Leviticus 7

The Levitical priests had much to know and understand. But how much more did Christ our priest need to know to offer a pleasing sacrifice to our Father! Jesus was not a son of Aaron, or even part of the tribe of Levi. That priesthood which came by way of Aaron was a testimony of death. Yet even the ceremonies of the Law testified to a greater priesthood that would one day appear. As the priests according to the Law needed to know how to fulfill their calling, Christ needed to know what He had to do to offer the sacrifice that would cancel guilt and win for us eternal peace.

The guilt offering according to the Law was “most holy.” It had to be killed in a certain place, and the blood and fat portions of the offering were to be treated according to the Lord's requirements. In this section of the Law the priests learned that they were to consume certain portions of this offering. There was one law for the guilt offering and the sin offering, and the priests needed to know this law and to obey it.

The priests became partakers of certain things that were offered at the Lord's altar. Every male among them could eat the guilt or sin offerings. The priest who made atonement would receive the meat. The one who offered the burnt offering received the animal's hide. The priest who offered certain grain offerings received the priestly portion of those offerings, while others were to be shared equally among the sons of Aaron.

The connections between the worshiper, the priest making atonement, the priestly community around him, the sacrifice offered, and the Lord Himself who received an acceptable sacrifice were very worthy of Israel's contemplation. There was a communion taking place in the offering system that drew together God and His people, God and His priests, and the priests and the people. Just as Moses spoke of a desire in Numbers 11:29 that all God's people would be prophets, there were expressions of a longing in the Law that all of the Lord's Israel would be a kingdom of priests. We have now experienced a taste of the fulfillment of that holy plea in our oneness with God and our communion with one another in the body of Christ. We partake together of the one loaf and the one cup, proclaiming in this sacramental way the Lord's death until He comes.

The Old Testament peace offering richly displayed this priestly mystery of communion, a fellowship in the sacrifice between God and the people of Israel with the priests as mediators. The peace offering was a meal of shalom. It had to be celebrated in accord with God's ways, and the priest needed to know these ways. God set the terms of communion, and it was a priestly duty to see that those were rightly followed.

This meal of shalom had the meat of the sacrifice, as well as bread and oil. God had his portion, described in Leviticus 3. The priest had his portion of the meat, oil, and bread. The rest was the portion of the worshiper. The loaf that the priest ate was also the Lord's portion, a symbol of communion between God and man. The one who threw the blood of the peace offering on the sides of the altar, the priest who stood between God and man, was necessary for a true peace offering.

The meat of the peace offering had to be eaten by the third day. We have been told in the New Testament that Jesus died on the third day “according to the Scriptures.” We could point to Jonah for the Old Testament reference, as our Lord did, speaking of his three days in the belly of a great fish. But we could also consider the death of the peace offering. By the third day there was no more of this death, only the life in God's people and His priests, a life that came from all who were partakers of the death of the offering.

If the peace offering was an offering for thanksgiving, God required that it be eaten on the day of the offering. The extra day for eating was only for those offerings that were part of a vow offering or of a freewill offering. The Lord would reveal more of the details of these offerings according to His timing. For now, the distinction between different categories of peace offerings was simply noted.

The Lord did tell His people that there were ways to make a peace offering something less than the full salvation that it was designed to portray. Eating tainted meat was one of those ways. Old meat was to be burned up with fire. Also only the ceremonially clean could eat this meal. We eat communion as those who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb, approaching God in faith, and counted as righteous in His sight because of the righteousness of Christ in whom we trust.

Israel was to respect the terms of communion established by the Lord, and not to define shalom according to the desires of men. God had His portion. The priest had his role and his communion in the sacrifice. With that very important caution, a worshiper could come to God. The worshipers' hands would bring the offering. The breast would be waved before the Lord, but was then consumed by the worshiper. The priest would have the right thigh as a happy contribution from the sacrifice of a man's peace offerings.

The old laws of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, and of the peace offering, have found their fulfillment in Christ our Priest and Christ our Sacrifice. We have peace with God in Him, and through Him we not only enjoy a taste of heaven, but we have the present privilege of bringing our lives to God as living sacrifices, acceptable to our Father through our Redeemer and King. We are one in Him who is one with the Father.

Bible Survey #32 and #33 - Esther

During the exile of Judah, there were some who came back to the Promised Land and were used by God to do great deeds of restoration. Others lived out their days in the land of their captors. Mordecai and Esther were in this second group.

Though they did not get to return to Israel, the Lord provided for them and used them for His purposes. In her time, Esther was called to a position of important influence as a queen to the ruler of the Persian empire. When an enemy of the Jews sought to destroy the people of God, it was the queen's honor to face the possibility of death for the good of the Lord's people.

The book that bears Esther's name tells the inspiring story of the deliverance of the Jews from the hands of those who sought their demise. This book tells us just one account of how God has been faithful to His promises over many centuries. It also serves as a warning to those who would seek to harm those that God has promised to bless.

In this world there is much tribulation, but a Deliverer has come for the Lord's Zion. He has spoken words of peace to all who will hear His voice. His life and death have secured the welfare, not only of the Jews, but of all Gentiles who will put their trust in the Messiah.

