God Sees You
From the beginning, it’s always been “heart first” with the Lord
From the beginning, it’s always been “heart first” with the Lord
Teacher: TR-Institute
There have been many instances where I’ve heard it preached, or in conversation with other believers, that in New Testament times, God wants the heart. Almost as if this is a kind of “revelation” which we Christians have, distinguishing us from God’s people in the Old Testament, who had to offer sacrifices in order to approach Him. Does this sound familiar to you?
The thought goes along these lines: “Back then, you had to serve God by doing outward rituals; a single slip up and you would be dust. After all, what about Nadab and Abihu? What about the guy gathering sticks on the Sabbath? Now, since Jesus came to die for our sins, the new path for us is simply a matter of the heart. Rather than external commandments, God really wants our heart.”
It’s as if there was a “religion of works” required in Old Testament times which was replaced by a new “religion of the heart” in the New. Those poor Old Testament saints had it so hard; things are so much better now that Jesus has come and there are no more sacrifices!
Is this an accurate reading of Scripture? Is this a helpful framework for understanding the roots of Christianity, and for Biblical faith? With these questions in mind I would like to go back to the account of the very first humans raised from infancy; two brothers, born this side of the Fall.
Gen. 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. (ESV)
God did not have Moses preserve for us any details about the institution of sacrifice. But we do know from Genesis 3:21 that He had made appropriate garments for these boys’ parents out of animal skin, which of course implies the death of that animal. And this was while they were still in the Garden! This kind of material benefit from a sacrificial offering is paralleled with the priests’ ownership of the hide from the burnt offerings (Leviticus 7:8).
Did Abel bring better “stuff” than his older brother? Surely he brought more than Cain, the text seems quite clear on that. Abel offered animal sacrifice, and Cain did not. Was it on the merit of a slaughtered animal that Abel received God’s acceptance? Is there something inherently insufficient with an offering “of the fruit of the ground”? Should Cain have known better?
Rather, we know from Leviticus that there’s nothing wrong with a grain offering. In fact, such a blood-less offering can be just as much as a “soothing aroma unto the Lord” as can a burnt offering.
But if this is the case, why did the Lord look to Abel and not to Cain?
In Hebrews 11:4 we read, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain…”
OK, now we’re getting somewhere. By faith. The acceptability of the external, in God’s eyes, is based upon something that is not seen by mere humans, the inner person.
Let’s go back and look more carefully at Genesis 4:4-5. “And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering, but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.”
It turns out that in this parallelism there are in fact two objects for each occurrence of the verb “to regard.”
“The LORD had regard
1) for Abel and
2) for his offering,
but
1) for Cain and
2) for his offering
He had no regard.”
In each case, the first object is the person, not the offering. God is consistent, looking to the individual worshipper first, and then to their works. While men see only outward appearance, God always sees the heart (see for example, God’s lesson for Samuel at 1 Samuel 16:7).
Remember when the four men broke through the roof of the house to get their paralytic friend in front of Him? What does it say? “And Yeshua, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” (Mark 2:1-5). Everybody in the room saw the external deed, even the repair work that now would be required. But Yeshua saw their faith.
God does not look at your works first. He is not impressed with your fanciest, flashiest, or even most clever presentations. No. He looks at your heart. And rest assured, He sees you; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Showy external works cannot and will not make up for “the bad and the ugly” inside. “All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment,” wrote the prophet (Isaiah 64:6).
It is by the gift of faith we are acceptable to God. By faith we recognize that apart from His grace we have nowhere to stand before Him, nothing to offer. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11).
Abel was accepted, and his offering was accepted. Why? Because Abel’s offering to God was the fruit of his faith. It was an expression of his love for God, and a reflection of his grasp of his dependency upon the Lord for all things. Abel understood that his very life was a gift of grace from Adonai, and his worship of the Holy One reflected that trust.
Cain was not accepted, but not because his offering was unacceptable in-and-of-itself. Rather, it was because he did not approach the King of Kings with a heart of love and adoration. After seeing that his younger brother was accepted while he was not, what was hidden in Cain’s heart is revealed to us: “So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.” Who was Cain angry at? At God? At Abel? And on what grounds? The fact that he went on to murder Abel demonstrates to us that Cain utterly refused to honor the Sovereign Lord and to accept responsibility for himself. As the firstborn, perhaps he felt entitled to receive greater regard than his little brother. In any case, the root was deep. Perhaps it was a spiritual echo of his father’s quick move to blame both God and Eve for the fact that he had eaten from the forbidden tree (Genesis 3:12). As Cain said to the Lord, sounding so innocent, after his wicked deed, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Now as for all the believers after Yeshua’s resurrection, God indeed still looks first to us as individuals, no different than what we learn in Genesis 4. God looks at me, and God looks at my works. This sobering truth moves us to our knees. We must look in the mirror! Do I have a huge plank in my eye? Do I say one thing, but do another? Am I among those whom Isaiah prophesied against, saying, “They honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me”?
Or, in confessing the truth of my sin, do I call out for His mercy and forgiveness? As Isaiah also said, “Woe is me! I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips…” (Isaiah 6) Or as the tax-collector in the Temple, who said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)?
so that we repentant sinners can meditate upon it and be nourished spiritually. We are able to learn and glean from those who walked before us, and we become more equipped to help others in their walk. As we grow in knowledge of His ways, our love for Him will compel us to obey Him. And our obedience will look more and more like His commandments. But in keeping His commandments it’s not as if we’re trying to distract God from the fact of our wretchedness by flawless and flashy external performance! Do we think that He won’t notice the unforgiveness or envy or lust in our hearts? No! Yeshua says, “Your Father sees in secret” (Matthew 6). He taught the Samaritan woman that the Father seeks those who worship Him in spirit and truth. Faith is first, from the heart. Then the deed, as fruit of that faith. And the acceptable deed will look like what God has commanded, as revealed in the Scriptures.
So remember, this has been the case from the beginning. God sees you!
Rob is a teacher at TR-Institute where he teaches courses on 2nd Temple period, Rabbinic Literature, Judaisms, Koine Greeek, and Aramaic. He is also the owner and content producer for Rob on the Rock. Since 2011, Rob has co-hosted Messiah Matters, a weekly YouTube show that discusses theology.
Education: Rob holds two degrees from the University of Washington: MA, Comparative Religion (2005) and BA, Near Eastern Languages & Civilization, with a minor in Music (2003).
Cover photo by Tito Pixels
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