Thursday Night Bible Study

Leviticus 6:8-Leviticus 7 (Click title for audio access)

"From The Priest's Perspective"  •  8.18.11  •  Thursday Night Bible Study, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- Imagine what it must have been like for the Hebrew people, who were to come to the Tabernacle with their offerings of various animals that they would kill.

- I imagine that they would wait in line and enter in, with bronze altar in the forefront of their vision. They killed the animal, performed their worship and went back to their respective tents.

- What happened with the sacrifices? And what about the Priests? How were they to relate to God? How did they live before Him?

- Chapters one through five detail the 5 major offerings that God gave to His people. The burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering and the trespass offering.

- Chapter 6 and 7 give us the details of what happened with the offerings from the perspective of the priests. Much will be review, but there are principles that speak powerfully to us today.

Text

•  Leviticus 6:8-13  :  "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen trousers he shall put on his body, and take up the ashes of the burnt offering which the fire has consumed on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. Then he shall take off his garments, put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order on it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out." : These words are specifically for the priests, this section dealing with the burnt offering. Twice in this section, God commands that this fire would be perpetually burnt.

- This act of consecration was to ever be before the Lord, never to go out as a witness of the nation's consecration to their God. The priests were charged with keeping this fire burning.

- We'll learn later in Leviticus that it was God who began the fire by supernatural means, but then managed by spiritual men! They attended to that fire hour by hour, making sure that it kept.

- Consecration is not a one time act. It's a purposeful activity to remain wholly His!

• Leviticus 6:14-18  :  "This is the law of the grain offering: The sons of Aaron shall offer it on the altar before the Lord. He shall take from it his handful of the fine flour of the grain offering, with its oil, and all the frankincense which is on the grain offering, and shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma, as a memorial to the Lord. And the remainder of it Aaron and his sons shall eat; with unleavened bread it shall be eaten in a holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of meeting they shall eat it. It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of My offerings made by fire; it is most holy, like the sin offering and the trespass offering. All the males among the children of Aaron may eat it. It shall be a statute forever in your generations concerning the offerings made by fire to the Lord. Everyone who touches them must be holy." : The grain or meal offering was to be burned before the Lord, but a portion could remain with the priests, to feed them.

- When they received it, they could not put any yeast in it, even though it was theirs to consume, a part of God's provision for them.

- This is interesting as one considers professional ministers, that they are not to use what has been offered to the Lord in a way that indulges the flesh. The need is met, but not our flesh. Why?

- Because the priests were to exemplify a life lived before the Lord. That's what we are on display to show God's people. How wrong would it be to feed our flesh with God's provisions?

•  Leviticus 6:19-23  :  "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^'This is the offering of Aaron and his sons, which they shall offer to the Lord, beginning on the day when he is anointed: one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a daily grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it at night. It shall be made in a pan with oil. When it is mixed, you shall bring it in. The baked pieces of the grain offering you shall offer for a sweet aroma to the Lord. The priest from among his sons, who is anointed in his place, shall offer it. It is a statute forever to the Lord. It shall be wholly burned. For every grain offering for the priest shall be wholly burned. It shall not be eaten.'" : The priestly ordination had not yet taken place chronologically.

- The priests were not given an inheritance. What they did receive from the offerings of the people of God were to be part of their offerings unto the Lord.

- Their grain offering was to be made daily, part in the morning and part at night.

•  Leviticus 6:24-30  :  "Also the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed, the sin offering shall be killed before the Lord. It is most holy. The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of meeting. Everyone who touches its flesh must be holy. And when its blood is sprinkled on any garment, you shall wash that on which it was sprinkled, in a holy place. But the earthen vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken. And if it is boiled in a bronze pot, it shall be both scoured and rinsed in water. All the males among the priests may eat it. It is most holy. But no sin offering from which any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of meeting, to make atonement in the holy place, shall be eaten. It shall be burned in the fire."  :  The priests were to received the sin offering and as part of their provision, would eat of it. This was their barbecued meat!

- They who would come into contact with the sacrifice and if blood came onto their clothes, they were to wash them clean, as well as whatever was used to wash them in.

- They had come into contact with the symbolism of guilt, the blood of the offering. That which was killed had taken on the sin of the worshipper.

- The priest was not to be infected that way, nor anything that he used in his ministration. This is an interesting aspect of ministry to others that are dealing with sinful situations.

- Humans will come to you needing your ministration. They will need your prayers and your hands to be laid upon them. The principle is clear: Keep a distance from their sin!

- Don't get into gossip. Don't investigate the sin story. Don't put yourself in a position to be stained by their flesh or ignite an opportunity for yours!

- Let's take a quick side trip over to the book of Jude. Jude spends 19 verses dealing with infiltrators into the church, then he dilineates the church's response to these people.

•  Jude 20-23  :  "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh."

- Reach out, touch and minister, but always with an eye to your own purity!

