Bountiful Blessings From Jehovah Await Us

At the inauguration of the temple in Jerusalem, in the seventh month of the year 1026 B.C.E., King Solomon offered "a grand sacrifice before Jehovah," consisting of "the burnt sacrifice and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the communion sacrifices."  In addition to what was offered in the grain offerings, a total of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep were sacrificed on that occasion. -1 Kings 8:62-65. 

Can you imagine the expense and the amount of work involved in such a massive ceremony?  Yet, the blessings that Israel received obviously far outweighed the cost.  At the end of the festivities, Solomon  "sent the people away; and they began to bless the king and go to their homes, rejoicing and feeling merry of heart over all the goodness that Jehovah had performed for David his servant and for Israel his people." (1 Kings 8:66) Truly, as Solomon put it, "the blessing of Jehovah-that is what makes rich, and he adds no pain with it." -Proverbs 10:22.

We are living when the "shadow of the good things to come" has been replaced by "the very substance of the things." (Hebrews 10:1) Jesus Christ, in the role of the great anti-typical High Priest, has already entered into heaven itself and presented the value of his own blood to make atonement for all those exercising faith in his sacrifice.  (Hebrews 9:10, 11, 24-26) On the basis of that great sacrifice and by wholeheartedly offering to God our sacrifices of praise that are clean and undefiled, we too can go forward "rejoicing and feeling merry of heart, looking ahead to bountiful blessings from Jehovah. -Malachi 3:10.

Next time: How Do You Handle Differences? 

From the Watchtower magazine, 2000