Daily Bible Study Devotional
Message Title: The Perfect Sacrifice
Date: Saturday January 28, 2012
Today's Chapters: Leviticus 1-4
Preview of Today's Message: The legal sacrifices under the law, were shadows of Christ’s atonement, but could never fully justified the sinner, it had to be a continuous offering to God. Christ became the perfect sacrifice to make that atonement permanent. All Scripture quoted from the King James Version.

Hello My Friend,

Under the Gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ became the perfect atonement for the sinner, His sacrificial death justifies them once and for all. “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect...But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;..For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified...Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;.. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” -Hebrews 10:1,12,14,18-20,22.

The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Old Testament/Bible and contains twenty-seven chapters, the timeline is approximately 1490 B.C (This is a continuation of Exodus and Numbers). The author of the book is Moses and it was written to the people of Israel. This book was a manual of worship for Israel, it was provided to give them instructions on how a sinner could fellowship with God. The purpose of the book was to show Israel how to live as a holy nation in fellowship with God and to prepare them to extend God's plan of redemption to all nations. What we are to learn from the book is that God only redeems and fellowships with us if we go to Him willingly. “If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.” - Leviticus 1:3.

While God would love for everyone to offer themselves to Him, God does not and will not force Himself upon anyone, they must offer themselves to Him willingly if they want Him to be in their lives. Now, an offering is a sacrifice, a donation, present, or gift, it is something given willingly with no force or persuasion by others. So, when we offer ourselves to God we willingly give ourselves to Him, but to give ourselves to Him comes with a price, we must be righteous to stand before Him, to fellowship with Him. Since no one is righteous, except Jesus, God gave a temporary solution for people to be righteous before Him, sacrificial offerings. Today we will learn about sin, meat, and peace offerings.

The sin offering was to be of animal flesh, it had to be a male under a year old without one spot on it, the person had to offer the offering willingly as a payment for their sin. Once they brought the offering they had to place one hand on the head of the sacrifice and then kill the animal. Once the offering was killed the animal was handed over to a priest where he would cut it up, clean it, place it upon the altar to be a burnt offering unto God.
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” - Leviticus 1:2-5.

The sin offering could have been in the form of any animal, this was to provide a way for every person, rich or poor to fellowship with God. The sin offering was abolished when Christ offered Himself without spot to God for the atonement of sin once and for all. The same rule applies in order to fellowship with God, one must willingly come to Christ. “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” -Romans 10:9,10.

The meat offering was not the flesh of an animal it was actually bread, vegetables, baked or fried in olive oil and spices, this was the only offering offered that was able to enter the tabernacle. “And when any will offer a meat offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil...No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.” - Leviticus 2:1-4,11.

The meat offering was offered to God as a way to show thanks for God's atonement as well as what He blessed them with throughout the year. Christ is the Bread of life, who offered Himself as a sacrifice, meat offerings today would be presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, not a dead one, but living sacrifice. Leaven is the emblem of pride and honey, sensual pleasure, which is why it was not an acceptable offering. We are to offer our bodies to God holy and acceptable. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” -Romans 12:1,2.

The peace offering was to be animal flesh, it could be a male or female, but it had to be spotless. This was an offering given after the sin offering and meat offering for one to be able to communicate and fellowship with God. “And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.” - Leviticus 3:1-4.

The word oblation means to offer it willingly, today, the same rules apply, we still need to seek forgiveness for our sins, we still need to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, and we still need to do both to be able to communicate and fellowship with God. The only difference is that Jesus paid the price for our sins permanently, that is if we call on Him to save us. Without Jesus we cannot receive atonement for our sins, we cannot be all we can be for Him, and we cannot have a good relationship with Him. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased...Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” -Hebrews 13:15,16,20,21.

God instructs Moses on how the Jews were to present their offerings, there were actually five offerings that were to be made. The sin offering, the peace offering, the burnt offering, the meat offering, and the trespass offering. Above all was the sin offering, it was the only one to be given for the atonement of their sins, even if they ignorantly sinned, were not aware of the sin, they had to present a sin offering. “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:..And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar: And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.” - Leviticus 4:2,33-35.

While anyone can accept Christ, not everyone lives for Christ once they accept Him. Only when we live for Him can we truly understand what He did for us. Ignorance does not save a person from hell, we all have sinned, we all must pay the same price for sin. Our only hope is in the acceptance of Him who “became sin for us”. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” - 2 Corinthians 5:20,21.

Today's Psalm: 101:2 - ”I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.”

Today's Proverb: 4:18 - “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

Today's Prayer: God, Here I am again, Your work in progress. Though I committed my life to you many years ago the finished work will not be revealed until I reach You on the upper side. In the midst of my struggles, failures, and doubts I remain confident that You will complete the work You began the day I surrendered my life to You. You accepted me as I was and You lovingly began reshaping my life to reflect Your own nature. Not only are You continuing the good work You began, but You are perfecting the situations that weaken my faith and my Christian testimony. I thank You that You will fulfill Your purpose for me this day as I commit all my ways to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Enjoy the rest of your day/night.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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