The people mourn and fast in desperate days.

One woman finds the courage then to plead

That all the Jews will find a way to life.

Salvation comes to all God's Israel.

Leviticus 6

All of Israel's sin was against God, but some sins were also against one another, Sincere repentance concerning a sin against another person needed to be accompanied by all possible restitution. If a man deceived his neighbor through some theft, it was necessary to pay his neighbor back, and the Lord required that the offender add a fifth to what he had taken and return all of it to the injured party.

Robbery and deceit brought injury to others, even if the underlying actions might have been in some sense unintentional. A deceiver might have deceived himself even more than the man he had stolen from. But once he came to his senses, appropriate compensation was due to his neighbor.

This offense also necessitated that things be made right with God. The man who was in the wrong needed to bring a ram without blemish out of the flock for a guilt offering. The good news of forgiveness through the shedding of the blood of a substitute was part of the Word of the Law: “He shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty.” Reconciliation with man and restored relationship with Almighty God; the Lord cared about both of these good goals, even in the era that would prepare Israel for God's grand finale, the resurrection community of the faithful. Surely the Lord's kingdom should always give testimony of His healing power on both a horizontal and vertical plane. Christ has done this for Israel, and not only for the Jews, but now even the hostility between Jew and Gentile has been repaired through His cross.

In all of the Lord's offerings, the priest played a most important role. The priest was a mediator between the one bringing the offering, and God who would receive the offering from the hands of an acceptable officer appointed according to His Word.

In the earlier descriptions of each offering in the Lord's system, certain details of priestly activity were not mentioned. Now was the time to clarify some specific steps that a proper mediator had to perform.

For instance, the burnt offering was to remain on the altar long after the worshiper went home. It would burn there all night until the morning, and the priest was to keep that holy fire burning. It could not go out. He was the one who would have to know what to do with the ashes that were left over from that offering. The worshiper had returned to his normal life, but not the priest. All of this was his life. Even the details of his hidden garments were made subject to the Lord's instructions for those who would touch the holy things of God's offerings. After a change of clothing, the ashes would be taken outside of the camp to a clean place.

He had to know what to do with the grain offering. He would burn the Lord's memorial portion including the frankincense and some of the oil on the bronze altar. He was allowed to eat the remainder as part of his connection with the offering, the people who offered it, and the Lord who received the offering and the people, but only without leaven, and only in a holy place. How much would these priests have to eat? How could they consume all that was necessary? This was “a thing most holy” to God. Whatever touched these grain offerings became holy, so the priests that ate them became holy.

There would be special offerings on the day when Aaron and his sons were set apart as priests. The requirement of a grilled grain offering would be passed down forever to future generations of priests. The sons of Aaron would come and go, but the ceremonial law of the priesthood would continue, until the final system found its completeness in an offering of a life that would end all offerings. One day, before He offered up Himself, He would say these words: “This is my body. This is my blood, the blood of the New Covenant.” Until that time, new priests would be anointed and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour would be used in the regular grain offering, half in the morning and half in the evening. These griddle cakes would be entirely burned before the Lord. They would not be eaten. This was what the Lord decreed, and the priests needed to obey Him.

The priest would know what to do with the holy sin offering. They knew where the sin offering was to be killed “before the Lord.” Once again, this was something that the priest who offered it was to eat. It was to be eaten in the court of the tent of meeting. And it made everything it touched holy. There were rules about the blood of the sin offering splashing on a garment. It was holy. The garment had to be washed in a holy place. The vessel in which the offering was boiled had to be disposed of or scoured in a particular way. The priests needed to know and follow all of these procedures. They were to eat the appropriate portions of the sin offering, except in the case of offerings where the blood was taken inside the tabernacle. Those offerings had to be burned up with fire.

Jesus was not descended from Aaron. Yet these provisions of the priesthood remind us that He had a special role in a new kind of priesthood. He is the appointed mediator between the Lord's people and our holy God. His blood makes us clean. His hands brought resurrection healing to the weary and diseased in this crumbling creation. He has opened a way for us into a new life and a new world. His priesthood is forever.

He alone knew how to do His priestly duties. He has made things right between us and God, and in doing so He has made a way for there to be eternal peace among all those who belong to Him.

Leviticus 5

To know the depth of God's love in His provision of a sin offering for Israel, God's people needed to know more about the depth of their problem of sin. This required some specifics and a greater understanding of the offense against God from even unintentional sin.

One way to communicate this lesson would have been to give examples of the most heinous sins before God. This is not what God did in these chapters that teach us more about our sin and guilt. The Lord instead used examples that His people might easily dismiss as small or debatable matters. Even when such things were done without any particular malice or forethought, they required the death of a substitute. Rather than magnify the evil capacities of mankind, the Lord chose to show His own great righteousness. Offenses that men might consider to be small, when rightly seen as against God, required an offering acceptable to Him.

