One Year Bible, February 17

LEVITICUS 4:1-5:19
Always keep in mind that these offerings don't just represent Jesus, but they also represent you and me and our self-surrender to God. Each one shows a part of the process of change when we surrender and repent. We repent of our independence and rebellion against God.....every day. This is how change comes. We find, through the offerings that we are appropriating the work of Jesus Christ because our work will never qualify. That the work done by Jesus is adequate and ours is not. And that His life is expressed through our obedience of faith.

Whole Burnt Offering (1:1-7; 6:8-13) This offering gives us acceptance with God. The offerer kills the sacrifice himself, cuts it up into pieces, and the priests grilled it. But the innards and legs were washed and then burned up. Can you guess at what all this represents? We present ourselves, because it was our sin that killed our Savior. Our innards and our walk cannot be "saved", but as it represents our flesh, it must be washed and consumed. This was a voluntary offering and was a sweet savour to the God. This offering was to be continual, daily, with the fire never going out. Lev 9:24 says that the first fire on that altar came down from God in Heaven and the priests kept it going after that.

Meal Offering (2:1-16; 6:14-23) This offering is bloodless, bread made without leaven, and voluntary. A handful was offered/burned and the priests ate the rest in the holy place. It was an accessory to the Burnt offering and the Peace offering, and could not be offered without the bloody meat. This offering had to be prepared at home with pounded, sifted flour. By suffering, Jesus offered Himself as food for man, as do all of us, as a sweet savour to God.

Peace Offering (3:1-17; 7:11-21) The purpose of this offering is to have communion with God. This is the only offering in which the offerer may partake of the grilled meat. It represents reconciliation with God and eating at His Table. There were three types of Peace Offerings: Thank Offering (for praise), Vow Offering (fulfilled a promise by the offerer), Freewill Offering (for Who God is). This was a joyous occasion and a sweet savour to God.

Sin Offering (4:1-38; 6:24-30) Now we are to the offerings that don't smell good to God because of what they represent. In this offering, the blood flows down and out. People are atoned, rather than acts they've committed. This deals with the sin nature that we are born with. Confession was made over the sacrificial animal, identifying the offerer with the animal, as deserving of death. This offering was bloody and involuntary. The fat (consider the prime part), and kidneys were burned on the altar. But the hide, flesh, head, legs, innards, and dung (the rest of the bull) was taken outside the camp where it was burned on an ash heap. "And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood." (Heb 13:12)

Trespass Offering (5:1-19; 6:1-7; 7:1-7) This was for sins of omission through ignorance. It was a guilt or debt offering. There was no provision for intentional sins. Those people were "cut off" (Numbers 15:30-31). "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:" (Heb 10:28). This offering was for the acts of sin and so confession was made over the offering. It was bloody and involuntary. It paid the debt of sin, making restitution to God. However, restitution also had to be made to the victim of the trespass.

RESPONSE:    I can see that my debt was insurmountable. The barrier was enormous. The Blood of Jesus is totally adequate. He took my place and picked up all my "I.O.U."s. The blood is always before the Lord - not just on Sundays! It is daily. We must repent of the things we didn't do - omitting to do good when we should have. And we repent of things we did in ignorance. I guess that includes all of us. I am truly sorry that I am so self-interested, and so self-centered. God, help me to "forget about myself" today.

MARK 2:13-3:6
The Sabbath: What does it really represent? Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for men, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." We don't "keep" the Sabbath; the Sabbath "keeps" us! Hebrews 4 says that "the Sabbath Rest remains" - that is, it is still available for us. God's Sabbath is NOT a day of the week, but the "rest that comes by faith". How do we get there? With praise and thanksgiving for Who God is - for His goodness and greatness. This removes the clutter from our hearts and minds about the adequacy of God and allows us to "rest" in that. We don't focus on ourselves, Jesus is "Lord of the Sabbath".

In Mark 3:5 the KJV says, "And when He had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts..." This is the definition of righteous anger, or righteous indignation. When we get angry, we are usually sinning because it's about US. Jesus was angry for their persistent unbelief, their refusal to be persuaded, at their roots of bitterness. They appear to be bent on their own ruin.

RESPONSE:  I think that the Pharisees had made even the Sabbath to be "all about ME." It is all about Your, Lord - and Your sufficiency and completeness. YOU made the Sabbath for me - but only as I "forget about myself" and look to You. That is what makes the Sabbath holy.

PSALM 36:1-12
Here the "wicked" is contrasted with "them that know Thee". The marks of a wicked man are (1) No fear of God, (2) Self-deception, (3) Rebellion, (4) Has no hatred for sin, (5) Arrogance. 

"Them that know Thee" (know God), on the other hand, are totally dependent on God for His mercy and grace, His faithfulness, His loving-kindness, His Life, His righteousness, His safe-keeping. And as a result, they are "abundantly satisfied". They don't have to always be looking for something or someone to fulfill them. They are "made drunk, stuffed full, satiated" with God.

PROVERBS 10:1-2
I don't get it. Does it not grieve a father when his son is foolish? Maybe it just makes him mad, and the mother is the one who grieves.

Now verse 2 sets up opposites. The profits of the wicked vs the profits of the righteous. These are NOT  "ill-gotten gains", but are, rather, ANY gains made by the wicked, however he got it.   It would be like anything touched by a leper - it is ALL unclean.  On the other hand, righteousness saves from the judgment of death. "Treasures" do not profit the soul; they will not purchase contentment or happiness, and they don't save us from judgment when we are wicked.  "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)

RESPONSE:   "Abundantly satisfied", that's me! I tell God regularly that He's "more than enough". I have way more than I deserve. The "fountain of life" is a fountain like Old Faithful, not a bubbling water fountain. I can feel it spewing forth inside me whenever I think about Jesus, and how wonderful, how great, how kind He is.