L2-9: If Yeshua paid for ALL our sins, why do we ask forgiveness for our trespasses daily?

So what was the specific purpose of the MINCHAH or Grain Offering?

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t really give us a lot of information.

All we’ve really got to go on is verse 2 which says, “a fragrant aroma for Adonai“.

However, the fact that most of the time the MINCHAH is offered up together with the OLAH or Burnt Offering gives us a big hint as to what this sacrifice is about.

Recall that the OLAH was like an involuntary gift or tribute that was ordained and expected by the all mighty King.

The idea was that by giving the OLAH, the worshipper was declaring his allegiance to HASHEM as well as his intent to obey Him.

Well, everything I just explained for the OLAH could also be applied to the MINCHAH.

The MINCHAH was also designed to gain the Lord’s attention and get Him to look favorably upon the worshipper.

The OLAH first establishes peace between the worshipper and the Lord.

Once this is accomplished, the Grain Offering (MINCHAH) is then offered up to express thankfulness for the Lord’ s provision of peace as well as acknowledge the worshipper’s dedication to HASHEM.

I want to share something that I think might contribute to a deeper understanding of  sin, forgiveness, and atonement.

Have you ever heard this question:

If Yeshua died once and all for our sins, then why does He tell us in the Lord’s Prayer that every time we pray we are to ask the Father to forgive us our sins on a daily basis?

I think the OLAH and MINCHAH sacrifices are the key to answering this question.

Keep in mind that this Levitical sacrificial system we are studying was fully operational during Yeshua’s time.

And of course Yeshua would have participated in it or He would have been instantly disqualified from being a Rabbi.

Now we need to think of sin on two different levels.

One level is the SINFUL NATURE of man.

Another level is the SINFUL BEHAVIOR of man.

I’m going to have to wax a bit philosophical here and I’m sure there is going to be some disagreement but this is kind of how I see it.

I believe our sinful nature is centered in our spirit or soul (I’m using the terms “soul” and “spirit” broadly here).

On the other hand, I believe our sinful behavior is centered in our mind or conscious will.

Until we are born again via the shed blood of Yeshua, I believe we all have corrupt spirits.

However, once we are born again, I believe our corrupt spirit is exchanged for a Holy one. 

Once that happens we no longer have a have sinful nature, it has now been COMPLETELY replaced by the Holy Spirit.

However, the evil inclination (YESTER HARAH) still resides in our minds which is why we will still struggle with sin until we leave these fleshly bodies behind.

See, when Yeshua died, He atoned for both our SINFUL NATURE and SINFUL BEHAVIOR.

From this perspective, I believe the OLAH and MINCHAH offerings atoned for that SINFUL NATURE part of this equation.

I’m saying that the purpose of the OLAH and the MINCHAH sacrificial offerings were to atone for an inherent corruption in mankind that causes tension between man and the Lord.

These two offerings were not designed to atone for committing any specific infraction.

At this point in our study of the Levitical sacrificial system we haven’t yet encountered a sacrifice meant to atone for specific bad behaviors.

Thus far, the two sacrifices we have studied only deal with man’s fallen nature.

What we have in the Levitical sacrificial system is a demonstration that the Lord has to deal with BOTH our nature and our behavior. 

Although connected, our nature which is contained in our spirits and our sinful acts of lawless behavior against God are two different things.

See, when Messiah died, He enabled us to approach the Father.

His death made us acceptable to God just as the OLAH and MINCHAH made the Israelites acceptable to the Lord in ancient Israel.

And the truth is, we will remain acceptable to God unless we make a decision to fully reject God and His Son.

Having said that, understand that our behavior does matter.

God is watching our behavior and we are to ask forgiveness for our bad behavior.

This is exactly why in the Lord’s prayer we are to ask for forgiveness for the trespasses we commit.

However, we are NOT commanded to ask forgiveness for our corrupted nature.

And the reason is because thanks to the finished work of Yeshua on the cross, we don’t have a corrupted nature anymore.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT