When we discussed the grain offerings in the past; we did not get into specifics. God was showing Moses how to construct the tabernacle. Now God is instructing Moses so that he can tell the people how the grain offerings should be offered up.
As we have mentioned many times before; God is a God of order.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to today’s COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY. We have been conducting these (every Thursday) chronological lessons for a long time now. Our goal is to walk all the way through the bible reviewing every word from the wide-eyed wonder of a learning child. Every lesson references the last lesson by link. For last week’s lesson; just click here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/holy-fire-burnt-altar/. We will be continuing our review of Leviticus; Chapter 6 today.
THE GRAIN OFFERING
Do you remember why a grain offering was to be offered in the first place?
The grain offering was a type of thank offering to God for supplying the needs of the people. The burnt offering always preceded this grain offering. The atonement for sin was first (without this; God is unapproachable); then the thanksgiving offering often called a “grain offering” was next.
The grain offering was a food offering.
A person could bring raw grain, or grain that had been made into cakes.
A WAY TO SAY THANK YOU TO GOD
In bringing these grain offerings the people were offering the fruit of their labor up to God; acknowledging that He alone was the provider of their needs.
This cake, much like our pancakes of today, had to be brought without any additional leavening agents. It could contain no yeast, nor any other type of leaven and no honey. Honey hastened the leavening process; and the process of decomposition in the leavening process would have been bad for the health of those who would eat the offerings.
Oil and frankincense COULD be added because they were symbolic of celebration and gladness.
Salt could be used as a preservative, and it was also symbolic of the lasting covenant of God and Israel.
THE PORTION TO THE LORD WAS ALWAYS OFFERED FIRST
The offering was brought and mixed and set on the heat of the altar to cook. When the cooking was complete a small portion was thrown in the fire as an offering for the LORD. If you read Jewish history you will hear stories of women kneading their dough for bread. They will take a pinch of dough out after it rises just before they cook it and throw it into the hearth of the fireplace in their homes. This symbolized the portion of the thanks offering that is offered as a burnt offering to God first. In later traditions in Jewish homes, this was thought to be like a prayer of blessing for the priests of their community. Later a portion of the fresh-baked bread would be taken to their priest and the rest would be served at their own dinner table that week. So the traditional customs linger a bit into the future; even now in very traditional Jewish homes.
If you are a committed child of God and you tithe; you bring a tenth of the first of every paycheck to offer in the offering plate at your local congregation. It is the first of your money to live on. God’s portion comes as an offering first; then you live on whatever you have left. This would represent your modern-day grain offering.
We are not REQUIRED to give offerings anymore.
We are no longer living under the legal requirements of the law.
However; when you come to God in love obeying the patterns of the commandments that He set into motion so many years ago; and offer up from your heart; of your own free will; you do well.
God’s hope is that His laws have been written on your heart and that you will continue to obey them out of love instead of sheer obedience.
This is a type of modern-day spiritual transformation. The scriptures that back up that statement can be found here: The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds. Then he adds: Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. (Hebrews 10:15-17)
GOD’S PRIESTS WILL NEVER BEG FOR BREAD
Getting back to the days of the ancients; we know the rest of the grain offering, which was a type of cake/flat bread, was given to the priests for their meals. The priests were not paid in money. In those days food was much more valuable than money. They could not run to the local grocer and buy their food for the week. This was the food that sustained them; as well as other offerings that they were allowed to partake of because of their service to God in the Tabernacle.
If you freely; out of the love and abundance of your heart, keep God’s laws and tithe today; a portion of that tithe is to be used to provide for the modern-day priests that are serving and ministering to God’s people.
In our modern-day world; money has replaced crops.
The agricultural world of the ancients has changed to a monetary system today. Your tithe would be based on your pay check, or any money that comes to you from the fruit of your labors.
EVERYTHING BELONGS TO GOD
No matter what world you exist within; the modern-day or the ancient day; the whole offering actually belongs to God.
Everything belongs to God.
He has only loaned His things to us in order for us to take care of the world until Christ returns.
God agreed after a portion was offered to Him first; to provide for the Sons of Aaron who were serving at the altar. It was meant for each priest serving to have sons who would follow in their footsteps and also grow up to become a priest of God serving at the altar for life.
An off-the-subject point here is that God allowed and expected priests to marry and pro-create. We will cover that another day.
AN OFFERING FOR GENERATIONS TO COME
This type of grain offering was to go on and on perpetually for generations; just like the perpetual fire that God originally ignited at the altar. The offerings were not to cease.
The first thought of this offering is that it should not be too hard to obtain and bring a grain offering; but we must think further on that point.
Agricultural crops were plentiful in the land; but then again; the Israelites were wandering nomads. They had nowhere to call home yet; and nowhere to grow crops. They could not plant and cultivate and reap and harvest; because they were nomads; wondering until God brought them to a place of rest; a place that they called The Promised Land.
