you can't come in empty-handed

The Word for today:

Exodus 30, 31

The Tabernacle is God’s picture book, illustrating the great doctrines of the Christian faith.  And Stand in the Rain has been commissioned by God Himself (Matthew 28:18-20) to be your official Tabernacle tour guide…

***

We've come through the Tabernacle Gate, but we did not come in empty-handed. 

We're often told to "come to God with empty hands, so he can fill them."  But when we hear that, the "WRONG" buzzer should go off!

Because while it is true that we have nothing of our own to give him, it is also true that we can't bring nothing!  Man cannot approach God without a sacrifice.  

And because the wages of sin is death, only a blood sacrifice is acceptable (Romans 6:23; Leviticus 17:11).

The sacrifice is a substitute for the sinner:

And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. (Leviticus 1:4)

The Israelite killed the sacrifice at the side of the altar with his hand placed upon its head, thus identifying himself with the sacrifice.

By faith he placed his hand upon it and God accepted this arrangement, looking to the time when the Lamb of God would take away the sin of the world, “for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (John 1:29; Hebrews 10:4).

  

Way back in Genesis, God wanted Abraham to understand the awful price of sin.  So he told Abraham to offer his son Isaac.

But God never intended for Isaac to die.  He stopped the execution, and provided a ram, whose horns were caught in a thicket, to be sacrificed in Isaac's stead.

God wanted Abraham to understand that the only acceptable sacrifice was the Son that God, not Abraham, would provide.

***

The same holds true with prayer.  Unless and until we offer Jesus, verbally by Name, our prayers do not find God. 

The Name is not a magic incantation.  As the Son of God/Son of Man, He is the mediator of the covenant (the terms of a relationship) between God and Man.  We simply can't connect without Him.

Apart from Jesus, in terms of salvation and prayer, we are disconnected from God.  In any situation, throughout all eternity, we will not be admitted without Jesus.

So if you come to God empty-handed, that's the way you will always stay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~