back to indexWed Bible Study - Lesson 8
00:00:00.000 |
All right, so I want to jump right in into the first section, Leviticus chapter 6 and 00:00:09.680 |
7, but I want to give you a brief outline of what's happening here before we actually 00:00:15.400 |
So in chapter 6 and 7, the main difference between what we've been studying up to this 00:00:20.560 |
point is chapter 6 and 7 is under, remember we talked about the outline of the book of 00:00:28.020 |
The format that is used starts with a C, chiastic, right? 00:00:38.480 |
So chiastic outline, basically it starts with, remember? 00:00:57.400 |
Right, like that, exactly, that's exactly, if you look at it like, so you have the first 00:01:01.800 |
point where it talks about the five major sacrifices, and remember the second point? 00:01:08.880 |
Which is where we are at now, 8, 9, and 10, talks about the priesthood, and then after 00:01:14.840 |
that chapter 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, clean and unclean things, and then they have atonement 00:01:26.480 |
by a student, okay, and then it works backwards from there, and then from chapter 16, you 00:01:31.600 |
have 17 and on, talks about clean and unclean things, and then goes back to the priesthood, 00:01:35.920 |
and then goes back to the sacrifices, so the outline is this way, right? 00:01:39.420 |
So we're in the second part of the outline, chapter 8, 9, and 10, no sorry, 6 to 10, in 00:01:45.640 |
the priesthood, so chapter 1 through 5 was talking about the sacrifices and the necessity 00:01:51.020 |
of the worshippers, what they needed to do, right? 00:01:54.440 |
What are the requirements when they bring it, what kind of animal do you need to bring 00:01:59.160 |
Chapter 6 through 10 is about the rules and regulations given to the priesthood, right? 00:02:05.440 |
So that's what we're looking at today in chapter 6 and 7, are the rules and regulations given 00:02:09.740 |
to the priesthood, so the specific thing that we're looking at today, okay, is about the 00:02:21.960 |
So along with each one of these sacrifices, the five sacrifices, that there is a meal, 00:02:27.320 |
okay, obviously there's, in one of them, there isn't a meal, which we'll get to, but it is, 00:02:33.520 |
after the sacrifice is given, there is a kind of a celebration, so the focus in these two 00:02:38.480 |
chapters are the rules and regulations to the different kinds of animals that they are 00:02:43.320 |
able to eat, not to eat, and where to eat, and that kind of stuff, right? 00:02:47.540 |
So for each of these sacrifices are accompanied by instructions on who may eat, what, and 00:02:52.600 |
where, so that's the outline of chapter 6 and 7, who may eat, what, and where, okay, 00:03:02.360 |
Again, as I told you, if you just study it as rules and regulation, it'll be like, you 00:03:09.840 |
know, studying how to put furniture together that you don't understand, right? 00:03:14.540 |
You have no intentions of doing, like looking at a roadmap that you're not interested in 00:03:18.200 |
going, so it's not going to mean anything, so you always have to ask, like, why is this 00:03:26.780 |
How does this connect to what God is doing in the big picture? 00:03:29.300 |
Because if you don't connect the dots, or if you don't make an effort to connect the 00:03:32.760 |
dots, it's just going to sound like, don't eat this, don't touch this, don't go here, 00:03:37.960 |
you know, wear this clothing, don't wear that clothing, that's all it's going to sound like, 00:03:43.120 |
And just as a reminder, when you start asking those questions and trying your best to connect 00:03:47.700 |
the dots, some of them are going to be very clear to you, because the language you're 00:03:52.620 |
going to find in the New Testament, so if you've ever studied through the book of Hebrews, 00:03:56.620 |
if you've ever studied through any part of the New Testament, you're going to start seeing 00:03:59.980 |
languages that you've already studied in the New Testament, and you're going to see that, 00:04:06.740 |
This is how the Jew would have understood that phrase, right? 00:04:09.980 |
Some of it, you're not going to be able to connect the dots. 00:04:12.240 |
Some of them are a little bit harder to connect the dots, right? 00:04:14.440 |
But the effort to make the connect the dots is what makes the book of Leviticus so important, 00:04:23.880 |
Some of them we know, some of them we're taking educated guess, but the more you understand 00:04:29.380 |
the Bible, the more you're going to be able to connect these things, and once you connect 00:04:32.340 |
these things, the gospel is just going to open up, right? 00:04:36.340 |
You're not going to get a different gospel, you're going to get the same gospel, but it's 00:04:42.500 |
So this is about mainly the instructions about who, what, where, and how, and then verse 00:04:46.740 |
1 and 5, chapters 1 and 5, general, it's instructions to general congregation. 00:04:53.260 |
Chapter 6 and 7 focus on the priest's role in this worship. 00:04:57.300 |
So majority of chapter 6 and 7 are instructions for the priests. 00:05:02.180 |
Only chapter 7, 22, and 28 forward, it addresses the main congregation, okay? 00:05:09.180 |
Like I said, in the larger picture of the outline, we're in the priesthood, chapter 00:05:17.700 |
And then chapter 11 is when we get into interesting stuff, like what animals are clean and unclean, 00:05:22.860 |
you probably heard of before, but you had no idea why God did that, okay? 00:05:33.140 |
So the instruction for eating the various sacrifices is given in three separate groups, 00:05:40.100 |
