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The Spiritual Significance of The Law of The Offerings

Introduction

Why do we need to know anything about the ancient offerings?

Many chapters of God’s Word are concerned with properly approaching God through the various offerings. Whether it was an Israelite or one of the patriarchs before Israel, they were all required to bring an offering before they were permitted to approach the presence of God. For most these chapters are considered as some of the most boring parts of God’s Word. Christ has now been offered for our sins and these offerings are no longer needed. What need could there possibly be for us to even consider these obsolete sacrifices as having anything for us?

Such an attitude toward this part of God’s Word demonstrates how little man believes theses words:

Deu 8:2  And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

The Lord did indeed say ‘Don’t eat of the tree,’ but in that same breath He also said:

“In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die.” Does “You shall not eat of it,” make the  words “”In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die” any less “proceeding from the mouth of God?” No, the words “in the day you eat thereof you shall surely die,” have now proceeded from the mouth of God, and all men will live and die by those words.

And so it is with every one of the offerings which Israel lived with and offered for so many years. It was all done for one reason and for that reason only:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [tupos – types]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Israel’s whole history and economy was not even for their own benefit at that time.

Heb 11:32  And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and [of] Barak, and [of] Samson, and [of] Jephthae; [of] David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
Heb 11:33  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
Heb 11:34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Heb 11:35  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
Heb 11:36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Heb 11:37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Heb 11:38  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and [in] mountains, and [in] dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

It is “through your mercy” that they will be given mercy:

Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

This is the Truth about what God was and is doing through Israel and through all of His creation:

1Pe 1:1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1Pe 1:2  Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
1Pe 1:3  Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1Pe 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
1Pe 1:5  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pe 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

What is Peter referring to when he says “the sufferings of Christ?” Is that just something that happened 2000 years ago and was over way back then? What is “the glory that should follow?”

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom [who? “The Old Testament prophets”- verse 10] it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels God’s messengers] desire to look into.
1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

Do you “desire to look into what was “testified beforehand [of] the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow?”

If you do desire to “know God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent,” then the very best way to do so is to come to see Christ as the Father Himself sees Christ and the work He has performed in our behalf. The only way to do that is to see Christ through His word which is so full of the proper way to approach God through His Son as revealed in the law of the offerings.

Joh 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2  As thou hast given him power over all flesh, t hat he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Do you want power over all flesh? Do you want eternal life? Get to know Christ because it is only through Christ that anyone can know the Father.

Mat 11:27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

It is through Christ that the Father reveals Himself. And he has chosen to do this through the law of the offerings.

The Five Types of Offerings

The offices of Christ are many and varied. The fact that all of the sacrifices given all fall under five different and varying types is, in itself, instructive of the grace through faith of Christ that all of the sacrifices are fulfilling.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

It is not of ourselves, it is God’s gift to us and it is of Christ. Christ is all of the five types with all of their variations. Here are those five types of sacrifices:
1) The burnt offering, 2) the meat (meal) offering, 3) the peace offering, 4) the sin offering and 5) the trespass offering.
Look at these verses in Hebrews:

Heb 13:9  Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Heb 13:11  For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
Heb 13:12  Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Heb 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

The five offerings are divided into two distinct categories. The first three are what scripture refers to as “sweet smelling savor” offerings. The last two are not sweet smelling savor offerings and must be taken without the camp and burnt.

Exo 29:14  But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.

We will begin our study of these offerings next week, in the order in which they are given us. We will start with the burnt offering. We will discuss the purpose for this offering and all of the levels within this offering and what services are provided by Christ on our behalf in each level. Then we will go to the next offering and its purpose and all of its levels and the service Christ performs for us and His Father in this offering. We will continue doing this until we have covered each offering and its purpose and levels and services it fulfills.

It is on our understanding of these five types of offerings that our joy and our strength depend because it is through our knowledge of Christ that we know God, and it is through knowing God and Christ that we have life.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Yes knowledge can and it does puff up our flesh:

1Co 8:1  Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

But God will deflate that ego:

Luk 1:51  He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

And after God has “scattered the proud within us these words are also true:

Hos 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Priests are what we are supposed to be. Just look at what is the position of a priest in relation to Joseph who typifies Christ:

Gen 47:22  Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.

These Egyptian priests were under Joseph, but they were also with Joseph to the point that they were not required to sell him their lands. This typifies those who had already sold their lands while yet in the flesh and now are able with Joseph to rule over Joseph’s brothers. These priests are those who wanted to know God and Jesus Christ while yet in this flesh.

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

These offerings introduce us to Christ as God wants us to know Christ. And this is how we grow in Christ:

Heb 9:6  Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God

We simply must know what is ordained to accomplish the service of God.

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