Men might regularly excuse themselves from involvement in the process of pursuing civil justice, but when a witness did not come forward to testify to the truth, this was sin, even though the underlying crime that was witnessed was someone else's responsibility. This was just one small example. Here were some others: Was it such a serious matter to touch an unclean carcass? Would it require the shedding of blood to have accidental contact with human uncleanness that was realized only after the fact? What if someone said words that should not be said in the heat of a moment of pain or frustration? Was this actually sin? Yes, all of these matters that Israel might be tempted to think of as only weaknesses brought guilt upon people. They required an appropriate sacrifice. The priest needed to make atonement from the flock for all these individual offenses.

This was not God being mean-spirited or picky. Israel could not pretend to have the righteousness to stand in judgment of the Law-Giver or His Law. This was merely God being the great I-Am.

His mercy for the weaker ones among His people was evident in His provision for those who did not have the means to bring a lamb. It was a blessing for the people to be able to have a ceremony to help them know that they had forgiveness, despite their sin. It was kind of the Lord to make a way for even the poor to know the way out of guilt. If someone could not offer a lamb, then he could bring two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. This was very kind of God. If someone was so poor that the offering of birds was still beyond his reach, God made a way for him to make a small grain offering and have it count as a sin offering.

The Lord specified the procedures for each of these alternatives. The priest would know what to do with the blood of the birds and with his portion of the flour. The worshiper would know his part; the killing of the bird, the bringing of the correct amount of flour without oil or frankincense. The word that would be most pleasing to the ear of the penitent was clearly proclaimed in Leviticus: “The priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed in any one of these things, and he shall be forgiven.”

Could there be forgiveness for sin for the man who was so poor that he could only bring some flour? Yes, and true atonement, at least in these ceremonies of mercy for the weak that would hold over the people of God until the day when the true Messiah was revealed, the Man who would take away our sins forever through His own blood.

But what if someone unintentially committed a breach of faith regarding the performing of any of these ceremonies? What then? He could bring a ram without blemish out of the flock as his compensation to the Lord. This would be his guilt offering, this on top of the original offering that was required, and an added fifth, an extra twenty percent given to the Lord.

But consider all our sin! The weight of our guilt before the Lord was overwhelming. We would be crushed under the burden of it, even if we were just trying to keep up with the ceremonies that God instituted. We have had great sins of commission and ommission. We have sinned through weakness and through intentional rebellion.

How many animals would we owe just for our unintentional sins? How many rams would we have to bring just for not doing the ceremonial law in the right way? How could we pay the extra fifth that we would owe back to the Lord for all our impatience and ingratitude? How have we treated the people most precious to us, let alone those who are enemies? Who could weigh out all the silver necessary for us to make things right with God? Even if we could pay all our debt, what would we do when we woke up the next day and began accumulating more guilt.

But now a true atonement has been made, and even we who are so spiritually poor have been forgiven. The Sin Offering has come. The Ram for all our guilt has died for us. He had far more than the extra fifth in His own righteousness which He paid in our name. Now He touches our weary hearts, and lifts up our weak hands. He says to us, “Fear not. Your sins are forgiven. Your guilt before the Lord was great, but My righteousness has overwhelmed your guilt.”

Leviticus 4

The sacrifice of the ultimate acceptable offering before the Lord God was a very complex matter. God used more than one ceremony to prepare us for the perfect life and death of the Man who would accomplish such a weighty response to the sin of Adam. The burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering each had their stories to tell about the required life and work of the Savior and the blessing that His death would bring to the Lord's chosen people. But it was with the sin offering that the Lord touched upon the heart of the offense that required such a weighty solution.

Sin entered the world through one man. But that one man was not the only person who sinned against God. Sins were a fact of life in Israel, and they would require atonement. The fullness of sin was not atoned for by this system of sacrifice. Intentional rebellion against the Lord would be dealt with in another way. The normal offerings for sin would only be for unintentional sins.

Unintentional sin against any of the Lord's commandments required the shedding of blood if the people of Israel were to live at peace with God in the promised land. But not all unintentional sin was to be atoned for in the same way. Was the sinner the anointed priest, the whole congregation, a leader of the people, or a common person? The matter of who committed the sin was a detail that God cared about.

The sin of the anointed priest was of great consequence, bringing guilt upon the people of the nation. That sin required the death of a bull from the herd before the presence of the Lord near the bronze altar in front of the tabernacle. The priest was to approach the entrance to the tent of meeting and lay his hand on the head of the bull. This laying on of the priest's hands was an indentification between the sinful priest and the one who would take the penalty for him, the bull without blemish.

The priest would kill the bull, for this offering was for his sin. There would be no doubt as to who killed the sacrificial substitute. It was the one who committed the sin that necessitated the death of this atoning offering.

In this case of the anointed priest, he would serve as sinful worshiper and priest who would mediate between the sinner and God. He would be the one to do the necessary work with the sacrificial blood of the offering. He would dip his finger in that blood and sprinkle it seven times in front of the veil of the sanctuary. He would also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of incense inside the sanctuary, though not in the most holy place on the other side of the veil. Finally, all the rest of the blood would be poured out at the base of the bronze altar, the altar of burnt offering outside the tabernacle.

As with the peace offering, the special cuts referred to as “fat” portions would be burned on the altar of burnt offering. The remainder of the offering would be taken outside the camp to a clean place, and burned there on a fire of wood. This prepared the people of God for a sin offering who would be sacrificed outside the camp in some way. See Hebrews 13:11-12.

If the whole congregation of the people of Israel sinned unintentionally, the way to perform the necessary sin offering was similar. When they realized their guilt, the whole assembly should bring one bull, with the sinners placing their hands on the bull through the elders that represented them. Then the bull would be killed, and the procedures of the priest with the blood would be the same as the situation when it was the sin of the anointed priest. As with him, the remainder of the bull after the burning of the Lord's portion on the bronze altar would be burned outside the camp. This was the way for the priest to make atonement for them.

In the case of an individual leader, the procedure was different. Now instead of a bull, he was to bring a male goat without blemish. Also the priests work with the blood would be restricted to the bronze altar outside of the tent of the meeting, its horns and its base. Finally, there was no mention of taking the animal and burning it outside the camp.

The details for an individual among the common people were very similar with the case of a leader. But in this case, when the guilt was realized, the worshipper would bring a female without blemish from the goats or the lambs, rather than a male.

These were the laws regarding the sin offering. There was a recognition of the special responsibility of leaders, especially among the priests who were to stand before God in the place of the people, but the whole assembly and every individual in it needed to know about how to handle the problem of unintentional sin.

Most important for the continued existence of the people in the land was this fact: There was a way provided by God for sinners to have ceremonial holiness before the Lord.

How much better is the news from heaven proclaimed to New Covenant believers. A true Redeemer has come to be our sin offering. His death was a sad consequence of our sin, but His resurrection was a sure proof that our sin has finally been atoned for. Ceremonies that teach us about forgiveness were fine for their time, but we needed a sin offering that would take away sin once for all time. This sin offering has now been accomplished through the cross of Christ. We are forever forgiven by God. His Son suffered in the place of disgrace for priest, leader, individual, and even for the whole congregation. There is no need for any other sacrifice. Our guilt has been cancelled. We are forgiven.

Leviticus 3

The Lord instituted a system of offerings for the people of Israel that told a single story from more than one vantage point. The subject was always the acceptable approach to God, the pleasing aroma. It was always about more than anything that could be burnt upon the bronze altar in front of the tabernacle. To get the best picture of this one acceptable offering required more than one view. The burnt offering and the grain offering were pictures of a fully consecrated death and the goodness of a whole life of work and an entire being given to the Lord. The peace offering looked at that death and life from the vantage point of what the right offering would secure.

Israel needed peace with God. Peace was always more than just the absence of war. It was a positive condition of holy fellowship, of honest joy, and of secure relationship. An animal sacrifice that was not only offered to God but enjoyed before Him was the chosen sacrament to prepare the Lord's people for this aspect of the Messiah's work.

God cared about the securing of shalom fellowship with Israel. That should have told Israel a lot about Him. Could the worshiper have known that God would come one day Himself to be the peace offering for His Israel? This was love, that Christ gave Himself for the securing of this peace.

The acceptable peace offering had to be without blemish, and He had to be offered before the Lord as an act of holy worship. God the Father was laying out the pathway for the Son to work out this shalom through this offering of Himself. The death of the peace offering was necessary, as was the identification of the substitute with the worshiper. If Israel wanted peace with God, worshipers had to lay their hands on the head of the holy substitute.

That substitute would be killed, and the blood of that sacrifice would be thrown against the sides of the altar, as with the burnt offering. But now, instead of burning all of the meat entirely on the bronze altar, only certain cuts, “the fat,” the best cuts, were given in this way to the Lord.

These cuts were placed on top of the burnt offering. The base was the burnt offering, entirely consumed according to Leviticus 1. Now these extra cuts, the specified “fat” would also be an additional pleasing aroma to the Lord. The Lord was pleased to have true peace with His people, but it would come His way, and at a cost. Who would bear the cost? That would become clearer when the One came who would not only win for us peace with God, but even peace between Jew and Gentile. See Ephesians 2:11-22.

The peace offering could be from the herd, either a bull or a cow, or it could be from the flock, male or female, either from the sheep or from the goats. This was a greater variety than was allowed for the burnt offering.

The peace offering rules were the same regardless of these various options. The acceptable peace offering was without blemish. It was identified with the worshiper by the laying of the worshiper's hands on the head of the animal. It had to be killed by the worshiper. The priests put the blood on the sides of the altar. The worshiper offered the special cuts, the “fat.” to the Lord.

Each of these facts of an acceptable peace offering were worthy of Israel's consideration:

The acceptable peace offering was without blemish. There would be no fullness of peace with God without a perfect offering. One blemish would have lost the peace that the hearts of all God's people longed for.

The acceptable peace offering was identified with the worshiper by the laying of the worshiper's hands on the head of the animal. The securing of our peace was not a disinterested process for the worshiper. He needed to see his need. Israel could not secure their own peace in their own way. The answer for Israel was not through the empires of men, or through their own giftedness or goodness.

The acceptable peace offering had to be killed by the worshiper. God would make peace through the blood of an acceptable substitute. There was no way to enjoy the fruits of peace without owning up tho the cost of peace, which was borne by another.

The priests put the blood of the acceptable peace offering on the sides of the altar. God's representatives had to appease the wrath of God even for a peace offering.

