Leviticus 7:28-9:6
Leviticus 7:28-38
The thing that stands out to me here is that
God built a kind of tithe into the sacrificial system to provide for the
service of the priests. Later, other tithes will be taken out to support the
service of the Levites.
If the people had realized God’s love and
provision in contrast to their need and sin, they would have sacrificed gladly.
And, they could only sacrifice if the priests made the offerings for them. The
system was perfect if everyone kept their eyes on God and His love. If they put
their focus anywhere else, it became a system of drudgery and complaining. Why
should they have to go to Jerusalem? Why should they have to offer up their
best animals? Why should they support the priests who seemed to have easy jobs
with lots of help?
In Nehemiah, after he went back to Persia,
the people stopped sacrificing and giving. The priests and Levites had to stop
serving Israel and go back to their land to make a living. The city started
going to ruin again, both physically and spiritually.
In Malachi you have the opposite. The priests
allowed the people to be godless and to bring lame, blind and dying animals for
sacrifice. God judges the priests because of the motive behind their tolerance.
If they had stopped the people from bringing bad sacrifices, what would they
have had to eat? That didn't make God happy. In 1 Samuel, Eli the priest was
guilty of this too. If you wonder why he wouldn’t stop his sons from
desecrating the offerings, note what it says about Eli at his death.
Apparently, he had quite an appetite.
I see two things here for us as disciples.
First, after we exercise responsible wisdom
and seek the Lord’s leading, if we can, we are to give for the ministry.
Second, money or provision should never motivate our service. God doesn’t ask
us to work without provision, but there is a legitimate challenge to us when
Jesus says, “seek ye first…and all these things will be yours as well.” A lot
of sin has been allowed for the sake of the financial needs of a church or
ministry. Many pastors have stayed too long or been too silent, because
following the Lord would have put them in an uncomfortable place. Jesus told
His disciples not to be anxious, not to fear, and to live in the harvest
believing that God would provide. Sometimes that sounds so strange.
Leviticus 8
The next three chapters will be devoted to
appointing Aaron and his sons to be priests for Israel. For most people this is
all boring detail. For us as disciples following the Lord in the harvest, I'm
not saying we need to look it over with a microscope to find meaning in it, but
we shouldn't just ignore it either. This is our Father and Lord and the Spirit
saying something that was important to them. It is the Trinity saying something
to Israel about the vital importance this should have in their lives and in the
nation. Israel was to have reached their harvest field for God. These men were
their leaders (disciples /shepherds) who were to have kept Israel focused on
redemption and the love of God as the nation fulfilled its mission.
Vs. 1-4 Notice that all of Israel was
assembled to look on this event. The tabernacle is now being called the tent of meeting; whereas before the
tent of the meeting was a tent outside of the camp where Moses met alone with
God. Now, the tabernacle is the only meeting place and it is no longer the
meeting between Moses and God that is focused upon; but it is the place of
meeting between God and the people.
So, as a disciple, where do you “meet” with
God? Yeah, I know we now have the Spirit, but I mean, where do you meet regularly
with God to read His Word and pray? I actually have a “corner of meeting.”
Sometimes just having the same time and same place can give you a lot of help
in having a daily meeting with the Lord.
Vs. 5-9 The dressing of Aaron and his sons
took place before the congregation. This was an important event.
In clothing Aaron, I’m always amazed at the Urim and the Thummim. To think that
if the leaders or people asked the priest, he could give them any answer. I
mean, they could have bet on horses and won. They could have told the people
the weather or when a caravan would arrive. Seriously, this was an amazing
thing that God had given them. Sadly, except for David, you don’t see anyone
relying much on this provision.
Vs. 10-13 After Aaron was dressed, he was
anointed and consecrated for ministry. You don't have to be Einstein to see
that, figuratively, we have been anointed for ministry too. At salvation,
because of Jesus' sacrifice and blood, we are clothed in Christ's righteousness
and anointed with His Spirit. We aren't just "left" in the harvest;
we are sent into it, and there we follow our Lord and grow as we reach out and
make disciples.
