Has there ever been a time any darker? Have you ever seen evil any more rampant than in our world today? All you have to do is listen to the news. The news today is filled with slaughter of innocent children, not to mention the murder of millions of the unborn. So much murder, violence and drugs. We hear talk of cloning and designer babies. I am astounded by things that I hear on the news each day. You think, how could this world get any darker?
Could this possibly be the time that the prophet Isaiah is speaking of?
Yet the scripture tells us that at the same time "darkness covers the earth and deep darkness the people," that we are to "arise and shine" He tells us, "for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord arises upon you."
This speaks of God's church. This is a dark time for the world, but an exciting time for God's people.
I am sure that your are thinking, "How can it be exciting when we as Christians are being persecuted?" The Bible tells us during times of persecution that God's people grew in number.
I believe what happened in the physical in the Old Testament, happens for us in the spiritual today when we trust Him and believe His Word. Scripture tells us, "it was given to us for an example." I believe as we draw closer to the Lord and grow in Him, God's church will arise and shine. Then we will begin to grow in number as others come to the light of His glory. Jesus said, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me."
What did it say again? "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord arises upon you." WE are to be the light in this dark world.
It is time for God's people to rise up and be "the Church", "the Bride" spoken of in Ephesians 5:25. This scripture tells us that, "Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by washing her with water through the Word, to present her to Himself as a radiant Church, without stain wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."
That is what is happening to us as we study Leviticus,. We are being washed by the water of the word. We are being "cleansed and made holy" as He ministers to us through His Word. What a timely study!!
The world needs to see Jesus and the only way is through you and me. We are that light for this dark world. As we go through Leviticus and apply the sacrifices to our lives we will look more and more like our Savior and His glory will arise over us. Hallelujah!
Leviticus Chapter 3
In chapter 3 we find another offering called the Fellowship Offering or Peace Offering. This offering is the third of the voluntary offerings. It was given to express gratitude to God. It symbolized peace and fellowship with God. We know that Christ is the only way to fellowship with God and we will see Him in this offering.
We are told that "He is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by Him." Only through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus can we commune with the Father.
The only way Israel could have fellowship with God was to follow the instructions given to them. We can appreciate Jesus so much as we see Him in the sacrifice and know that He fulfilled each and every requirement for us.
So how can these requirements apply to our lives today as we offer up our lives as a living sacrifice?
We read again in Chapter 3, as in chapter one, the sacrifice had to be from the herd or the flock. In other words it was to be personal or something that belonged to the person offering the sacrifice.
As we seek to die daily to become that living sacrifice, we must ask the Lord to search our hearts and show us the things in our lives that keep us from being a reflection of Him.
Often pride is one of the greatest hindrances. I know that it has been in my life. It is one of the greatest tools the enemy uses. It is also one of the things that God says He hates. It has to be eliminated for others to see Jesus in us. For you see Jesus was a servant to all. If we are to be like Him, we are to be servants and not just to those whom we want to serve, but to all.
Maybe you have problems with jealousy, envy or strife or not being able to forgive. Whatever it is that keeps others from seeing Jesus in you , confess it and ask forgiveness. He will help you overcome it when you lay it on the altar. When we strive to put them on the altar crying out to the Lord for strength, we will begin to look more like our Savior to the world.
Jesus hang naked on that cross, exposed for the world to see. In Him there was no pride, selfishness, envy, jealousy, or unforgiveness to keep him from fulfilling the will of His Father. He died for the very ones that persecuted Him and hung Him on that cross.
We see again as in chapter one with the Burnt Offering, it had to be an animal without defect. Jesus fulfilled that requirement. He was without sin, without defect We will never be perfect, but we must strive for our lives to be a reflection of His, going from glory to glory.
There is a Chorus called "I Will Call Upon the Lord." The words are, "I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies." Since doing this study I keep wanting to say, "I will magnify the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. Then shall I be saved from my enemies."
Who are our enemies? We sometimes think of our enemies as people, but the Bible tells us we fight not against "flesh and blood." Our enemies are not people as Satan would lead us to believe. Our true enemies are the things that keep us from reflecting Jesus in our lives. So I shall sing "I will magnify the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. Then shall I be saved from my enemies."
We are told in Verse 2, that the one making the offering had to lay his hand on the head of the victim. As was said previously in Chapter 1 , this was an act of transferring sin from the person to the sacrifice. Just as when we accept Jesus as our Savior, we transferred our sin to Him. It was our sin that killed Him.
We also see in Verse 2 that it had to be at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.........at the door. It had to be offered at the door. Jesus Christ is the Door. "He is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by Him." (John 14:6)
This is God's way of saying it had to be on His terms not ours. We can't work or earn our way by doing good deeds. We can't think that just because we are basically good people, that we will be accepted into the Kingdom. We can't think that just because we go to church every Sunday and work for the Lord that we are Christians.