The worshiper offered the special cuts, the “fat” of the acceptable peace offering to the Lord. The Lord deserved the best. It was a heinous crime against this sacrament when men took for themselves these special cuts. See 1 Samuel 2:29.

The instructions ended with these words. “All fat is the Lord's. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”

God's peace was costly. It required a Substitute who could secure it in Himself. Jesus did not need to lay His hands on some other head to get peace. His blood and His righteousness have become the fulness of life for us. It is a testimony to the importance of this truth, and to the achievement of these demands in the work of Christ, that so many New Testament epistles contain words like these: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus is our peace.

Leviticus 2

It was a great privilege for Israel to be given a way to relate to God through sacrifice and offering. The law told them how they could do that. The list of offerings included only one that did not involve the shedding of blood, since it was an offering from the field, and not an animal sacrifice.

The first time that a human being brought an offering of the field, God did not accept it. Because of this first, very serious rejection, this revelation of an acceptable grain offering was very important. What would make a grain offering acceptable to God?

Anyone bringing a grain offering should bring “fine flour” sifted of any impurities. This reminds us of the analogous perfection of any offering of the herd or flock, which needed to be without blemish.

The grain offering should have oil on it. Consider the change that comes about in flour through the addition of oil. Oil was used in the tabernacle for anointing, and was later used to set apart men to be kings. The Bible speaks of oil in connection with gladness. See Psalm 45:7 and Isaiah 61:3.

The fine flour offered to God needed frankincense on it. This aromatic spice could be eaten, and would give the grain offering a distinctive smell, but this spice was all used in the portion that went to the Lord, and not to the priests.

The grain offering was not a private religious ritual. The worshiper was to bring it to the priests in front of the tabernacle. A “memorial portion” including a handful of the fine flour and oil together with all of the frankincense would be burned on the bronze altar as an aroma pleasing to God.

The rest of the grain offering would be given to the sons of Aaron. This food for the priests was part of the system, not merely as a provision for their bodily needs, but as “a most holy part of the Lord's food offerings.”

This grain offering could also be presented to the Lord as a finished baked product, either as a loaf or as wafers, both unleavened. In either case, a memorial portion would be burnt on the altar before the Lord, and the remainder would be given to the priests. God and his priests would “eat” together.

The grain offering could not include leaven or honey, unless the grain offering was an offering of firstfruits not to be burned on the altar. No explanation was given for these prohibitions. Leaven was referred to elsewhere in the rituals of the Old Testament as a symbol of sin, and honey was at times associated with the covering over or hiding of something that was evil and truly bitter.

While leaven and honey were prohibited in an offering that would be placed on the bronze altar, salt was required of these offerings. “You shall season all your grain offerings with salt.” This salt was spoken of here as the “salt of the covenant.” In the New Testament the people of God were to be the salt if the earth. Their lives and words were to be gracious, “seasoned with salt.” See Colossians 4:6.

Finally a grain offering of firstfruits could be made before it was made into fine flour. This was an expression of the beginning of a season of fruitful productive work. The first portion would be given directly to the Lord with oil on it and all the frankincense.

From the beginning, mankind was to work the ground as a gift from God. After sin entered the world, it was very good news, not only that there would still be life through childbearing, but that there would also be work, despite the sweat of the brow and the thorns and thistles.

God wanted Israel to work with a recognition that He was the owner of the land, and that the gift of fruitfulness came from Him. A willing recognition of this was expressed through the grain offering, whether in association with other offerings or at the beginning of a new harvest.

Yet despite the God-given blessing of labor and food from the land, the Israelites sensed the futility of their efforts. God's people had eternity in their hearts, and they were looking for an offering that would not perish.

Christ, the Bread from heaven, has secured for us an eternal home. All of His labors were perfect. His offering was of the finest flower, without any of the leaven of sin. He had the fullness of the oil of the Holy Spirit in all His thoughts, words, and actions. Every offering of His mouth was seasoned with salt. Even when He spoke a necessary word of correction was for the purpose of His grace, calling the offender to see sin for what it was and to sweep the leaven out of the house.

His grain offering of a life of true spiritual work had the fragrant aroma of an acceptable plea to God for our eternal well-being. In Him we have been granted meaningful labor in a world that is not perishing, and even now our labor in the Lord here below is not in vain.

Leviticus 1

God revealed to Moses not only the design for the tabernacle, but also the laws concening the system of worship for Israel. That worship required the ritual slaughter of animals. The story of the blood of the sacrifice runs throughout this book. God required this shedding of blood.

The Lord spoke to Moses about this from the tent of meeting. This was different than the revelation God gave to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai, but consistent with those earlier words.

The system of sacrifices, ceremonies, and ethics contained in Leviticus began with the specification that these words were for the people of Israel. In other books of the Bible God spoke to all the people of the earth. Here God gave His special people a way of worship and life that would keep them separate from others, at least until further notice.

This message from the tent of meeting began with the first offering commanded by God, the burnt offering, an offering from the herd or the flock. Instructions on the various situations where God required such an offering would come later. For now, it was enough to learn how a burnt offering was to be done. This instruction was for the whole congregation of Israel, so that they would know how to make their burnt offerings to God through the Levitical priests.

