Suppose you held a job that required the following:
1) Whenever you made a mistake, you add to forfeit something of value in order to ‘right’ the mistake. The something of value was pay or vacation days or sick days—some aspect of your job situation you valued.
2) To keep peace with your boss, you had to periodically gift him something of value. Not your favorite pair of socks, but something like a special night out on the town for him and his spouse.
3) To let your boss know you were devoted to your job, three times a month you worked double over-time.
4) Just in case you made a mistake without knowing you made a mistake, you periodically forfeited something of value on a monthly basis. Not the tuna fish sandwich in your lunch sack, but a portion of your paycheck.
5) Annually, you were required to forfeit a significant something of value in order to wipe away all the mistakes of the year, like one entire monthly paycheck.
Sound doable? Truth is, you would stay employed there about five minutes before handing in your resignation.
In a way, this describes the relationship between God and the Israelites upon their release from Egypt. God provided the Israelites six offerings to observe in order to keep the relationship between them and Him intact. The sins of all the Israelites would be taken care of through the observances of these six offerings. In addition, their devotion to God would remain strong, cementing the peace between them and Him.
These six offerings required some type of sacrifice from the Israelites, like the death of an animal. At this point, aren’t you ready to declare God a bit harsh and judgmental?
However, remember God is the epitome of holiness—perfect goodness—while the Israelites were the complete opposite. They were sinful in countless and unceasing ways. Yet, and this is the wonder of it all, God still desired to have a relationship with them. He had chosen them to be His people. It wasn’t a mere acquaintance relationship He desired. He desired the relationship to be a perfect relationship.
The predicament was simple: How does a perfect God have a perfect relationship with imperfect sinners?
Important thought: Even when God establishes the six offerings, He already knows the Israelites will fail in following them. No one is able to keep His commandments perfectly—even His chosen people. Important question: Could the Israelites perform the six offerings while all the time grumbling in their hearts? Of course. We humans are experts at appearing to do all the right things while are hearts grumble about doing the right things.
Therefore, if His chosen people could never attain a perfect relationship with Him, what hope do we imperfect people possess in ever having a perfect relationship with Him?
The additional truth is that we should never want God to be less than holy. We would never ask Him to lower His standards in order that we could then approach Him: “God, you be less holy and we’ll try to be more holy. That way we’ll meet somewhere in the middle and shake hands.” We must desire that He remains perfectly holy. In addition, we should desire the same perfect holiness He is.
Imagine if God had said to the Israelites (and also to us), “I will remain on my throne high in Heaven. To reach me, you must attain the perfect holiness that I am. I have established all the procedures you need to follow in order to accomplish this. Follow them perfectly and you can join me here. Good luck. Also, no collect calls please.”
Talk about a fanciful pipe dream. The Israelites keeping those six offering requirements was never about them other than the fact they would never be able to do so perfectly. Because they were sinners, they were doomed from the start.
Fortunately for us, it isn’t about us either. In His perfect wisdom, God established the requirements knowing He would be the One who would ultimately fulfill the requirements. Incredibly amazing! How did He accomplish this? Again, incredibly amazing.