Bringing an offering before the
Lord on His appointed holy convocation is the main objective for presenting
ourselves before Him. As a matter of fact, it is stated quite categorically; “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 (Leviticus
23: 37).
This offering which we are to offer
to the Lord whenever we present ourselves before Him, regularly, on every festival
and on holy convocation is known as the burnt offering; with its grain and
drink offering. This offering is so special and of such intrinsic importance,
that it is, known as the food for the Lord's offerings.
And so, the Lord spoke to Moses
saying; “All who are native born shall do these things in this manner, in
presenting an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. And if a
stranger sojourns with you, or whoever is among you throughout your
generations, and would present an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the
Lord, just as you do, so shall they do. One ordinance shall be for you of the
congregation and for the stranger who sojourns with you, an ordinance forever
throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the
Lord. One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns
with you” (Numbers 15:14-16).
Now that appointed time to offer
the Lord the food for His offerings is as follows:
• As a Thanksgiving Offering to
God.
Before Christ was led to be
crucified, He said to His disciples, “I have earnestly desired to eat this
Passover with you before I suffer. And He took a cup and when He had given
thanks He said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that
from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God
comes:’ And, “He took bread and when He had given thanks He broke it and gave
it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you. Do this in
remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:15-19).
Bread and wine are the designated
thanksgiving offering attributed to the Melchizedek Priesthood from inception, because
after Abram returned from rescuing his nephew lot, “Melchizedek king of Salem
brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and He blessed
Abram saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
and blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand” (Genesis
14:17-20).
To Moses the Lord said, “Give this
command to the Israelites and say to them: See that you present to me at the appointed
time the food for My offerings made by fire, as an aroma pleasing to Me.” Say
to them; this is the offering made by fire that you are to present to the Lord:
two lambs a year old without defects, as a regular offering each day” (Numbers
28:1-3).
The rationale behind the morning
and evening thanksgiving offering is explained by David, in the psalms and in
his last instructions to the Levites. In the psalms he wrote; “It is good to
praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your
loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of
the ten stringed lyre and the melody of the harp, for you make me glad by your
deeds, “O Lord. How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts!
The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand, that though the
wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever
destroyed” (Psalms 92:1-4).
And in his final instructions to
the Levites, David instructed that; “They were also to stand every morning to
thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening and whenever
burnt offerings were presented to the Lord on Sabbaths, and at New Moon
festivals, and at appointed feasts” (1Chronicles \23:30-31).
·
As
a monthly offering
For we have been duly admonished
saying: “'At the beginnings of your months (which is at every New Moon) you
shall present a burnt offering to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven
lambs in their first year, without blemish; three-tenths of an ephah of fine
flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; two-tenths of an
ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; and
one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, as a grain offering for
each lamb, as a burnt offering of sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the
LORD. Their drink offering shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, one-third of
a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb; this is the burnt offering
for each month throughout the months of the year. also one kid of the goats as
a sin offering to the LORD shall be offered, besides the regular burnt offering
and its drink offering.
·
On
the Sabbaths
On the Sabbaths, whether the weekly
Sabbath or the annual Sabbaths we are to offer to the Lord the food for His
offerings. The rationale for offering to the Lord the food for His offerings is
to enable us to present ourselves before Him in a holy, blameless and
irreproachable state for we have been duly instructed saying:
“This is
the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light
and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him,
and 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 Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that 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 that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His
word is not in us” (1John 1: 5-10).
Please note
carefully that, the cleansing from all sins in order to have fellowship with
the Father and with one another is through the blood of Jesus Christ which
cleanses us from all sin and this cleansing, is not of the past but rather something
which is current which takes place during the worship service. We should also note
that, it is n Him (Jesus Christ) that we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians
1:7; Colossians 1:14).
This
redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ is manifested through the cup of
the New Covenant which represents His blood as we have been duly instructed
saying; “Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
"Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew
27:27-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25).
This part
of worship service is of such great importance yet, it has been neglected and
mis-applied by almost all religions despite the fact that the Lord commanded
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).
The only
difference between the time that Moses received these instructions and now is
that, Moses and the Israelites were following the copy and shadow of the reality
but we now have the real offering, the real tabernacle and the real everlasting
Priesthood. And as a nation of priests we are to offer to the Lord the food for
His offerings at their appointed time.
To be continued
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With brotherly Love
Lucius Joseph
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