Today, let’s do a quick review of the three sacrifices we’ve studied so far.
They are as follows:
OLAH=Burnt Offering
MINCHAH=Grain Offering
ZEVAH=Peace Offering
The first common point among all three of these offerings is that they are all burned up on the Brazen Altar.
The second common point is that none of these offerings had to do with the commission of sins.
None of them dealt with specific trespasses against the Lord per se.
This is a key point.
Rather than dealing with individual sins committed, these sacrifices dealt with mankind’s corrupt nature before a Holy God.
See, here’s the problem that faces all of us.
Even if we were able to live a perfect life and never ever break even ONE of God’s laws or commands, our corrupt natures would remain the same.
And it is our nature which determines whether we will be accepted by the Lord or not.
Ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord and were cast out of the Garden of Eden, from God’s perspective all of men’s natures are corrupt, period.
We are all bent towards committing evil and rebelling against the Lord’s Holy commands.
The Apostle Paul so eloquently articulated this dilemma all humans face in the Book of Romans when he said “that which I do not want to do, I do, and that which I want to do, I don’t”.
The Levitical Sacrificial system teaches us that it is impossible for the Lord to accept the corrupt nature of human beings anymore than He can accept the sinful actions of human beings without there being consequences.
However, via the sacrificial system and later through Yeshua, He did provide a legal means whereby atonement could be made for man’s inherently corrupt nature.
When I say “legal means”, I mean in accordance with God’s Laws that the Lord provided as part of His justice system.
Do you recall the Hebrew word for this?
It is MISHPAT.
So the OLAH or the “Burnt Offering” was the first step towards remedying the corrupt nature of man before a Holy God.
The purpose of the OLAH was to first get the Lord’s attention and pave the way for God to look upon the worshipper in a favorable manner.
In other words, via the OLAH, the worship became acceptable enough to the Lord so he could approach Him.
In fact, the Hebrew sense of the word OLAH is “come-near”.
Now, the MINCHAH or Grain Offering was built upon what the OLAH accomplished.
Once the OLAH made the worshipper acceptable to God, it was then okay to offer up a gift (actually more of a tribute) to the Lord.
This required “gift” or maybe I should say ransom was the MINCHAH.
By offering up the MINCHAH, the worshipper was expressing his dedication to the Lord and his sincere desire to want to obey the Lord.
Finally, the ZEVAH or Peace Offering was built upon what the OLAH and the MINCHAH TOGETHER accomplished.
The ZEVAH established SHALOM or a peaceful fellowship between YHVH and the worshipper.
However, peace could not be accomplished until the worshipper was made acceptable to God (the OLAH) and the required tribute was paid (the MINCHAH).
Here’s a quick snapshot of the formula I just outlined.
STEP ONE:
The OLAH allows the worshipper to “come-near” or approach a Holy God.
STEP TWO:
The MINCHAH is the required “gift” given to the Lord to express his sincere dedication to Him.
STEP THREE:
Finally, the ZEVAH sealed the deal so to speak serving to establish and maintain a peaceful fellowship between the Lord and the worshipper.
So can you see how all three of these offerings worked together to allow man to approach and fellowship with God in spite of his inherent corrupt nature?
To conclude, in these first three Levitical sacrifices, we find a prescribed sequence that must be adhered to in order to approach the Holy God of Israel.
These first three sacrifices teach us that not only is sin present in our behavior but is also present in the very fiber of our being.
And there is no escape or exceptions.
No one can approach God using a different method or order.
And the reason is because we are all born with corrupt natures.
In my next post, I want to talk about the connection between Yeshua’s sacrifice and these first three Levitical offerings.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
-Romans 3:23
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