An offering from the herd had these specifications. It must be a male, a bull, and that male would have to be without blemish. The worshiper could not do the offering himself in private. He had to bring the bull to the entrance tent of meeting. That was the only place where it could be accepted before the Lord.

The worshiper was to lay his hand on the head of the sacrificial animal as an indication of his identification with this bull. This was a ceremonial indication that it was people that God was concerned with, and that the animal was offered up as a substitute for a person, or a group of people.

This process of bringing a bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting suggested an examination by those overseeing the sacrifice. The bull had to be acceptable as a sacrifice. That bull would be used to “make atonement” for the worshiper. God was angry at the worshiper. This was not about some specific sin. Something of wholeness was lacking that God required from the fullness of a life to be lived before Him. God's anger needed to be deflected by an acceptable substitute. If that bull was approved as a sacrifice, the worshiper would move ahead toward the bronze altar, and kill the bull “before the Lord.” God would be the One who must be satisfied by the offering.

The priests, the sons of Aaron were to bring the blood of the bull and throw it against the sides of the bronze altar located near the entrance to the tabernacle. God required these blood sacrifices. The worshiper should have been thinking about this after laying his hand on the head of the bull and seeing this blood poured on the sides of the altar. “Why does God require my blood?” “Can the blood of a bull work, when God requires me?”

The worshiper was not yet done. He would skin the bull and cut it up into pieces. He would also wash the bull's legs and entrails with water.

Now the priests would take over. They kept the fire going so that it was prepared for these offerings. They alone could take those cut up pieces and place them on the bronze altar outside the tent of meeting. The head, the fat, and all the pieces were arranged on the wood and burned as a burnt offering. This was to be a food offering to a God who did not need to eat. This was a “pleasing aroma to the Lord.”

These same instructions were repeated in the case of an offering from the flock, a sheep or a goat. God also specified to Moses the rules concerning offerings of turtledoves and pigeons.

What was all this slaughter about? Why would the God of heaven command such things of His people? In a book devoted to the way of Old Testament holiness, why would God start with these descriptions?

Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins. Since the moment that sin entered the world through Adam, we have been hearing about the suffering of a substitute. It was God who performed the first animal sacrifice, not man. See Genesis 3:21. The yield of that death was clothing for mankind. But before God killed an animal, He spoke of the suffering of the “Seed of the woman” who would be bruised.

The burnt offering was a whole and perfect offering to God. We needed someone else to stand in our place because we were not an offering of wholeness to God without blemish.

Jesus offered up all He had to God as a living sacrifice. Nothing was lacking in His life. That living sacrifice was acceptable to God. Our hands came against Him, since it was for our sins that He died. He was pierced for our transgressions. His life and His death were the perfect and full offering to God, ascending to His throne on high as a sweet-smelling aroma. Through Him, we who are full of all our own blemishes and who are lacking in more ways than we know, have been made fully acceptable to the Father.

Bible Survey #30 and #31 - Ezra and Nehemiah

The People Come Home

Ezra begins where Second Chronicles left off, with the proclamation of Cyrus, king of Persia, calling the followers of the God of Israel to return to their land in order to rebuild the Temple. Over the decades they faced much opposition, but the Lord helped them by giving them courage and favor with powerful rulers.

The priest, Ezra, taught the people concerning the Law of God. He also sought to insure that the worship of God would be instituted again according to God's revealed will. Those who remembered the earlier days of greater glory wept with sadness at the laying of the new foundation.

The calling of Nehemiah was to rebuild the city wall around Jerusalem. This governor also faced much opposition in this good work, not only from enemies in the land, but also from those within the covenant community who troubled their own people with greed and unrighteousness.

Both Ezra and Nehemiah were successful in their callings. The temple was built again, and the wall around Jerusalem was once again intact. More that that, the people returning from exile were reintroduced to the Law of God, and the ceremonial life of Israel was brought back to the Promised Land.

The scribe and priest would teach the Law again.

The leader sent from God would build the wall.

The temple would be smaller than before,

But God was still the Lord of Israel.

Exodus 40

Everything necessary had been built and gathered together. The time had finally come for the completion of this great project. The Lord spoke, commanding Moses to take this last step of construction. He included a note of timing, that it should be done “on the first day of the first month.” Having an actual date showed that the time was very near.

The entire structure of worship would be built up around the ark of the testimony, where God would be present with Israel in between the cherubim on top of the golden mercy seat that would be placed above the ark. That holy ark of God's presence would be shielded from the view of mankind by the veil, the curtain separating the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place. In the Holy Place, on the other side of the veil from the ark, the table for the showbread and the golden lampstand would be arranged according to God's direction, as well as the altar for burning incense to the Lord.

Next, would be the screen at the entrance to the Tabernacle that would be the way to the courtyard outside. In that courtyard would be the altar for burning the sacrificial offerings to the Lord, and the basin for ceremonial washing in between the bronze altar and the entrance to the Tabernacle. Finally the curtains of the court would mark inside from outside this place of worship.