What are God's terms? You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross and was raised from the dead. You must confess that you have sinned and ask for forgiveness. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You must be willing to repent or turn from your sin and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
The Bible tells us, "That if you confess with your mouth , 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" (Romans 10:9-10).
I am sure you are thinking that most people who are doing this study should know the plan of salvation. You would be surprised at the number of people in the world who think just because they are good people, who have always gone to church, that they are automatically a Christian. There are many who fill our churches, who have not had a true conversion experience.
We have to come on God's terms and that is through Jesus Christ, He is the only way ...He is the Door.
The second part of verse 2 talks about "the blood being sprinkled on the altar." Blood had to be shed from the first time man sinned in Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves to hide their sin. God covered them with the skin of an animal. This was the first time blood had ever been shed.
People try to cover their sin in many ways today. Sometimes they just try to ignore it and act as if they had not sinned. Others will try to cover up their sin by doing good deeds. But we know that the only way sin can be atoned for is by shed blood. That was done for us once and for all when the Lamb of God shed his blood on the Cross of Calvary.
The first part of verse 3 tells us that from the Fellowship offering, he is to bring a sacrifice made by fire. In the Bible fire represents judgement. Jesus was judged for our sins.
We also see in the scriptures that fire can also represent "fiery trials." We discussed fiery trials at length in Chapter 2. We are told that in this life we will have trials and tribulations. When we offer them up to the Lord, trusting Him to bring us through, we will overcome. We are told that "we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." (Rev. 12:11).
The second part of verse 3 states, "all the fat that covers the inner parts or is connected to them, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the covering of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys.
I am sure you are thinking how ugly, yucky and gross all of this sounds. Why all of these details? How in the world could this apply to me?
That is what our sin looks like to God. Sin is ugly to God! The details of our sin is important to God. Things we want to dismiss and would prefer not to look at, and view as unimportant, are important to God.
God wanted the fat that covered the inner parts as sacrifice. The fat was considered the best, it was the choice portion.
We talked about the inner parts in Chapter1. He wanted them exposed and washed. Now we see that He desires the fat (the best) around the inner parts. The inside was important to God. There was no mention of the outside. He was concerned about the inside.
When we talk about the inner parts how can this apply to our life and Jesus life?
What about your life on the inside, in the inner parts? Psalm 51:6 says, "Surely You desire truth in the inner parts."
God wants us to be truthful about what is in our hearts. It is hard to be truthful with ourselves and admit our faults. Pride sometimes keeps us from admitting the truth about ourselves and confessing that there are areas in our Christian walk where we fall short.
Many times instead of laying them on the altar and asking forgiveness and repenting, we shrug them off. We hate to admit the truth and examine our hearts as we are told to do.
I have been guilty of this in my own life. I was aware that there were areas in my life that were not pleasing to the Lord. I was guilty of having bad attitudes, convincing myself that I was justified in my feelings. The Holy Spirit would convict me, but I would often pay little attention to His promptings.
My heart breaks when I look over the years in my life and see the missed opportunities to show Jesus to someone, because I was more concerned about self and refused to examine my heart.
If we want to look like our Savior we must be truthful in the" inner parts." God desires the best that we can give.
What about Jesus? Do you know Him in the inner parts? Do you know Him intimately? .
In Genesis we are told that Adam knew Eve and they bore fruit. They bore the fruit of the womb. The word knew used here meant "intimate. "
When we have an intimate relationship with our Father, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit.
We are told that, "the world will know that we belong to Him by the fruit that we bear."
Jesus said, "Many will come to me in that day saying, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in your name?" Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you.' (Matt. 7: 22)
In today's language many will say,"I sang in the choir, I taught Bible School, I gave to the poor, I worked in the church, I served on committees. I did many wonderful things for you Lord."
Do you know Him? If you do you will bear fruit. You won't have to strain to bear the fruit of the Spirit. It will grow naturally from your life. Does a tree have to strain to bear fruit?
It takes spending time with someone to get to know them. You can't get to know someone by waving at them once a week.
When we spend time with Him and in His Word, we will come to know Him in the inner parts.
That is what is so wonderful about these studies in Leviticus, we are learning the character and the nature of Jesus. We are getting to know Him in the "inner parts."
In verses 6-12, we see the same requirements if it is to be a lamb from the flock that is offered. In verses 12-16, again the same requirements if a goat is to be the sacrifice.
Whatever the sacrifice, God desires our best.
In verse 17, we read, " This is a lasting ordinance for the generation to come wherever you live; You must not eat any fat or any blood.
Isn't it strange that those very things are harmful to us in our diet today?
GOD BLESS.
