The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is beginning an exhaustive study of the Old Testament book of Leviticus. The key to the book of Leviticus is found in verses 45 and 46 a of chapter 11.
Leviticus 11:44-45 NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
The book of Leviticus was written for the priests and Levites in ancient Israel however the lessons in Leviticus aren’t limited to the Jews in ancient Israel. The spiritual principles in this book apply to Christians in the church today.
Six basic offerings could be brought to the tabernacle altar.
They were burnt offering, grain offering, drink offering, fellowship or peace offering, sin offering, and guilt offering.
Leviticus 11:44-45 NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
Be Holy because I am holy was a command and a command that was not only for the Israelites in the wilderness but for us today. That means that we should be striving to obey God’s command to be holy.
The book of Leviticus was written for the priests and Levites in ancient Israel however the lessons in Leviticus aren’t limited to the Jews in ancient Israel. The spiritual principles in this book apply to Christians in the church today.
1 Peter 1:13-16 NIV Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
The book of Leviticus itself is quoted or referred to over 100 times in the New Testament.
The book of Leviticus explains five basic themes that relate to the life of holiness: a holy God, a holy priesthood, a holy people, a holy land, and a holy Savior.
About ten weeks after their deliverance from Egypt, the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai.
Exodus 19:1-2 NIV On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
There God declared His law and gave Moses the instructions for building the tabernacle. Moses erected the tabernacle on the first day of the first month of the second year.
Exodus 40:17 NIV So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year.
The book of Numbers opens with a census being taken on the first day of the second month of the second year, which means that what’s recorded in Leviticus covers about one month.
Numbers 1:1-2 NIV The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said: “Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.
The tabernacle was ready for use, and now God gave the priests the instructions they needed for offering the various sacrifices.
Six basic offerings could be brought to the tabernacle altar.
They were burnt offering, grain offering, drink offering, fellowship or peace offering, sin offering, and guilt offering.
When worshippers wanted to express commitment to God, they brought the burnt offering, and along with it the grain or meal (“meat,” KJV) offering and the drink offering.
Numbers 15:2-5 NIV “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home and you present to the Lord food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the Lord—whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings— then the person who brings an offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of olive oil. With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
https://bible.com/bible/111/num.15.2-5.NIV
These offerings speak of total dedication to the Lord.
The fellowship (“peace,” KJV) offering has to do with communion with God, and the sin offering and the guilt (“trespass,” KJV) offerings deal with cleansing from God.
Each of these offerings met a specific need in the life of the worshipper and expressed some truth about the person and work of Jesus Christ, God’s perfect sacrifice.
The shedding of animal blood couldn’t change a person’s heart or take away sin.
Hebrews 10:1-4 NIV The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
However, God did state that the sins of the worshipper were forgiven several times in Leviticus.
Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35 NIV and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven. He shall burn all the fat on the altar as he burned the fat of the fellowship offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the leader’s sin, and he will be forgiven. They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven. They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven. (Lev. 5:10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7), He did this on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross
Hebrews 10:8-14 NIV First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Like some people in churches today, Jewish worshippers could merely go through the motions at the altar, without putting their heart into it, but this meant that God had not truly forgiven them God doesn’t want our sacrifices; He wants obedience from our hearts
1 Samuel 15:22 NIV (But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
The sacrifices described in Leviticus 1—7 remind us of the basic spiritual needs we have as God’s people: commitment to God, communion with God, and cleansing from God.
COMMITMENT TO GOD (1—2; 6:8–23)
So let’s look at the sacrifices in Leviticus
The burnt offering
Lev. 1:1–17 and 6:8-13 but I want to just read a couple of verses
Leviticus 1:3-4 NIV “ ‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you.
Leviticus 1:10-11, 14-15 NIV “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, from either the sheep or the goats, you are to offer a male without defect. You are to slaughter it at the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash its blood against the sides of the altar. “ ‘If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you are to offer a dove or a young pigeon. The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar.
Leviticus 6:8-9 NIV The Lord said to Moses: “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar.
The burnt offering was the basic sacrifice that expressed devotion and dedication to the Lord. When we surrender ourselves to the Lord, we put “all on the altar” (1:9) and hold back nothing.
Leviticus 1:9 NIV You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
In the New Testament we God’s people are challenged to be living sacrifices, wholly yielded to the Lord.
Romans 12:1-2 NIV Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The ritual of the offering was spelled out by the Lord and could not be varied. The sacrifice had to be a male animal from the herd or the flock, or it could be a bird and the worshipper had to bring the sacrifice to the door of the tabernacle, where a fire was constantly burning on a brazen altar
Leviticus 6:12-13 NIV The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.
