John 12:23-33

23 But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. 24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 25 "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

27 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. 28 "Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." 29 Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him." 30 Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.31 "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die.

Rev. Dan Rogers

In John 12, when Jesus announced that the hour of the cross had arrived (vs. 27), He also called on the Father to glorify His name. The Father's reply was that He had and would do so again. Yet, in what way? The answer we find in verses 31 and 32 is threefold. God would glorify His name through the judgment of the world, the casting out of the world's ruler, and the drawing of all peoples to Himself. Our focus for the moment will be the second item, the casting out of the ruler of this world.

Before we ponder how the ruler of this world has been cast out, we need to be clear as to the identity of this ruler. With a basic understanding of Scripture it is clear that the ruler of this world is the Devil or Satan. In Luke 11, a passage to be considered more carefully later, Jesus describes the Devil as having a kingdom (vs. 18). Later in Luke 22, Jesus describes Satan's kingdom authority when He warns Peter  "...Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat." (Lk. 22:31b) In 2 Corinthians 4:4, the Devil is called the "god of this age," and in Ephesians 6:12, he is referred to as the "prince of the power of the air.@

Yet perhaps the ruler of this world's identity is best understood from the Devil's temptation of Jesus. We read in Matthew 4, "...the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.'" (Matthew 4:8-9) By these verses we can be confident that Jesus was declaring that through His death and resurrection it was the Devil or Satan who was cast out.

And so having established the identity we can move on to the next question, "What did Jesus mean?" To begin with I believe we need to consider what it does not mean. The casting out of Satan does not mean that Satan has been completely destroyed. We know this from 1 Peter 5:8 where Peter writes, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Pet. 5:8) From this we understand that Satan still has power, remains active on the earth, and still seeks to kill and destroy. And so the casting out of the ruler of this world does not mean his complete destruction. Yet what does it mean?

To understand this more fully we will consider three aspects to the dethronement of the ruler of this world. First we will seek to provide support for the fact that it was through Christ's work on the cross and subsequent resurrection that Satan was cast out. Second we will consider the past, present, and future aspects of Christ's work. And finally we will consider the power necessary to continue His work.

Our first point centers on the source of Satan's dethronement. As we see in our text, Jesus declares that His cross is the source or cause of Satan's being cast out as ruler of this world. By the cross Satan was cast off the throne he held until that hour. Jesus makes it clear from our text that this is the case, but we see this in other parts of Scripture as well. Paul writes this about what Jesus did at the cross, He "... disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." (Col. 2:15) The powers and principalities, including the Devil, were publicly dethroned and disarmed through the work of Jesus on the cross. Satan and all his legions were cast out of their positions of strength.

Another passage and perhaps the most descriptive passage of the casting out of Satan is found in Revelation 20. John wrote, "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while." (Rev. 20:1-3)

Now some may ask, "Doesn't this passage describe the end times, a time in the future?" A time when there will be a literal thousand-year reign of Christ on earth when Satan will be bound? In response we would say that there are those who certainly think it does and many, especially within dispensational circles who teach that it does. But when we look closely at Scripture the clear message that is presented is that Christ is reigning today and that Satan has been cast out and bound so that he cannot deceive the nations.

Recall what Jesus said about His second coming when He warned about false prophets. He said in Matthew 24, "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." (Matt. 24:24) False prophets would arise and seek to deceive God's elect but it would not happen, why? Because Satan has been cast out and bound and is unable to ultimately deceive God's people. Deceive the world? Yes! Deceive God's people sometimes? Yes! But ultimately and decisively deceive God's people and stop the spread of the gospel? Absolutely not! And we see the same in our text where Jesus says that if He is lifted up, Satan will be cast out and He will draw all peoples to Himself. People of all nations, races, tribes and tongues. And Satan cannot stop it!

And so through the cross Jesus has dethroned Satan and bound him during this age until the end, when he will be cast out forever. Yes, there is a coming day, a short period before the return of Christ, when Satan will be released to deceive the nations again-a day when he will gather all his forces for a final battle with God and His people. "...when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea." Yet that short period will end this way: "The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Rev. 20:7-10) Yes, a day is coming when Satan will be cast out, but not just from his throne of power, but from the earth all together-cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Hopefully then it is clear that it is the Devil, Satan, who has been cast out and bound as the ruler of this world. Yet what has he been cast out from? The answer to that is found in Revelation 12. "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.'" Satan has lost a position before God that was his source of power. And what was that position? A position in which he was able to accuse God's people day and night, yet through the cross, He has been cast off that throne of power. The power that came from a real and valid accusation, the accusation that God allowed believers to enter His presence without atonement for their sins. Yes, the Old Testament sacrifices pointed to it but they were unable to accomplish it, and Satan had a valid accusation, "How can a Holy God allow sinners to enter His presence?" Yet through the cross it was finally accomplished and atonement was made. And through it Satan lost his power, because his accusation was no longer valid.