It is through symbols like these that we know
that anointing has some link to the Spirit and to commissioning. Think of what
happened just after Jesus' baptism.
Notice that Moses is the one officiating.
Aaron, obviously, wasn't able to consecrate himself. Moses had already been
consecrated by God.
Notice that the oil was poured on Aaron's
head. A woman once asked for our church elders to pray for her and anoint her
for healing, and when I did it I poured the oil. It distressed her, because she
was used to an oil-moistened finger being pressed against her forehead. She
asked me where I got the idea to pour the oil, and this is where it came from.
BTW, she was healed, but I also really think that part of the healing came when
she and her husband left the area and the grumpy group of believers they were serving.
Vs. 14-17 Here Moses is leading Aaron and his
sons in the sin offering that would make them eligible to stand before the
Lord. Moses used the blood of this offering to consecrate the altar. For a
normal person this offering could be eaten by the priests. But when this was
done for the priests, part of it was offered on the altar, and the main part
was hauled outside the camp and burned, thereby showing its sinfulness. Again,
symbolically, Jesus was killed not in the temple in Jerusalem, but outside the
city (the camp), having become sin for us.
Vs. 18-21 Now this was the burnt offering for
Aaron and his sons. In worship this was for atonement, and it was totally
consumed on the altar. Besides symbolizing the need for forgiveness, the total
burning symbolized that the animal was taking their place and they were
devoting themselves wholly to God.
V. 21 Note that where it says it was a food offering, it means that it was
"satisfying" to the Lord. God didn't eat it. It is saying that along
with it being a pleasing aroma, God
was satisfied with the devotion and presentation of the offering. This sense of
satisfaction is seen in Jesus saying, My
food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work (John
4:34). It means satisfaction, like food, but not from food.
Vs. 22-32 Normally this would have been the
peace or fellowship offering, but because of the special occasion, it is the ram of ordination.
V. 22 Notice again that there was always a
sense of identification with the offered animal and the transference of sin and
guilt by the laying on of hands.
Vs. 23-24 This was part of the ordination and
not a normal part of the peace offering. The blood was put on Aaron's right ear
lobe, thumb and big toe. Then Moses did this to Aaron's sons. I think every
discipleship kit at your local Christian bookstore should have a small vial of
blood for this purpose. JUST KIDDING! The blood was to symbolize that all of
Aaron’s life and ministry was to help the people stand before their God. As
disciples in the harvest, bearing the blood of Jesus, this has to be our
mindset also. We are to be reminded by the blood we bear, that all we think and
do should be directed to helping people connect with God through the grace and
forgiveness in Christ. That's kind of cool to think about.
Vs. 27-28 Normally the priests would eat this
portion, but they aren't fully consecrated yet, so the right thigh gets offered
on the altar.
V. 29 The officiating priest was to receive
the breast.
V. 30 This again was special to this
occasion. Here they have these nice new clothes, and Moses sprinkles them with
oil and blood. I wonder if they had OxiClean© back then.
Vs. 31-32 The point of a peace/fellowship
offering was to celebrate before the Lord and share with others what He had
given. This is the celebration part of the sacrifice and ordination. Remember,
the goat couldn't be boiled in its mother's milk.
Vs. 33-36 This wasn’t a quick ceremony. Not
only did it take time to kill, skin, cut and burn the animals; but they had to
live in the courtyard before the tabernacle for seven days. I think for us as
disciples, staying consecrated to the Lord and His harvest requires us, at
times, to lock ourselves in somewhere and refocus ourselves in prayer and
seeking God.
