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Leviticus
1:1-17 “And the LORD called unto Moses,
and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, 2
Speak
unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an
offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your
offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. 3
If
his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male
without blemish: he shall offer it of
his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before
the LORD. 4
And
he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be
accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5
And
he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring
the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 6
And
he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. 7
And
the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in
order upon the fire: 8 and the priests,
Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the
wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: 9
but
his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to
be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the
LORD. 10
And
if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the
goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring a male without blemish. 11
And
he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle
his blood round about upon the altar. 12
And
he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the
wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: 13
but
he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and
burn it upon the altar: it is
a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 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. 15
And
the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it
on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the
altar: 16 and he shall pluck away his crop
with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place
of the ashes: 17 and he shall cleave it
with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar,
upon the wood that is upon the fire:
it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet
savour unto the LORD.” Introduction [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED565] “Leviticus, from the Greek,
pertaining to the Levites, things relative to the Levites, although you only
have the Levites mentioned in two verses in the entire book of Leviticus,
chapter 25, verses 32 and 33 mention the Levites, four times you have the word
Levites. That’s it in the entire book of
Leviticus. But the tribe of Levi
produced not only the Levites but Aaron and his sons, the priesthood have a
major part of the book as we go into it.
And it is a book that sits in the midst of the Law, in the midst of the
Pentateuch, ah, Genesis and Exodus before it, Numbers and Deuteronomy after it,
in the midst of all of that is this book of sacrifice, a book of bloodshed--a
book that J. Vernon McGee thought was the most important book in the
Bible. He said “If human beings could
get ahold of the Book of Leviticus, every other ism in the world would
fall apart, Buddhism, Communism, every ism would crumble if people
understood what God was saying through the Book of Leviticus.” And there are a number of others,
scholars, that felt the same about this book.
Certainly God’s holiness is brought before us, his separateness is set
apart, that he’s distinct. Eight times
in the Bible he says “Be holy, for I am holy.” But here holiness in the book, and “holy”
is mentioned 91 times, in 27chapters.
Blood is mentioned 88 times.
Atonement is mentioned 45 times.
Cleansing, 71 times, uncleanness, 128 times, you get a sense of holy,
cleansing, blood, atonement. In fact
it’s quoted or alluded to over 100 times in the New Testament, the Book of
Leviticus. The first 17 chapters that
we’ll journey through have to do with our acceptance, through sacrifice. The last ten chapters have to do with our
walk, the believer’s walk, and that is one of separation, as we go into this. Interesting book, chapter 40, verse 17 of
Exodus tells us that in the first month of the second year, the Tabernacle was
set up, the first month of the second year.
The first chapter of the Book of Numbers, the first verse says ‘In
the second month of the second year, God commanded that they would begin to
number the tribes.’ So
the Book of Leviticus takes us through a period of about a month, in it’s
writing, in it’s beginning to institute these things, there are several
chronological passages that give us incidences, but largely it’s a book of
ordinance and description. But a
remarkable, certainly, document to come forward and to begin to be instituted in
less than one month. The Hebrew title to
the Book has to do with the first words “and the LORD called” or “he
called.” We have an interesting picture
here as we look at this. Notice, “And
the LORD called unto Moses, and spake
unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,” (verse 1) He had spoken from Mount Sinai when it was on
fire, you remember that, the people said ‘Tell him if he’s going to talk to
us, have him talk to you and we’ll listen, we don’t want him talking to us
anymore.’ He [Moses] had moved
outside the camp and set up a separate tent called “the Tent of Meeting.” Now the Tabernacle has been set up, and the
presence of God, the Pillar has come and hovered over it, and now it says God
speaks out of the Tabernacle to Moses.
God in the midst of his people, really to go there the first time since
Genesis, when he was in the midst of the Garden with Adam and Eve. Now again, God is in the midst of his people
to dwell there. And speaking no doubt
from the Mercy Seat, no longer from Mount Sinai, just strictly from the point
of view of Law and of power that terrified them, now from the Mercy Seat, where
blood would be shed and atonement would be made. It tells us in Hebrews that these sacrifices
are a shadow or a picture of Christ, that’s why they’re so important. It says in the Book of Hebrews, chapter 10,
it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin, but they
provided atonement, covering, covering over sin
[see: https://unityinchrist.com/hebrews/Hebrews%2010%201-39.html]. Now the culture we live in shouldn’t be
offended by that at all, because the culture we live in spends all day long
trying to cover their sin. And they make
excuses of every colour and every nature for the way they behave, and they
cover it a thousand different ways. The
Bible tells us this is the way that sin would be covered, it was through
substitutionary atonement, through the shedding of blood. In the first five chapters we will look at
five sacrifices. Now there is a drink
offering that’s mentioned briefly, but there will be five offerings, the burnt
offering, the fellowship offering, or the meal offering, the peace offering,
the sin offering, and the trespass offering.