And so it should be a great comfort to God's people to know that their enemy, the Devil, has been dethroned, dethroned because he can no longer accuse them of sin. And it's especially important to know this as we live out what that means. What then does it mean that Satan has lost his power? Does it mean we are no longer tempted and afflicted by him? Does it mean that he no longer seeks our destruction and deception? Or does it mean that we are no longer opposed and oppressed? No, it doesn't. In fact, because Satan is defeated and knows that his days are numbered he is even more determined to destroy us. Recall again what we read earlier in 1 Peter 5, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Pet. 5:8)

That's the first part, but what does Peter go on to say? He says; "Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world." (1 Pet. 5:9) Even though Satan has been dethroned and cast out, he still causes what? The people of God to suffer! Yes, Peter says to resist him, to stand fast in the faith, but he also says that children of God will suffer. Yet Peter also tells us how to suffer, suffer knowing that all your brothers and sisters in Christ around the world suffer as well.

And so our defeated enemy, the cast out one, the one who is bound and unable to accuse God's children, is still able to cause God's people trouble and tribulation, pain and suffering. Real pain! Real suffering! Real hardship! But even still, he cannot stop the work of God's kingdom! He cannot stop the spread of the gospel! He cannot thwart for one moment God's gathering of His church! Yet still, God's people suffer.

This then leads to the question of suffering, "Why do God's people suffer if the ruler of this world has been cast out and bound?" The answer is found in taking a closer look at the words of Jesus. What we see is that even in our English translations we can hear the future aspect of Christ's work as Jesus said, "now the ruler of this world will be cast out." Of course we should understand that Jesus was primarily referring to the cross when He said this, but we should also understand that it carried with it the idea of an ongoing work, a work to be carried by the people of God. This then, should help us to better understand suffering.

In a weak and imperfect analogy we might think of Saddam Hussein's execution. His execution was the defeat of a wicked ruler, yet, as we know, even though he was cast out of power and eventually executed, his evil still haunts Iraq through his former influence. And now those who do battle with what's left of his kingdom do so knowing in the back of their mind that the purveyor of this evil has already been defeated.

So now today, Christians do the work of Christ's kingdom with the full knowledge that in so doing they too are casting out the remnants of Satan's kingdom We see this in our text, where Jesus says that He will draw all people's to Himself. By this we are to understand that not only was Satan cast out at the cross, but also today as Jesus continues to draw people to Himself, converting those who live in darkness, He continues to overthrow Satan's kingdom. And He calls all believers to join that work.

We find evidence to support this in two events that took place before the cross, through the work of the disciples and Jesus. In Luke 10, beginning at verse 17, we read of the outcome of Jesus sending out seventy of His followers. "Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.' And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.'" (Lk. 10:17-18) Jesus sent out seventy of His disciples and gave them His authority and power. They returned and what did they report? They were amazed because even the demons obeyed them because of the name of Jesus-the demons recognized the power of Christ. But even more amazing is what Jesus said in response. He said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." So what did Jesus mean? What did He mean that He saw Satan fall from heaven? The answer is that He saw Satan being cast out. As His disciples went out with His power, they demonstrated and had the power of the cross even before it happened. They anticipated and foreshadowed the fall of Satan's kingdom and his ability to accuse God's people.

And just as before the cross, the continual building of the church and the establishment of Christ's kingdom is an ongoing overthrow and casting out of Satan's kingdom and power. A passage that makes this very clear is Matthew 12:24-30, where Jesus was accused of casting out demons in the name of Satan (Beelzebub). Yet Jesus said, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad." (Matt. 12:24-30)

What are we to understand by this? We are to understand that when Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, forgave sins, and cast out demons He was overthrowing the kingdom of Satan and establishing His own. But notice that He says that it was only possible because He had first bound the strongman, He had bound Satan, even before the cross. Understanding this, we might say that Jesus throughout His earthly ministry was in the process of binding Satan, not just because of His power as the Son of God, but because He too looked forward to the cross, the cross where Satan's accusations would be silenced.