If you studied through it, chapter 6 and 7, some of you may have noticed it, okay? 00:05:44.300 |
And I'm assuming some of you might have, and I'm assuming most of you probably did not, 00:05:52.440 |
So that's going to be the broad outline of how we're going to understand chapter 6 and 00:05:58.260 |
So the three broad outline for the text is chapter 6, 8 through 13, which is the first 00:06:03.740 |
part, it talks about the burnt offering where it is wholly consumed by God. 00:06:09.380 |
So the three outline, okay, three major outline is going to be first is only God can eat, 00:06:19.140 |
And when we say eat, we're talking about symbolically. 00:06:22.700 |
It's consumed by God, so the priest and the other people can't touch this. 00:06:28.260 |
The second group has three offerings, which we'll get to later, that God consumes but 00:06:40.300 |
And then the third big category, there's only one offering that falls into that category 00:06:44.380 |
where God, the priest, and the worshiper also eats. 00:06:53.180 |
There's only one offering where nothing is touched, nobody eats it, where one offering, 00:06:58.940 |
everybody eats it, and then there's three offering where only God and the priest eat 00:07:09.500 |
So the first one, the whole offering, one of the main things, again, some of these things 00:07:15.500 |
are overlapping from what we learned in chapter 1 and 2, but the burnt offering was to be 00:07:23.300 |
It was to be replaced, so the fire was never supposed to go out. 00:07:31.180 |
I only have three verses up there, it's because in two verses it's mentioned twice. 00:07:36.000 |
So five separate times, God emphasizes the fire shall not go out, it will not go out. 00:07:47.340 |
And so we mentioned this when we first went through the burnt offering, that there was 00:07:55.820 |
an aroma at the camp constantly because there was an animal being burnt. 00:08:00.300 |
So remember, we talked about when God made the sacrifices, it wasn't enough that they 00:08:07.900 |
He wanted them to see it, he wanted them to feel it, he wanted them to taste it, and he 00:08:14.700 |
So all the senses of the worshiper was involved in the sacrifice. 00:08:19.380 |
It wasn't just the mind, it wasn't just the heart, it wasn't just their strength, it was 00:08:24.700 |
So the fact that this particular offering was being burned 24/7 meant that there was 00:08:31.060 |
a smell of barbecue in the camp all the time, and God made sure that all the twelve tribes 00:08:40.740 |
And so if you were in the camp of Israel, you would have always thought there's something 00:08:44.780 |
being burned, like this whole offering is being burned, whole offering is being burned, 00:08:54.580 |
The fire itself, we're not there yet, but in chapter 9 it says God sends out fire, and 00:09:00.220 |
then the first fire that's lit on the altar, God lights it himself. 00:09:10.380 |
And so some people have interpreted this fire not going out, going 24/7, was that whatever 00:09:15.740 |
was being sacrificed, God, who came in the form of fire, was, he himself was consuming 00:09:26.420 |
So that was, again, this is just an educated guess, but some people speculated that that's 00:09:31.420 |
why they wanted this fire to never go out, because what God lit, he wanted it to be kept 00:09:36.340 |
lit, symbolizing that God himself in the form of fire was in their presence. 00:09:43.060 |
Do you remember what this burnt offering represented? 00:09:50.980 |
What's something that you remember from the study of the burnt offering? 00:09:55.780 |
It's a whole offering, so you don't touch any of it. 00:10:00.820 |
That's why we call it whole offering, or burnt offering, because all of it was burnt. 00:10:05.140 |
But what was the significance of this offering? 00:10:11.940 |
It was the main atonement, so a lot of the other sacrifices, the peace offering, the 00:10:16.180 |
grain offering, had to be given after this sacrifice, because until your sins are atoned 00:10:24.780 |
That's why this offering had to be given constantly. 00:10:28.420 |
So it was the most important of the sacrifices, it was the most frequent of the sacrifices, 00:10:37.340 |
This was mandated, and it was mandated all the time. 00:10:40.060 |
So it symbolized the need for atonement for the people of God to be constant in order 00:10:52.060 |
So the whole point of this tabernacle is for a holy God to dwell among sinful people, and 00:10:57.460 |
the only way he could do that is if the sins of the people were constantly covered by the 00:11:03.780 |
And this burnt offering, whole offering, symbolized that. 00:11:10.540 |
In these offerings, what does this particular offering kind of point to in the New Testament? 00:11:26.800 |
That our sins are completely justified, we're not transforming a part of our lives, we're 00:11:31.140 |
not transforming, you know, like I have a bad tongue or there are certain parts of my 00:11:37.020 |
He said this whole offering basically teaches that all of it, right, that we are dead in 00:11:44.360 |
So we're not just being redeemed in tongue, we're not just redeeming our youth, but our 00:11:58.980 |
And it also symbolized a continual need for sanctification to be in the presence of God. 00:12:05.020 |
So just a few verses as it points to the New Testament. 00:12:09.980 |
Remember 1 Thessalonians 5, 19 is "Do not quench the Spirit." 00:12:15.300 |
So remember when the Holy Spirit comes, the third person of the Holy Spirit comes, he 00:12:24.100 |
Hebrews 12, 28, 29, "Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, 00:12:28.940 |
and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming 00:12:34.980 |
So when we think of the word "consuming fire," we think of bonfire, we think of houses that 00:12:40.700 |