The animals, five animals that will be mentioned will be a cow or a
bull, a goat, a sheep, a lamb, a turtledove, and a pigeon. Interesting, those are the same five animals
in Genesis chapter 15, when God made his Covenant with Abraham, it says he took
a heifer and a goat, and a sheep, and a turtledove and a pigeon and halved them,
and the burning fire and furnace passed between those parts. We have the same animals here held before us
as sacrificial animals. There’s no
carnivores, ok, there’s no leopards being sacrificed here, there’s no lions or
tigers, because they’re symbolic first of all of Jesus Christ, he is not one
who came to destroy in a sacrificial type.
Yes, he’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and he will return with power,
but coming as a sacrifice, he comes as a lamb, remember the Book of Revelation,
28 times, he’s dictating to John 28 times, he calls himself the Lamb of God,
his favourite name in the Book of Revelation.
So the animals that are sacrificed are domesticated, they’re easily
available, they’re at hand, you don’t have to stalk them for day with a scope
to get a shot at them, you go out in the flock and you grab one and you cut
it’s throat, they’re available, they’re accessible. Because that’s how Christ is to everyone,
he’s available, he’s accessible. The
Burnt Offerings The
Burnt Offering Of An Ox God begins to speak to Moses and
then to the nation through Moses, now from the Tabernacle, from the Mercy
Seat. God now speaking to Moses, “And
the LORD called unto Moses, and spake
unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto
the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of
the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.” (verses 1-2) And by the way, it’s interesting to take note
of the “if’s” here, “if” he wants to bring ox for a burnt offering, “if” they
want to bring a sheep for a burnt offering, “if” they want to bring a pigeon, “if”
they want to bring a peace offering, “if” they want to bring a meal, grain
offering. It’s almost like there are
things that are unchangeable of God in regards to his holiness. But he puts before the nation “if” they choose
to do this. The first three sacrifices,
the burnt offering, the meal [grain] or fellowship offering, and the peace
offering were voluntary offerings. The
last two, the trespass offering and the sin offering were mandatory, they had
to be offered. The first three are
called “a sweet savour unto the LORD,” because there’s
something of the willingness of it that is a savour of rest or a savour of
peace to him. The first three are given
willingly, the last two, a sin offering or a trespass offering had to be
offered. The burnt offering is the first
one that we’re going to look at, and it takes us all the way back to the Garden
of Eden. You know, pagan cultures in
this day, in Canaan, everywhere, they sacrificed to their gods, some of them
sacrificed their children, some of them sacrificed other humans. Pagan religion sacrificed. But this is where God takes the idea of
sacrifice, sets it aside, makes it holy, holy sacrifices, a holy priesthood, a
holy people in a holy land. And he sets
aside the idea of sacrifice, he says how it’s to happen, he says where it’s to
happen, and he asks for obedience. The
ox to be slaughtered at the door of the Tabernacle. The sheep is to be slaughtered on the east
side of the altar, the dove is to be slaughtered and parts of it thrown on the
north side. In each step here there’s
order, God gives order, but still voluntarily he gives us the opportunity to
come. And the burnt offering is a
picture of two things. Certainly it’s a
picture of consecration, that you’re willing to give your whole life to the LORD, that you come to
that place and say ‘LORD, I’m willing to give
everything and hold nothing back.’ And look, if you’re
like the worshipper in the Old Testament, you probably offered more than one
burnt offering, it wasn’t like you went there one day, made up your mind I’m
going to huff and puff and blow this house down, and you offered a burnt
offering and from then on you were completely consecrated to the LORD. No, you came back with burnt offerings, you
came back and you recommitted your commitment, you came back and said ‘LORD, I’ve blown it, but
it’s in my heart, I really want to do this.’
And
there was always covering in the shedding of blood. And how many times you and I, Peter says ‘Though
everybody else forsakes you, you can count on me,’ well he meant that,
didn’t he? Then he’s cursing ‘If I
know him, let me be accursed, I don’t know who you’re talking about, I don’t
know this Jesus, I don’t know who you’re talking about.’ It’s in our hearts to do that. So we have an interesting picture here of the
burnt offering, the first offering that’s offered. Certainly in the bloodshed of the burnt
offering there’s covering, there’s atonement.