And so today as we live and work on behalf of Christ's kingdom we continue to overthrow and cast out the kingdom of Satan. And not just when people are converted to Christ, but every moment that a believer lives in obedience to Christ and His word. Every time Christ's will is done on earth as it is in heaven, it is an overthrow of the kingdom and power of Satan. We see this clearly in the life of the Apostle Paul when he was converted.

In Acts 26 the Lord Jesus told Saul that his work would be a work unto the Gentiles "to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." (Acts 26:18) In other words, God was using Paul to overthrow the kingdom and power of Satan. How? By opening the eyes of unbelievers and turning them from the darkness to the light.

Today we can say that every time a person is born again, the kingdom of Satan crumbles a little more. Every time a person submits himself to live in obedience to Christ, Satan's kingdom diminishes. And we can be confident that it will continue to shrink until that day when Christ puts His and our last enemy, death, under His feet (1 Cor. 15:26). Romans 16 says, "For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly...." (Rom. 16:19-20) What's the promise? That soon God will crush Satan, once and for all, under the feet of Christ and all who belong to Him. Yet again, what is the context in which this is being brought about? Through the obedience of God's people as they become "wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.

We have seen so far that the source for Satan being cast out and binding was the work of Christ on the cross, but hopefully we have also seen that it is a continuing work being completed by us, God's people.

In closing we also need to see the power to do such work. In fact apart from this power we will not be useful in building God's kingdom and we will not be able to overthrow the power of Satan's kingdom. If we neglect this power, we will fail. So what is it? Two sources.

The first, as you may have guessed, is the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His followers in John 16 that when the Holy Spirit came that He would do a number of things, one of those was to make clear the judgment of God. Judgment concerning what, "... judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." (Jn. 16:11) And now we can add to it, judged, cast out, and bound. And so in our dependence upon the Holy Spirit we can expect that the Holy Spirit will use God's people to show this as they participate in building Christ's kingdom. We should have confidence because of what John wrote "... little children, you have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." (1 Jn. 4:4)

The second power given to God's children for overthrowing the kingdom of Satan takes us back to where we started-the cross, the cross by which Satan was cast off his throne of power. We read of it again in Revelation 12. "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." (Rev. 12:11)

The kingdom of Christ has come, Satan has been cast out, and those who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb have now overcome him. What power do believers have to overthrow the kingdom of Satan? They have the knowledge and reality of the Lamb's blood, blood more precious than their own lives, a power which now silences the accusations of the ruler of this world and glorifies God's name.

When we think about worship today, we are confronted with different approaches. On the one hand, you have contemporary worship with its watering down of much that is considered offensive, in order to be seeker sensitive. With it there has come a loss of the creeds and confessions and even the preached word. On the other hand our reformed worship has suffered, because for many it is no longer personal and meaningful. Rather it has become a duty without much delight.

Worship in the Old Testament however, stands in contrast to much of what takes place today. Rather than a watered down form of worship, there was depth and meaning behind every element. In the book of Leviticus we learn about worship, we see that every action by the worshipper and every ritual by the priest had great significance, literally or symbolically. In particular with the burnt offering we see that every part of it was weighty and heavy with meaning.

As we consider the subject of worship from the book of Leviticus it is good for us to get a sense of the feel, smell, and sounds of worship from the Old Testament. In particular, it is good if we can see how meaningful and moving worship was for the Old Testament believer. It was not a passive time of pew sitting, but a deeply personal and active time of confession, forgiveness, praise, and adoration.

As we consider this, our theme is as follows: God instructs us that worship of Him is volitional, conditional, and personal.

The burnt offering is the first offering listed in Leviticus because it was the offering that symbolized atonement for man's sin. It is called the burnt offering because essentially the whole offering was consumed by the fire of the altar.

Volitional Worship

Yet verse 3 also tells us that it was a volitional part of worship-meaning that it was an act of man's will. We read, "If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord." (Leviticus 1:3) Worship in the Old Testament involved the will. Approaching God, seeking to confess sins and be forgiven was an act of the will, and that is how the burnt offering was to be brought.

There were times that the burnt offering was offered otherwise. In general it was to be offered twice daily by the priest on behalf of the people. In addition, Numbers, chapters 28 and 29, tell us that it was offered on the Sabbath, at the beginning of the month, on Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles and the other feast days. And, of course, on the great Day of Atonement-Yom Kipper.

