I beseech you therefore brethren
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (RM. 12:1)
In this supplication of the Apostle to God in his compassion for the brethren, Paul makes an analogy to the being sacrificed to God through the Hebrews in the old testament, it is enough to analyze (Lev. 22:17-24) For if such animals had to be perfect, without any blemish or breaking or rupture or similar things, how shall we present our body to God, seeing that we have an altar in us where those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat of the sacrifice? (Heb. 13;10)
Is it not cause to weep when we observe the meetings that are held today in the name of God?...
Yes brethren it is truly cause to weep, for what we see is a profanation of the sacred, beginning with its leaders extending to its followers who without any discernment follow executing his teachings without examining the word of God.
What kind of sacrifice and sacrificer have you and I been?...
As a sacrificer I enter into the presence of God in a pure, holy character without contamination with the world, in a just procedure as befits the priest.
“No man of the seed of Aaron the priest, in whom there is any blemish, shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God”, (Lev. 21:21)
He could not be blind. (Lv. 21:17-20). He who has no vision is not fit for the priesthood. A leader without vision is like a house without a window. When the vision of God is lost, focus is lost, the noble objectives of the kingdom and mainly, direction is lost. May God help us, so that we always have the eye salve to anoint our spiritual eyes.
He could not be lame. (Lv. 21:17-21). The lame is he who because of a physical defect, is sometimes up, sometimes down. But, contextualizing to the spiritual side, the spiritually lame is he who oscillates, that is, has no spiritual stability. “God exhorted his people Israel, saying:” The prophet Elijah had to be used so that the people would decide between serving God or Baal. As a leader cannot limp in this walk.
We must have firmness and conviction of our ministry and of the calling we have for a great work.
According to the Bible, to be a priest in the Old Testament, the candidate had to go through a rigid and careful approval process. We cannot forget that in the current dispensation, we are also the royal priesthood of Christ. Therefore, the requirements of the Old Covenant were only an allegory for our days, Where does this lead us?
Observe what the Apostle Peter informs us (1 Pe 2:9) “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;”
Now let us observe what kind of rational worship has been practiced in our days.
In the religious context, rational is the name given to the manual of divine offices that contains the historical and mystical reasons of the liturgy.
It is also a square of cloth, adorned with twelve precious stones, which the high priest of the Jews wore on his breast, in great religious ceremonies.
See the communion and reasoning of both Apostles Peter and Paul when relating the worship of adoration to God between new and old testament, Christ in his flesh as man demonstrated this in his work as Priest, Shepherd, Servant, sacrificer and lastly the sacrificed, thus wishing to give us the example so that we follow his steps, (1Pe.2;21).
Therefore it behooves us to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Hebrews 2;1-3
God bless you
Pr. JOSÉ RAMOS