V. 36 They did all that the Lord asked them
to do. That might seem like a lame point, but wait until tomorrow. Regardless
of the honor the Lord shows us one day, He still expects us to try to obey. He
shows us grace upon grace even in our disobedience, but sometimes there is a
very short fuse when we presume on His grace. It is good, as examples to other
disciples, to fear the Lord, that is, to be afraid of Him in a healthy way.
Leviticus 9
Vs. 1-6 Now that Aaron and his sons are fully
consecrated, they will begin their duties by sacrificing for themselves and for
the entire congregation. This would take some days to do all of this for all of
Israel, and it would resemble a feast. Notice that all of the main offerings
are present here. Some people think this would have taken place before the
Passover and been concluded with the Passover feast.
This was a great event. Tomorrow will be a
sad day for Aaron.
Mark 3:31-4:25
Mark 3:31-35
Doesn’t it seem like we just covered this in
Matthew? So what application can you make from this story regarding being a
disciple?
Mark 4:1-25
As a disciple making disciples, or even
talking to an unbeliever over this section (which is also part of the
disciplemaking process), how would you explain the purpose of parables?
Also, how would you explain the different
seeds to a new, growing disciple? If you hang around long enough, you will meet
all of these in church.
Back on January 19 we had this parable told
in Matthew 13 and the reading notes on that day have some additional comments.
How do vs. 21-25 complement v. 20? What is
Jesus’ argument here? How did Jesus define fruit? A disciple is called to
testify to Jesus in the harvest. To have light and not use it is not good. We've
been given light to shape our hearts and to let it shine.
Psalm 37:12-29
There are lots of good verses here. Which of
these strikes a chord with you?
As you read, notice the concern of three
major characters. The wicked are concerned about the righteous. The Lord is
against the wicked, but for the righteous. The righteous are concerned about
the Lord. Generally speaking, everything turns out right in life, and
everything works according to God's plan in the end.
Vs. 12-13 This is now David addressing why
the righteous should wait. God indeed sees the wicked and has a wonderful plan
for them. God just doesn't always pay on Friday.
Vs. 14-15 David says that God brings the plot
of the wicked against them. It is like they chop down a tree to fall on the
righteous and it falls on them instead. This may not always be true on earth,
but in a spiritual and eternal sense, it is always true.
Vs. 16-20 So much of what is written here has
to do with knowing the Lord and the resultant faith and understanding of God
and what He is doing in the world. If a person is secure in Christ, they are
unshakable, like the house the wise man built in Luke 6:46.
Vs. 21-26 If this is one section, it is
interesting that it begins and concludes with the person who trusts in the Lord
being generous with his stuff, even during hard times. It makes me think of
Jesus telling His disciples not to be anxious about their lives, to give freely
and to lay up treasure in heaven.
Vs. 27-29 This is the summary of what David
has seen and the encouragement to follow the Lord. Notice again that the
righteous/meek shall inherit the land.
It's probably good for us to understand that
these promises are the norm, but there are exceptions. Think of v. 25. Is this
true, always? I remember hearing of a US city boy having his faith turned
upside down by a girl from a third world country. He held to the absolute
nature of the promise, but she had seen Christians oppressed and Christian
children begging for bread. God
allows for deviations from the norm. There are God-designed exceptions. Daniel
became overwhelmed when he was told how God would allow His saints to suffer.
In Revelation, God allows the slaughter of those who believe to reveal the
hearts of men. The entire judgment of the sheep and the goats comes as a result
of how people responded to the need of God's people in the Tribulation. Paul quotes
the OT (Ps. 44:22), saying, for your sake
we are being killed all the day long… The promise is true in the normal
sphere of following, but God allows, for His own purposes, the exception.
Following as a disciple might mean only being given a promise for a day, not a
year. Our job is to follow Christ in the harvest, not to have Him guarantee our
earthly security or plans.
Proverbs 10:5
Amen!
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/
and click on “Every
Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are
following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging
each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on
Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups
will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with
and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is
still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's
keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you
what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in
fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the
comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding,
that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but
only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
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