we've seen burned down, maybe we've seen, you know, forests being burned down in fire. 00:12:45.060 |
But when a Jew heard "consuming fire," what do you think he thought of? 00:12:52.140 |
So when he says "our God is a consuming fire," immediately they probably thought of the year 00:12:57.500 |
after year, decade after decade, this consuming fire that was constantly lit. 00:13:02.980 |
Hebrews 7, 25, "Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near 00:13:08.780 |
to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." 00:13:12.500 |
So again, this sacrifice and this constant need for burning the sacrifice, and that Christ, 00:13:19.300 |
who is our sacrificial lamb, is interceding on our behalf constantly. 00:13:34.700 |
So in this sacrifice, there's one thing that he does say, is the priest was to wear appropriate 00:13:40.220 |
clothing to cover himself for the sanctuary, but to change it into another garment to carry 00:13:46.340 |
So because there is a fire being burned all the time, there's obviously going to be constant 00:13:53.940 |
So in order to do that, God said that every morning they would gather up the ashes, and 00:13:59.340 |
then they would have to take it out of the camp. 00:14:04.140 |
What you wear in the camp, in the tabernacle, and what you wear outside the tabernacle has 00:14:10.820 |
And signifying that there's a clear line between clean and unclean. 00:14:17.820 |
There's a clear line between clean and unclean. 00:14:20.300 |
So all of this was done to teach a particular lesson or to point to something that's coming. 00:14:29.300 |
And he didn't want anything that they did to be confused with just what was going on 00:14:36.700 |
So everything that was happening inside the tabernacle, everything that was related to 00:14:40.060 |
the sacrifices, was considered holy, even what the priest wore. 00:14:47.420 |
And so it was instructed that when he was handling it inside as a part of the ritual, 00:14:53.460 |
When he went out, he would wear another clothing for that purpose. 00:14:56.260 |
Again, to distinguish the holy and the common things. 00:15:05.180 |
Because you're going to see this theme over and over and over and all throughout the book 00:15:12.100 |
One animal is considered holy, the other one is unclean. 00:15:15.900 |
This particular pole when it's sanctified, it is holy, but before it is, it is common. 00:15:21.900 |
Certain people who are separated and anointed are considered holy, and then the people who 00:15:27.640 |
So all throughout the book of Leviticus, God makes a very distinct line between clean and 00:15:34.600 |
And so, again, you're going to see this phrase over and over, holy and common. 00:15:41.740 |
The second group, the second group of three offerings consumed by God and the priests, 00:15:54.780 |
and the three offerings were the grain offering, sin offering, and guilt offering. 00:16:05.660 |
Do you notice the difference in order of the five offerings in the chapter one through 00:16:10.660 |
five in the offerings that are mentioned here? 00:16:22.700 |
Do you remember the order of the offerings, the five offerings? 00:16:36.700 |
Grain offering was number two, which was the third offering? 00:16:46.340 |
Peace offering was the third offering, right? 00:16:48.680 |
And then the sin offering, and then the guilt offering. 00:16:52.100 |
In this order, it's not in that burnt offering is first, but then you have the grain offering, 00:16:58.460 |
sin offering, and guilt offering, and then the peace offering is at the very end. 00:17:10.860 |
There's God only, God and the priest, and God, priest, and everybody else. 00:17:15.660 |
So the peace offering, obviously, it goes to the end for that reason. 00:17:20.700 |
In these three offerings, if you remember, the grain offering was given as a form of 00:17:23.860 |
tribute to acknowledge God's lordship over them. 00:17:26.260 |
So remember, this was where they would give the tithe, right? 00:17:30.720 |
They would give thanks offering to this, but again, it symbolized tribute to God. 00:17:35.060 |
It was recognizing his lordship over their life. 00:17:45.940 |
Again, remember we talked about inadvertent sin would be sin that you're not aware of, 00:17:50.380 |
but sin that once you became aware of it, you were genuinely repentant. 00:17:55.280 |
And so what was a sin that was not forgivable? 00:18:04.000 |
You knew exactly what you were doing and you willfully went against God. 00:18:07.580 |
So remember we talked about how it talks about murder deserved capital punishment, but so 00:18:15.900 |
And we thought, well, breaking of the Sabbath, you're equating that with murder. 00:18:20.780 |
But when you look at the very first sin, they ate the tree of life, right? 00:18:27.580 |
It's because there was a willful rebellion against God. 00:18:31.200 |
And breaking of the Sabbath was a willful rebellion against God, right? 00:18:39.420 |
And the greatest sin from God's perspective is a willful rebellion against him because 00:18:43.660 |
ultimately, even if you didn't commit murder, it leads to death one way or the other, right? 00:18:52.140 |
The guilt offering, if you remember, was very similar. 00:18:55.420 |
In fact, a lot of the requirements for the sin offering was the same as guilt offering, 00:18:59.460 |
but the emphasis on the guilt offering was to what? 00:19:04.380 |
If you damage someone else's property or you made a sacrifice that they gave and you, for 00:19:10.540 |
some reason you damaged it, you had to pay that offering and how much more? 00:19:22.900 |
You have to restore what you damaged plus 20%. 00:19:26.380 |
