Thinking Thursday: Offerings

When God sent Moses to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, He called them to be His own people, and gave them the Law. This included a system of sacrifices and offerings, which to us today seems very strange and even brutal. God wanted to ingrain deep into their hearts, that sin costs.

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. (Habakkuk 1:13)
You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. (Psalm 5:4-5)

If anyone sins, they cannot pass it off with "I'm sorry." That is not enough. Sin requires spilt blood to pay for it. And because we keep sinning, blood keeps having to be spilled. Until the one Lamb came whose sacrifice paid for all sin for all time. The Old Testament sacrifices were not just one lamb on a regular basis, as I found out when I read Numbers 28 & 29. The number of lambs, goats and bulls that were sacrificed was astronomical.

In addition there were food, grain, drink offerings, burnt offerings and more. A large part of life involved offerings. How much of our lives are spent thinking about and giving to God? Check out my summary below, and ponder on your life.

Daily Offerings
2 lambs – food offering
flour & oil – grain offering
strong drink – drink offering

Sabbath Offerings
2 lambs and flour & oil – burnt offering
drink offering
this is in addition to the daily offering for that day

Monthly Offerings
2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 lambs
flour & oil and drink offering for each animal
1 goat – sin offering

Passover Offerings – 14th day of 1st month
7 days not to work
each day – 2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 lambs with their grain and drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
this is in addition to the daily offering

Offerings for the Feast of Weeks – the day of first fruits
offering of new grain
no work
2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
this is in addition to the daily offering

Offerings for the Feast of Trumpets – 1st day of 7th month
no work
1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
burnt offering, grain offering, drink offering for the new moon
this is in addition to the daily offering

Offerings for the Day of Atonement – 10th day of 7th month
no work
1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
this is in addition to the daily offering

Offerings for the Feast of Booths – 15th day of 7th month
no work, feast for 7 days
1st day - 13 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
2nd day - 12 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
3rd day - 11 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
4th day - 10 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
5th day - 9 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
6th day - 8 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
7th day - 7 bulls, 2 rams, 14 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
8th day - 1 bull, 1 ram, 14 lambs with their grain & drink offerings
1 goat – sin offering
All these in addition to the daily offering

In addition
Vow offerings
Freewill offerings
Peace offerings
Individual sin offerings
For a nation of over 600,000 men, plus women and children.

Thinking Thursday: Azazel

In my Bible reading I read Leviticus 16, about the Day of Atonement. The main ceremony involved taking two goats without blemish. One was to be sacrificed for the sin of the people. The other was for Azazel.

This surprised me, as I was used to the expression 'scape-goat,' and had never heard of Azazel. So I looked it up, and it really blessed me. According to Easton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, the root of the Hebrew word Azazel is 'separation,' and carries an intensity that signifies the total separation of sin. After the High Priest placed his hands on the goat and laid the sin of the people onto it, it was led out into the desert and let go. There was no interest in what became of it – it was totally removed from them and lost.

The two goats were a type, or shadow, of Christ, and showed how he was to deal with our sin. The first goat showed how the atonement was made, the second showed the effect of that atonement. Firstly, by the shedding of Christ's blood and his death, all sin was paid for in full. Secondly, the sin was totally removed and forgotten – Azazel.

Thinking Thursday: Deceptive Questions

I have been reading some very popular books by Brian D McLaren, a trilogy called 'A New Kind of Christian.' In these books he proposes a new way of looking at Christianity and being a Christian. The books are written as novels, detailing discussions between an unhappy pastor named Daniel and various other people with unorthodox views, particularly an ex-pastor turned science teacher called Neil.

The format lifts the thinking beyond dry exposition into a very moving story which draws you in and arouses your sympathy for Daniel. In this way, the drama and emotion can easily bypass the reader's judgement, and allow ideas to be absorbed without critical consideration. That is why I stopped and went back through each of the books and identified some of the ideas which gave cause for concern.

As I look at these over the next few weeks I want to encourage you not only to think about these questions, but to sharpen your thinking to look out for deceptive questions you may find elsewhere. Here is the first sample:

From 'A New Kind of Christian' p.185:
The way conservative Christians talk about "personal salvation" seems to me to try to persuade by exclusion. In other words, the argument says, "You, the 'unsaved', are on the outside and I'm on the inside. I'll tell you how to get inside if you want." I think we would be more in line with the spirit of the gospel if we invite by inclusion, saying, "God loves you. God accepts you. Are you ready to accept your acceptance and live in reconciliation with God?"

Comment:
This sounds like the old "God loves you and has a plan for your life", without the mention of sin and repentance. The old saying 'God hates the sin but loves the sinner' is not really right, because in many places in the Bible it says that God hates the sinner because of his sin.
Ps.5:5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.
Ps.31:23 The Lord preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.
Pr.6:16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissention among brothers.

It also says in scripture that God is not willing that any man should perish, but also that there is only one way to be saved. 'Accepting God's acceptance' is not it.

Easter Thoughts

I can't let Easter pass without saying something - I am, after all, a Christian. This is the most important time of the year. Our human natures are the greatest problem we have in trying to put the world right, and Jesus' sacrifice is the only answer. I wrote a poem about this, which I have blogged before, but bears repeating for this weekend.

Even The Mighty Will Fail

Even the mighty will fail,
Even the conquerors fall,
Even the richest cannot pay enough,
No one can answer the call.

No one who is without fault,
No one who's not gone astray,
Only the perfect can stand before God,
Pride and deceit bar the way.

No way we can fix ourselves,
No way to undo the past,
No way to perfection in future lives,
The flaw inside holds us fast.

We have no hope in the world,
But then God gives up His Son.
So why is it so hard to accept
That he is the only One?

The One who lives without sin,
Yet is punished for us all.
The One who gives us new lives and new hearts,
Makes us conquerors after all.

These things I know: 3 Sin

Sin is not what we do, it is what we are. Since Adam & Eve's rebellion, everyone has been born with that fatal flaw. There is no one who has ever lived, no matter how good, who has never told a lie, broken a promise, thought wrong thoughts - except one.

Since God's Kingdom cannot accept anyone who is not perfect, and since no one can perfect themselves, God's justice stands against us all. But God is also merciful and loves us. He is not willing for anyone to perish.

Throughout the Old Testament God raised up a special people to be His own, gave them laws and rituals, prophets and priests. Their history serves to prove how impossible it is for mankind to even remain faithful. Sin is the greatest barrier to salvation, not only because it makes us imperfect, but because ourpride will not even admit that we are sinful. People need to understand the bad news of sin and judgement, and accept it, before they are ready to understand the Good News.

Other posts in this series:
1 Intro
2 The Kingdom of God
4 Salvation
5 The Old Man
6 Suffering