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There are three offerings discussed in Leviticus 1-3: whole burnt offering, grain offering and peace offering. Most of Christianity ignore or dismiss these chapters because, “The sacrifices have been done away with.” Yet Aaronic priesthood is a picture of the Mechilzedek priesthood, as we read about in Hebrews. God didn’t institute the Aaronic priesthood just for the heck of it. He had a plan and purpose for them to fulfill.
Leviticus is about the function of the High Priest. Yeshua is our High Priest and as we study Leviticus, we learn more about Yeshua is doing for us in God’s presence.
“For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;” (Heb. 5:1)
See here that the High Priest has two primary duties: offer gifts from the people to God and perform the sacrifices for their sins. Yeshua’s job as the High Priest is the same.
“… he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness; and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.” (Heb. 5:2)
The difference between Aaron and Yeshua is that, although Yeshua was “beset with weakness,” He did not have to offer a sacrifice for himself, as Aaron and his heirs had to do, because He was without sin. Yeshua’s calling as High Priest was of a higher order than Aaron’s.
“And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, ‘YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.'” (Heb. 5:3; quoting Psa. 2:7; 110:4; cf. Heb. 5:6; 6:20; 7:11, 17, 21)
When we give God a gift, we are simply giving Him something He already prepared for us to give Him. The animals, the grain, the incense, etc., all belong to God. They are God’s gift to us and we give them back to God.
For the whole offering, the animals must be male. The animals had to be cleaned. They were skinned and the dung was removed and taken somewhere else. The animals were slaughtered and burnt in a certain order, not all at once. The first offering, the burnt offering, is a voluntary offering.
“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock.'” (Lev 1:2)
This voluntary, free-will offering is called קָרְבָן qorban/corban (Strong’s lexicon No. H7133), which is an offering giving with delight and joy. It is an offering when we want to come near to God. The animal was to be an animal “without defect.” For example, with cattle, it would be the kind of young bull that was so perfect that you would want to keep it to maintain and improve the quality of your herd. If you love God more than you love your herd and the wealth that comes from that herd, you will be happy to give that young bull, with all his potential, to God in a burnt offering.
But God doesn’t said that one can only give a calf for a whole offering. He makes provision that if one can’t afford to offer a calf, they can offer a goat or even a dove. He made provision so that regardless of whether one was wealthy or poor, one could give a heartfelt gift that He could accept.
Most of the animals are offered on the North side of the altar but the doves or pigeons are offered on the East side, why? There was more space on the North side of the altar to slaughter and clean the larger animals than on the East side. Since the doves and pigeons are very small animals, they could be easily slaughtered on the East side. God is in the East and facing West.
How can we relate to this today when we have no temple? Romans 12 shows us how.
“For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of trust. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: …” (Rom. 12:3–6)
Each of us are given a gift from God. It is not because we are graceful people but because God is grace and gives a measure of it to us.
The second offering is the minchah offering, the grain offering. It was finely ground flour. It could be baked or fried. But it must be offered with frankincense and oil. The bread had to be unleavened and pure. The leftovers belong to Aaron and his sons because it was “most holy.”
The last offering discussed is the peace offering, the שֶׁלֶם shelem (H8002) offering. The word is closely related to שָׁלוֹם shalom (H7965), or peace. The root meaning comes from שָׁלֵם shalem (H7999a), “to be safe, to be given back, to be friendly.” With this offering, the animal offered up could be either male or female.
God gives all of us peace. He gives safety and peace, not the kind that the world gives.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matt 5:9)
The offerings we see here are all examples of offerings given in great delight. We are called the sons and daughters of God. We will not have the power of the Son of Man but we are “joined at the hip” with Him.
Reader: Jeff. Speaker: Richard. Summary: Tammy.
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