Is there an appointed time to offer to the Lord the food for His offerings?
It is stated quite explicitly
that the appointed time for the offering of the Lord's food is, day by day,
morning and evening continually, as a regular offering, on the Weekly Sabbath, on
New Moons (monthly) and on the appointed feast days of the Lord.
For thus says the Lord; “Now this
is what you shall offer on the altar; two lambs of the first year, day by day
continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you
shall offer at twilight”
The Sabbaths, which God ordained
as times of Holy convocation, were ordained specifically to offer to the Lord,
the food for His offerings. For thus says the Lord; “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...besides the Sabbaths of the Lord,
besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill
offerings which you give to the Lord” ( Leviticus 23: 37-38;
Numbers chapter 28 and 29).
We ought to always bear in mind
that, the food for the Lord’s offerings were not obliterated they were reformed
and so, the lamb was a copy and shadow of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, the
grain offering (unleavened bread) was a copy and shadow of the body of Christ
and the drink offering (wine) was a copy and shadow of the blood of Jesus
Christ and there is an ordained appointed time to offer the Lord the food for
His offerings.
The last instructions King David
gave the Levites concerning the work of the service of the house of God, was, “To
stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at evenings; and
at every presentation of a burnt offering to the Lord on the Sabbaths and on
the New Moons and on the set feasts, by number according to the ordinance
governing them, regularly before the Lord” (1 Chronicles
23:30-31).
The babble of confusion which
unfortunately exists with regards to the frequency of this offering is because
believers have not understood the Apostle Paul's statement which says; “For as often
as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He
comes.” But this babble of confusion can be averted, and completely avoided, if
one would take into consideration the value and significance of this offering,
and take God's command, and warning seriously, and recognize that the means of drawing
near to God has not been abolished, but has rather been reformed by the new
and living way by which we now draw near.
The sad thing is that some people
do not want God to tell them when, and how to do things, they rather do things
according to the imagination of their own hearts and doing what seems right in
their own eyes without realizing that our present disposition is that, “Having
been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Romans
6:18).
This enslavement is not to
perform our good deeds, because all our righteousness is as filthy rags before
God. Nor is it from the deeds of the law, because, a man is not justified by
the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by
the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Even Israel, pursuing the law of
righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they
did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law: For they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. We are enslaved to offer the Lord His food for His
offerings, at the appointed time. Let us ponder and reiterate the command once
more; “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).
Believers are to God a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that
they may proclaim the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous
light. They as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God,
for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their
God; therefore they shall be holy” (1Peter 2:9, 5;
Leviticus 21:6).
So now, by the second established
will of the Father we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once and for all. Denoting that, once and for all, we now have a
perfect offering, and a perfect High priest, that can present the worshiper,
perfect before God, and thus fulfilling the will of God. It is sad that many
people do not know how to study the word of God, for it is written in a way,
which is difficult for the natural mind to understand'
In fact it is said that, “The
natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned.” but God has revealed it to us through His Spirit. There is also a
set pattern by which the word of God can be understood; for it is written; “Whom
will He teach knowledge? And whom will He make to understand the message? Those
just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be
upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a
little, there a little” (Isaiah 28:9).
I pray that the eyes of our
understanding be enlightened, with regards to the food for the Lord's offerings,
the one and only acceptable offering that fulfills the will of the Father, His
sweet smelling aroma; and that we may know what is the hope of God's calling,
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is
the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the
working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from
the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above
all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
Jesus Christ was raised from the
dead, and He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, to intercede on our
behalf as our faithful and compassionate High Priest. For it is testified; “You
are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” For on one hand
there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and un-profitableness,
for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in
of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”
And in addition to this it is
clearly stated that; “For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts
and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One (Jesus Christ) also
have something to offer. (Hebrews 7:17-19; 8:3).
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