Animal House

I remember once hearing a popular conservative talk show host speaking against evolution.  He said that if monkeys could come up with a Social Security system on their own, then he would believe in evolution. I did a search for the quote, but came up empty.

So, besides the (obvious) physical differences, what is the difference between man and other beast like sheep, bulls or goats.  Well, if you need to think about it, let me offer something.

Man, after doing something wrong, may feel guilt.  He feels guilt because he has a conscience.  He has a conscience because he can tell the difference between right and wrong.  He knows the difference between good and evil. He is conscience of his guilt. Animals are not people. Try to explain to a cow the difference between right and wrong. Take your average bear and try to explain the difference of good and evil. Take your pet dog (or cat or horse or monkey) and try to explain what sin is. Animals can not know sin.  Animals cannot experience sin. They cannot know sin from experience. This means they are “innocent”.

How do we know sin? How are we conscience of sin? Because of the Law. The Law gives us a standard, or a target. Wherefore by works of law no flesh shall be justified before him; for by law [is] knowledge of sin. Rom 3:20. If we know the Law and know ourselves, we know we miss the mark.  We are conscience of not meeting a standard. There is interesting term for this in the Bible, dead works.

In Old Testament times, animals were to be offered as sacrifices for sin. They were innocent, having no knowledge of sin, by nature, incapable of sin. The offerer must have had knowledge of sin, felt guilt, and had a conscience.  Why else would would he offer a prize animal (without spot or blemish)? Before the innocent animal was killed, the offerer laid his hands on the animal’s head. The guilty sinner identified with the innocent animal. It was as if he transferred his sin onto the animal.  The guilty is spared death and the innocent is slain.

When someone acts as if they feel no guilt, or have no conscience, we may say that they act like animals.  What do we mean? They act as though there is no right or wrong, good or evil. Reminds me of a movie about a bunch of fraternity brothers that, well, acted like animals. They acted, for the most part, as if they had no conscience and felt no guilt.  The movie was aptly named.

The blood of bulls and goats that were shed at the altar of burnt offering were incapable of removing sin.  The blood of Christ, on the other hand, not only removes sin, but purifies your conscience of dead works. To what end? So that we may worship the living God.

...how much rather shall the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, purify your conscience from dead works to worship [the] living God? Heb. 9:14

"Tis by Thy blood we've been redeemed,
 And by it sanctified.
Now is our conscience free from sin,
 From dead works purified.

Hymn: Dear Lord, how precious is Thy blood

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/1090#ixzz28kmKVAsN

More Like Jesus

Did I mention that the Levitical offerings can be divided into two groups? ones that there is a reason given for the offering and those that no reason is given.   The sin and trespass offerings were for sins and trespasses.  Reasons given for the peace offering included the giving of thanks and the making of vows.  There is no reason given for the burnt and the meat offerings.
So, what was the reason that Jesus offered up Himself to die on the cross? Was it not for our sins and and our trespasses? Shouldn't any thanks we give, or vow we make, be based on what Jesus did for our sins and trespasses?

No reasons are given for the burnt and meat offerings.  The ancient Israelite offered burnt and meat offerings simply because God asked for it.  Jesus, when he was on this planet, submitted to the will of His Father, simply because.  We need to be more like Jesus.

I want to, I need to, be more like Jesus.
I want to, I need to, be more like Him.
Our father’s will was done,
By giving us his son,
Who paid the highest cost,
To point us to the cross.
And when I think of Him,
Taking on the whole world’s sin,
I take one look at me,
Compared to what I’m called to be. -- Keith Green

Indebted to Jesus

The four gospels writers paint four different pictures of one person, Jesus.  Reading trough the gospel of Mathew, you get the feeling that Mathew is trying to convince Jewish readers that Jesus is the Christ, the promised anointed one that was promised and anointed before the beginning of time.  Mark paints a picture of Jesus, the servant.  Luke gives us the Son of Man.  And John presents Jesus as God.  Four different authors, four different facets of one person.

In the beginning of the book of Leviticus, we are presented with five different offerings, each showing a different facet of Jesus. Just like the four gospels present the same person, from four different perspectives and seemingly written to four different people groups, the Five different offerings, illustrate five different aspects of the same person, Jesus, the Christ.  

