Manoah and his wife met with the Angel of the LORD, and they offered to God an offering. Afterwards, Manoah feared for his life, but his wife reasoned that God would not have accepted their offering had He intended wrath against them.
So too, the Lord's people should know that God is pleased to receive our offerings to Him, because He is kindly disposed to His people, for Jesus' sake.
The Scripture is full of examples to show that when God is angry, He rejects our offerings. He rejected Cain's offering, for it was not what He required. He rejected the animal sacrifice of anything blemished or imperfect. He rejected the offerings of Israel when the nation was covered in innocent blood, injustice, and oppression of the poor and weak.
But the LORD declares that one day He will cleanse and make righteous His people, and then their offerings will be pleasing to Him!
All those who have been declared Righteous by faith in the obedience and blood of the Savior are accepted by God. His wrath is turned away from the Saints, and therefore He is pleased to accept our offerings.
The offerings that God accepts from His people are not sin offerings - for Christ is the only and final sin offering. Rather, God declares His satisfaction with offerings of praise, thanksgiving, obedience, worship, charity, and love of the brethren.
Over and over, the Scriptures declare that such spiritual offerings are "well pleasing" and "acceptable" to God.
Acceptable offerings to God can only be made in the same place where Christ's offering for sin was made - outside the camp.
Christ's offering itself was well-pleasing to God, and it forever paid our ransom. |
