TD Jakes - Freedom is Bloody Business (11/21/2018)
Christianity begins and ends with blood; the brazen altar at the Tabernacle entrance confronts worshipers with the costly sacrifice of innocent life, teaching that true freedom comes only through substitutionary death—ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, the Lamb who takes away our sins and pays the bloody price for our liberty.
The Bloody Entrance to Worship
Jesus had set His face to go to Jerusalem. Christianity opens up with blood. And it closes with blood. From the red cord that Rahab the whore dropped out the window—it is all about blood. The blood line runs from chapter to chapter to chapter. It is an endless line. It is a bloody business.
As soon as you open up the door, He does not show you heaven. He does not show you seven virgins. He does not show you a mansion in glory. As soon as you open up the door, He shows you the bloody place. Can I teach this thing? The bloody place. It is a place of sacrifice and death. If you cannot get past here, the conversation is over.
The first thing I see of God is blood—so that the first thing He sees of me is blood. The altar of sacrifice—the brazen altar as it is also called—is the place where lambs and goats or turtledoves, depending on the type of sin and depending on the level of the person who offered the sacrifice, were offered up.
Put my brazen altar up there. I want to see it. I want them to catch a glimpse of it. This is the place. So as soon as I open up the door, I come into this obnoxious death chamber—this place of execution—this electric chair—this gas chamber. This instrument of execution is also the price of freedom.
Construction from Egyptian Wealth
Let me start with its construction. It is bronze. It is bronze. It is metal that has been melted down and shaped for the death purpose. Let me ask you a question. Where in the world did a bunch of slaves get bronze? Where did they get bronze? How in the world did they afford to build these instruments? They were runaway slaves.
I will tell you what they built it off. They built it off of the gold and the brass and the silver of the Egyptians that they took on the night of the Passover. Oh, God. When the Bible says that the wealth of the unjust is laid up for the just, God said, “I am going to take the wealth from over here and I am going to do a transfer over here.”
It looks bad because in the Bible, you see, when the children of Israel were leaving Egypt on that night, they borrowed all the jewelry and the wealth of the Egyptians. They borrowed it—sorta. They kind of borrowed it or they kind of stole it—sorta. They did not really borrow it—no, they did not really steal it—no. They had worked 400 years for free.
I do not have time to get into it in this setting, but you have learned enough about generational curses. You need to understand generational wealth—that some of the stuff that your grandmama and your great-grandmama and your great-great-grandmama never got paid for—that you are the chosen generation that God is going to restore unto you the years that the cankerworm and the palmerworm and the locusts ate up.
Somebody just walk around in a circle and come back and say, “I am walking in my grandmama’s blessing. I am walking in my great-grandpapa’s blessing. I am walking in Uncle Willy’s blessing. I am walking in Grandpa Smiley’s blessing.” “Oh, eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither have entered into the heart the things that God has in store.”
Oh my God, I feel it. It is getting thick in here. It is going to get thick in here. I am going to tell you God is the God of reparations. He is going to give you generational blessings. You are going to step into some stuff that does not even make any sense. Four hundred years is ten generations of blessings—and then the chosen generation steps into a wealth.
Generational Transfer of Blessing
Somebody give me your coat. One of you brothers, give me your coat. Couple of you brothers, give me your coat. Two of you, give me your coat.
So when they left out of Egypt that night, there was too much wealth for them to carry—so they put it on the backs of their children. They had so much wealth on the children that the children were bent over—carrying the wealth—carrying the gold—carrying the silver—down into the Red Sea. Come on, go with me.
They carried it down—generational blessings on your sons, on your daughters, on your children’s children. This is the brass that built the altar that made the sacrifice. It is a transfer. I declare to you this day your sons and your daughters shall be bent over with the pressed down, shaken together, running over blessing.
Stop being a hater when you see other people get blessed. It is a transfer. It is a transfer. Do not hate on me because I am walking in the supernatural blessings. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God—I feel something. I feel something about to happen in this place.
Slap somebody and tell them, “Get ready for the transfer.” Teach your sons, teach your daughters, teach your children—lay your hands on them—bend them over with the weight of the glory of the blessing of the Lord. It is going to be too much for you. It is going to be too much for you. Your cup is going to run over. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your young men shall see visions.
That is why Pharaoh was chasing Moses and them slaves. He was not after the slaves—he was after the money. They had run away with the gold and the silver and the brass.
And so, out in the wilderness—out in the wilderness where there were no jobs—out in the wilderness where there was no marketplace—out in the wilderness where there was no employment—Moses raised an offering. And it is the first time in Scripture that the people brought so much he had to stop them from giving.
