Rabbi Schneider - Sacrificial Worship
As we study archeology, we find that even in the most primitive environments, the people groups that we've been able to unearth from rubbles, we find that within these people groups beloved, in their society, there are elaborate systems of sacrificial worship. All over the world we find that inside man, there's an inclination to worship. Even pagans beloved, worship something and they present to their pagan deities a sacrifice. This same phenomenon beloved, is clearly evidenced in Scripture that deep within man, Yahweh has put within us the propensity, the inclination to worship something bigger than ourselves. Ever since the fall of man in the Book of Bereshit, in the Book of Genesis 3; we find over, and over, and over again in Scripture: mankind bringing a sacrifice to his deity.
I'm gonna take you now on a journey through Scripture to establish as we begin this message today, that deep within us there's a desire to worship something greater than ourselves. When we go back to the very beginning, we find for example, in the Book of Bereshit, in the Book of Genesis chapter number 4 verse 3-5 theses words. We're coming to the story of Cain and Abel, hear the word of God: So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel on his part also brought an offering to the Lord, the firstlings of his flock of their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. The point that I'm making beloved, is as we go back to the very, very beginning of scriptural history, we find man by nature, offering up a sacrifice to the one that they found to be bigger than themselves.
This continues in the life of Noah. We find that the first thing that Noah after the ark landed was leave the ark, and offer up to a God, offer up to Yahweh a sacrifice. So we continue to read now in the Book of Bereshit, chapter number 8, the Book of Genesis, chapter number 8 verse 20 and 21: Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal, and every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings; we're gonna be studying burnt offerings in the course of this Scripture. Burnt offerings on the altar and the Lord smelled the soothing aroma. We're gonna be going to the five sacrificial offerings that were offered to Yahweh in the tabernacle, and you're gonna see that one of the types of offerings that was offered to Yahweh in the tabernacle was a burnt offering. And so as we continue on in the series, we're gonna explain exactly what a burnt offering is. But notice that Noah did it by instinct.
We continue beloved with the life of, of Abraham who is called the father of all believers. And we read in Genesis, in the Book of Bereshit, chapter number 22 verse 2 that Abraham was called upon by Yahweh to offer up his son, Isaac, once again as a burnt offering. We continue beloved, and we look at Moses, and how the Lord used Moses to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt. And when Moses went before Pharaoh, the Lord instructed him to say these words. I'm reading now from the Book of Shemot or the Book of Exodus, chapter number 3, the last part of the 18th verse; hear the word of God. It says: Yahweh, Moses went before Pharaoh and he said this: Yahweh, the Elohim, or God of the Hebrews has met with us.
So now please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness that we might sacrifice to Yahweh, our Elohim, to Yahweh, our God. And so again, over and over, once again we saw that Cain and Abel, the first two human beings after the fall offered a sacrifice to the Lord. We saw Noah, immediately after leaving the ark, offered a sacrifice to the Lord. We see that Abraham, the father of believers, was called upon by the Lord to offer up a burnt offering. We see that Moses, when he delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, came before Pharaoh with these words: Yahweh, our Elohim, has called us three days into the wilderness, to offer up to him a sacrifice there. At the center beloved, of our faith, at the center of the Judeo-Christian faith, is the principle of offering up to Yahweh, offering up to Elohim, offering up to our God and Father beloved, sacrifice. It's the way that the Lord has called upon us, listen now, to draw near to him.
Israel's birth as a nation beloved, began with the sacrifice in the Book of Exodus chapter 12, of the Passover Lamb. And as we continue on beloved; it all climaxes with the birth of the church that was inaugurated beloved, with the sacrifice of Yeshua HaMashiach whom Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 2 tells us, he offered himself to Yahweh as a sacrifice, a soothing aroma for us all. So from the beginning of history in both historical, in both historical sources for the archeologist digs as well as Scripture; we find that deep within man, God has put within us an understanding that we're to reverence something bigger than ourselves, and that somehow we naturally do that by offering a sacrifice.
