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Tag: Offerings

Jesus in the OT :: Leviticus

The book of Leviticus gives us a glimpse of who Jesus is in the Old Testament (O.T).

This is the time of the laws and offerings and for those of us who have resolved to read the entire Bible in a year, we often find the book of Leviticus to be the Biblical speedbump. But there is so much truth hidden in this difficult to read book. There are six offerings mandated, five of which are recorded in the first seven chapters of this book and one offering is recorded in the book of Numbers.

The five offerings are  

  1. Burnt Offering
    In the burnt offering, the sacrificed animal’s blood was sprinkled and the animal was burnt as an aroma to God. Jesus’ sacrifice was a sweetsmeeling savor acceptable to God (Ephesians 5:2). The Bible states that states that life is in the blood (Genesis 9:4).Eternal life is only by the blood of Jesus Christ that washes away all sin. Jesus is the burnt offering.
  2. Meat Offering
    Jesus said, this is my body (flesh/meat) given for you (Luke 22:19) before the day that he was crucified. Jesus is the perfect meat offering.
  3. Peace Offering
    For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince
    of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus is the Peace offering.
  4. Sin Offering
    Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed
    (1 Peter 2:24). He who knew no sin, became sin for us so that we may become the righteousness of God. Jesus is the sin offering.
  5. Trespass/Guilt Offering
    Jesus taught us to pray – Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against all (Matthew 6:12) and his first saying from the Cross when he was crucified was “Father, forgive them their trespasses (guilt) for they do not know” (Luke 23:34)
    . Jesus not only taught us to forgive but became the guilt offering unto God for us, so that God the Father may withhold his wrath from us.

In Leviticus, Jesus is typified in the offerings, the perfect and pleasing offering acceptable to God and He is our sanctification.

The book of Genesis gives us a glimpse of who Jesus is in the Old Testament (O.T).

Genesis starts with ‘In the beginning God’ and sometimes I wish that it had stopped there. God was in the beginning and has to be in the beginning of our lives. Many take the Scriptures and change it, interpret it on their own without the Spirit’s revelation, leading to dogmas, heresies and misinterpretation. We have heard umpteen messages on the creation of man, the Fall of man, banishment from God’s presence, the Curse and even the first messianic prophecy as recorded in Genesis 3:15, wherein God curses satan saying that I will put enmity between you and the woman, between thy seed and her seed (talking about Jesus) and He shall bruise (crush) thy head (Golgotha shaped as a Skull) and thou shalt bruise his heel (Jesus’ heel was pierced on the Cross).

But seldom do we talk about Christ in the Creation. He was present in the tribunal meeting in which God said, Let us (the Trinity of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit) make man in our own image. Author Nathan Stone in the book “Names of God” writes that In Genesis, where it says, In the beginning, God, the word “Elohim” is used for God and the striking peculiarity of this name “Elohim” is that is plural. Jesus, the Son of God, was in the beginning with God, who was and is God (John 1:1). We see Jesus Christ the Creator.

Also we see in Genesis 14:18-20 that Abram was blessed by a priest of the Most high God, whose was the King of Salem, whose name was Melchizedek. Melchizedek offered bread and wine to Abram. Hebrews 6:20 and Hebrews 7:1-3 talks about Christ after the order of Melchizedek, priest of the Most high God who had no father, no mother, no descent without beginning (alpha) or end (omega). Jesus was in the beginning and will be there in the end. He is eternal (Psalm 90:2 – from everlasting to everlasting thou art God).

In Genesis, Jesus is the Creator God and the priest of the Most High God, who offered his body (as broken bread) and his blood (as shed wine), who exists from everlasting to everlasting.

Lessons from a Turtledove – acceptable offering

The turtledove is one of the few birds that is listed as a clean bird that can be used as a burnt offering (Leviticus 1:14). For more information on offerings, see What’s with all the offerings in Leviticus?

One of the definitions in the dictionary for the word “turtledove” interestingly is  “a sweetheart or beloved mate“. God’s servant and King of Israel, David in Psalm 74:19 requests God, not to forsake the soul of His turtledove (sweetheart or beloved mate) to the multitude of the wicked. Some may feel that David was comparing himself to be the turtledove (God’s beloved), which is quite possible as He was a man after God’s own heart, but other commentaries state that the turtledove reference is to the church (God’s elect).

The church of God is made up of those who believe that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. If you and I have accepted, believed and confessed Jesus Christ to be God, we make up the church. The Bible calls the Church of God to be the bride of the lamb (Jesus Christ). We are Jesus’ beloved mate; His sweetheart. We are God’s turtledove.

Now the question is, if we are God’s turtledove, are we living our life in such a manner, that Jesus, the High Priest can present us as an offering before God, one that God will willingly accept? Think about it!

Psalm 74:19 (KJV)
19 O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.

Leviticus 1:14 (KJV)
14 And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the LORD be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons.

What’s with all the offerings in Leviticus?

The book of Leviticus is often referred to as a Biblical speed bump to those who resolve to read the Bible in a year and zoom through Genesis and Exodus quickly, until they reach Leviticus. Leviticus delves into the “legalities of the law” given by God primarily to the priests (from the tribe of Levi), but is applicable unto every one who is a royal priest (that is all who believe in the name of Jesus). The spelling out of the detailed requirements of the law, the  protocols to be followed, the attire to be worn … superficially dont appear to be that interesting, but contextual analysis of Leviticus surfaces some incredible hidden truths and parallels that cannot go unheeded in this day an age.

One such aspect is in the area of ‘Offerings’ recorded in Leviticus. What’s with all the offerings in Leviticus?

There are five offerings mandated and explained in this book (Leviticus)   viz.

  1. Burnt Offering
  2. Meat Offering
  3. Peace Offering
  4. Sin Offering and
  5. Trespass Offering

As part of the Burnt offering, the blood of the offered sacrifice was sprinkled (poured out) before the sacrifice was to be burnt as a sweet savor unto God. In other words, this offering was a blood offering, with everything else being consumed by fire. The blood of Jesus was poured out as an offering for the salvation of mankind (you and me) and his sacrifice was a sweet smelling fragrance to God (Eph 5:2). The Bible records that there is life in the blood (Genesis 9:4). Extrapolating these facts, we then realize that our burnt offerings is in essence offering our very own lives (blood) to God (as a living sacrifice), and being consumed by the Holy Spirit of God (The Fire within).

Meat refers to things we eat and drink for sustenance. Making a meat offering would imply that we offer all that sustains us, so that we are totally dependent on God.

Peace offering (also known as Fellowship offering) refers to sacrificing that which encumbers us from having fellowship with God. Making a peace offering is then two fold – 1. making peace with God a.k.a, getting right with God, by confessing our sins and 2. offering to have fellowship with God in lieu of our fellowship with the world. In simple terms, letting God know, that He is MORE IMPORTANT than anything else in the World. Making a peace offering would imply that we reject the world, embrace the cross.

Sin offering refers to the confession of all that we think, say or do, know or the secret faults (Psalm 19:12) that displeases God. Jesus is our sin offering to God (1 Peter 2:24) and by our acts of repentance, confessing our sins, we are to offer our sins to God seeking his forgiveness. No matter how offensive or grave our sins are, God is willing to forgive us our sins. Adulterers (David), Murderers (Saul), were all forgiven. Even the ones who murdered Jesus himself, were forgiven when Jesus pleaded for them saying “Father forgive them for they know not what they do). There is no sin so big, that God will not forgive if you earnestly seek his forgiveness and confess with you mouth, for He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of ALL unrighteousness. Sin offering in a nutshell is to seek to Love the Lord, with all our heart, all our souls, all our mind and all our strength.

Trespass offering (also known as Guilt offering) refers to the confession of all that we think, say or do or the secret faults that displeases Man (whom we have trespassed againsts and feel guilty for). This is getting right with man. In a nutshell, this is to seek to Love your neighbor as yourself.

In summary,the five offerings mandated and explained in Leviticus as it applies to us today is

  1. Burnt Offering – Offer our lives
  2. Meat Offering  – Offer ALL that sustains us
  3. Peace Offering – Offer to be in fellowship with God
  4. Sin Offering  – Offer to confess our sins against God
  5. Trespass Offering – Offer our guilt from wrong doing against man

Also, Warren Wiersbe beautiful exposits that

  1. The Burnt offering and the Meat offering has to do with our COMMITMENT to God
  2. The Peace offering has to do with our COMMUNION with God and
  3. The Sin offering and the Trespass offering has to do with our CLEANSING from God

NOTE: Whoever is not CLEANSED, cannot have COMMUNION with God nor can they be COMMITTED to God.

Point(s) to Ponder:

What’s in your/my offering? Let us present ourselves as a living sacrifice.

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