King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Thursday, February 13, 2020
Chapters: Leviticus 1-4
Message: Remember What Christ Did
Hello My Friend,
When you stop to think about the lengths that God’s people, and this includes both Jews and Gentiles, went in order to have peace and prosperity with God before Christ became the sacrifice that would bring atonement permanently, you could understand why any faithful believer would keep themselves from sin as much as possible. And when you stop to think that Jesus ended the need for any of this by sacrificing His own life, we ought to keep ourselves from sin as much as possible. Think about it, when we sin, and this is the stuff we know we are doing that is wrong, we put Jesus right back up on the cross. “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” – Hebrews 6:4-6.
“and put him to an open shame.” No, God is not leading me to write a message to repent from sin, although we ought to be doing that anyway, He is leading me to remind myself and all of you of just how merciful He is, and just how important our faith in Jesus is, and that we need to be careful not take that for granted. The Book of Leviticus contains twenty-seven chapters, the timeline is approximately 1490 BC. The author of the book is Moses, and it was written to Israel. This book was a manual of worship for Israel, it was provided to give them instructions on how a sinner could have fellowship with God. The purpose of the book was to show Israel how to live as a holy nation in fellowship with God and to extend God’s plan of redemption to all nations. What we are to learn from the book is that God only accepts the offerings of those who come to Him willingly. “If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.” – Leviticus 1:3.
A blood sacrifice has always been required for atonement, before Jesus came this was in the form of animals. The first three chapters of the Book of Leviticus explain the offerings that the people were to bring to God in order to be able to reconcile and have fellowship with Him. There were three offerings they were to bring, the first was the sin offering, also known as the burnt offering, and it was based on a persons worth, if they were wealthy they would offer of their cattle, if they were poor, it would be two turtledoves or pigeons.
“If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.” – Leviticus 1:3-9.
“he shall offer it of his own voluntary will” God never denied anyone who came to Him willingly, and “he” means everyone, male and female. “And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering;” The sinner was acknowledging that they were a sinner, placing their sin upon the animal, and the animal was taking their place for the death requirement for sin. This is what Jesus did on the cross, all of our sin was cast upon Him, unlike the cattle, that had to be offered continuously, Jesus would make one sacrifice once and for all (Hebrews 10:4-10). Now, if they were brings an offering of the sheep, they were to place it on the north side of the altar.
“And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish. And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.” – Leviticus 1:10-13.
“And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD:” An interesting contrast is made by this, Christ our sin offering would be killed by the priests in Jerusalem, at Mount Sion, which was on “the sides of the north”, He was crucified on Mount Calvary, which was on the northwest side of Jerusalem. Now, when someone offered birds, they were handled a little differently. “And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the LORD be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar: And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.” – Leviticus 1:14-17.
“it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire,” Jesus became the one and only sin offering sacrifice that is accepted by God, there is no other (Acts 4:12). Think about that, instead of your own body being beheaded, and burned at the stake, Jesus took your place on the cross. Naturally, if we come to terms with that, and accepted Him, God expects us to live without sin. Of course, He knows we cannot, but that does not mean we are to take that for granted, we need to come to Him daily confessing our sin so that we may reconcile with Him (I John 1:9). In addition to the sin offering came a meat offering, which was actually bread or corn. Interestingly, the priests were allowed to eat of these offerings.
“And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things unto the LORD: and when it is presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar. And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial thereof, and shall burn it upon the altar: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. And that which is left of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire. As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour. And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.” – Leviticus 2:7-13.
“for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey,” Leaven, means no baking power, yeast, or anything that would cause the bread to rise. Leaven is a picture of sin, and therefore, we cannot offer sin to God. As for the honey, this was used to ferment fruit, which would cause it to become like an alcohol, and therefore, it could not be offered. “with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.” All of the offerings had to be salted or the offering would not be accepted. Salt; Taste. Salt brings flavor to food you put it on, it is also used to preserve food. We, saved, born again Christians are the salt of the earth. Why? We preserve Christ in us (Matthew 5:13). Now, in addition to the sin and meat offering was a peace offering. In other words, now that their sin was forgiven, we could make peace with God, and this was either a lamb or goat.
“If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall he offer it before the LORD. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar. And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD’S. It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.” – Leviticus 3:7-10,16-17.
“that ye eat neither fat nor blood.” The fat, the best or richest part of the animal, was forbidden for anyone to eat, this was offered solely to God. And the blood is the life, therefore, God would not permit the blood that made atonement to be used as a common thing for them, nor does He allow us. This taught the Jews to observe the distinction between common and sacred things, and it kept them separate from idolaters. Today, through Christ, as the Prince of peace, we make peace with God through His blood on the cross (Romans 5:1). Now, that the instructions were given on what they were to bring for their offerings, God reminds us that sin is sin, no matter who we are, or whether or not it was done out of ignorance, we must make an atonement for them. Chapter four, goes into more detail on what would take place when someone brings their offering, and who was it was addressed to, beginning with the priests. “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head, and kill the bullock before the LORD. And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock’s blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation: And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” – Leviticus 4:2-7.
“If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people;” You see, even men of God sin, none of us are without sin, and even if it is innocent, we must still come to God for forgiveness. Now, the same rules are given to not only the common people, but the royals as well, and anyone in government positions.
“And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty; When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation. And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD. When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish: And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.” – Leviticus 4:13-15,22-23,27-28.
“then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin,” The reason that the sacrifice for the priests and congregation was cattle, and not goats as it was for the rulers and common people was because they were not offered individually, but as a whole, the priests came together as one, likewise, the congregation. “wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge;” Before we receive Christ as our Saviour, we really are ignorant to sin, other than the obvious things, like cheating, stealing, or killing someone, but once we get in God’s Word and come to the knowledge that something we thought was innocent, is in fact sin, that is when we seek forgiveness and repent. We do not keep living in sin, knowing that it is something that displeases God. Remember, this type of sin puts Jesus back on the cross. Let me tell you, we need to come to realize that the life we are living is not centered around own flesh, and if we live our life that way, there will be consequences, saved or not. It is time we stop thinking about our own flesh, taking for granted what Christ has done, and what our actions are doing to the people around us. People need the LORD, and they need us to show them who Christ really is. “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” – Galatians 5:13.
Today’s Prayer: God, In a world full of wickedness and corruption it is nice to know that we have a better option, You. You sent Your Son to give us a way to not only fellowship with You, but be with You for eternity. Our sins are what cause us to be separated from You, but Jesus made reconciliation, atonement, and peace possible and permanent at the cross. I will never forget what You have done for me, but I know at times I take for granted what a sacrifice You have made for me. Lord, forgive me where I have failed You, I give myself to You as a living sacrifice, all that I have is Yours, do what You will with it, and let me be the salt that seasons the world with Your Son. Show me what to do, keep me looking to You, and help me keep You first above all things. In ask these things in the name of Jesus, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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