But the fact that it’s consumed completely is a picture of the fact that
we’re giving everything to the LORD, we don’t want to
hold anything back. And there’s an “if”
attached to it, “If.” Now look, any man,
not the priest, and this is where you and I come into play in our personal
relationship with the Lord, is the picture here. “If any man of you bring an offering unto
the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of
the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice
of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.” (verses 2b-3) So the picture, it’s a voluntary sacrifice,
it’s a burnt sacrifice, it’s given willingly, of his own voluntary will. And the first one’s an ox, by the way. Now that was a tractor in that day, there
wasn’t a lot of people that could bring an ox.
We’re going to go to the next burnt offering, which is a lamb, and the
average income person in that day would manage, once in awhile being able to
bring a lamb, and then finally we get to the pigeon and the turtledove, and
that was for the poor. They were not
excluded, God was not interested in the offering of the wealthy more than the
offering of the poor, they all had opportunity to come and offer their whole
heart in a burnt offering. But this is
an ox, this is somebody of means, this is somebody whose serious, this is
somebody whose bringing their tractor or their car, this is a big deal, a
willing voluntary offering of an ox is a big deal. And they’re coming to offer this burnt offering,
it has to be a male, a picture of Jesus, without blemish, a picture of
Christ. God didn’t want you bringing
some funky old ox that was all beat up, ready for the glue factory or
something. There’s order to all of
this. And you’re going to offer it at
the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation.
Notice “he,” that’s you, the worshipper, “And he shall put his hand
upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make
atonement for him.” (verse 4) It’s
singular both places, personal, there’s a personal promise. You come as a worshipper, you come to the
door of the Tabernacle, the priests, Aaron and his sons are there. But you put your hand on the head of the
bull. And it doesn’t mean just to put
your hand on it, it means actually to lean on, put your weight on, and it is a
picture of transferring your sin, your guilt, you’re admitting that you have
this sacrifice without blemish, that you are with blemish, that’s why you’re
there. The priest didn’t examine you
when you got there, he examined the ox.
The fact that you were there with a sacrifice was evidence that you knew
you were sinful. But the animal had to
represent a pure sacrifice, the death of an innocent substitute, we’re looking
forward to Christ. So you came to the
door of the Tabernacle. Then you took
this ox, you put your hand on his head, and you lean there and confessed your
sins, and it says “it will be accepted.”
You do that with a right heart, God said to the worshipper, it would be
accepted to make atonement. “And he” the
worshipper, “shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring
the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” (verse 5) So you’re in for an interesting day when you
come. You come, the priests, Aaron and
his sons are there, but you bring the bullock into the courtyard of the
Tabernacle, you go around evidently on the other side of the altar at the door
of the Tabernacle, it would seem that it’s saying. And then you leaned on this animal, it’s
inspected by the priest, it’s without blemish.
And you confess your sins. Then
you, as the worshipper, each worshipper is the executioner, because each
worshipper needs to understand it’s his sins that put the sacrifice to
death. You know, Jesus Christ, you know
people always come here and they say “Does your church have membership?” No, you can’t join the church, you have to be
born into the church. You know, there’s
a good side of church membership where you can track everybody I guess. The bad side of church membership, it gives
people the impression they can join the church.
You can’t join the church if you aren’t born-again, you’re not born into
the church [because your family happens to attend it, you have to become
“born-again”], you yourself are the executioner. If you don’t have a personal relationship
with Jesus Christ, knowing he died for your sins, you’ll never be part of the Church. Imagine the impression this made, here is God
in heaven, God the Father, setting aside a nation, setting aside in that nation
a tribe, the tribe of Judah, setting aside in the tribe of Judah a line from
which the Messiah will come forth, speaking to his ancient people of old
[Israel, all 12 tribes, not just Judah] whom he loves, whom he’s made a
covenant with, in foreshadows and in types, of the great Deliverer, the great
Sacrifice that will come. You, and you
imagine the Father thinking ‘How can I, a thousand years, two thousand years
before this all transpires, bring to their hearts the reality, bring to their
hearts the necessity?’ And as
he [Yahweh, who would become Jesus Christ] describes this, he has the
worshipper coming, confessing his sins, leaning on this bullock, and then you
as the worshipper takes the knife in your hand while you’re leaning on the head
of the bull, and you cut the throat, you pull the knife across the throat of
the animal, and you feel it shudder, and you feel it gurgling, not trying to
moo out of its mouth, but mooing out of its throat, whatever that’s like. You feel this animal weakening from the
shedding of blood, as Aaron’s sons are holding a huge golden bowl under the
throat, you feel the knees start to buckle, and they compelled Simon the Cyrene
to bear the cross for him. You saw all
of this, you were the executioner. What
kind of an impression did it make on the worshipper? The sight, the sound, the smell, all of the
senses involved, the bull, the golden bowl with warm crimson red blood, the
very life of this sacrifice, the very life of the sacrifice draining out. “Aaron’s sons,” it says, “shall
bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is
by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” (verse 5b) King James says “sprinkle,” the Hebrew
word means “to splash” the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door
of the Tabernacle of the congregation.
