Sacrifice

 

What kind of sacrifice is pleasing to God?  To answer that we need to look at the root of worship.

Hebrew has only one word for the worship of God and that is shachah. (H-7812, Strong’s)  It appears over 100 times in the Old Testament scriptures.  There are other words in the Old Testament that are translated as worship but they are used in reference to worshipping other gods, not the only true God.  Shachah means, “to bow down, to depress, to prostrate oneself before God in worship and in homage.”  This word infers humility, making oneself low before God. 

Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool- He is holy.  Psalm 99:5

Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.  Psalm 29:2

Oh, come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.  Psalm 95:6

Throughout scripture we see people fall on their face and worship the LORD. 

Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.      2 Chronicles 20:18

Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshipped. Job 1:20

When the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshipped and praised the LORD, saying: “For He is good, for His mercy endures forever.”   2 Chronicles 7:3

The first appearance of the word shachah in scripture is in Genesis 22:5.

And Abraham said to his young man, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

Abraham and Isaac were going together to worship the LORD and they knew they did not have a sacrifice with them.  Abraham was taking his miracle, promised son to be offered as a sacrifice in obedience to God’s command.

“Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountain of which I shall tell you.”   Genesis 22: 2 

What was Abraham thinking?  I can only imagine the conflict in his heart as he obeyed the LORD’s command.  Abraham demonstrated the true meaning of worship.  He willingly placed his beloved son, along with all his hopes and dreams on the altar.  He went into the pit, the lowest place he could be, a place where he would have nothing left and looked up to the LORD.  It was all or nothing for Abraham. 

But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”   “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was ram caught in a ticket by its horns.  So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.  And Abraham called the name of the place, The LORD Will Provide.(Yahveh Yireh which also means, the LORD sees )  Genesis 22:11-14

 Abraham in the end did not have to sacrifice his son but his heart’s posture before God illustrates for us the depth of the meaning of the word worship.  Yeshua/Jesus, over a thousand years later demonstrated the ultimate meaning of the word shachah, when He willing gave His life on the cross in obedience to His Father’s will. 

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?  Why so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?”  Psalm 22:1

In that dark pit Yeshua fixed His eyes on His Father and His Father’s ultimate purpose of restoring our relationship with Him.

“Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”   Luke 23:46

There is a physical posture before God in worship but there is also a posture of the heart.  To worship God in spirit and in truth we must lay our self-life, our will and our desires at His feet.  It is a spiritual attitude of submission to the LORD.   It is not just out of honor but it is also out of love for Him.   God is interested most in what is going on inside our frail flesh.  All our outward acts are nothing unless the heart is aligned with it.  True worship is giving it all.  It is the willingness to give up our Isaac.

Praise, offering and sacrifice lead us into the place of worship.  Those acts prepare our soul, body and spirit to come before God and dwell in His presence.   Worship is entering into the holy place and leaving the rest of the world behind us.  Worship is preparation to meet and spend time with the LORD, to prepare to commune with Him.  As we bow ourselves low, God lifts us up.  The LORD desires to spend time with us.  Worship brings us into that place where we are prepared to communion with Him. 

Yeshua said the following when the women at the well asked about worship.

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.  God is Spirit, therefore those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  John 4:21

Excerpt: Words of Love: The Language of Worship, June Schuldt




 

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