4. The Sacrifice
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4. The Sacrifice - for Notes
The sacrifices of the Tabernacle are laid out for us in the first chapters of Leviticus.
- The Burnt Offering
- The Grain Offering
- The Peace Offering
- The Sin Offering
- The Trespass Offering
Outline, not Essence. The sacrifices of the Tabernacle speak to us of Christ our life and of our way into the knowledge of God, yes, but they also speak of not-Christ, that we might contrast the two. – An outline, but not the image or essence.
On the other hand, the sacrifices of Abraham in Genesis 15 pre-figure only the New Covenant and thus show us our way into the knowledge of God just as much as the entrances and furniture of the Tabernacle.
Let’s look first at how the sacrifices of the Tabernacle speak of Christ our Sacrifice before then looking at the stark contrast between the old and the New.
Interpreting Leviticus. In order to apply the five sacrifices of the Tabernacle to Christ our life, however, we must follow the rules set out by Paul and the writer of Hebrews on how to do so.
Many attempt to find “truth” in the first seven chapters of Leviticus by going from point to point and attempting to apply each point to their limited knowledge of redemption. These do not find Christ, but only sin.
You and I, on the other hand, approach these sacrifices with the broader view of our present relationship with the Father inside of Christ, just as Hebrews does. The details of the sacrifices apply to the old, not the New.
Grouping the Offerings. I am not finding the pictures I would use. For instance, the
picture to the right is inaccurate. [a picture of several priests sacrificing a bull.] The worshipper killed the burnt offering, not the priest. Then, not knowing Christ our life, most apply the sacrifices wrongly.The first three sacrifices are “voluntary.” The final two are “obligatory.” We do group them in this way,. The obligatory sacrifices speak of ONE Sacrifice for sins forever. But what the voluntary (without sin) sacrifices mean to us is surpassingly glorious.
The Voluntary Offerings. Consider this weighty verse describing God-made-visible.
And be kind with one another, tender-hearted, forgiving and giving favor to each other in the same way that God inside of Christ gives favor freely to you. Therefore be just like God, as beloved children, and walk inside of love in just the same way that Christ also loves us and gives Himself to us for our sakes, an offering and a sacrifice to God, into a sweet-smelling aroma (Ephesians 4:32-5:2).
Of the five offerings, only two are called a “sweet-smelling aroma,” the burnt offering and the peace offering. These two are paired.
Always Begin with Father. We must always begin with the ruling verse – Father’s purpose – what does God want?
God wants to share your life with you as one together.
Jesus as the burnt offering is on God’s side of this bond. Jesus as the peace offering is on our side of this bond. And between the two is Jesus Himself as the grain offering, Jesus as every word God speaks.
In Leviticus 2, Moses calls the grain offering the most holy of all the offerings. Have we not seen this before, one thing carried by two?
One Thing Carried by Two. Revelation 12:11 – the word of our testimony, carried on
the one hand by the Blood connecting to God and the one death of Christ connecting to us, transforming our self-story into His. [a picture of Much-Afraid holding to Sorrow and Suffering.]Moses calls the peace offering “the sacrifice of thanksgiving.” Through Him, then, we should offer the sacrifice of praise through everything to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, speaking together His same name (Hebrews 13:15).
Sacrifice Is What He Is. Sacrifice is not something Jesus “did”; it is something He is.
And here we see the distinction – One unlimited sacrifice for sins refers to the two obligatory sacrifices, the sin offering and the trespass offering. Here we also find the opposite between the old and the New.
On the other hand, the voluntary offerings (of every tree of the garden you may freely eat) are Jesus as He is in His own being, the One who forever connects us with Father and Father with us. And in the middle is the Word which we also speak, the Word written upon our hearts, now become us.
Thanksgiving. The burnt offering/the Blood – Jesus’ connection with the Father is fixed. Our response is absolute confidence.
The grain offering/the word of our testimony – as we speak Christ, so we come to know who and what we are.
But – the action on our side of things is wondrous beyond all measure. Living your life in the absolute knowledge that, through Jesus, Father shares all things with you as you are, is a life of absolute thanksgiving. A life of thanksgiving is a life of acknowledging Father with me, showing Himself as He is through me as I am.
Our Absolute Bond. Are we speaking of the Mercy Seat in the Holiest or are we speaking of the Altar of Burnt Offering? Yes and yes. It is only inside the Holiest that we KNOW what the Sacrifice is all about.
