Staying Dead: Monday Manna

I'm hosting Monday Manna this week :)

The purpose of Monday Manna to get together and get to know Christ more through His Word. Each Thursday, a Bible verse to ponder will be posted, either here or at my dear friend Vonnie's blog, My Back Door. The following Monday, those participating will post their thoughts on the verse at their own blogs and link up at the bottom of the post in the Linky gadget. The main purpose is to chew on the same Scripture and learn from one another.

Here's this week' verse:

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.  Isaiah 53:10 NIV

Looking forward to your thoughts. Mine are below.

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Whenever I read through the books of Moses, I start to think about the population of the land of Israel. No--not the human population. The animal population.

They must have had a whole lot of sheep! And how about those cows and goats? Daily offerings at the temple required lots of livestock--not to mention the Sabbath and holy day offerings. And then, of course, there were the sin and guilt offerings. In a word: LOTS of animals to kill.

And why were they killed? For various reasons, but many were the payment of sin.When you displeased the Lord in those times, the blood of an animal (without defect) was required. But it wasn't enough. 

How do I know, you ask? Because the animal stayed dead.

If the atonement for sin had been complete and sufficient, the animal would have come back to life--and there wouldn't have been a need for all those sacrifices. But, because the blood of rams and goats was not sufficient to atone for our sin, something else needed to be done.

So God came to earth Himself, and "made his life an offering for sin." And he died. But this was different.

He didn't stay dead.

Because He was completely sinless, completely God, AND completely man (don't ask how that can be - at least don't ask ME!), he saw "his offspring [that would be US!] and prolong(ed) his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand."

And because He is alive, we are done with sacrifices. And we are forgiven. Hallelujah!


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Thanks for reading! Be sure to link up below, and read others' thoughts on this verse.



Paving Rough Roads With God's Presence