They did not grow crops. This made them have to glean from the corners of the fields of those in the land who DID grow crops, or to pay for grain at the markets that they passed on their journey. There were thousands and thousands of mouths to feed; with no crops available. Can you imagine what that must have been like?
Even if they were able to grow crops; they were living in the desert where things did not always grow easily. Seeds blew away in the sandstorms. It was scorching hot enough to burn up crops in the daytime; and freezing cold enough to freeze crops in the nighttime. There might not be water to water the crops. The list is endless of the reasons they could not grow crops in the desert; much less the fact that they were never in one place long enough to do so.
So maybe the grain crops of these ancient Israelites was more precious than we might at first suspect.
They probably longed for bread at their tables more than meat from their livestock. They DID have livestock that traveled with them; so obtaining meat was actually easier.
HOLINESS
This grain offering was an act of pure worship; one that came from the heart. It was not REQUIRED, like the sacrifices for sin. Because of this fact; God called the grain offering and those who were offered it “holy.”
Of course, what made it holy was the fact that it had belonged to and was first offered up to God.
It does seem strange though that God called Aaron and his sons “holy” after they had eaten from the offerings offered at God’s table.
It was as if what God gave them to sustain them made them holy.
That sounds logical.
As long as they lived at God’s altar and ate from God’s table they were considered to be holy.
It was the presence and blessing of God that made them this way; nothing that they provided themselves; and actually they had NOTHING to offer of value anyway. They were totally dependent on God’s grace and mercy and how God compelled the people to follow Him and give in worship.
When the people gave to God; God shared with the priests. They were blessed because God was blessed. If the people neglected their giving; the priesthood suffered from their neglect to God’s worship.
WHEN YOU TOUCH SOMETHING HOLY IT OFTEN RUBS OFF ON YOU
What do you make of that strange statement in Leviticus 6:18 that says: “Any male descendant of Aaron may eat it. For all generations to come it is his perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the LORD. Whatever touches them will become holy.”
Whoa!
Does this mean whoever touches the priest automatically becomes holy?
That sounds a bit crazy. Have you met some of our modern-day priests? They seem to be pretty human in many respects…..
That isn’t exactly what it means.
Remember back in Exodus when we spoke of concentrating the altar and the priesthood so that they would be able to stand holy before God?
This had all been done by the time that the people were bringing their grain offerings to the tabernacle. Exodus 29:37 actually says “whatever touches the altar shall become holy.”
THE FORMATION OF A HOLY PRIESTHOOD
God’s special place of worship was filled with the specific holy things that God had designed to form a holy people.
Everything that came in contact with God’s Holy places; such as the altar mentioned above, became holy.
It was all sanctified by God; who alone has the power to make an infectious holiness exist.
Everything about the priests had been consecrated and made holy and sanctified. Even the garments that they wore as they served at the altar. Ezekiel 44:19 speaks of the garments of the priest in a later time. This scripture reads: “When they go out into the outer court where the people are, they are to take off the clothes they have been ministering in and leave them in the sacred rooms and put on other clothes, so that the people are not consecrated through the contact with their garments.”
THE CONCEPT OF APOSTALIC SUCCESSION
This reminds me of the concept of apostolic succession at priestly ordinations which comes from the laying on of hands from generations of consecrated priests; where the Holy Spirit is said to pass God’s ordination on from many generations; even all the way back to the very first priesthood.
Could this really be possible?
What are these scriptures really saying?
It would seem that the holy people ordained by God for a holy office could transmit holiness and pass it on to others merely by touch.
Is this possible?
Really?
Yes; I’ve witnessed it many times.
Unfortunately; I will also say I have witnessed the abuse of this concept by twisted and greedy men and ministries even more than I have witnessed the real thing.
IF GOD IS THERE; HOLINESS MUST EXIST
Where ever God goes; holiness goes with Him.
Where ever true men of God serve at His holy altar; holiness can be passed on; even through touch; but this comes not from the men doing the ministering; but from God’s power through His Holy Spirit.
It is more about the person receiving holiness and healing than the person passing holiness on.
If God desires to pass on His perfect holiness to someone; He could use a rock if He chose to do so. (A little play on words; since Jesus is often called “The Rock.”)
Most of the time God chooses, imperfect, sinful humans that are TRYING to be His servants. David, Solomon, Samuel, Joshua, Jonah,Isaiah,the disciples,and many others were not perfect; but God allowed HIs holiness to pass on to others through them.
The people of God are simply being used as a conductor for passing on holiness from God.
It is all merely someone who has a connection from God touching someone wanting to receive a connection from God and passing on God’s power to another one who is faithful and willing to believe. That is completely possible; and it happens more times than people realize. Often it happens even without realization of the receiving party until much later.
TO BE MORE LIKE JESUS
How many times now have we discussed that the disciples of Jesus should aspire to be more like Jesus?
Do you remember the story of the woman who was healed by simply touching the hem of Jesus’s garment?
