Day 32, or February the 1st. Offerings from Faithful
Followers. Our thoughts today are rooted in Leviticus
chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. The Lord called to
Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting.
He said, Speak to the Israelites and say to them,
When anyone among you brings an offering to the
Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either
the herd or the flock. Now the big picture surrounding
these verses. The storyline of God's people has
paused while they erect the tabernacle for the
very first time. Now in the book of Leviticus
it's back to the lecture hall for a whole series
of teaching about the offerings and feasts of
Judaism. This book takes place at the foot of
Mount Sinai and prepares the people to be God's
holy people. Of course, There have been no sacrificial
offerings since the Romans destroyed the temple
almost 2 ,000 years ago, in 70 AD. The sacrificial
emphasis of Judaism has been fulfilled in the
ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He is a sacrifice
once and for all, Hebrews 10 .10. So there is
no need for any more. That's probably why God
allowed the Romans to raise the temple to the
ground. It was no longer needed. Now today's
action step. There are three sacrifices detailed
in the first three chapters of Leviticus. Each
one of them is intended for the use of anyone
who is in fellowship with God, but who has failed
in some way. All of us know this experience,
and we can all empathize with the sinner. Our
relationship with God through Jesus is not a
once -for -all cure for daily sinning. It's a
once -for -all forgiveness which we constantly
need to hear as we are refreshed by the Holy
Spirit. Of course, we do not offer an actual
sacrifice nowadays, but a prayer for forgiveness
instead, because Jesus Christ has covered the
cost of being the ultimate sacrifice. However,
Every time we fail, it's as if we are saying
that the sacrifice of Christ is inadequate. None
of us would say that. So we need to live our
lives to show that we don't believe it either.