4. Are we appearing before God without presenting to Him His offering?
Another important rule which should be examined is that of presenting to the Lord His offering when we come to appear before Him, for we have been duly admonished saying; “bring an offering and come into His courts” (Psalms 96:8).
So the logical question is, what sort of an offering are we supposed to bring to the Lord when presenting ourselves before Him? But before we get to the offering it is imperative that we acknowledge the fact that, the main reason for having a holy convocation is to offer the Lord the food for His offerings, this is very important to take into consideration.
For this is what the Lord spoke to Moses saying; “These are the feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day.” Please note carefully that this offering is besides or in addition to the Sabbaths of the LORD, it is besides our gifts, besides all our vows, and besides all our freewill offerings which we give to the LORD” (Leviticus 23:37-38).
Therefore, having a holy convocation without offering the Lord the food for His offerings is futile and in vain because it does not fulfill the main objective for having a holy convocation: The Lord further instructed Moses saying; "Command the children of Israel, and say to them, 'My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time” (Numbers 28:2).
It is also important to note that, this food is for the Lord’s offerings (plural), denoting that it is the food for all offerings one desires to offer to the Lord, whether it be the daily or regular thanksgiving offering, the peace or fellowship offering on the Sabbaths, monthly offering or for a sin offering.
With regards to the daily offering this is what the Lord spoke to Moses saying; “This is what you are to offer on the altar regularly each day – a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the Lord by fire” (Exodus 29:38-40).
Due to the massive cloud of deception that is hovering over the earth, from the moment one hears “offering made to the Lord by fire” gets turned off immediately without taking into consideration the reformation that has taken place involving the tabernacle, the offerings and the priesthood.
Therefore, this pleasing aroma, an offering made to the Lord by fire with all its paraphernalia known as the burnt offering which consisted of the Lamb, with its grain and drink offering has been reformed and replaced by Jesus Christ Himself the true lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, His broken body in the form of Unleavened Bread replaced the grain and wheat offering and His blood in the form of the wine replaced the drink offering. This is the expression of Christ’s love for us who “Gave Himself up for us, an offering, and a sacrifice to God as a sweet smelling aroma” (Ephesians 5:2).
Now concerning this offering, the Lord said to Moses, “For the generations to come this burnt offering is to be made regularly (continuously, often) at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. There I will meet you and speak to you; there also I will meet with the Israelites, and the place will be consecrated by My glory. So I will consecrate the tent of Meeting and the altar and will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.
They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God” (Exodus 29:42-46).
Now consider this for a moment, if the Israelites are to observe this for the generations to come as a reminder to remind them that the Lord is their God who brought them out of Egypt, should we not observe it to remind ourselves of our Redeemer and Savior who delivered us from the bondage of sin and death?
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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