The priest examined the sacrifice to make sure it was without blemish. In other words, they had to give their best as so do we.
Malachi 1:6-14 NIV “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ “By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty. “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty. “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’ And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty. “When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
Jesus Christ was a sacrifice “without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19), who gave Himself in total dedication to God.
1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Except when birds were sacrificed, the offeror laid a hand on the sacrifice, an action which symbolized two things: (1) the offeror’s identification with the sacrifice and (2) the transfer of something to the sacrifice. In the case of the burnt offering, the offeror was saying, “Just as this animal is wholly given to God on the altar, so I wholly give myself to the Lord.” With the sacrifices that involved the shedding of blood, the laying on of hands meant the worshipper was symbolically transferring sin and guilt to the animal who died in the place of the sinner.
Leviticus 1:4 NIV You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you.
The offerer then killed the bull or the lamb, and the priest caught the blood in a basin and sprinkled the blood on the sides of the altar.
Leviticus 1:5, 11 NIV You are to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. You are to slaughter it at the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash its blood against the sides of the altar.
In the case of a bird being the burnt offering the priest, not the offerer, killed the bird and its blood was drained out on the side of the altar, and its body burned in the fire on the altar.
Leviticus 1:15-17 NIV The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. He is to remove the crop and the feathers and throw them down east of the altar where the ashes are. He shall tear it open by the wings, not dividing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is burning on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
The dead body of the bull, lamb, or goat was dismembered, and the parts washed. Then all of it but the hide was laid in order on the wood and burned in the fire. The hide was given to the priest .
Leviticus 7:8 NIV The priest who offers a burnt offering for anyone may keep its hide for himself.
The significance of the offering is seen in the repetition of the phrases “before the Lord” and “unto the Lord,” which are found seven times in this first chapter of Leviticus. The transaction at the altar wasn’t between the offerer and his conscience, or the offerer and the nation, or even the offerer and the priest; it was between the offerer and the Lord.
The phrase “sweet savour” is used three times in this chapter (vv. 9, 13, 17) and eight times in chapters 1–3, and it means “a fragrant aroma.” Since God is spirit, He doesn’t have a body, but physical terms are used in Scripture to depict God’s actions and responses. In this case, God is pictured as smelling a fragrant aroma and being pleased with it.
Genesis 8:20-21 NIV Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
When Jesus died on the cross, His sacrifice was a “sweet-smelling aroma” to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
And our offerings to God should follow that example.
Philippians 4:18-20 NIV I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
God’s instructions were that the fire of the altar was to never go out and they were given specific instructions as to what was to happen to the ashes from the altar because it is very likely that the fire was ignited by God Himself when the priests were dedicated and started their ministry. This made the ashes holy.
Leviticus 9:24 NIV Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
Because the ashes were holy, they couldn’t be disposed of like the camp’s garbage but had to be taken to a place that was ceremonially clean.
Leviticus 6:8-13 NIV The Lord said to Moses: “Give Aaron and his sons this command: ‘These are the regulations for the burnt offering: The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar. The priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and place them beside the altar. Then he is to take off these clothes and put on others, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.
Christianity: Adopted into the Family
By Rick Warren
“You will all be joined together, and you will give glory to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God.” Romans 15:6-7 (NCV)
Most people think Christianity is a belief system. It’s true that Christianity includes beliefs—but it’s so much more than that. It’s about belonging and connection. When you’re a Christian, you belong to the family of God and are connected to the body of Christ.
There are only two ways to get into a family: You can be born into it or adopted into it. Both phrases are used in the Bible to explain what it means to be brought into the family of God. You are “born again” into the family of God, and you are “adopted” into the family of God.
Once you’re born, you can’t be unborn. Your relationship with your parents may be broken, but you are still their child. In the same way, once you are born again into the family of God, you can’t be unborn. You remain in the family of God!
God also says you’re adopted into his family. According to New Testament-era Roman law, people could disown children they birthed. But if they adopted children, they were forbidden to ever disown them. God says you are not only born again into his family, but he has adopted you—and there is no way he will ever disown you. That’s good news!
You may ask, “Really? No matter what I do, God won’t let me go?” Yes, no matter what you do!
When you become part of the family of God, you become part of his church. Church isn’t something you go to; it’s something you belong to. The Bible says, “I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church” (1 Timothy 3:15 GW).
Romans 15:6-7 says, “You will all be joined together, and you will give glory to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ accepted you, so you should accept each other, which will bring glory to God” (NCV).
Just like you are God’s child forever, you are part of his bigger family—the church—forever. That has been God’s plan all along—to make you part of his forever family!
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