So the guilt offering basically added on top of that to make things right. 00:19:33.860 |
He said, "No, you need to pay for whatever damage that you committed." 00:19:37.540 |
And so remember, what did the 20% represent in the Jewish community at that time? 00:19:44.460 |
So if somebody loaned the money, typically they would charge a 20% interest on whatever 00:19:50.620 |
So 20% to give back basically meant that when you repented, the other person wouldn't lose 00:19:58.900 |
If he rented it or loaned it to somebody, he would get 20% back. 00:20:10.380 |
So the offering was to be consumed by the priest only in the designated holy place. 00:20:17.460 |
So these three offerings, God consumes it, but after the parts that are sacrificed are 00:20:24.580 |
consumed, they would take the other parts and God gave them very specific orders of 00:20:28.980 |
what they are able to eat and on top of that, where they're supposed to eat. 00:20:34.660 |
It doesn't say here, but it also means that they had to wear a certain clothing while 00:20:38.820 |
So what, where, and how was very specific with this offering. 00:20:46.380 |
Now why do you think it was important where they ate? 00:21:00.380 |
I'm just asking you because I'm trying to figure this out myself. 00:21:07.140 |
I'm just asking you because I want you to ask these questions as you guys are studying. 00:21:13.260 |
I'm not saying that this is because it doesn't say that this is the reason. 00:21:15.900 |
My guess is eating is something that you do commonly every single day. 00:21:21.900 |
You can have a beef jerky in your pocket and just eat it whenever you want. 00:21:25.420 |
So this had to be done for the purpose of not feeding the priest. 00:21:32.660 |
The purpose of this wasn't, "Oh, the hungry priest, we're going to take care of you so 00:21:35.940 |
when these sacrifices come, then you make sure you eat all of this." 00:21:39.420 |
That was not the ultimate goal, even though it did serve that purpose. 00:21:47.300 |
The point of it was that it needed to be participating in the part of the ritual that pointed to 00:21:54.660 |
So that if the priest started to carry this around, put it in their pocket, and started 00:22:00.100 |
chewing it wherever they want, my guess is it would have started to feel like something 00:22:06.940 |
So I think God made them do that, gave them specific requirements in order to make sure 00:22:12.740 |
that this was part of the ritual, that this was not just something that they did breakfast, 00:22:31.940 |
The exception to this was grain offering offered by priest for their anointing or dedication 00:22:36.100 |
to service must be completely burned and uneaten. 00:22:39.100 |
So within this grain offering, there is a grain offering that, remember we said that 00:22:46.100 |
part of the grain offering was a vow, a dedication. 00:22:49.080 |
So when this dedication took place specifically for the priest, in that situation, none of 00:23:00.700 |
Because part of the anointing required for them to be completely set apart. 00:23:05.100 |
So again, think about the meaning behind this. 00:23:08.300 |
The whole offering, the atonement, there's nothing salvage, only God. 00:23:15.020 |
These three offerings are given to God, but a portion of it is eaten by the priest, other 00:23:21.500 |
than when there is an anointing, ordination taking place. 00:23:25.820 |
In that ordination, it's kind of treated like a whole offering. 00:23:30.780 |
So if the burnt offering was justification, these three offerings, and I'm not saying 00:23:37.940 |
that it is, but there are some things that sound familiar. 00:23:42.900 |
What will we kind of equate it to in the New Testament? 00:23:48.500 |
So it doesn't mean like, justification God did, sanctification we do. 00:23:55.740 |
But what it is pointing to is the whole offering was completely 100% unilateral. 00:23:59.780 |
He initiates it, nothing is touched, he does it. 00:24:03.220 |
Sanctification is God is working in us, but we are also participants. 00:24:10.220 |
Even though the Holy Spirit is working in us and pushing us to walk by the Spirit, to 00:24:13.860 |
live by the Spirit, but at the same time, it's unlike the burnt offering where it's 00:24:41.420 |
And this is emphasized in this particular offering. 00:24:45.180 |
Does that mean the burnt offering is not holy? 00:24:51.780 |
But for some reason, these three particular offerings, three separate times it says it 00:25:01.620 |
So he's trying to get the attention of the priests and the Israelites that these things 00:25:19.020 |
The word holy literally means to be set apart. 00:25:31.780 |
When God dies for us and we are made holy, we stand before God and we are declared holy. 00:25:38.380 |
So when he says we're declared holy, it means God sees us as innocent, morally innocent. 00:25:44.060 |
So whatever sins that we committed before God, we are innocent now because blood of 00:25:48.280 |
So when we think of holy, we typically think of that. 00:25:55.260 |
The broader understanding of the term literally just means to be set apart. 00:26:18.580 |
So obviously when we're talking about these articles, we're not talking about morally 00:26:25.080 |
It simply means that it's been set apart for God's use. 00:26:31.300 |
Now the reason why this understanding is important is because in the next section, it says anyone 00:26:37.660 |
or anything that touches these offerings dedicated to the Lord became holy. 00:26:45.120 |
And so we might think, "Oh, they became holy? 00:26:49.960 |
They became morally holy because they touched something?" 00:26:52.140 |
And you know the significance of this, right? 00:26:56.860 |