Back to singular “And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it
into his pieces.” (verse 6) Aarons sons are plural, so it seems the
worshipper again, “he shall flay” skin “the burnt offering, and cut
it into his pieces.” So then you
skin the ox. The priest is going to get
to keep the hide, but no doubt a picture of Christ being scourged, no doubt in
all of this there are pictures. You skin
this animal, “And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the
altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire:
and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the
fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the
altar: but his inwards” use your
imagination here please, “and his legs” singular, the worshipper it
seems, “shall he wash in water: and
the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an
offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.” (verses 7-9) How long did this take? Now this wasn’t like the chicken bucket going
by and you throw your offering in there.
How long did this take? There was
some thought involved no doubt to pick the bull out at some point, the bullock
that was a male, and then there was the journey to the Tabernacle on a
particular day, whatever day the LORD’s putting on your
heart. There was no doubt, there were
two to three million people there, so there’s somewhat of a line. There was then the time of confessing sin,
there was cutting the throat, waiting for the animal to die, the blood being
dumped around the altar, the skinning then of the ox. I’m not sure, anybody here know how long it
takes to skin an ox? I haven’t done that
in a long time, in fact I can’t remember the last time I did that. How long does it take to skin an ox? And then the body gets cut in pieces, the
head is cut off, you have the inwards, the caul, the fat, the liver, all of
those things. The head then put on, the
priest then taking the wood, making sure the fire was burning. And we know from chapter 9, that fire came
forth from the presence of the LORD, it was holy
fire. The head placed on there, then the
fat on top of the head, then the inwards, then the legs ontop of that, this is
a monstrosity, everything is wrong, everything’s backwards. It’s a picture of a greater monstrosity, the
Lamb of God, pure, spotless, with the sin of the world piled ontop of him,
hanging on a cross, scourged, beaten, the crown of thorns upon his head, and
fire, unseen to that scene to the human eye, the fire of God falling on his own
dear Son, the place of propitiation where God’s wrath is satisfied, something
consuming your sin and my sin. The sins
you sinned today. You go to him as this
worshipper, confessing your sins, and it’s forgiven, the promise is here, “he
shall make atonement,” it’s taken care of.
Listen, this is not seeker-friendly, this is bloody. I didn’t describe this, I didn’t make this
up, we’re living in a Church today where no one wants to talk about sin, no one
wants to talk about atonement, no one wants to talk about redemption, nobody
wants to talk about repentance, nobody wants to talk about blood, nobody wants
to talk about hell, nobody wants to talk about eternal suffering. God gives us all
of these pictures. It pleased him to
bruise his own Son, he laid on him the iniquity of us all. He bore our sins, Peter says, up on the tree,
he carried the sins of the world. And
then the cup of God’s wrath that he prayed about in Gethsemane ‘Let this cup
pass,’ poured out upon him without admixture, the smoke of that torment ascends
forever and forever. So that when Christ
cries ‘Eli, eli, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?’ he’s cut off from God at that time, the sins of the world upon
him, and when he comes out of the darkness before he dies physically, he said ‘It
is finished,’ it was finished before he died physically. He had died eternally and spiritually and
paid for the sins of the world, it is finished, and then he gives up the
ghost. How long does it take to skin an
ox? How long, you and I, how long do we
spend time, when was the last time, with Jesus? I bet it took two hours to offer the
sacrifice. I think, when was the last
time I was alone with Jesus for two hours, and thought about his beard being
ripped out of his face, and said ‘Thank you Lord,’ when was the last
time for two hours I lived through that with him? How long did this take? An hour, when was the last time for an hour I
was on my knees before the Lord and said ‘Lord, thank you, you were beaten,
you were brutalized, you paid for my sins, you carried them Lord, I want to
offer myself completely to you without holding anything back, because you
offered yourself completely to me without holding anything back.’ Imagine the impression that was made on
the worshipper then in this scene. And
it says the smoke ascended from this “a sweet savour unto the LORD.” The Hebrew is “a savour of rest.” God the Father, reminded of his Son, a savour
of rest, the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world, the
atonement for human sin, the smoke ascends, and it says it’s a savour of rest
before the Father, because in fact, as Paul says, he could be both just and the
justifier of the ungodly, he had come before the worlds were formed, to come to
terms with our sin and our imperfection, and that made every provision before
anything rolled out. And as these
sacrifices were offered, on heaven’s side, a savour of rest. Every burnt offering, every sin offering,
every trespass offering, as the smoke rose, just what did it mean to the
Father? Something, when I think in
heaven, what was on the Father’s heart here?
