Exodus 29:38 – 46 “This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar, each day: two lambs that are a year old. In the morning offer one lamb, and at twilight offer the other. With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with a quarter hin of oil from pressed olives, and a drink offering of a quarter hin of wine. And you shall offer the second lamb at twilight with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.
For the generations to come, this burnt offering shall be made regularly at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, where I will meet you to speak with you. I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by My glory. So I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests. Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. And they will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.”
Now that God has described the ordination ceremony for Aaron and his sons to become priests, He turns His attention to the order for daily worship. Perfect lambs are to be sacrificed twice a day, morning and evening, along with 1.2 kg of flour mixed with 0.92 liters of pure oil from pressed olive sand 0.92 liters of wine. (Remember that pressing the olives yields a purity much higher than that of grinding the olives in a press. When olives are ground, the resulting oil contains tiny bits of olive or even olive pits.)
Why use pressed olive oil? God doesn’t want the altar spitting sparks. When we first came to northern Ghana 28 years ago, there was no electricity in our town. Anyone wishing to iron something had to use a charcoal iron. Charcoal irons had a lid that flips up, allowing one to put in hot coals. There were holes along the sides of the iron to allow air to get to the hot coals so that they would continue to burn while you were ironing, keeping the iron hot. But if you were unfortunate enough to get charcoal made from soft wood with lots of impurities, look out! The iron might spit sparks of charcoal onto your clothing, forcing you to clean off the charcoal and start all over. And if you were not quick enough, you might even wind up with small holes burnt into your clothing as well!
Why sacrifice lambs? Lambs were a symbol of innocence and purity. Anybody dealing with livestock knew that goats were obnoxious and adult sheep were stupid; however, lambs were harmless. Lambs were also highly prized, both for food and also for building up flocks.
God was demanding blood sacrifices to emphasize to the Israelites that they were an inherently sinful people and that their sin needed perpetual atonement. Only blood could pay for sin, but since lambs were lesser animals than humans, this sacrifice had to be repeated twice a day.
The sacrifices were public. The sacrifices were to be made at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that all the Israelites could witness the sacrifices.
God promised to remain close to the Israelites. The gods of the Egyptians were remote deities that had to be propitiated but who could not speak with their followers. God was reminding the Israelites that He had nothing in common with the idols of Egypt or of any other culture.
APPLICATION: God gave the Israelites specific instructions as to the regular order of worship. Without these instructions, worship would have descended into chaos, with people behaving however they liked. God demanded respect and reverence. Of these final assurances, Dennis Prager says the following:
1. God did not just create the world; He also continues to take an active role in human history. That is just one of the great differences between the Unmoved Mover god of Aristotle and the God of Israel.
2. God cares about human suffering.
3. God wants people to be free.
4. God has a special role for the Jewish people which is why He took them out of Egypt.
(Dennis Prager The Rational Bible: Exodus)
The sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem ended permanently in 70 AD when the Romans overthrew Jerusalem and destroyed the temple built by King Herod. But long before that tragic event, God had already done what men could not do. God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to live as a sinless man and to die as the sacrificial Lamb, shedding His blood for the sins of the whole world. Animal sacrifices had to be repeated because the blood of a lesser being could never completely pay for the sins of a greater one. But Jesus as a sinless man could give up His life freely, completing the ultimate blood sacrifice.
The sacrifice has been made for the sins of the whole world; however, we as sentient human beings have a choice to make: We can choose to believe that Jesus has shed His blood for our sins. In that case, we confess to God that we are sinners and ask God to forgive us and to clean us up. OR we can refuse to believe that Jesus has died for us. God has created each of us with free will, and we can freely choose to accept or reject the sacrifice made on our behalf. But the day we reject Jesus Christ, we are also choosing to die in our sins without any payment for them. The choice is yours. Choose wisely!
PRAYER: Father God, please move in the hearts of all who read this devotional so that they will realize how much You love them and care for them. Help them to fully understand and to believe that Jesus really has died for their sins and that He has conquered death and the grave. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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