Now some may be watching this broadcast or you might be thinking of people that you know and think they have no reverence for God. This whole concept of sacrifice is, is foreign to them; but you know, regardless of what someone tells you about whether or not they believe in God; deep inside beloved, everybody's worshipping something. Everybody's giving their life over to something. The Scripture says either we serve the Lord or we serve sin. Either we serve the Lord and offer him a sacrifice, or we serve sin and offer sin a sacrifice. Think about the people that are addicted to alcohol and they're offering their own body as a sacrifice to alcohol: getting drunk, killing brain cells until they finally often times, even get liver disease.
Think about people beloved that are, are addicted to cocaine and other types of drugs, and how they're offering their body to these drugs; giving themselves something, over to something that becomes bigger than they are. And even people that aren't in serious addiction beloved, whom the world might consider to be normal people; these people too beloved, are worshipping beloved, the satanic god of self; not the self whom Yahweh has created, because the self that Yahweh has created exist in harmony with him. But the demonic self is someone that's made itself bigger than it is, like Satan who said I will ascend to heaven, I will become like the Most High God, I will cause all creation to worship me.
So even those that say they hate God; they're still worshipping a satanic delusion of self: giving themselves over to a reality that is no reality, but it's a satanic delusion. Deep within us beloved, we give ourselves over to something that's bigger than we are, and we find beloved, that we do this through offering ourselves in what the Scripture calls sacrifice. We began our study months ago as we talked about the tabernacle. This series is really the second part of a series that I began months ago called the tabernacle, and we studied all the pieces of furniture in the tabernacle, and we talked about how all the pieces of furniture in the tabernacle are a prophetic blueprint for how we can intimacy with the Lord. Because when Yahweh gave instructions for the building of the tabernacle, he told us in Exodus, Exodus 25 verse 8 that it needed to be built exactly according to the pattern that was shown, that he might, listen now, dwell with us. It's for intimacy. And it's not just about the furniture, but it's about what took place in the tabernacle.
So after the tabernacle was constructed in the Book of Exodus, we then come to the Book of Leviticus where the Lord tells us, now that you have the tabernacle, here's how to worship me in it, here is how to draw near to me in it, and foundational beloved, to the worship of Yahweh through the tabernacle is this principle of sacrifice. I wanna read now from the Book of Leviticus, called in Hebrew Vayikra, chapter number 9. Listen to this awesome section of Scripture: The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God abides forever. Hear the word, Yadid, of God. Beginning in the first verse: Now it came about, Vayikra, Leviticus chapter 9 verse 1: Now it came about on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel; and he said to Aaron, Take for yourself a calf, a bull, for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without defect, and offer them before Yahweh. Continuing in the 16 verse: He presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the ordinance. Next he presented the grain offering, and filled his hand with some of it and offered it up in smoke on the altar, beside the burnt offering of the morning.
Now I'm picking up in the 22 verse, the offerings have taken place. Immediately what happens next, then in verse 22: Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he stepped down after making the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings, and Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Then fire came out from before Yahweh, and consumed the burnt offering. This means it's being accepted, that's it's pleasing to the Lord. Then fire came out from before Yahweh, consumed the burnt offering, and the portions of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. This is divine pattern beloved, for worship and intimacy with God.
The Lord is telling us I love you, I wanna dwell with you, I wanna be in relationship with you, and so I'm gonna give you this tabernacle, and through the principles of the tabernacle, you can follow them and the result will be that you'll close to me, because this is what I want for you. And so central beloved, to walking with God, to walking with Yahweh is walking, listen now beloved, in a spirit and in the principle of sacrifice. As we continue on, I want you to consider that it was the center of the Israel's camp that the tabernacle was erected in. Every day for forty years in the wilderness, that which they saw right in front of their faces beloved, was the tabernacle with the pillar of fire that abode over it by night, and the cloud of glory by day. This teaches us that at center of our lives is the Lord; at the center of our lives is worship.