When we get raptured [resurrected in the 1st Resurrection to
immortality, cf. 1st Corinthians 15:49-54]…when we get to heaven [at
the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, cf. Rev. 19:7-9, before we come back with Christ
to earth cf. Rev. 19:10-21, Zechariah 14:1-15], the first thing we’re going to
see is the Lamb as it had been slain.
Read Revelation chapter 5, the first scene in heaven will be shocking to
us, it will be a Lamb with the marks of slaughter upon it, the very first thing
that we see, and the song about his blood, ‘By thy blood thou hast redeemed
us, from every nation, kindred and tongue.’
What a scene, nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to shrink from, the
very center of the heart of Almighty God, the very center of his heart. It says this in Philippians, it
says ‘But I have all, and I abound, having received of Epaphroditus the
things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice
acceptable, well-pleasing to God.’ Paul
sees in the giving of our lives and the serving that we might do, a sacrifice,
wonderfully to the Lord. The
Burnt Offering Of A Sheep Um, the burnt offering, look, verse
10, here’s our next “if,” “And if his offering be of the flocks, namely,
of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring a male
without blemish. And he shall kill it on
the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle
his blood round about upon the altar.” (verses 10-11) there is the executioner, the worshipper
again. This is someone who couldn’t
afford an ox. It seems that he’s a
little less involved in the sacrifice than the man who was offering the
bullock, but I think he’s a little more emotionally involved with the
animal. Several years ago when I was in
Austria, Bill Gallatin and I talked to this shepherd there, and he had 15, 16
sheep, and he talked to us about them.
He said “they all had names,” and he said “I have to treat
them all different.” he said “If I don’t yell at this one she never
listens,” he said “if I yell at
that one she won’t look at me for a month,” he said “I have to use a
certain tone when I talk to this one, and I have to throw stones at this one.” And they were all different, he knew them
all by name. By the time you brought a
lamb, a male, I think you had a different relationship with a sheep than you
did with an ox, just personally. And it
was a little costly in another way. You
know when we get to the turtledove and the pigeon, the priest will kill
that. You know I think the poor and less
fortunate, in some ways, are a little more inclined to cry out in some ways,
the wealthy person is bringing the bullock, the ox, and God keeps him
there. No doubt he’s wealthy because
he’s industrious, he’s busy, there’s a lot going on in his life, and when God
gets him there, he’s got him there, for an hour, two hours, he’s involved in
everything. Those who bring a sheep or a
lamb, seems to me, a little less time, a little less involved, maybe a little
more involved emotionally. It says, verse
12, “And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the
wood” and it seemed the worshipper did on the first one, “that is
on the fire which is upon the altar:
but he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and
burn it upon the altar: it is
a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.” (verses 12-13) An interesting picture of course, all of the
time the inwards being washed with water, you can do what you want with that,
no doubt a picture of God’s Word and so forth.
The
Burnt Offering Of The Turtledoves or Pigeons “And if,” here’s our third “if”
in our burnt offerings, “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.” (verse 14) Now, we know from further in the Book of
Leviticus that it says that this was an acceptable offering to offer for the
poor, who couldn’t afford to offer a lamb or an ox. That’s interesting, remember in Luke chapter
2, Mary and Joseph, when they came to dedicate Christ, and there’s a specific
ordinance regarding that, that you would offer a lamb. It said those that were poor, that couldn’t
afford to offer a lamb, would offer two turtledoves, and it tells us
specifically in Luke 2 when Joseph and Mary came to dedicate Jesus, that they
offered two turtledoves, no doubt a carpenter struggling to some degree. God didn’t send his Son into a blue-blood
family, he sent his Son into the world to be with us, Immanuel, God-with-us, to
walk among us, he ends up with seven younger brothers and sisters, bunkbeds in
every room. Here it says the sacrifices
of the doves or the pigeons, and notice this, now the priest is the executioner
here, “And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head,
and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at
the side of the altar:” (verse 15)
that’s got a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? It’s not ring, it’s got a “w” there which
makes it WRING a little nicer. Tradition
said that he would push his thumbnail in right at the crop of the neck over
this side by the throat and twist it and pull the head off. Just, I look these things up, in case, hey,
it didn’t say you had to be a priest, and you didn’t have to do this. The ordinary guy ended up cutting the sheep’s
throat or the ox’s throat, be glad that you’re poor, he’s cutting you some
slack, you don’t have to pull the animal’s head off, the priest does it. “And the priest shall bring it unto the
altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood
thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar:” (verse 15) you know
the animal rights activists are just flipping out, when you read this kind of
stuff. So he’s wringing and wrunging
here, the head is twisted off, wrung means to be squeezed, so he twists the
head off and pulls it off, and then he squeezes the dove and the blood comes
out on the side of the altar, “and he shall pluck away his crop with his
feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the
ashes:” (verse 16) Anyone know what
the crop is? You’ve done that to a
chicken? Want to come up and tell us all
about it? [he laughs] The fowl don’t have intestines the way we do,
they have a strange stomach, sometimes there’s pebbles in there, and it says with
this turtledove or pigeon, after he pulls the head off and squeezes the blood
out, then he reaches in under the stomach and puts his finger in and rips the
little stomach, pulls the crop out, cause there’s stuff in there, ya, there’s
stuff in there, you don’t want to talk about the stuff in there. He would pull that out, it says here, with
the feathers, “and cast it beside the
altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: and he shall cleave it with the wings
thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar,
upon the wood that is upon the fire:
it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet
savour unto the LORD.” (verses 16-17) So he cuts it down the center, but not
divided into two pieces, so a picture of Christ, possibly with the sword
through his side, the animal is cut and opened, but not divided into two
pieces. Interesting picture,
certainly. Listen, as “a sweet savour
unto the LORD.”
