“…Christ, who… offered himself unblemished to God…”

The theme is clear; the comparison unmistakable.  Simply speaking, Jesus is better.  Better than angels.  Better than Moses.  Better than the Levitical priests and priesthood.  Better than the Old Testament sacrifices.  Better than the hope, the covenant and the promises found in the Mosaic Law.  Better, better, better.  It’s no contest; Jesus beats them all!

This is the theme of the book of Hebrews.  Jumping into chapter nine we find that Jesus is the better sacrifice, “offer[ing] himself” (v. 14) as the perfect and final sacrifice that would meet the holy demands of a perfect and righteous God.  The point should not be missed.  God had plenty of sacrifices made to him for well over a thousand years according to his own law.  But in reality, the only one that was ultimately effective was the one that Christ made of himself.  Indeed, Jesus said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you [God] did not desire, nor were you pleased with them…” (10:8), quoting from Psalm 40.  Further, “…it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4) anyway.  Only one would do, and it had to be the right one.

That is exactly what we find in the first situation where the word offering is mentioned in the Bible.  In Genesis 4 Adam and Eve have their two boys, Cain and Abel.  The phrase, “in the course of time” (v. 3) separates the boys’ births (v. 2) from their being old enough to have vocations — Cain a farmer and Abel a shepherd.  These early chapters in Genesis skip over most of the lives of these first four persons.  Moses’ purpose is to give the primary events of the earliest history while laying the essential framework of a biblical worldview before moving on to specifically Jewish history beginning with Abraham.

But why make an offering to God in the first place?  Is he lacking something?  Does he need this?  No, he doesn’t; we do!  In chapter three, God subjected the world to the effects of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.  The universe became subjected to the effects of the fall of man, like a car engine that can’t keep running right.  Oh, sure, it runs, but not for long before another problem shows up.  For any hope to appear, it has to be brought by God himself, not man.  So in 3:21 God brings “garments of skin” to clothe Adam and Eve.  Already dressed in their leafy coverings, the couple has a choice — keep the leaves and reject God’s clothing, or strip off the leaves and put on the new clothes.

These new clothes came from “skin” — animal skin.  Clearly God had to take the life of an innocent substitute animal to obtain them.  Death had occurred.  The skins represented not only the ultimate result of sin (Roman 6:23), but the death of an innocent sacrifice, ultimately speaking of Christ’s work on the cross.  Thus when God offered them to Adam and Eve, they were deciding their eternal fate: “Should we believe God and his plan, or stick with our own?”  Fortunately for them (and us) they chose the latter.  This then became the way of approach to and forgiveness from God, based on his way, not ours.  That is what they taught the boys.  So what occurs at the time of chapter four is probably the first time the boys make an offering to God as adults, something that their parents probably had done repeatedly.  It was the time of the next generation to get it right.

When Cain “brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord” (v. 3), he was not following what he had been taught.  Abel, however, “brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.”  Little brother got it right, but not the older.  And notice what the issue was all about.  After God accepts Abel’s offering and rejects Cain’s, he told him (v. 6), “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?”  God was pleading with Cain for his acceptance, for him to be in right relationship with his Maker.  Yet the Scripture records no reply from Cain.  In the end he chose what was wrong (v. 8).

God’s whole plan and heart from the beginning has been for our acceptance and forgiveness.  His offering — Christ — is proof of that.  It was “for us” (Ephesians 5:2).  Immediately before this verse God tells us to be “imitators of God.”  Is there anyone we need to forgive that we haven’t?  That is what Christ’s offering was all about.  Do we honor or dishonor him and his offering by our response?