BAM! Gone...


Did I mention that the Levitical offerings can be divided into two groups?  the ones that involve blood shed and the one that does not.  The continual burnt offering, the peace offering, and the sin and trespass offerings all involve the slaughter of animals.  The meat offering was the only meat-less offering.  This used to really humor me...The only meatless offering was called the meat offering.  Those of you not using a King James probably have no idea what I am taking about.  In the days of King James, when people shared a meal, they didn’t come for dinner, they came to meat. John Nelson D. simply calls the meat offering an oblation, which is an offering to be used as food.

Did I mention that the Levitical offerings can be divided into two groups? the ones that atoned sins, and the one that was primarily for food.  Each of the blood-shedding offerings made atonement for sins.  The meat offering did not include bloodshed and was for food, not atonement.  Atonement is one of those words that I would like to define.  Here again, my definition, may or may not hold true 100% of the time.

Atonement is simply a covering.  With respect to sacrifices, it is a covering of/for sin.  Offering a sacrifice was like picking up the edge of the carpet and sweeping the sin under it.  The sin is still there, just covered.  Sin again, offer another sacrifice, pick up the edge of the carpet to sweep new sin in.  The old sin is still there, and both are covered.  The process was repeated innumerable times. Atonement was an Old Testament thing.

In the beginning of the Gospel of John, John the Baptist ...sees Jesus coming to him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).  The people that heard this were accustomed to the tabernacle/temple system of worship.  They knew that a lamb (an innocent animal) could be offered as a sacrifice.  The ritual included the laying on of hands (signifying the transfer of sins from the guilty to the innocent); death by bloodshed; sprinkling of blood; and burning of the carcass.  They knew that there was atonement of sin with the sacrifice.  

But John is introducing two new principals, paradigm shifts (TQM, anyone? anyone?) of the ancient world: a person (not an animal) for a sacrifice and the actual removal of sin.  Peek  under the carpet and BAM!  Those sins are gone!

The author of Hebrews explains this further.  For blood of bulls and goats [is] incapable of taking away sins. Heb. 10:4.  For this reason, offerings were made continually, day by day, year after year (Heb. 10:1-2).  The priests job was never done. But when Jesus offered one himself a sacrifice, once, completed the work, and our sins and iniquities are remembered no more (Heb 10:17).  There is no more need for additional offerings (10:18). There is no need for a covering since BAM! sins are gone!

All my sins are gone,
All because of Calvary;
Life is filled with song,
All because of Calvary;
Christ my Savior lives,
Lives from sin to set me free;
Some day He’s coming,
O wondrous, blessèd day,
All, yes, all because of Calvary. -- Wen­dell P. Love­less

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