Just as sweet as the smell of an ox.
In fact, you know here’s the LORD smelling that, a
pigeon or a dove, knowing there’s somebody poor, less fortunate there whose
come to worship. Maybe it smells
sweeter, we don’t know. I don’t know,
he’s not a respecter of persons, I’m sure that a wealthier person whose heart
is given over is just as sweet, just as sweet.
Leviticus
2:1-16 “And when any will offer a meat
[grain] offering unto the LORD, his offering shall
be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense
thereon: 2 and he shall bring it to Aaron’s
sons the priests: and he shall take
thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the
frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the
altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: 3
and
the remnant of the meat [grain] offering shall be Aaron’s and his
sons’: it is a thing most holy of
the offerings of the LORD made by fire. 4
And
if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the over, it shall be
unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed
with oil. 5 And if thy oblation be a
meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour
unleavened, mingled with oil. 6 Thou shalt part it in
pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is
a meat offering. 7 And if thy oblation be
a meat offering baken in a fryingpan, it shall be made of fine
flour with oil. 8 And thou shalt bring
the meat offering that is made of these things unto the LORD: and when it is presented unto the priest, he
shall bring it unto the alter. 9 And the priest shall
take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon
the alter: it is an offering made
by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 10
And
that which is left of the meat offering, shall be Aaron’s and his
sons’: it is a thing most holy of
the offerings of the LORD made by fire. 11
No
meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with
leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor
any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire. 12
As
for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the alter for
sweet savour. 13 And every oblation of
thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the
salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat [grain]
offering: with all thine offerings thou
shalt offer salt. 14 And if thou offer a
meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for
the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn [grain] dried by the
fire, even corn [grain] beaten out of full ears. 15
And
thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering. 16
And
the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn
thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense
thereof: it is an offering made
by fire unto the LORD.” The
Meal or The Grain Offering: Picturing The Believer’s Consecrated Service To The
LORD “Chapter 2, with no break [in the
Hebrew text] brings us to the meal [grain] offering, it says “meat” offering in
the King James, it’s meal, it’s grain really.
And this is the consecration of our service, this is in regards to
communion, in regards to our service, we have a peace offering after this. This is a fellowship offering. Cain, in Genesis chapter 4 brings of the
fruit of the ground, and it’s not accepted.
That’s because the meal [grain] offering here is always attached to a
blood offering. The meal offering
doesn’t come by itself. Someone comes
and offers a trespass offering, a sin offering, a burnt offering, most often a
burnt offering and the meal [grain] offering is attached to that. So there’s always blood, and then there’s
labour. It’s a picture of our lives
consecrated, and because our lives are consecrated [with the blood of Christ at
conversion], then our service should be consecrated. And bringing the grain, it’s going to tell us
that a portion of it was taken and burnt on the alter, and the rest of it is
given to the priest, they lived off the grain offerings. But these people had laboured in the field,
they had produced the grain. Now they’re
bringing of that to the LORD. We’re also going to hear that the
firstfruits, which you know you have the Feast of Firstfruits attached to
Passover, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, those were not to be burnt on the
altar, because the Firstfruits are a picture of Christ in his resurrection, not
Christ in his death and suffering. So
the Firstfruits were never to be burnt.
But whenever there was a sacrifice brought from the field of grain, a
meal offering, a portion of that was taken and burnt on the altar. And it’s a picture, look, of you and I, if
we’re going to consecrate our lives and say ‘Here’s all my life, I don’t
want to hold anything back,’ that means our labour is also sacred. People sometimes think, you know, worship or
church, and work, are two different worlds.