Before we to study these offerings, I will like to define some terms. The problem with Bible dictionaries, is that if you look up one word in 6 different dictionaries, you can get 7 different definitions. Maybe it’s just me, but when I look up definitions of terms related to the service of the tabernacle, things get really muddled. For the purpose of this study, these are my definitions based on my understanding at this point in time.  These are gleaned from various sources over the years.  They may not be 100% accurate 100% of the time, but I tried to make them simple.  I like simplicity.

A gift is simply something given.
An offering is simply a gift from a lesser to a greater.
A sacrifice is simply an offering that involves blood shed.
An oblation is simply a food offering.

The five Levitical offerings can be divided into two groups: the ones that were smelled sweet and the ones that stunk.  The sweet smelling offerings included (using the King James vernacular) the continual burnt offering, the meat offering and the peace offering.  Each one was a sweet smelling savor.  The stinky offerings were the sin and trespass offerings. I guess God has nostrils and can distinguish between odors.  Listen to what He says by the prophet Amos:

I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell [a sweet odour] in your solemn assemblies. For if ye offer up unto me burnt-offerings and your oblations, I will not accept [them]; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fatted beasts. Amos 5:21-2       

Hey, man was created in His image, if we can discern between something that smells sweet and something that stinks, so can He.

Generally, the sweet smelling offerings were to be burned on the altar of burnt offering.  The stinky offerings (for the most part) were to be burned outside the camp, that was probably miles from the nostrils of God.  

So, is there anything in the New Testament that point to sweet smelling odors regarding an gift, offering, or sacrifice?

Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. Eph. 5:1-2

So, Jesus’ offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.  Notice this verse indicates that Jesus voluntarily delivered Himself.

Did I mention that the Levitical offerings can be broken down into two groups? The voluntary offerings and the compulsory offerings.  The voluntary offerings included the burnt offering, the meat offering and the peace offerings.  The sin and the trespass offerings, the stinky ones, were compulsory.   

God demands offerings for trespasses and sin.  Peace, meat and burnt offerings were made on a totally voluntary free will basis.

Death is the compulsory penalty for sin....the wages of sin is death (Rom 3:23). Starting in the garden Death was required (Gen 3:21).  Starting with the garden a substitutionary death (death of an innocent animal to pay for the debt of the guilty sinner) was acceptable to God. Jesus voluntarily went to the cross and died to pay that debt that we owe but we cannot pay. He voluntarily paid a required debt.  Do you feel indebted to Him for it?

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. -- Elvina M. Hall

What Happens at the Altar, Happens at the Cross

What perks you up? I perk up with the aroma of freshly brewed Café Bello coffee (or Café Madre Isla, when Café Bello is not available) made from Arabica beans grown in the mountains of Ajuntas, Puerto Rico, especially when it is served with the warmed frothed milk separated on top. Know what else perks me up? When I hear reference to the tabernacle in, well, anything!

Sometimes when I am doing mindless tasks at work, I plug in the Shure earphones and listen to Bible reading, SermonAudio, or music. Today, I was listening to one of my ‘contemporary’ Christian stations on Pandora and I hear lyrics referencing the brazen altar, the court, the holy place! Tabernacle worship in a contemporary song…Whoa, whoa, whoa, as my 14 month old granddaughter would say.

According to Pandora 16,398 people (besides me) listen to the artist Kutless.

Here are the lyrics their song, Take Me In.

Take me past the outer courts into the holy place
Past the brazen altar, Lord, I want to see Your face
Pass me by the crowds of people, the Priest who sing Your praise
I hunger and thirst for Your righteousness but it's only found one place

Take me in to the holy of holies
Take me in by the blood of the Lamb
Take me in to the holy of holies
Take the coal, touch my lips, here I am

That is the entire song. They just sing the same thing over and over again. What ever happened to great hymns with 19 verses? Like the one I want sung at my funeral?... http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/s/a/sandtime.htm . I digress.

Take me past… the brazen altar, Lord, I want to see Your face

I think I know what the song writer is saying. He doesn’t want to waste anytime to get to Jesus who is sitting within the veil at the right hand of Majesty on High (in the Holy of Holies). Hold on young whipper-snapper! If you really want to see Jesus, don’t rush too quickly past the brazen altar! Stop and consider what happens at that altar.