Significance of this is that when you touch an article that belonged to God, you said 00:27:03.820 |
Now that doesn't mean like you're forgiven your sins or atoned for. 00:27:10.100 |
Because you came into contact with something that became holy, in a sense, you became defiled. 00:27:22.280 |
You became holy because you came into contact with something that you weren't supposed to be. 00:27:29.200 |
So as a result, the person had to go through ritual cleansing. 00:27:34.040 |
So it's not like you went there and then these animals who are considered sacred, you touch 00:27:38.520 |
this and I'm holy now, I don't need to give burnt offering. 00:27:43.280 |
I became holy because I touched these articles. 00:27:48.740 |
So in a sense, when you understand what the term means, in essence, it may be a little 00:27:54.760 |
bit confusing because of the term, but in essence, you become defiled by touching that. 00:28:02.400 |
Maybe the word defiled is not the right word to use, but that's the best way to understand it. 00:28:10.120 |
Because if you don't cleanse yourself, if you don't repent of it, you can be cut off. 00:28:16.800 |
So it's not like, "Oh, I became holy, so everybody wants to be holy, so we're good." 00:28:23.840 |
The context is you touch something that was sacred that you shouldn't have touched. 00:28:30.200 |
And even with the clothing, when the blood spilled over something else, they had to either 00:28:49.720 |
Now let me talk about the significance of this. 00:29:00.040 |
The guilt offering, so we talked about the grain offering, sin offering, but the guilt 00:29:05.200 |
All it says is the law is the same of the sin offering, and then it doesn't explain much. 00:29:12.800 |
In the first five chapters, in chapter five, when it talks about the guilt offering, it 00:29:16.720 |
also only gives you a small portion, as far as the content. 00:29:22.880 |
So the sin offering and guilt offering is very similar, other than the fact that the 00:29:28.400 |
guilt offering required a reparation, that you need to pay back whatever damage that 00:29:35.200 |
So having said that, the right understanding of what he is saying here, again, we see it 00:30:11.520 |
If you feel like you're tired and you're about to fall asleep, you should be the one reading. 00:30:18.960 |
Now you're not going to read, now you're going to... 00:30:35.980 |
So in that context, what happens to the husband because of the believing wife? 00:30:48.440 |
So does that mean that if you are married to a believer, that your unbelieving husband 00:31:03.600 |
So where do you think that idea, that language comes from? 00:31:08.000 |
Probably understanding, because these five major sacrifices was embedded into the culture. 00:31:14.640 |
It's kind of like Koreans and kimchi, it's just assumed, right? 00:31:20.640 |
It's just a certain part of the culture, it's just embedded in you. 00:31:23.120 |
You don't have to talk about it, everybody just assumes it. 00:31:25.560 |
These Jews, these sacrifices, their whole culture is based upon these sacrifices. 00:31:30.980 |
So the language that they use in the New Testament, so much of it comes from what was embedded 00:31:39.600 |
When he says that because you're married to a believer, that the husband becomes holy, 00:31:44.960 |
he's not saying he's morally holy, he's not saying that he's saved, he's saying that because 00:31:50.680 |
she has been set apart, and because she is linked to him, the things that benefit her, 00:32:01.560 |
Meaning that her presence in the life of the unbeliever, that there is a residual effect 00:32:10.840 |
Because you have somebody who is going to preach the gospel in your home. 00:32:15.200 |
You have somebody who's going to be an aroma of Christ in your bed, right? 00:32:20.380 |
Where you're making decisions together, you're living together, it doesn't mean he's saved. 00:32:24.480 |
So there the word for holy or for sanctified is not talking about salvation, it's not talking 00:32:29.720 |
about morally, it's talking about because she has been set apart, whatever comes in 00:32:43.120 |
And I know there's some confusion, you guys are looking at me like, "What is he talking 00:32:52.640 |
But I want you to think about, I want you to understand that that term holy here is 00:32:56.560 |
not referring to salvation, it's not talking about morally holy, but something that's been 00:33:04.120 |
We're going to come back and address this issue in another chapter. 00:33:13.320 |
So the third group has one offering, the peace offering. 00:33:22.240 |
And it was shared by God, priests, and the people. 00:33:28.640 |
This is the only offering where the congregants were allowed to eat, right? 00:33:33.400 |
Everything else they gave the offering and then they went home. 00:33:40.960 |
If the offering was given as a Thanksgiving offering, they are to be eaten on the same 00:33:46.360 |
day and not leave any of it until the morning. 00:33:52.120 |
So it was supposed to be celebrated, it was not meant to be extended. 00:33:57.480 |
The offering is given that day and then it's finished, right? 00:34:00.760 |
And you're not supposed to touch it beyond that. 00:34:02.960 |
If it is a vow offering or a free will offering, they were to eat it the same day and then 00:34:08.280 |
whatever is not eaten the same day, you can eat it the second day, but not the third day. 00:34:16.720 |
So these two particular offerings, the vow offering and the free will offering, where 00:34:22.400 |
the sacrifice and the elements of the sacrifice can be extended up to two days. 00:34:34.920 |
Where Thanksgiving was supposed to be given an offering, you eat it and go home. 00:34:39.200 |