No, one’s not sacred and one’s secular, it’s all sacred. God needs “holy” mechanics, I know I need
one. He needs “holy” computer operators,
he needs “holy” craftsmen and “holy” soldiers and “holy” nurses and “holy”
doctors, those who are given over to God.
For giving our whole lives, then our labour is consecrated also, it
belongs to him, you don’t separate them, not one part of your life is sacred
and the other part is secular, the Bible doesn’t know anything about that. It says “And when any will offer a meat
[grain] offering unto the LORD, his offering shall
be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense
thereon:” (verse 1)
King James said “meat,” I’m going to say “meal.” It’s going to say in four or five different
ways that he can offer the flour. There
is no meal offering offered without oil, there is no service offered without
the Holy Spirit. There is no natural
thing you can do in [or for] the Kingdom, it doesn’t matter how many degrees
you have, how many diplomas you have, the anointing of the and gifting of the
Holy Ghost is the only thing that qualifies us to serve in Christ’s
Kingdom. And it’s wonderful when that’s
surrounded with study, we’re to study to show ourselves approved, a workman of
God and so forth. But we are to give
ourselves to it, but in each of these meal offerings there is oil added to
it. And it says here frankincense too,
there’s a fragrance to this portion that’s burned. It says “and he shall bring it to Aaron’s
sons the priests: and he shall take
thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the
frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the
altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:” (verse 2) Again, it’s a freewill offering, a sweet
savour to the LORD, “and the remnant of the meat
[grain] offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the
offerings of the LORD made by fire. And if thou bring an oblation of a meat
offering baken in the over, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour” again, “mingled
with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.” (verses 3-4) So if it’s something that you bake, you could
bring just flour, you take a handful of flour, oil in your hand, frankincense,
and that was offered. But if it’s
something that you baked at home and you bring that, it’s to be anointed with
oil, but no leaven it says. “And if
thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of
fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil.
Thou shalt part it in pieces, and pour oil thereon: it is a meat offering. And if thy oblation be a meat offering
baken in a fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. And thou shalt bring the meat offering that
is made of these things unto the LORD: and when it is presented unto the priest, he
shall bring it unto the alter.” (verses 5-8)
Now I forget how many times in the first few chapters we hear “before
the LORD,” “unto the LORD,” “unto the LORD,” these chapters are
a picture of the worshipper, his acceptance before God through sacrifice, his
offering of his life, understanding the necessity of atonement. It doesn’t say that the worshipper has to be
spiritually mature, it doesn’t say he has to have straightened out everything
in his life, it doesn’t say he could not have done anything wrong, it doesn’t
say he comes sinless, it says he comes willing to accept blood atonement as
making him acceptable before his God because his God is holy. It is the thing that offends the world that
we live in. You know, again, you can
tell lots of people about a lot of things, Jenny Craig, people want to hear
about all kinds of things that’ll make them something. As soon as you talk about Jesus Christ
somehow people know you’re saying they’re a sinner, and they need forgiveness,
and they’re offended by that, and Satan has set the table that way. The most desperate thing they need in their
lives is forgiveness from a holy God, and what’s centered in everything you and
I believe in Christianity is the forgiveness of our sins, it’s the forgiveness
of our sins. And look, some of us
struggle with that, and in the Church sometimes, because of the way Christians
act, and because of how judgmental they can be, though in the Bible it’s always
before the LORD, it’s an offering “before the LORD,” it’s what goes on
between your heart and the Lord. That’s
what matters, that’s where reality is, because in the final analysis that’s
what matters to him. And certainly then
he has much to say about how we live with others and so forth. But acceptance and forgiveness is something
between you and Jesus, you are the executioner, Jesus died for you. You don’t worry about whether he died for me
or not, and he died for you because you’re a sinner. But God loved you so much he sent his Son,
and all of the offering we do is before him, even when it’s relative to his
body [of believers], to others, it’s before him. It says and then they bring it up before the
altar. Verse 9 says “And the
priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it
upon the alter: it is an offering
made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. And that which is left of the meat offering, shall
be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is
a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto
the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey,
in any offering of the LORD made by fire.”
(verses 9-11) So when you come with these meal [grain]
offerings, God wants the pure grain and the anointing oil, he wants nothing
that will corrupt or ferment, no leaven to be burned in the fire, he wants
nothing of that odour rising before him.
And he wants no honey, no artificial sweetening, he doesn’t want anybody
trying to sweeten things up. You know,
Christians do that all the time, butter up the Lord, you know, they got stars
on the refrigerator, ‘Well I’ve messed up Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but
if I really try hard Thursday, Friday, Saturday, maybe he’ll bless me at church
on Sunday.’ No, you can’t sweeten it
up any way, he says you come, yes, you consecrate your life, you offer that to
me, but it is to be anointed with oil, the sweetness of it before the LORD has nothing to do
with natural sweetness, has nothing to do with natural sweetness. I’m glad, aren’t you? I’m glad.
