Beyond the Veil: The Power of Sacrifice
2 Chronicles 1:6-7
And Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it. In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee.
Extreme sacrifice for The Lord does NOT go unnoticed! Here, King Solomon offered a THOUSAND burnt offerings before The Lord. I’d say he went beyond the call of duty. I do not find where the law actually required that many sacrifices. Purely out of devotion and love for The Lord, we find King Solomon going extreme on his sacrifice. And look how God responded; “Ask what I shall give thee.”
We learn then a very important spiritual principle, namely, that extreme sacrifice yields extreme blessings! Question: If God were to bless you in direct proportion to your sacrificial praise, giving, and living for Him, what would that look like? Honestly, if the truth be known, God is better to us than we ever deserved, and that’s called grace!
But, will you simply settle for a first helping of grace, when you can have MORE grace (see James 4:6)? I call all of God’s blessings grace, because that’s exactly what they are. Because of OUR sin, we only truly deserve the literal and eternal consequences of a life depraved of ALL of God’s blessings, but the reason God responds to King Solomon’s sacrifices is because they are the provisions by which his sins are covered in the Old Testament economy. Hence, when sins are taken care of, the blessings of God can flow again.
But DO take note of the INTENSITY in which God responds to King Solomon’s intense sacrificial worship. So, you can have grace, or you can have MORE grace. Now as for those of us who have accepted Christ’s most extreme sacrifice of all times as payment for our sins, we too have been extremely blessed! You might say, “I wish God would give me the opportunity to ask for anything I want, just as He did for Solomon!” Ah, but HE DID! Jesus said in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” WOW! And all of this, not because of MY sacrifice, but because of HIS! I’d call that MORE GRACE, wouldn’t you? Know this; your prayers are only as limited as God’s grace!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
And Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar before the LORD, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it. In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee.
Extreme sacrifice for The Lord does NOT go unnoticed! Here, King Solomon offered a THOUSAND burnt offerings before The Lord. I’d say he went beyond the call of duty. I do not find where the law actually required that many sacrifices. Purely out of devotion and love for The Lord, we find King Solomon going extreme on his sacrifice. And look how God responded; “Ask what I shall give thee.”
We learn then a very important spiritual principle, namely, that extreme sacrifice yields extreme blessings! Question: If God were to bless you in direct proportion to your sacrificial praise, giving, and living for Him, what would that look like? Honestly, if the truth be known, God is better to us than we ever deserved, and that’s called grace!
But, will you simply settle for a first helping of grace, when you can have MORE grace (see James 4:6)? I call all of God’s blessings grace, because that’s exactly what they are. Because of OUR sin, we only truly deserve the literal and eternal consequences of a life depraved of ALL of God’s blessings, but the reason God responds to King Solomon’s sacrifices is because they are the provisions by which his sins are covered in the Old Testament economy. Hence, when sins are taken care of, the blessings of God can flow again.
But DO take note of the INTENSITY in which God responds to King Solomon’s intense sacrificial worship. So, you can have grace, or you can have MORE grace. Now as for those of us who have accepted Christ’s most extreme sacrifice of all times as payment for our sins, we too have been extremely blessed! You might say, “I wish God would give me the opportunity to ask for anything I want, just as He did for Solomon!” Ah, but HE DID! Jesus said in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” WOW! And all of this, not because of MY sacrifice, but because of HIS! I’d call that MORE GRACE, wouldn’t you? Know this; your prayers are only as limited as God’s grace!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill