Worship and Sacrifice

A worship without sacrifice is not a true worship. This is what my pastor emiratus once said. This also tells us what it means to worship God. When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son Issac, He wanted to teach him (and us) what it is to worship God. Before Abraham was called to sacrifice his son, he had worshiped Him by building an altar and calling His name at the altar. But, God wanted him (and us) to know the true worship. The true worship has to be accompanied with a sacrifice. Without a sacrifice, the worship is void and meaningless. The true model of worship was already shown by Abel. He sacrificed a sheep to worship. Then, when the Israelites came out of Egypt and the law was given to them, God specifically required sacrificial worships. Each worship required an animal sacrifice except for those who were too poor to possess an animal to sacrifice. This has two meanings. First, blood, which symbolizes life, had to be shed. Second, a meaningful and significant part of one's possession needed to be given up for worship.

When Jesus was sacrificed, the first part was fulfilled. His own life was given up to redeem our lives. For second, God gave up His one and only Son.

For us today, the first requirement is not needed any more. Worship no longer attaches to itself the first significance. But the second requirement is still required. Sacrifice is required. Whatever a significant part of our possessions is to be given up.

The story of Ruth

The third and final non-Jewish woman who was included in the genealogy of Jesus is Ruth. Ruth was Moabite. She was married to a Jewish man, who moved to the Moabite territory with his parents and a brother. He died, and Ruth became a widow. But her tragedy was less compared to the tragedy of her mother-in-law, Naomi. She lost her two sons and her husband in the land of Moab. In bitterness and hopelessness, she decided to move back to Israel. At that time, while the other daughter-in-law decided to stay back in her country, Ruth persisted on and determined to follow her mother-in-law, saying, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." (Ruth 1:16) This determination revealed her faith, and God saw her faith. Ruth became a part of God's family, and received the honor of being Jesus' ancestor.

Being included in the genealogy of Jesus symbolically testifies what it means to be saved and be a part of God's family. And the salvation, as we have examined, is not based on anything other than faith. Those three gentile women "thought" that if they trusted in Jehovah God that the Israelites knew about and relied on, they would live. That little thought is faith! It is as small as a mustard seed, and but it is all that matters in salvation.

Thought on the Conquest of Jericho

Similar to the example of Tamar in the previous blog, in Jericho, a woman of a lowly class was living, and Rahab was her name. He was a temple prostitute. When we read the story of Joshua's conquest of Jericho that is recorded from Chapter 2 to Chapter 6 of the Book of Joshua in the Bible, we tend to focus on the miracle that occurred when the Israelites circled around the wall. Little attention is given to the faith and action of Rahab. But again, the story masks the true intention of God who included her in the genealogy of Jesus. In fact, the conquest story is the story of Rahab, not Joshua.

Rahab also displayed an extraordinary action, and the action was based on her thought (faith) on Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who had performed the miracle of dividing the Red Sea and let the Israelites pass through the sea, and terrified the people in Jericho. She was marveled at the miracle and thought that Jehovah God was the real God. That thought is faith. Rahab believed in God  and trusted in Him. For her, He was the true Almighty. This faith was what God considered, and He reached out to save her. On top of that, He placed her in the Lord's genealogy, giving her the honor of being His ancestor.

In that way, God manifested His intention to everybody. He is telling us, "I will save and honor and bless the one who puts his/her trust in me." The story also tells us that God does not consider outward appearance, including ethnicity, when He saves people.