Have you ever really thought how fortunate we are to have Jesus Christ with us? Although Jesus was, even from the beginning, He isn’t mentioned in the Old Testament, except in prophecy. God was looked to, and in dealing with people, he was utterly precise, and He expected total obedience. In fact, He reminded that obedience is better than sacrifice. (1st Samuel 15:22).

For example, as God told Moses how to do a certain sacrifice, He said to sprinkle the sacrificial blood over the alter “with his finger seven times,” (not six, or eight)…and once when the Ark was being moved from one town to another, the oxen pulling it stumbled, and a man touched it to keep it from falling, and God killed him for touching it. Actually, it was not being carried the way God had instructed, and it was death to disobey.

And although God, through Moses, had done many miracles in leading the Israelites out of Egypt, when they stopped at a place that had no water and God told Moses to speak to a rock there, Moses instead hit the rock with his staff. And although water poured out, God punished him by not letting him enter into that Promised Land. After his 40 years of leading the people, and their not being allowed to go in because of their disobedience, he also was disallowed for the same reason.

God did countless good and mighty things, as long as he was obeyed. Now, we’re unbelievably fortunate that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to guide us. The way of Jesus is through love and forgiveness, so long as we truly try to live according to His teachings in our New Testament of the Bible. If we believe in Him and have a heart-felt change in our lives, we are promised Heaven.

If you’d like to get a balanced understanding of the Bible, I’d suggest that you read a portion (whatever amount you choose) of both the old and the new testament each day. If you read straight through, you’ll be too long with the historical portion of the Bible, before getting to the new, by which we live today.

Now don’t misunderstand. The Ten Commandments are still as timely today as ever, but Christians no longer must do the sacrifices and all that went with them. Jesus became our sacrifice, once for all. Now all we must do is accept that Gift of all Gifts; salvation.

Do it, if you haven’t already.