Once again: the center of their lives was not football, it was not entertainment, it was not shopping, it was not clothing, it was not success, it was not money; beloved, at the center of their life was Yahweh, was worship, was being related to him. And so the Lord is telling us this is not something, if you really wanna know me, if you wanna have intimacy with me, if you want the preaching of the word of God to benefit you, you can't have it compartmentalized as a portion of your life like it's gonna be one item on your food plate. No, God is saying if you want the real thing, you're gonna have to make me the center of everything, hallelujah, in your life. We're gonna be studying now beloved, the five major offerings that Yahweh commanded the children of Israel to offer him in the mishkan, in the tabernacle.
And the point is that we are supposed to identify with these offerings. We're supposed to, number one: see how they were fulfilled in our Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach, and secondly beloved, we're looking for application that these five offerings have for our life today. Now the five offerings that we're gonna be studying over the next several weeks with application for our lives are these: The burnt offering, the grain offering or the meat or meal offering, the fellowship offering or peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. It's interesting that when we read about these in Scripture, we find this is the order that the offerings are revealed in. Leviticus chapter 1 beloved, is the burnt offering. Leviticus chapter 2 is the meat or the meal offering. Leviticus chapter 3 beloved, is the peace or the fellowship offering. Leviticus chapter 4 is the sin offering. And Leviticus chapter 5 and 6 is the trespass offering.
So as we look at how these offerings are revealed in Scripture, we begin with the burnt offering, the peace offering and the fellowship offering, and we conclude with the sin offering and the trespass offering. Here's what I want you to get. When we look at these five offerings, they're divided into two categories. The burnt offering, the meat or meal offering, or the grain offering; it's all the same offering, it's just different words, different translations use different words to describe the offering, it's actually a gift offering. The meat offering, the meal offering, and the grain offering; it's actually a gift offering, and the peace offering. Once again, let me say it again, two categories, we're dividing the five major offerings that took place unto Yahweh in the tabernacle, into two categories.
The first category consists of: the burnt offering, the meat, or meal, or grain offering, and the peace offering. These offerings, these three offerings are described in Scripture, listen beloved, as offerings that were risen unto to the Lord in a soothing aroma. Some translations call em a sweet savor offering. In other words when these offerings were brought to Yahweh and burned on the altar; the smoke that arose from these offerings as the offerings were burned up to Yahweh, were a sweet savor smell to Yahweh, a soothing aroma. And then the second category of these offerings is the sin and the trespass offering, and the Scripture says nothing about either the sin or the trespass offering as being a soothing aroma or a sweet savor unto the Lord, because sin Yadid, beloved ones, is ugly.
Now you're gonna see that these offerings beloved, these five offerings are shadows and they're double shadows. And what I mean by that is this: on the one hand, these five offerings are a shadow of Yeshua HaMashiach, who is the culmination of all these offerings, and in his own body, and in his own life, he fulfilled all of them in the one perfect sacrifice: his giving himself up to the Father for us, beloved, on the cross. So the first shadow of these offerings, beloved, is the fact that they're a shadow of Jesus in whom they're all fulfilled. That's why Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 17 and 18 these words, hear the word, Yadid, of God: Do not think, Yeshua said, that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. To fill up the word of God that came before him with meaning. For truly, he continues, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.
Hebrews chapter 10 beloved, verse number 1 reads this way: For the law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very form of things, could never by the same sacrifices, year by year take away the sin. But Yeshua HaMashiach, beloved, in verse number 14 we read: By one offering has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. So on the one hand beloved, these offerings are shadows of Yeshua. And the order that they're revealed to us in Scripture, beginning with the sweet savor offerings; remember Leviticus chapter 1, the burnt offering: it's a sweet savor offering to the Lord. Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 2, the meat, meal or grain offering; it again is a sweet savor offering to the Lord.