Whereas a vow offering or a free will offering, it can be extended up to two days. 00:34:43.800 |
It's not required that you eat it in two days, but you can eat it for two days, which would 00:34:53.680 |
So as an example, certain things that are celebrated a big deal, I don't know if we 00:35:01.240 |
hear, the big holidays tend to take more than one day, right? 00:35:06.560 |
Even though Thanksgiving is only one day, you get many days, right? 00:35:13.760 |
If it was given for this purpose, it was God gave an allotment for it to be celebrated 00:35:20.520 |
For Thanksgiving was just one day, but not to go beyond third day. 00:35:26.040 |
But even the people, the fat of the animals, right? 00:35:36.760 |
The people who are to partake of the offering must also be ritually cleansed, or they will 00:35:40.600 |
be guilty of sin and cut off from the people. 00:35:43.480 |
What does it mean to be cut off from the people? 00:35:49.680 |
Cut off from the people could mean two things. 00:35:52.040 |
One, you're basically outcasted from the city, right? 00:36:06.340 |
So it was a serious offense, very serious offense. 00:36:09.640 |
Even as they were celebrating, they said you have to go through cleansing. 00:36:12.580 |
You cannot be in the presence of God for any reason without having your sins atoned for. 00:36:23.080 |
This was a constant teaching in the nation of Israel, constant, right? 00:36:29.340 |
Even as they are celebrating, they are being taught that you have to be cleansed. 00:36:35.120 |
And the consequence of that is not that you have to do it over. 00:36:40.160 |
It's not that, no, you blew it Tuesday, you come back Wednesday. 00:36:42.880 |
It's the consequence of that was you get castigated from where you are, which means you probably 00:36:48.560 |
couldn't live, or there was capital punishment. 00:36:53.040 |
So nobody came to the tabernacle willy-nilly, nobody. 00:37:02.920 |
In fact, we're not there yet, but I'm sure you already know what happens in chapter 10. 00:37:08.560 |
After he gives all the requirements, all the regulations, the first guy who offers a sacrifice, 00:37:13.880 |
first two guys who offer the sacrifice, they don't do it properly. 00:37:18.400 |
I mean, we'll go into the detail of what happens, but exactly like God said, they died as a 00:37:36.920 |
Some of you asked me privately, and then I think somebody asked in the group last time, 00:37:50.440 |
We do have the actual number during the time of Christ, during the Passover, or the Day 00:37:55.040 |
of Atonement, like how many animals were sacrificed because they kept record at that time. 00:37:59.480 |
But on a day-to-day basis, while they were wandering through the desert, I mean, no one 00:38:04.820 |
My guess is, one, for financial reasons, not a lot of people did it often, right? 00:38:12.160 |
Because it costs a lot of money to give these animals. 00:38:15.160 |
Secondly, I think a lot of people didn't do it because they were scared, too, to come 00:38:23.640 |
So you have financial, but even if you were wealthy and it didn't mean a whole lot to 00:38:29.640 |
you, I think people would have thought twice when they approached God. 00:38:34.360 |
It was kind of like a double-edged sword where you want to go to God to receive His blessing, 00:38:39.760 |
but if you approach God in the wrong way, you can die from it. 00:38:43.180 |
But yet, that's where you find life and death, right? 00:38:49.720 |
It was the blessing and cursing that was being carried out, the blessing and cursing right 00:38:56.720 |
It was literally, if God blessed you, then you would multiply and you would have many 00:39:05.660 |
But if you come to God in an unworthy manner, you had the exact opposite, right? 00:39:11.820 |
So again, I just want you to have that picture in your head because this is what He was implanting 00:39:19.660 |
These are the things, even if you don't understand the details, the big picture, right? 00:39:25.560 |
Every Jew who lived practicing these regulations, and think about it if you were a Jew, when 00:39:32.600 |
the scripture talks about fear and trembling, I don't think any Jew would have struggled 00:39:41.860 |
To fear God because it's embedded into their culture. 00:39:47.300 |
It doesn't say, the tabernacle doesn't say come, you know, come to the tabernacle. 00:39:52.540 |
It said you need to come if you want your sins atoned for, but when you come, you should 00:39:56.900 |
be very, very, very, very careful in the way you approach God, right? 00:40:03.360 |
So when the scripture says to fear the Lord, right, is the chief end of man, I think every 00:40:10.820 |
Jew would not have had a problem, where in the New Testament, when we talk about fearing 00:40:15.940 |
God, our immediate response is like, how do I understand fear in God when everything I'm 00:40:21.580 |
taught is to love God, right, embrace God, you know, and come to God? 00:40:29.180 |
That's kind of like our default setting is this gracious and loving and gentle and merciful, 00:40:34.360 |
forgiving God, and then it says to fear God because we have this picture of a great-grandfather 00:40:40.000 |
who just passes out candy, and no matter what you do, he loves you, and that's the default 00:40:44.080 |
setting that we have of God, and then when you look at the Old Testament, it's completely 00:40:52.600 |
It wasn't to mean God wasn't gracious because all of this was to set up for his grace, right? 00:41:01.500 |
All of this was to set up for the cross, but if you don't understand this aspect about 00:41:10.580 |
It doesn't make sense because the natural question that you should have, if you don't 00:41:16.420 |