But what we read about in this passage is the personal voluntary offering of the individual. It was to be brought if a man had sinned whether intentionally, unintentionally, or had become defiled in some way. It was to be brought on special occasions, such as when a vow was fulfilled, a priest ordained, or a child was born. Yet the common element was that it was voluntary.

As we see throughout Leviticus, what was to be brought was regulated by God. He demanded the best of the herd or flock. And as we see in this passage, how it was to be brought was also explicitly made know to the worshiper. And even though God told the people that this is how they were to maintain their relationship, He left it to each man to voluntarily bring the offering. And I believe that the reason is that it was to be a personal act of devotion.

It was to be from a sincere desire to maintain one's relationship with a heavenly Father. It was to restore what was broken and remove God's anger. It was not to be done as a mindless exercise, as a superstitious ritual, or only with a sense of compulsion. But rather, willingly with a sincere desire for restoration and forgiveness.

The writer of Psalm 66 knew of this and wrote about it many times. He did not write that he was obligated to bring offerings or reluctantly would give them. No, he said, "I will go into Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows, which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals, With the sweet aroma of rams; I will offer bulls with goats."  (Psalm 66:13-15) Willingly and joyfully he came to worship his God. And in his joy to do so, he invited others to come also, verse 16 of Psalm 66, "Come and hear, all you who fear God, And I will declare what He has done for my soul. " (Psalm 66:16)

The Psalmist sets forth worship that pleases God-worship that is done in joy and delight, worship that is from the heart and the inner most desires of a person. Worship by men and women, boys and girls, who desire to receive from God-to receive forgiveness, to receive atonement, and to receive restoration. And that is what is being said here, the Lord delights in and is pleased to offer forgiveness of sins. And He desires worshippers who desire it. He desires worshippers to willingly come near Him, through His Son, that they might be forgiven and be restored to a right relationship. Verse 9 tells us that it's a "sweet aroma to the Lord."

In a sense it seems odd, odd that a bloody, mutilated animal would be sweet to the Lord. Here's a ceremony about sin, a ceremony about death, a ceremony about sinful people, yet it is sweet to the Lord. And this is possible only because it's not about us, but about the offering. When Noah left the Ark (Genesis 8:20), he

"built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done." (Genesis 8:20-21)

The Lord was pleased, not because man had changed-he hadn't-but because of the burnt offering offered by Noah. It pleased the Lord to accept Noah, because of the offering. And the same is true today; the Lord wants us to willingly come to Him with the only burnt offering that will please Him, His Son. The Son is a pleasing aroma to the Father.

One of things about camping is that by the end of the trip, if you've had a campfire, everything smells like smoke. It permeates clothing, sleeping bags, and all your equipment. And in a way that is what the burnt offering did. The smoke of the offering rose from the altar and anything near also took on the aroma. And what we learn from it is that we should desire to be covered in such a fragrance, and in Christ we are.

2 Corinthians 2 verse 15 says, "For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life..." (2 Corinthians 2:15-16) The Lord says come, come near to me, come worship me, but come with the fragrance which is pleasing to me, come with the aroma of My Son, who is the aroma of life.

And so worship begins with the burnt offering, the sweet aroma of the cross of Christ, an offering by which men and women are forgiven and restored to a proper relationship with their heavenly Father.

Conditional Worship

Secondly, we see that the burnt offering was conditional, verse 4. "Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him." (Leviticus 1:4) Here it is directly stated that the burnt offering was to atone for sin. It was literally to cover over sin. It was something that would appease the wrath of God against the sinner. Ultimately only the work of Jesus would appease the wrath of the Father, but until He came in the flesh, God was pleased to accept the type or shadow which pointed to Christ.

What atonement actually did was provide a substitute for the sinner. The sinner would come before God deserving death. He was guilty and deserved the most severe punishment. Yet God said, "kill a bull, a sheep, or a bird" and I will turn my wrath away for now. In this way the sinner could ransom his own life, by providing a substitute.

We see this in the Passover, where God said, "when I take you out of Egypt, then I get your firstborn son, he is mine." For the Egyptians it meant that God took their lives and it would have been the same for Israel, except He provided a substitute. He said, you can redeem your firstborn if you kill a sheep in his place and sprinkle its blood on the doorpost. And so the burnt offering was to atone for sin, yet what we see is that it was conditional.

