SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/14/2015 7:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Orders for the New Altar
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
43:18-27
Message of the
verses: “18 And He said to me, "Son of man, thus
says the Lord GOD, ’These
are the statutes for the altar on the day it is built, to offer burnt
offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it. 19
’You shall give to the Levitical priests who are from the offspring of
Zadok, who draw near to Me to minister to Me,’ declares the Lord GOD, ’a young
bull for a sin offering. 20 ’You shall
take some of its blood and put it on its four horns and on the four corners of
the ledge and on the border round about; thus you shall cleanse it and make
atonement for it. 21 ’You shall also take the bull for the sin offering, and it
shall be burned in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary. 22
’On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin
offering, and they shall cleanse the altar as they cleansed it with the bull.
23 ’When you have finished
cleansing it, you shall present a young bull without blemish and a ram without
blemish from the flock. 24 ’You shall present them before the LORD, and
the priests shall throw salt on them, and they shall offer them up as a burnt
offering to the LORD. 25 ’For seven days you shall prepare daily a goat for a
sin offering; also a young bull and a ram from the flock, without blemish,
shall be prepared. 26 ’For seven days they shall make atonement for the altar
and purify it; so shall they consecrate it. 27
’When they have completed the days, it shall be that on the eighth day
and onward, the priests shall offer your burnt offerings on the altar, and your
peace offerings; and I will accept you,’ declares the Lord GOD."”
“Steward Briscoe write the following
paragraph on these verses: “Details
followed concerning the sacrificial consecration of the altar which would take
seven days and much blood sacrifice to complete. After that the altar would be ready for
regular daily sacrifice. Burnt offerings
and peace offerings were to be part of the worship activities, speaking quite
clearly of God’s desire to meet with His people as they came to Him cleansed,
forgiven, and accepted.”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “In the dedication of the tabernacle (Ex.
40:29) and Solomon’s temple (2 Chron. 7:1-10), sacrifices were offered and the
blood applied to the altar.
“When the millennial temple is discussed, the question
frequently asked, ‘Since Jesus has died for the sins of the world, fulfilled
the law, and brought in the New Covenant, why would believing Jews want to
return to the Old Covenant? What need is
there to go back to animal sacrifices when Jesus made one perfect offering for
all time?’ This is one of the major
arguments used by some students against taking Ezekiel 40-48 literally. But if we understand the role of the
sacrifices under the Old Covenant, it will help us see their significance in
the millennial temple.
“The sacrifices mentioned in this section of Ezekiel are
the burnt offering, the trespass or guild offering, the sin offering, the peace
or fellowship offering, the meal (grain) offering, and the drink offering. For the Mosaic regulations for these
offerings see Leviticus 1-7.”
Now the following quote comes from a series of Spiritual
Diaries from August of 2008 when I began to study the book of Leviticus. “The sacrificial system that is described
here in the book of Leviticus is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He
would do to fulfill this picture. The
burnt offering was the basic sacrifice that showed the devotion of the one
offering it to the Lord. The entire
offering was burnt and this shows total devotion to the Lord. Romans 12:1-2 speak of entire devotion by NT
believers where the NT believer is to offer himself as a living sacrifice to
the Lord. The verb tense shows that this
is a one time thing, but I believe that I should remind myself of this often or
I my not remember that I have done this, and a living sacrifice may want to run
off unlike the burnt offering.
The burnt offering can come from the herd, the flock, or
could be a bird. This would assure that
all of Israel; even the very poor ones would be able to offer this sacrifice to
the Lord.
The person would bring the sacrifice to the door of the
tabernacle and then the priest would examine it to make sure that the sacrifice
was without blemish to make sure that the person was bringing the best to the
Lord. Jesus Christ was the perfect
sacrifice (but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the
blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1:19).
The person offering the sacrifice, except in the case of
offering a bird, would lay their hands on the sacrifice for two reasons. First they were identifying themselves with
the sacrifice, and second they were transferring something to the
sacrifice. Now in the case of this burnt
offering the person was saying that just as the offering was totally being
burnt up in dedication to the Lord so am I giving myself totally to the Lord. Even this offering with the shedding of it’s
blood transferred the guilt to the animal that was being offered.
In the case of the bull or lamb the offerer would kill
the animal and the priest would catch the blood in a basin and sprinkle it on
the sides of the altar and the body of the sacrifice would be burnt on the
altar. In the case of a bird the priest
would kill it. Now in the case of the
bull all of it would be cut up and burned on the altar with the exception of
the hide which would be given to the priest.
“Tomorrow I will discuss the significance of this
offering.”
“The significance of the offering is that it is between
the offerer and the Lord, for the phrase “unto the Lord” is seen seven times in
the first chapter of Leviticus. The
phrase “a fragrant aroma” is used three times in this chapter and it refers to
the aroma from the sacrifice that goes up to the Lord. Now I realize that God is Spirit and does not
actually smell things but it is written this way so the reader can understand
the significance of what is going on. The
fragrant aroma was also spoken of about the Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on
the cross, “and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up
for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Eph. 5:2)
In Philippians 4:18 it reads as follows, “But I have received everything
in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from
Epaphroditus what you have sent, a
fragrant aroma, an acceptable
sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.”
This of course speaks of the believers offerings that were given to the
Lord on behalf of Paul’s ministry.
In Leviticus 6:9-13 the law of the burnt offering is
seen: “9
"Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law for the burnt
offering: the burnt offering itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all
night until the morning, and the fire on the altar is to be kept burning on
it. 10
‘The priest is to put on his linen robe, and he shall put on
undergarments next to his flesh; and he shall take up the ashes to which the
fire reduces the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar.
11 ‘Then he shall take off his garments and put
on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. 12
‘The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out,
but the priest shall burn wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the
burnt offering on it, and offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace
offerings on it. 13 ‘Fire shall be kept burning continually on
the altar; it is not to go out.” First
it can be seen that the offering is to remain on the altar all night and the
fire is to be kept burning. Next the
ashes were to be put in a clean place as opposed to an unclean place for they
are ashes of a sacrifice and therefore should not be put into the garbage. This shows me that this whole process is very
important to the Lord and it must be done right. Dr. Wiersbe points out that the first fire was
probably started by the Lord on the altar.”
(This was from my Spiritual Diary on Aug. 16, 2008.)
Dr. Wiersbe continues “All these offerings in some way
pointed to Christ, and His sacrifice of Himself for our sins (Heb.
10:1-18). God forgave the sins of the
worshipers if they brought the sacrifice by faith and trusted the Lord, because
the blood of animals can never remove the guilt of human sin (v 4). God’s forgiveness was declared (Lev. 4:20,
26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7), but only because of the work of Jesus
Christ which was pictured by the sacrifice.
Old Testament believers weren’t forgiven because of animals died, but
because they put their faith in the Lord (Heb. 11; Ps. 51:16-17; Hab.
2:4). Therefore, the use of animal
sacrifices in the millennial temple no more minimizes or negates the finished
work of Christ than these sacrifices did before Jesus died. It appears that the sacrifices will be
offered in a memorial sense and as expressions of love and devotion to the Lord
(Isa. 56:5-7; 60:7). They will also
bring people together for fellowship and feasting to the glory of the Lord.”
We will continue to look at this section in our next SD
on Ezekiel.
5/14/2015 8:17 AM
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