We know that Jesus would have worn a garment with tassels on the corners which was called a tallit in Hebrew. This was important in the early Jewish culture. They did this to remember the commandments of God and the Shema; which faithful Jewish men recited twice daily. It goes like this:
“Hear O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou riseth up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and thy shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house and on thy gates.”
The tallit served like a prayer shawl. It was used for holy purposes to communicate with God. Many people had been healed by touching the tassels of Jesus’s garment. It was full of holiness from God. It was known for containing powerful holiness. The woman had probably heard of others that touched the tassels of Jesus’s garment and were healed. She acted in faith.
He knew He had been touched. He felt the power go out from Him.
That instrument of prayer was a reminder of the ways of God. Much time had been spent concentrating upon those precepts.
We are to do the same things that Jesus did.
If you believe in God and have committed your life to Him; and you have been atoned of your sins and you go to the holy altar of prayer often; then you have more of God’s holiness living inside you than you probably realize.
It is possible for you to pass this holiness on to another person if it is God’s will.
Therein lies the key point. It must be God’s will for His power to be used to cause something holy to happen.
IT MATTERS HOW YOU SPEND YOUR TIME
You MUST be in communication with God, such as Jesus was when He went off to pray and he covered Himself with the tallit and He focused on the ways of God that should be permeating the earth. It would be much like these priests who served at God’s holy altar in the Tabernacle, day in and day out for days on end. All of their days were filled with prayer, offerings and sacrifice. They were surrounded constantly by the things of God that were instruments they used to make them holy. Nothing of the world seeped into their days and actions and thoughts because they were constantly serving and fulfilling their duty before God as the people came and went and they were busy preparing the offerings.
The food that they ate came only from the blessings that were left over from God’s sacrifices.
They even ate HOLY food!
QUIT EATING OUT OF THE GARBAGE CAN OF THE WORLD
You and I might say a blessing over our food, if we stop and take the time; but their food was specifically offered up to God first, then given directly to them by God from the holy altar.
They were FILLED with God’s food.
We should be too.
We should be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. We should be eating at the spiritual table of God daily by taking in God’ Word and being on our knees in prayer; so that the manna from Heaven in the form of God’s Holy Spirit floods down into our souls every hour that we live and breathe and walk around.
We should be so full of God that it spills out and splashes on others!
“Should” is a big word.
ALL HOLINESS COMES FROM GOD
God’s priest were holy because God chose to made them holy.
The people they touched also became holy and miracles happened because God made them happen.
This was God’s way of telling Moses to make the priest aware of this miraculous trait that He allowed to work in them.
God wanted the people to be aware of this too.
Once they were; where do you think they would go when they needed some help from God?
The Wilderness Tabernacle was now being used as God’s dwelling place.
Because the priest had been made holy, the people were able to approach God without fear. They had a place to go. They had a way to meet with God.
Wasn’t this the whole reason that they left and went out to the wilderness in the first place?
When they came to worship at The Tabernacle they brought their grain offerings as a form of “thank you.”
WE STILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SAY THANK YOU
Have you made any “thank you” offerings lately?
The day of Early First Fruits just passed. On that particular day we celebrated the miracle of the Resurrection of Christ. We realized that through Him God has accepted our sacrifice; the holy and precious blood of Christ for atonement of our sins. From the beginning of time this day had been set aside for men to bring a sacrifice; an offering. Christ became the Lamb of God that was offered up for us.
Often another offering was brought along with the meat offering for the burnt altar.
It was the grain offering.
Did you go to God on Early First Fruits with a carefully considered thank offering? Did you say thank you for the Resurrection of Christ that brings new life to all?
If not; it is not too late.
God never leaves His faithful people. He has appointed dates and times; but He is ever patient with us. If you need to bring your thank you offering; just do it!
Consider it carefully. The grain provided bread for the meat they ate. Your offering must compliment (not replace or take the place of) Christ’s offering of his perfect life. What in your life should belong to God that you haven’t yet given? If you know He desires this; it should be your annual first fruits offering to bring for this year.
Jesus’s sacrifice is the crucial and most important part. Your part and my part with our little first fruits thank offerings will seem small and insignificant in the over all picture; but God will be pleased and a whole meal will be made in which we can all participate together.
What is that thing that is hardest for you to offer; the thing that God is calling you to do that you have never been brave enough to consider; or the thing that will require some real work from deep down in your soul that you have been too lazy or too afraid to tackle yet? Will that be your offering for this year? Life in Christ is about Resurrection and Transformation.
God is waiting.
Go get your grain offering.
AN EVERLASTING PRIESTHOOD
Now we who belong to Him have an everlasting priesthood. If you belong to God, you must stand holy and ready to serve at His altar.
Bring your offering to God through prayer. Do it before you go out into the world to serve today.
Don’t let the lack of consecration stand between you and the holiness of God.
Bring your offering and see how the connection to heaven grows stronger and stronger as the days go by and we count from the giving of the omer.
Your mourning will turn to dancing and your joy will overflow.