Offering
Of The Firstfruits “As for the oblation of the
firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the alter for
sweet savour. And every oblation of thy
meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt
of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat [grain] offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer
salt.” (verses 12-13)
Salt is a picture of a covenant, in many cultures in
the Middle East today, in fact they’ll say “Have I not eaten of thy salt?” which
means ‘Aren’t we in a covenant together?” Some of the Arabs still will offer salt on the
blade of a sword, you can do that back and forth, and you’ve entered into a
covenant there. And to the Jews salt was
a picture of the Covenant, and in a particular way, you have the judgment of
Sodom and Gomorrah, and what you have left there is the Salt Sea, you go down
there, there’s mountains of salt. The
Jew believed the salt endured the fire.
The salt was something that was not destroyed by fire, so it is a symbol
of an everlasting covenant. And it says
here, whenever you offer the meal offering, you salt it with salt, and the idea
is it presents a picture of an everlasting covenant, God will never turn back
on the covenant. You offer it with salt,
you salt it with salt. “And if thou
offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for
the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn [grain] dried by the
fire, even corn [grain] beaten out of full ears. And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay
frankincense thereon: it is a
meat offering. And the priest shall burn
the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of
the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto
the LORD.” (verses 14-16) In closing Ah, the third chapter brings us
to the peace offering, we don’t have time to do the third chapter in five
minutes. I want you to read ahead. Read ahead through the peace offering, the
sin offering, and the trespass offering, we’ll get through the offerings by, if
the Lord tarries, by the end of next week, and we’re going to head then off
into some of the regulations for the priests and so forth. But let’s read these next three chapters, all
three cover offerings, all three have interesting aspects to them. And as we go through these five offerings,
certainly we’re looking at commitment, communion and cleansing. They’re all necessary. Commitment and consecration in the burnt
offerings, communion, peace offering, cleansing, the sin offering and the
trespass offering. Ah, remarkable things
brought before us here. But read through
these chapters. Look, they all reflect
Jesus Christ, they all bring some greater truth to the table. It tells us in Colossians that they were
types, they were shadows, but it was Christ casting the shadow through time
that they all reflected. So, the Book of
Leviticus, when the rapture does happen, you see Moses, you can say “I read
all five of your Books, and your Psalm,” and he’ll say ‘Even
Leviticus? Hey!’ ‘read it, studied it.’ Let’s stand, and let’s pray. Look, if you’re here tonight and you don’t
know Christ, I encourage you, make your way up here because we’d love to talk
with you, answer any questions you have, give you a Bible, pray with you. This is all about the sacrifice that was
offered for you, the blood of God’s Son.
And we say that without apology.
What God wants from you is to come and repent of your sin, metanoia, to
change the mind, you’ve been living in sin your whole life, your life has been
going away from God, and you know how empty it is, and you know what it’s like to
go to bed with you every night, and put your head down on the pillow and be
inside of it. And God says ‘When you’re
tired of all that, and you’re tired of playing games, I’m waiting for you, I’ve
paid for your sins, I have a plan for your life,’ and when you’re ready to
turn, repent, turn from your sins, you come.
Forgiveness has been provided, the sacrifice has been made, the ticket
has been bought, you need only provide the sinner, God has provided the
Saviour. And look, we say that without
apology, we believe Christianity is about the forgiveness of sins, we believe
people are sinful, we believe it was a necessity for the blood of God’s Son to
be shed to make atonement for our sins.
We believe repentance is necessary, we believe it determines whether
people go to heaven or hell. It is
really simple, really, really simple.
And what makes it all more simple than that, is God said he would send
his Spirit into the world to convict the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. So if you’re here tonight
and you’re not saved, you know it…And you know if you need to be saved, you
know, you know if you died tonight whether you’d be in heaven or hell, if
that’s you, please, afterwards make your way up here. We’d love to at least answer your questions, give
you a copy of the Scripture, if you want to pray we’d love to pray with
you. [comment: The greater Body of Christ has various
beliefs about heaven and hell, to view some of these, see https://unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm] But for the rest of us, how long does it take
to skin an ox? I want you to think about
that when you leave tonight. When was
the last time you spent that much time alone with him, and thanked him, and
looked deeply into his sacrifice?...[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Leviticus
1:1-17 and Leviticus 2:1-16, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of
Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116] related links: The Book of Hebrews, chapter 10,
says it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin, but
they provided atonement, covering, covering over sin, see https://unityinchrist.com/hebrews/Hebrews%2010%201-39.html |