I read a story recently that reminded me of God’s personal quest for my heart, it caused me to feel refreshed and inundated with His love. The story is about Abraham, who at the time was known by his former name Abram, and his nephew Lot. Abram received an alarming message about Lot being abducted from his home in Sodom and taken as a prisoner of war at the hands of the military forces of four kings.
Imagine Abram as a model of God’s nature to save and picture helpless Lot as humanity.
The story found in Genesis 14 doesn’t imply or allude in any manner that Abram wavered on his decision to save Lot, nor does it show he cowered in fear. Abram didn’t allow the enormity of the situation he faced to sway him from the task at hand. Quite the opposite, Abram, acted with boldness immediately recruiting those around him to build a small arsenal of 318 trained men to deliver his deceased brother’s son from this trouble.
When we have no one else, we have God and He can rally an army to save!
Strategically, Abram and his men tracked and chased down the offenders, they attacked this vast army on every side. They relentlessly battled their opponents to their defeat, successfully saving Lot, his possessions and everything, including everyone, taken in the siege.
God pursues us every day. He vies for our attention, relentlessly contends for our affections, moment by moment and day by day. In this story, Abram acts as a model of our Heavenly Father, for he had one objective in mind and that was to save.
God doesn’t fear failure, obstacles or any opposing forces. God is driven by an internal mechanism…His limitless love…this love compels…it captures…it captivates and catapults Him into action.
God has one objective in mind.
God has always desired to have a one-on-one, personal relationship with every person that has entered and is yet to enter the earth, but He had to tear down an obstruction preventing this type of relationship in its fullness.
“So He Himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained Him.”
Isaiah 59:16b NLT
The Day of Atonement was designed under the old agreement to satisfy the sins of man, but it had to be done yearly and their sins weren’t totally eradicated, rather they were covered. Also, the high priest was the only one that could enter into the presence of God, into His Most Holy Place to make this sacrifice. (Leviticus 16:1-34)
God momentarily exchanged the splendor and beauty of His throne to clear the static in our connection.
Under the new agreement, Jesus Christ is the High Priest. He acted as an expiating sacrifice, He destroyed the guilt humankind incurred by our actions and through this exchange, we have access to God freely.
Matthew provides one account in the Bible that chronicles the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (See Matthew 27:27-55), at the moment Jesus gave up His Spirit in death a few interesting things happened.
“Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart,”
Matthew 27:50-51 New Living Translation (NLT)
In the temple there was a second curtain that led from the Holy Place to the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies, the high priest was the only one able to enter here (Hebrews 9:3). The moment Christ “gave up the ghost,” the curtain was torn in two allowing everyone who’d accept Christ’s sacrifice to have complete access to God. I consider the breaking of the earth to symbolize the breaking of the altar the sacrifice was made on because no longer would man have to make a blood sacrifice to God!!! Now we only need to accept Christ, ask for forgiveness, turn away from everything else and into the arms of the Father.
PRAYER
Father I thank You for chasing us down and catching our attention long enough for us to choose You! Your arms are not too short to save us! I thank You that even when we are defenseless and in despair, with no apparent help You sent Your Son to save us and all we have to do is call on Jesus to receive Your help (Roman 10:13)! I pray that you remove any weight that would burden your beloved children now and in place of that load lifted allow us to feel the presence of your Holy Spirit, which brings us comfort.
In Jesus Name, Amen!
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Hebrews 9:24-26 New International Version (NIV)
Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close.
Psalm 27:10 New Living Translation (NLT)
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