Notice again in verse 4, "Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him." (Leviticus 1:4) The burnt offering would be accepted and would atone for sin on the condition that the one who brought it put his hand on its head.

So we might ask, why does one laying his hands upon the animal determine whether the offering will be acceptable for making atonement? The answer is that it was more than just touching the animal, literally in the Hebrew it meant to lean upon the animal. And in so doing the sins of the man were passed to the animal, which would die in his place. We see this again and again with the other offerings of Leviticus, in chapter 3, verse 2, it was to be done with the peace offering, and in 4:4 it was to be done with the sin offering. The one who brought it was to lean on or press against the animal with his hands.

Yet it's not until chapter 16 that we see the whole story; the laying on of hands was accompanied with prayer and confession. We read in Leviticus 16:21 that on the great Day of Atonement Aaron was to "... lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and then send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man." (Leviticus 16:21) And so a man did not just bring an animal and toss it on the fire; no, he was to prayerfully confess his sins and transfer his sins to it by the laying on of his hands. Then God would accept it.

What did David write in Psalm 51 after he had sinned with Bathsheba? We read in verse 14, "Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart- These, O God, You will not despise. " (Psalm 51:14-17)

What kind of offerings does God accept? Those which are given with a broken and contrite heart. David could have offered a sacrifice, he could have brought the best of his herd or flock to be killed; but he knew that it would mean nothing unless his own heart was broken and humbled. Only when that took place could he bring the offering.

And we read the same thing in other places, God told the people through Jeremiah and Hosea not to bother to bring their offerings and we read this in Amos 5:21, ""I hate and despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. " (Amos 5:21-22) Why, because at the same time they were bringing burnt offerings they were also worshiping idols.

They were not bringing offerings with true confession and repentance, and so they were not accepted. And it is no different today. Where does true worship begin? It doesn't begin by merely showing up at a building, singing a song, or sitting in a pew for an hour. No, it begins with a confession of sins and the claiming by faith the forgiveness found in Christ. Today we no longer bring the sacrifice because Christ's sacrifice has been given once and for all, but we still come to worship in confession and humility. We still lay hold of Christ by faith for atonement.

Personal Worship

Finally, we learn from this passage that worship is not only volitional, involving our will, conditional, involving our heart, but also personal. We read on in verses 5 and 6, "He shall kill the bull before the Lord; and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces." (Leviticus 1:5-6)

Old Testament worship was personal and it was messy. After laying his hands on the animal, "the worshipper prepared the animal for the sacrifice, by killing it, skinning it, washing the dirty parts, and chopping it up." As the worshipper killed it, the priest would catch some of the blood to throw against the outside of the altar, symbolizing God's demand that blood be shed for sin. As the writer of Hebrews says in 9:22, "And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission." (Hebrews 9:22). After the blood, the worshipper would bring the pieces of the animal. And starting with the head the whole animal would be burned on the altar.

Worship was personal and it was meaningful. Unlike many modern day church services which are dull and boring-sing a few songs and listen to the minister. Although it doesn't have to be so! Yet unlike this, the ancient worshipper had to first go out into the pasture and carefully check each animal for blemishes or defects. Then he would have to bring the animal to the tabernacle and kill it. And then with his own hands he took a knife and skinned the whole animal to give to the priest. Then as he hacked to pieces the animal he also had to clean out all the unclean parts. And then as he stands there he watches as his offering goes up in smoke, which would happen quickly on the altar which was seven and a half feet by four and a half.

And so the worshipper did all this, knowing and confident, that just as smoke ascended to heaven, so his sins were lifted from him and his relationship with God was profoundly affected.

This reminds us that the forgiveness of sins is the prerequisite of true worship. Only those whose sins are forgiven can enjoy God's fellowship and praise Him from their hearts. And so for the Christian, worship and fellowship with God involves personal engagement. Today we no longer bring the sacrifice, but we still lay hold of it by faith and confession.

In 1 John 1:7 and 9 we read, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7, 9)

Like that worshipper of the O.T. who could stand before the altar of God in assurance that his sins were forgiven and his relationship with God made right, so too can we through Christ.

And so God invites us to come, to come willing with a conscious desire to be forgiven and restored. To come in humility and sincerity, not just saying the name of Christ, but laying hold of Him, leaning hard against Him as it were, as the only sacrifice acceptable to God. And with the confidence that in Christ we have and can receive forgiveness and cleansing from all our unrighteousness.