understand this aspect of God's nature, why didn't he just forgive us? 00:41:24.540 |
Why the Son of God coming through all of that drama? 00:41:36.700 |
All of this was to set up the necessity of the cross, of Christ, the Son of God coming. 00:41:42.020 |
So if we have a superficial understanding of the nature and character of God, it translates 00:41:48.440 |
into the way we approach God in the New Testament. 00:41:51.980 |
It translates into the way we handle the Bible. 00:41:54.580 |
It translates into the way we understand lordship, the way we understand salvation, the way we 00:41:59.940 |
understand sanctification, the way we understand heaven, a personal relationship with God. 00:42:05.380 |
All of that gets tainted and superficial where we say God is the center, but he really is 00:42:17.140 |
Remember Jesus said, "You call me Lord, Lord, but your heart is far from me," right? 00:42:21.640 |
When we don't understand this about who God is, we can call him Lord, but he really isn't. 00:42:30.100 |
But this was established in the nation of Israel for that purpose, to make sure, right, 00:42:35.740 |
when Christ comes, that we understand Christ based upon this foundation, right? 00:42:48.100 |
The fat of an animal that dies in itself, that you're not to eat of it, you're forbidden 00:42:53.380 |
And then finally, they are never to eat the blood of any animal. 00:43:04.900 |
You can't eat the flesh of the animal that's already dead, right? 00:43:15.860 |
So imagine that if you're a Jew, and this is what was taught as a foundation, and clean 00:43:24.860 |
Right now, we're only getting the regulations. 00:43:26.380 |
So rest of Israel's history is when they violate this, judgment coming upon them, right? 00:44:50.260 |
God, very precise, and this is not the only place. 00:44:56.260 |
You cannot, it's sacrilegious to eat the blood of anybody, especially a human being, right? 00:45:03.260 |
I mean, human sacrifice was detestable, worthy of death. 00:45:07.260 |
And Jesus says in John chapter 6, if you do not drink of my blood and eat of my flesh, 00:45:24.260 |
From that time on, they turned away, and they stopped following the Lord. 00:45:30.260 |
So in their natural mind, they couldn't accept this, because it goes against what the Scripture says. 00:45:37.260 |
Obviously, Jesus was not meaning that you have to actually drink my blood and eat my flesh. 00:45:41.260 |
He's already talking to a group of people whose heart and their hearts, he said he is the bread of life, 00:45:47.260 |
and they keep saying, "Well, prove yourself, prove yourself." 00:45:51.260 |
So he's not talking to Christians and drawing those people to himself. 00:45:55.260 |
He already knows what's in their heart, and he's basically shutting the door on them. 00:46:02.260 |
If you drink of any other animal's blood, because the life of the animal is in the blood, you will die. 00:46:10.260 |
But if you drink the blood of Jesus, you will live. 00:46:17.260 |
If you touch something that was holy, set apart, and you touch it, you become holy, but not holy in a good sense. 00:46:26.260 |
And you have to go through the ritual cleansing. 00:46:29.260 |
But if you drink the blood of Christ, instead of you dying, what happens? 00:46:39.260 |
Now, some of you are like, "I still don't get it." 00:46:44.260 |
If you connect the dots, and I'm not trying to answer every single question. 00:46:50.260 |
Because I don't know the answer to every single question. 00:46:52.260 |
I'm just trying to show you the large, big picture. 00:46:55.260 |
Because in the law, it taught that these holy things are separated from God, and if you touch it, you become holy. 00:47:06.260 |
But you need to cleanse yourself, because you weren't meant to be. 00:47:10.260 |
There was nothing more unholy than drinking the blood, but actually, it's going inside of you. 00:47:19.260 |
But Jesus says, "But the blood I give you will make you live." 00:47:22.260 |
In fact, if you don't drink of it, you shall surely die. 00:47:30.260 |
And the communion table, right, ultimately is a reflection of this. 00:47:35.260 |
Because at the communion table, what do we say? 00:47:39.260 |
So we are celebrating the fulfillment of this particular sacrifice, the peace offering. 00:47:47.260 |
At the communion table, and we are drinking the blood. 00:47:49.260 |
Exactly what he said you can't do, of the animal. 00:47:52.260 |
But when we drink of the blood of Christ, we become cleansed. 00:47:56.260 |
And that's what we celebrate at the communion table. 00:47:58.260 |
So the communion table was never meant to be done in isolation, just like this sacrifice. 00:48:03.260 |
This sacrifice was God, the priest, and the people. 00:48:07.260 |
So the communion table was not meant to be done in isolation. 00:48:10.260 |
And that's why we don't practice communion at weddings. 00:48:13.260 |
You know, where it's not meant to be between you and your husband and God. 00:48:17.260 |
Like a romantic picture, it's meant to be done in the body of Christ, in celebration. 00:48:24.260 |
Because he does not acknowledge the body of Christ, right? 00:48:29.260 |
So it was meant to understand that peace with God is what established peace with man. 00:48:36.260 |
So this offering ultimately points to the communion table. 00:48:43.260 |
And then ultimately it points to the feast in heaven. 00:49:34.260 |
So if you remember, Revelation chapter 19 is at the very end when Christ comes to establish his kingdom. 00:49:41.260 |
And he describes his kingdom, right, the beginning of the kingdom as the marriage supper of the lamb. 00:49:48.260 |
And oftentimes Jesus describes the kingdom as what? 00:49:56.260 |