•  Leviticus 7:1-10  :  "Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering (it is most holy): In the place where they kill the burnt offering they shall kill the trespass offering. And its blood he shall sprinkle all around on the altar. And he shall offer from it all its fat. The fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails, the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove; and the priest shall burn them on the altar as an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a trespass offering. Every male among the priests may eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy. The trespass offering is like the sin offering; there is one law for them both: the priest who makes atonement with it shall have it. And the priest who offers anyone’s burnt offering, that priest shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has offered. Also every grain offering that is baked in the oven and all that is prepared in the covered pan, or in a pan, shall be the priest’s who offers it. Every grain offering, whether mixed with oil or dry, shall belong to all the sons of Aaron, to one as much as the other."  :  Along with the sin offering, the priests were also allowed to eat of the trespass offering. The priests who make atonement with it shall have it.

- The priest was to share in the food or the clothing that would come from the slain animals.

•  Leviticus 7:11-18  :  "This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which he shall offer to the Lord: If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil. Besides the cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering. And from it he shall offer one cake from each offering as a heave offering to the Lord. It shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering. The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day it is offered. He shall not leave any of it until morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers his sacrifice; but on the next day the remainder of it also may be eaten; the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day must be burned with fire. And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, nor shall it be imputed to him; it shall be an abomination to him who offers it, and the person who eats of it shall bear guilt."  :  Usually, when a peace offering was given, it was given voluntarily or at the end of a vow that was made to the Lord.

- It was to be consumed that very day with nothing left. If this were related to a vow, the meat could be eaten the next day, but that third day, it was a waste.

- Lacking refrigeration, the meat would not be kept and to eat of it that third day would cause an abomination in the sight of the Lord.

- Whoever would eat of it on the third would bear the guilt of taking something unclean into their bodies.

•  Leviticus 7:19-21  :  "The flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned with fire. And as for the clean flesh, all who are clean may eat of it. But the person who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offering that belongs to the Lord, while he is unclean, that person shall be cut off from his people. Moreover the person who touches any unclean thing, such as human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any abominable unclean thing, and who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offering that belongs to the Lord, that person shall be cut off from his people.’"  :  The law of clean and unclean has not been fully revealed to us at this time. Suffice it to say that one needed to be ceremonially clean to partake.

- This referred to different washings that one would go through. A person without regard to that ceremonial purity had not business partaking in what was offered.

 - A person with such disregard to what was plainly understood to him would be cut off from the people, a phrase that spoke to excommunication.

- These are things that the Priests and the people of God understood. There was to be a reverence for God in worship that was not to be denied.

•  Leviticus 7:22-24  :  "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘You shall not eat any fat, of ox or sheep or goat. And the fat of an animal that dies naturally, and the fat of what is torn by wild beasts, may be used in any other way; but you shall by no means eat it."  :  Animal fat has several uses when rendered. For example, soap, lotions or water-proofing material can be produced.

- One can make a nutritious, jerky-like snack called Pemmican. Most radically, Recently, I noted an article on bio-diesel fuel made from animal fat.

- Whatever it could be used for, it was not to be eaten by God's people.

•  Leviticus 7:25-27  :  "For whoever eats the fat of the animal of which men offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his people. Moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.’"  :  Blood was also forbidden to eat of any kind of animal. The fat and the blood belonged to the Lord.

•  Leviticus 7:28-34  :  "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offering to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offering. His own hands shall bring the offerings made by fire to the Lord. The fat with the breast he shall bring, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the Lord. And the priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. Also the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a heave offering from the sacrifices of your peace offerings. He among the sons of Aaron, who offers the blood of the peace offering and the fat, shall have the right thigh for his part. For the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering I have taken from the children of Israel, from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons from the children of Israel by a statute forever.’"  :  The wave and the heave offerings were motions of thanksgiving. The heave offering was a gesture toward the Lord, the wave offering toward one another.

- When the priest offered these, it was illustrating the peace that God has with man through the cross! God has not saved man solely for Himself, but for His people to have fellowship as well!

- We really miss this concept today and the church at large has suffered greatly for it.

- The priests in doing this show that sacrifice was the basis for healing the rift between God and man, which exists because of sin.

- At the same time, the priests ministry also reveals the power that sacrifice gives in the healing of relationships that are broken.

- It's the blood that gives us freedom to love God and each other through any rift! We diminish God's work if we miss this!

- These gestures and these animals were to be given to Priests or the Priesthood forever.

•  Leviticus 7:35-38  :  "This is the consecrated portion for Aaron and his sons, from the offerings made by fire to the Lord, on the day when Moses presented them to minister to the Lord as priests. The Lord commanded this to be given to them by the children of Israel, on the day that He anointed them, by a statute forever throughout their generations. This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the consecrations, and the sacrifice of the peace offering, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day when He commanded the children of Israel to offer their offerings to the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai."  :  These are the laws concerning the offerings of the first 5 and a half chapters of Leviticus.

Conclusion

- As a nation of Priests, I remind you of your perpetual consecration to your Lord, the purity that He demands and the power that is in your hands to speak of redemption and restoration.

- May these be stirred in your hearts afresh tonight!