SUNDAY 27th
Leviticus 2
NIV – No particular verse
ESV – No particular verse
In the first five chapters of Leviticus we are reminded of the various offerings that the people of Israel had to bring, in chapter one it was the burnt offering, chapter two, the Grain offering, chapter three, the Peace (or fellowship) offering, in chapter four, the Sin offering then in chapter five, the Guilt offering. They are covered again in chapters six through to seven; Burnt 6:8-13, Grain 6:14-23, Sin 6:24-30, Guilt 7:1-10 and Peace offering in 7:11-21.
Yesterday we reminded ourselves that the Lord Jesus Christ has made the ultimate offering on our behalf when he presented himself as the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
As a New Testament Church, or as believers in the complete and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ we do not need to follow the various laws with regard to these various offerings, but at the same time there are principles from which we can learn. The grain offering was a means of recognising God’s goodness and provision, the Peace or Fellowship offering was given in a context of praise and thanksgiving, the Sin offering also known as the Purification offering were linked to purifying people or vessels and the Guilt offering was linked to purification of sin against the things belonging to God, other people or their property.
There is a principal found in the Grain offering in which we also recognise the goodness and faithfulness of God with his ongoing provision for us, not only at Calvary for our sin, but the many physical and spiritual blessings which we daily receive and benefit from and we show our gratitude, not by bringing grain, but bringing from out of our substance which is generally accepted as being our tithe and offerings. As we gather together on the first day of the week, in our Sunday morning service, we come to be in fellowship together, we come to worship, we come to praise, we come to declare the faithfulness of God, we come to share in Communion together, we come to receive from the Word of God and we come to bring our tithes and offerings, our acknowledgment that God has been faithful toward us with his goodness and provision.
The Sin and the Guilt offering remind us of our ongoing need to be in a place of a right relationship with God and with others, it is a reminder that although we know that Christ has atoned for our sin, we have a personal responsibility to live in a position of rightness, we all get contaminated by the world, sin still rears its ugly head in our personal walk, we do get things wrong, we do have wrong thoughts or do wrong actions, but we can always and should always continually be coming back to the Cross, the place of forgiveness, the place of reconsecration, the place for a new fresh start. Knowing as we are reminded in 1 John 1:5-10 – ‘This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.’