And he invited the people and some of them didn't come. 00:49:58.260 |
So they go out in the streets and then they bring the strangers to come into the banquet. 00:50:02.260 |
So oftentimes the kingdom of God is described as a banquet. 00:50:05.260 |
So when we see these sacrifices, right, all three of them, one is the burnt offering where God unilaterally does it himself 00:50:15.260 |
and he establishes relationship with sinful people. 00:50:18.260 |
And then because of that, there is a celebration that takes place. 00:50:36.260 |
Like Israelites, they were the holy nation, a priest set apart for God's use. 00:50:41.260 |
In the New Testament, we are the holy nation. 00:50:45.260 |
What is the, why does God establish priesthood? 00:50:52.260 |
What function did the priest function in the Old Testament? 00:51:00.260 |
They mediated between God, a holy God, and sinful people. 00:51:06.260 |
In what context in our life do we need mediation? 00:51:13.260 |
To be reconciled because there is some problem with the relationship. 00:51:18.260 |
They don't agree on something and somebody needs to come and mediate. 00:51:26.260 |
And so if you look at these three different group of offerings, 00:51:36.260 |
You have the priests, the church that receives it and evangelizes. 00:51:40.260 |
And then the third part where non-Christians come, there is a celebration. 00:51:46.260 |
The Bible talks about how when one sinner repents, the whole heavens rejoices. 00:51:52.260 |
And so you see this picture of the gospel, right, coming to man. 00:52:07.260 |
Coming of Christ, spreading of Christ, and rejoicing of Christ. 00:52:14.260 |
So all of this stuff, like I said in the beginning, all of this stuff may not make complete sense. 00:52:19.260 |
There's a lot of little detail that still may be fuzzy to you. 00:52:22.260 |
But as you're studying it, if you do your best to try to figure out how these dots connect, 00:52:27.260 |
so much of the New Testament will make much more sense. 00:52:38.260 |
The more you study the Bible, the more it will make sense. 00:52:44.260 |
Even after all these years, you dig through the scripture, and you see so much of what you thought you knew. 00:52:50.260 |
It wasn't that you were wrong, but you only knew it superficially. 00:52:54.260 |
And then when you start to see the depth of what God was doing, and that all of it, 00:52:58.260 |
when he says that before the creation of the world, I knew you, and then he came after us in Ephesians chapter 1, 00:53:04.260 |
and then you begin to see the traces of his imprint, of his game plan, 00:53:09.260 |
what he was doing through Israel's history, you actually see it. 00:53:16.260 |
And then all of a sudden, God becomes so much more real than just thinking of him in theory, 00:53:21.260 |
because God, in a tangible way, left his imprint. 00:53:26.260 |
There was a blueprint that he was following all this time. 00:53:30.260 |
So even though we don't know, us personally, we don't know where the blueprint is, how we got here. 00:53:37.260 |
But when you start to see the blueprint of what God was doing in history, through Israel, 00:53:41.260 |
and then the church, and how we got here, you know that there was a blueprint for you. 00:53:46.260 |
You know that there was a blueprint for you, because that's how God works. 00:53:51.260 |
So when he says, "All things work together for good for those who love him," right? 00:53:57.260 |
"All things work together for good, who have been called according to his purpose." 00:54:01.260 |
That everything good and the things that you think are bad are part of God's blueprint that got us here. 00:54:11.260 |
And I think that's why it's so interesting when you study the Old Testament, 00:54:15.260 |
because you see the blueprint in a larger scale, which ultimately points to the blueprint in a smaller scale. 00:54:24.260 |
What aspect of your salvation are you the most thankful for, and why? 00:54:28.260 |
Again, example, redemption, adoption, eternal life, forgiveness, and obviously there's other aspects of it. 00:54:34.260 |
But what aspects of it have you recently thought about and that you're thankful for? 00:54:45.260 |
Third, how do you normally celebrate when something great happens in your life? 00:54:49.260 |
Do you think how you live your life reflects how you feel about your own salvation? 00:54:53.260 |
Other than Sunday, other than singing loud and things that we do on church. 00:54:58.260 |
Is there a reasonable response in the way that we celebrate our salvation outside of Sunday? 00:55:06.260 |
What should our celebration look like outside of Sunday? 00:55:11.260 |
All right, so let me pray for us, and then I'll give you guys time to get into your small group. 00:55:17.260 |
Heavenly Father, we want to continue to thank you for your goodness. 00:55:21.260 |
And as we dig into things that are at times difficult to understand, we know, Father, that none of this was random. 00:55:34.260 |
But every part of this, Lord God, helps us to understand what you've done, what we already celebrate week after week. 00:55:40.260 |
I pray that as we deepen our understanding of who you are and what you've done, that our love for you may also deepen. 00:55:47.260 |
Our celebration of our salvation, Lord God, would be genuine. 00:55:53.260 |
That as we see the depth of your love, depth of your plan, Father God, for us, that we would not be able to resist but to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:56:04.260 |
I pray that you would bless us in our time of discussion. 00:56:07.260 |
Help us to be vulnerable and open and honest. 00:56:10.260 |
Help us to celebrate and spur one another on toward love and good deeds.