All these places would now be set up, but they would need to be anointed with the special oil made for that purpose. Most importantly, Aaron and his sons, washed and dressed in their special garments, would also be anointed and consecrated to be priests to God. They would be a part of the holy worship space, with the symbol of something precious from above poured upon them.

Moses did all that God commanded. “In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected.” The structure of this holy place was put in order, with its bases, frames, poles, and pillars. And over all the gilded wood that gave the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place their form, Moses spread out the tent, with its multiple layers.

The testimony, the two tablets, were in the ark. The poles that would allow the ark to be moved according to God's commands were ready for the hands approved for that task. The golden mercy seat was above the ark, and the ark was in its hidden room behind the veil.

Moses did all of this. The table for the bread on the north side with the bread on the table, the lampstand on the south side with the lamps set up, the golden altar with the incense burning; all was in place behind the screen that was the door to the Tabernacle. Everything was ready in the court, the bronze altar and the basin, Aaron and his sons in their special garments, all within the border that the court formed between the inside and the outside.

But something most essential was missing.

Then God came. The glory cloud of His presence filled the Tabernacle. God's presence was not like an empty spiritual idea without any form. When God filled the Tabernacle, no one else could come in. There was no more room. Even Moses, the mediator of the covenant, could not come in.

This was the Old Testament traveling worship house of the Lord Most High. By His presence in and above the Tabernacle, He directed the movements of His people through the wilderness. That was the way that the Lord's worship space was constructed in the era of preparation, prior to the coming of the true Anointed One of Israel, the Christ.

We live in a different time now. With the coming of Jesus, God is present with us in person. The Lord established a new Tabernacle that Moses could never have assembled. Those who are united to Him have been made priests to God through faith in His Name. We have the special anointing of the Holy Spirit upon us, and the Lord God Almighty lives within us, and dwells among us as we worship and serve Him.

All the necessary pieces are in place for the fullness of God's plans. At the time of His choosing, He will make visible to our eyes the greatest glory of His Tabernacle dwelling. All that is old and fading away will be removed, and everything that is new and alive in the resurrection of Jesus Christ will be firmly established in a renewed environment suitable for the Lord to be with His people, and for His people to serve Him forever.

This new Tabernacle in Christ was very costly. It did not require special linen, gold, incense, or acacia wood. The Stone that the builders rejected had to come in person. He gave His life for the eternal dwelling of the Father with His resurrection church throughout the vast expanse of a new heaven and earth.

The Old Testament Tabernacle was a marvelous picture. But now the Messiah has come, and we are His people. Our God is with us forever.

Exodus 39

God made man in His own image. He walked with man in the garden. But man violated his relationship with God by disobeying the Word of the Lord. Man ate the fruit that he was commanded not to eat. Through this breach of faith, this serious disregard for the Word of the Lord, sin entered the world, and death with sin. Yet just as God announced this great difficulty, He also announced that it would be through a man, the seed of the woman, that the head of evil would be crushed.

Man would now need a mediator with God in order to have fellowship with the Almighty. In the time of preparation for the gift of the Messiah, there would be a special office given to Israel allowing the blessings of God to come upon the people, and enabling the offerings of the people to be given to God. It would be through the office of priest that the Lord would provide a way of limited access to God. Only Aaron and his descendants could be priests. Aaron himself would be the first high priest, and his sons would serve beside him as his assistants. Both the high priest and the other priests would have special garments according to the pattern that God had shown to Moses.

Under, the direction of Moses, and the oversight of Aaron and Bezalel, Oholiab and other gifted artisans would have the special task of making these garments. The msking of these objects of holy clothing was recorded for future generations.

The creation of man was more impressive than the creation of the tabernacle or anything in it. Man would be a priest to God. To be a priest to God was a very high calling. Could the clothing make the man? Was there any outfit that could allow a man to come before God and represent the people before the Lord's perfect holiness?

Just as the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, and just as sacred water could not cleanse the hearts of those who would approach God in worship, there would be no garment that Oholiab and Bezalel could weave and sow that could make a man acceptable before the Lord for holy service. Yet men like Oholiab had the privilege of building the picture of a priest to come that Aaron would wear. As we consider his gift of service for this time of preparation, our hearts are drawn to the better gift of a High Priest with the spotless attire of His own righteousness who was willing to stain His garments with His own blood that we might be granted the spotless robes of His priesthood and serve God forever.

Aaron's ephod of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen had its purpose in its day. That sacred garment would bear the names of the sons of Israel. But could Bezalel have engraved a special stone for every individual in Israel and placed these hundreds of thousands of gems on a more comprehensive ephod? That weight would have been more than Aaron could bear. Even to carry the weight of guilt for one sinner would have been impossible for the man who had himself been implicated in the making of a calf idol. How could any man bear the penalty that all of Israel deserved? But this is what Christ has done, dying not only for the sins of Israel, but for all the scattered children of the Lord from throughout the earth who would eventually take refuge in His priesthood.

Aaron's breastpiece, with its four rows of stones, would also be a remembrance before God of the twelve tribes. But would there be a priest who would remember us particularly before the Lord? Could there ever be a man who would know more than our names, even being aware of the truth of our own weaknesses, and carrying us before the throne of the Almighty in His perfect strength? This could only be symbolically portrayed in the work of Bezalel, and the expert stitching of Oholiab, but neither of these men, or any of the descendants of Aaron, could have ever provided the priesthood that would secure for us eternal blessedness in the presence of God.