It is the giving of those people that provided the bronze. Some gave the bronze; some gave their talent—their artistry. Suddenly they understood what they went through as slaves was for a purpose—that they had learned something in their bondage that set them up for their liberation.
It was good for me that I was afflicted. Oh, God, y’all do not hear what I am saying. It was good for me. God let me learn something in my captivity that lends itself to my liberty. “When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that He has done for me...”
The Horrors of the Altar
Now, let us go deeper. They shaped the horns. These are the horns of the altar. The horns are at the top of the altar. It is so that if you had an animal that was trying to get away, you would tie it to the altar.
So when you come in the door in the tabernacle, you run into the smell of death. I want you to feel the hot Palestinian sun glaring down on your skin. There is no covering. This is direct sunlight. I want you to breathe in and smell the stench of flesh on fire. I want you to hear the screaming of innocent animals dying that you might live.
I want you to understand that each man brought his own lamb—his own sacrifice. You raised something to kill. I want you to understand that it was required of each man to take his knife and slit the throat of the animal he had raised—until you were bloody with the blood of the innocent animal that died that you might live.
I want you to put your hands on the animal, and I want you to feel the warm furry flesh, and I want you to hold its head back and take your other hand and lift your knife and slit his throat—because I want you to know how much it cost for you to be free.
I want you to hold him until he stops jerking and shaking and quivering and screaming—and I want you to see his blood gushing all down on your hands and on your clothes. Because I want you to know that freedom is a bloody business—so that you will not take for granted the freedom that you have. So that you will not get used to having fellowship with Me. So that you will not take for granted that you can come boldly to the throne of grace.
I want you to hear that lamb scream—“Agghhhh!”—and smell his flesh on fire—and know that this is what sin costs.
Substitution and the Scapegoat
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains
Lose all their guilty stains
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains
So you are coming through the door with your sacrifice. Behold, He goeth as a lamb to His shearers. He has set His face to go to Jerusalem. He walks into the dying place. “No man takes My life; I lay it down.”
This is Christianity. This is not about positive thinking. This is not about mental telepathy. This is Christianity—this is being bought out of the marketplace of being a slave to your own sin.
And God says... I taught the what of it. I have got to teach the why. But God says, “I want you to feel the life going out of him because the life that is going out of him—it is going into you. So that now, the life that you now live in the flesh, you live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself a ransom for me.”
He took my death so that His life could climb on top of me. To God be the glory. To God be the glory. To God be the glory.
The lamb. “Behold the Lamb—the precious Lamb. The Lamb is me.” The day you eat of the tree you shall surely die.
So when I laid my hands on the lamb—substitution... write that down. Substitution occurred. The lamb is substitution for me. The lamb dies in proxy for me. He is a substitute for me. He is my replacement. He took my death. I took His life.
And it all happened at the front door of the tabernacle. By the time I get through paying and offering up sacrifice—because all of this was done because God wanted His children to feel the price of freedom—He wanted you to personally get in touch with the feeling of freedom.
Later, we are going to talk about there are two goats—there are two sacrifices. One is killed and one is driven away. You lay hands on the one and pray your sins on the one—and you cause him to run away. Okay, this is where we get the word “scapegoat.” Scapegoat is the goat that escaped.
Behold, go! He taketh away the sins of the world. That is what Jesus did. He took away your sins. He did not just pay for them. He paid for them on the cross—but He took them away. Behold, He taketh away the sins of the world. He is my scapegoat.
What does that mean? It should have been me—outdoors with no shelter and no clothes. Y’all do not hear what I am talking about.
I know you are a nice little meek little church person and you got a little title and you are a missionary and you are on the intercessories board—and I know you are on the deacon board—and you know on the cross that we are not talking about that church foolishness. I am talking about who you really are. I am talking about Slick Willy, Dirty Danny, Freaking Freddy, Jumping Jimmy.
Jesus took your place—paid the price for your secret sin. How can you not worship Him? I want to know how you can sit there with your lips glued together and act like you do not owe God every... How can you not worship Him?
Do not tell me you are not emotional. Do not tell me it is not necessary. God gave you breath. God gave you another chance. God gave you an opportunity. To God be the glory!
Touch your neighbor and tell them, “Freedom is a bloody business.” Freedom is a bloody business. My freedom is a bloody business. My revelations are a bloody business. My liberty is a bloody business. My prayer life is a bloody business. My anointing is a bloody business. My calling is a bloody business. My gifts are a bloody business. My talent is a bloody business.
Look at the price that was paid for me to have the luxury of coming into Potter’s House this morning and blessing the name of God. They hung Him high so I could run free. To God be the glory!