Leviticus chapter 3, the peace offering; it again is a sweet savor offering to the Lord. And then Leviticus 4, 5, and 6 are the guilt offerings. So think about how this shadows Yeshua. Yeshua comes beloved, beautiful, the perfect blameless Lamb of God. He lives a perfect life before God, completely obedient to the Lord beloved, which is a sweet savor unto the Lord, Ephesians chapter 5 verse 2. And then this beautiful perfect one that lived a perfect life before his Father; he then gives himself up for us beloved, as a sin offering.
So these offerings beloved, are shadows of Messiah in the sense that they begin with the beautiful, pure, sweet aroma offerings, and then they conclude with the sin offerings, because Yeshua comes as a beautiful, pure, Lamb of God that lives a perfect life before the Father, and then at the end of his life, he gives himself unto the Father as a sin offering and a trespass offering for us. But the second shadow that we see in these offerings beloved, listen now, is the order that these offerings were actually offered up to the Lord by sinful humanity.
On the one hand, the order that they're revealed in Scripture is a shadow of Yeshua. But the order that the Israelite actually presented to the offerings to the Lord is reversed, so that we read that in Leviticus 9, the Israelite didn't begin with the burnt offering, but we see in Leviticus 9 that the Israelite began presenting offerings to the Lord in such a way that he first presented to the Lord his sin offering, and his trespass offering, and it was only after he presented to Yahweh the sin offering and the trespassing offering, that he then could participate in offering to Yahweh the beautiful, sweet, savor offerings, the burnt offering, the peace offering and the grain, or the meat, or the meal offering.
And so do you see that? The order that revealed then shadows Yeshua. First the savor offerings, then the sin offering; but the order that, that the Israelite offered them up to the Lord was reversed; they began with the sin offering, and then concluded with the sweet savor offerings that were a fragrant aroma, hallelujah unto Yahweh. As we continue beloved, I wanna point out that it's very important to understand that when the Israelite brought his offering to the Lord, he identified with the offering. And so right away we read that when the Israelite came, he laid his hands on the head of his offering.
And so in verse number 4 of Vayikra chapter number 1, and this is true for, for the offerings in general; here's what the word of the Lord says: And he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering that it might be accepted. And what is important to remember is that by laying his hand on the head of the offering, the worshipper beloved, was making himself one with the offering. The offering became an extension of the worshipper. So that as the sin offering was being offered to the Lord, it was as if the Israelites own sin was taken away. As the burnt offering that we're gonna study was offered to the Lord; the Israelite looked at his own life as being completely consecrated and holy, hallelujah, given over to Yahweh. And so these offerings were not something that an Israelite did outside of themselves, but these offerings beloved, became an extension of the Israelites heart.
Now as we conclude today, I want you to just prepare yourself for our study that's gonna take place, Lord willing, over the next several weeks; I'm gonna go through the burnt offering and talk about its application for you. I'm gonna go through the gift offering Yadid, and talk about its application for you. I'm gonna go through the peace offering and talk about its application for you. I want you to get something in you beloved, that the way that we worship God today is often times radically different than the way the ancient Israelite worshipped God. The ancient Israelite worshipped God in fear. They came to the Lord beloved, not first for what they could get, their God wasn't a magic genie, but they came beloved, in fear and trembling with an offering to reverence him just because he was God.
I'm gonna ask now beloved, that as you and I study these offerings, that the Lord will help us to understand how we must approach him beloved, not as a God that we can use to satisfy our own lust, but as a God beloved, that should be reverenced, that should be feared beloved, in holy fear, not the fear of the world. And that we should love and present our offerings to. So Father, we pray that the preaching of your Word over the next several weeks will sanctify us Lord. That it won't be in vain, but that Father, you'll send your Word forth. Sanctify our hearts Lord, because we wanna present ourselves as living offerings to you that are accepted and consumed by the Holy Spirit's fire.