These gifted craftsmen could make the twisted chains of gold for a garment of preparation, but they could not bring to earth the man of heaven who would lead the way for us to resurrection life. They could weave the robe of blue with the skill required so that it might not easily tear. They could prepare the hem of Aaron's garment according to the Lord's command. But only Christ could feel the faith of His beloved one who would touch the hem of his simple garment and be healed.

They could make special coats for Aaron and His sons, and the special caps with a message of consecrated holiness. But only Christ could be the Man of consecration for us. When He loved us to the very end, soldiers would cast lots for one of his garments, and would split another on its seams so that each man could have a portion. But when that body was torn by nails in His hands and feet, His blood would bring a power of purity that no garment assembled by Oholiab could have adequately portrayed. He was what every high priest in the tradition of Aaron had to be, though none of them could ever achieve it. He was “Holy to the Lord.” In Him, all of the meaning of the tabernacle system of worship found its fulfillment. His work received a word of blessing from God that was more powerful and enduring than anything that could every have been spoken over the works of the gifted hands that served the Lord in the building of the tent house of Israel's God so long ago.

The Lord God Almighty in His heavenly sanctuary saw all the work of His Son. Jesus did everything according to the eternal commandment of His Father, who received the fullness of His Son's offering on our behalf. In Him we are truly blessed.

Exodus 38

Bezalel's name was at the beginning of the prior chapter, “Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood.” His name also appeared toward the end of this chapter, “Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses.”

The following chapter especially described the garments for the priests, and the word “they” was prominent, so that we can conclude that there were other hands at work in all of the work involving cloth, particularly the hand Oholiab of Dan. But in chapter 37 and the beginning of chapter 38, the description of the construction of these great objects of gold, silver, and bronze must be associated with Bezalel. Instead of recording what “they” did, Israel was to understand that this was something that “he” did, referring to Bezalel.

Bezalel made the ark. Bezalel made the table for the bread. Bezalel made the lampstand. Bezalel made the alter of incense. That was all described in the prior chapter which focused on the making of these great objects that would be within the two-room tent structure that was the tabernacle proper.

Outside the tabernacle itself, but within the court of the tabernacle, were two other important works of metal. These were also made by Bezalel. Bezalel made the altar of burnt offering, and Bezalel made the bronze basin.

The altar had a purpose, and the maker of that altar had to know what it was. It was made for the burning of animals. The square altar and all the utensils that would be used with it testified to the maker of these objects that slain animals were an important part of the religion of Israel. Would the man whose hands made this altar have wondered what went so wrong with the world that the shedding of so much blood was necessary? The bronze alter of burnt offering was like a cross before any cross was known of. Its existence should have caused the people of Israel to ask some very good questions. Forks, shovels, the network of bronze grating under the altar's ledge, the poles for moving this altar through the wilderness should certainly have caused Bezalel to think about how these objects would be used, and perhaps to ask the questions that are of first importance. For instance: Could the blood of bulls and goats really satisfy God, who was angry concerning the offenses that human beings had committed against Him?

Similar concerns would be very natural regarding the bronze basin between the altar and the entrance to the worship of God. Would water actually cleanse a person in the way he needed to be cleaned in order to appear before God or in order to make a sacrifice to God? What could be done to cleanse the heart of a man? Where could anyone find water that would bring life to a world with so much death?

The bronze for this basin came from the contribution of mirrors from the women who served in the entrance of the tent of meeting. They gave what they could, and God used His servant to create an object for ceremonial cleansing. Was this some of the bounty that originally came from Egyptian women at the request of the women of Israel?

There was also bronze and silver work necessary for the construction of the court. Bezalel built this as well. But could the curtains that would hang on the hooks and the pillars keep out what was unclean in God's eyes? How could anyone approach Almighty God at all? Yet the Lord was ordering through Moses that this work be done. God had showed all of this to the mediator, and now Bezalel was making the structure that would help distinguish that which was inside from that which was outside, on the south and the north, and on the west and the east. It all had such an exalted purpose, and yet it was all so simple. Could God come here? Would this court even hold together if the Lord passed by?

These questions demanded an answer that would come in the fullness of time. Now was the time to contribute and to build. Now was also the time to keep a record of what was done. Moses commanded this too, perhaps for some future generation to consider. Then the deepest questions of Tabernacle worship would find their answer in Christ and His body, the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Until that time, everyone who knew about the Lord's command considered a man named Bezalel, his assistant, Ohaliab, Moses the mediator, Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest, the Levites with their various responsibilities. They thought about the gold that was used for this work, and all the silver and bronze. They counted it up, all the contributions from over 600,000 people who were included in the military census according to God's command.

One day, the apostles of a far more glorious moving house of worship, the church, would proclaim these words: “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” See Acts 3:6. The gold, silver, and bronze that came from Egypt was good enough for the time of preparation. When the Lord determined to build His resurrection temple, the source of life would come from a far more glorious place.