The brazen altar is better known as the altar of burnt offering. In fact, it is referred to as the altar of burnt offering about 2 dozen times in the Old Testament.

The burnt offering could be studied on different levels. The main level, perhaps, is that the offering is a type of Jesus. Let’s do a little comparison (the requirements for the burnt offering are found in Leviticus chapters 1 and 6).

The burnt offering was not compulsory like the sin and trespass offerings, but voluntary.
Jesus voluntarily went to the cross (Phil 2:8).

With some variation, depending on the animal offered, the animal was examined inside and out, it had to be blemish-free.
Jesus was examined and found to be blemish-free (1 John 1:1-2).

The offerer (the sinner) laid his hand on the animal’s (the innocent) head, actually leaned on it. The sin of the guilty was symbolically transferred to the animal that was innocent.
Jesus (the innocent) bore our sins, He actually became sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21).

The offerer slaughtered the animal (by the shedding of blood) and the priest sprinkled the blood. The slaughtered animal was accepted as an atonement for the sins of the offerer.
Jesus shed His blood (Heb. 12&13) and we believers are accepted (Eph. 1:6).

The animal was wholly consumed on the wood that was on the fire that was on the grate in the altar.
Jesus wholly did the will of His Father (Phil 2:8) even the blood-shedding death on the cross.

It was a sweet savour that burned continually before the Lord.
Jesus's sacrifice is a sweet smelling savour (Eph. 5:2).

Want to get to Jesus? Eger to get inside the veil, into the Holy of Holies? Don’t past the brazen altar in haste. Stop and take time to reflect and praise God for the cross. Because what happened at the altar, happened at the cross….

We will Jesus face to face, within the veil, soon enough….

Soon Thy saints shall all be gathered—
Inside the veil.
All with Thee—no more be scattered—
Inside the veil.
Nought from Thee, our hearts shall sever;
We shall see Thee; grieve Thee never;
"Praise the Lamb!" shall sound forever—
Inside the veil.
-- Elizabeth Dark

Walk, In Reverse

The number 2 reason that the study of the tabernacle should not be neglected is because each of the aforementioned Levitical offerings represent the Christian walk, in reverse! I mean, the Levitcal offerings in reverse represents the Christian walk. The offerings are provided in order by God representing God's view point. From man's point of view, it is the opposite. Consider the offerings in reverse:

• the trespass offering was for sins known - we first repent of our sins that we know about


• the sin offerings were for unknown sins - as we grow and read the bible, other sins (that we do not realize are sins) are brought to light and need confession.


• the peace offering - 'peace' is the result of the first two


• the meat (or meal) offering was with oil, either mingled, or sprinkled - signifying the indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit


• and then there is the voluntary continual burnt offering. -- signifying the voluntary continual surrender and submission to God's will

No Explanation Needed

9-11. All one has to do is mention the phrase 9-11. We all know what year it was, we don't need an explanation. We know what happened on that day, we don't need an explanation. Depending on how old you are, you remember exactly where you were when you first heard, you don't need an explanation.

Reason number 9 that the study of the tabernacle should not be neglected is that in days of biblical writing, from Moses to John, people were familiar with the tabernacle/temple form of worship. Since they were, some things did not have to be explained.

For example, when Zacharias saw his vision of ...a lamp-stand all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon, seven [lamps] and seven pipes to the lamps, which are upon the top thereof...or when John wrote ...having turned, I saw seven golden lamps. They knew that the lamp in the tabernacle was made of gold, burned olive oil and had 7 lamps.

When they read that Abraham was to offered up Isaac as a burnt offering, they knew that a burnt offering was to be filleted and totally consumed on the altar.

When David said Jehovah reigneth...He sitteth [between the] cherubim, they knew that in the holiest of holiest, on the mercy seat that covered the ark, were two golden cherubim. God made His throne and met with Moses on the mercy seat between the cherubim.

When John wrote in the opening of his first epistle, that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life; they may have realized that this sounds like the burnt offering, that had to be examined for perfection and handled and cut up and placed on the altar.

They even told time by the activity in the tabernacle/temple. When Ezra writes ...at the time of the evening oblation (or sacrifice)..., they knew what time he meant. It did not need explaining.