Jesus gives Himself forever to join us with Father and Father with us. It is what He is. I do not maintain the bond and the fellowship I so enjoy with my Father – Jesus is always that bond.
And these clear and vivid pictures God gives us, of what Jesus is doing inside of us, enable us to live absolutely together with God.
The Obligatory Offerings. The writer of Hebrews makes it absolutely clear that the two obligatory sacrifices of the old covenant, the sin offering and the trespass offering, are the outline, but not the image or essence of the sacrifice of Christ.
God wants us to have this distinction firm in our minds, and so He gave us the two goats of the atonement to show us Christ as our sin offering and our trespass offering.
The sin offering is Christ dead upon the cross. – For He made the One who never once knew any disconnection from God, to take upon and into Himself that disconnect for us, for our sakes, so that we might become the just innocence of God inside of Him (2 Cor. 5:21).
Our Way Into Knowing. The trespass offering is Christ now living as us, carrying inside Himself all our stumbling failures, calling them His own faults, and us, His true expression. The application of these two sacrifices to our lives is transitional only.
When we live in the full knowledge of Christ our life, joining us utterly with Father as one person together, we no longer need to be reminded that Christ takes all our sin upon Himself. In the resurrection, God’s answer for our sins is no longer needed. Yet we live now with NO consciousness of sins.
Remember Me. Being reminded of Christ Jesus as our sin and trespass offerings is essential, however, through our emergency rescue, this walk through the Tabernacle into the knowledge of a Salvation already the only thing real.
…He broke the bread and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this to bring Me into your mind.” Likewise also He took the cup, having supped, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood; whenever you might drink, do this to bring Me into your mind” (1 Cor. 11:24-24).
It is living inside the full knowledge of the Holy of Holies that we know full and undiminished fellowship with the Father sharing our life with us.
The Failure of the Old. Hebrews Chapters 8-10 must be absolute bedrock in our lives, yet as it is written, not as the Calvinists translated.
In Hebrews 8, God tells us that the old covenant was a disgraceful failure. Here is why – both the gifts and sacrifices being offered are not able to perfect the consciousness of the ones worshipping… (9:10). NO ONE can ever be connected with God by the old covenant. All who attempt to do so remain separate from any true knowledge of God.
We must then have the absolute foundation of Hebrews.
No More Consciousness of Sins. For the law, having an outline but not the image of the good things coming [inside of Christ] …is never able to perfect those who draw near. For would they not have ceased being offered? For the worshippers, having been cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But these sacrifices are bringing sins into mind every year.
Therefore, coming into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but a body you have fitted together for me. You have not thought well of burnt offerings and offerings for sin.” Then I said, “Behold, I have come, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do that which You desire, O God.”
One Unlimited Sacrifice. …then He said, “Behold I have come to do what you desire.” Thus, He takes away the first, that He might establish the second. By [God’s] desire, we are already made holy [belonging only to God] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
…This One, moreover, having offered one unlimited sacrifice for sins, sat down inside of the right hand of God; from now on waiting expectantly for His enemies to be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering, He has perfected those who are continuously being made holy [by God].
Bringing Sins to Mind. Consider, now, these words. These sacrifices are bringing sins into mind.
I have sat under many thousands of hours of preaching “against sin.” I understood early on that such preaching served only to increase sin. To “struggle against sin” is to reject Christ our life, connecting us with Father right now in the Holiest. It is the wicked exaltation of sin and of self.
The act of passage through the Gate into Christ is an immediate placement inside of the Holiest, by the Sacrifice, utterly and forever inside of God.
A Bold Proclamation of Entrance. One unlimited sacrifice for sins. – For by one offering, He has perfected those who are continuously being made holy by God.
Therefore brethren, having already a free and bold proclamation of entrance into the Holiest inside the blood of Jesus consecrating for us a newly sacrificed as well as a living way through the veil, that is, through His flesh; and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us approach [everything inside the Holiest] with a true heart, in full assurance of faith; having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil consciousness; and having our bodies washed with pure water.
The Path Through. We cannot know what these things really mean apart from our season of passing through the Holy Place, coming to know the realms of the Spirit. Nonetheless, our bold proclamation of entrance is complete, and it belongs utterly to us from the moment we say, “Jesus, save me.”
– Look at me, God. I live ONLY inside of You.
You ARE responsible for all that I am and do. –
Before we can enter into the realms of the Spirit, however, we must contend with the second judgment of God – the Laver and the Door.