's offering was grain, and Abel's offering was sheep. In other words, there was blood in Abel's offering, and there was no blood in Cain's offering. God did not accept Cain's sacrifice without blood, but accepted Abel's sacrifice with blood. The reason that God did not accept Cain's offering was because Cain's offering was wrong.
Proponents of this interpretation speculate that God may have revealed the law of sacrifice to the fallen Adam and Eve. God made and clothed fallen Adam and Eve with leather garments, and an animal had to die for these skin garments. I think the concept of a sacrifice for atonement for sins with blood was presented here.
The Bible says that there is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22b) Therefore, all sacrifices offered to God after the fall must contain blood. According to these words, Abel shed the blood of a lamb and offered a sacrifice to atone for sins, and God accepted Abel's sacrifice. However, because Cain ignored these words and offered grain without blood as a sacrifice, God did not accept Cain's sacrifice.
This interpretation is very gracious and biblical. The crucial problem with this interpretation, however, is that it is based on imagination and conjecture. There is nothing in the Bible that God taught Adam how to sacrifice. And it is hard to believe that God made the skins for Adam and Eve to mean that the animal died to atone for their sins. It is only speculation and assumption that God must have told Adam about the sacrificial law. However, it is assumed that something is not certain, and the text is interpreted based on this assumption. Until now, many people have interpreted and preached the text in this way, but interpreting the Bible in this way is not a sound interpretation method. The Bible must be interpreted thoroughly with the Bible itself, not with assumptions or hypotheses.
The view that the person who made the sacrifice is the problem
Another interpretation is that God's acceptance of Abel's offering and not Cain's offering was not a matter of the sacrifice, but of the person offering it. This interpretation is firmly grounded in the text of Genesis and in the text of today's book of Hebrews.
Let's look at the text again. “By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain, and he received evidence that he was righteous, because God testified of that gift, because he died, but by his faith he still bears witness” (verse 4). It is clear that the difference between the sacrifices was in faith. Because Abel offered the sacrifice by faith, God accepted it with pleasure. However, because Cain offered the sacrifice without faith, God did not accept it.
Let's look at the words recorded in Genesis. “After the years passed, Cain sacrificed from the produce of the earth and offered it to the Lord, and Abel himself also offered the firstborn of the sheep and their fat; and the Lord accepted Abel and his offering, but did not accept Cain and his offering” (Genesis 4). :3-5a) This verse says that God accepted Abel and his offering, but did not accept Cain and his offering. Not only the sacrifice, but also the person offering the sacrifice is mentioned. Therefore, it is clear that the problem was not only with the sacrifice, but with the offerer.
The conclusion is as follows. The difference between the sacrifices offered by Abel and Cain was not simply in the offering. The difference between the sacrifices was in those who offered them. Abel had faith and Cain had no faith. Abel was a righteous man recognized by God and lived a righteous life. Cain was a wicked man that God hated, and he lived a wicked life. So God accepted Abel's offering and not Cain's.
sacrifice offered by faith