Rabbi Schneider - A Revelation of Friendship
We've already covered the Burnt Offering, we've covered the Mincha, Gift Offering, also referred to as the meat, the meal, or the grain offering and today we're going to begin by looking at the Peace Offering which is called in Hebrew, Beloved, Sheh'-lem. It comes from the Hebrew word Shalom. Shalom means peace, restoration, wholeness, completeness. The distinguishing characteristic, Beloved, of the Peace Offering that is described in the 3rd chapter of the Book of Leviticus is that the worshipper, the Israelite that came to the Tabernacle, the priest that offered it, and Yahweh all had a portion of it. It speaks of the Lord, Beloved, sitting down and having a meal with us.
Abraham experienced the same thing in the Torah. When the Lord appeared to him in human form and Abraham went out and prepared a meal for the Lord that was clothed in humanity and had that meal with him, it speaks of fellowship. When you think about the Lord partaking of this offering that was offered up on the altar to him and literally taking a portion of it as the worshipper took a portion of it for himself it speaks of deep abiding fellowship. The Lord, Beloved, not only is our Father, not only is he to be feared and reverenced in his holiness, but he also, Beloved, is a friend that sticks closer than a brother and this particular offering, Beloved, is about friendship with God.
There's a song that maybe some of you have sung before, "I am a Friend of God, I am a Friend of God". Do you know that the Lord called Moses his friend? The Lord said, "I speak with Moses as a man speaks to his friend". How much more, Beloved, for you and I today, as we learn how to be obedient to the Spirit of God, those of us that have been bought by the blood of Yeshua and are filled, hallelujah, with the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, "No longer do I call you slaves, I call you friends". Thank you, Father God. We pray now that you'll bring us into a deep experiential friendship with you. Hallelujah and amen. Now in this particular offering, reading from the Book of Leviticus, chapter number 3, verse 16, with the understanding that everyone had a portion in it, the worshipper, the priest and the Lord. The Lord's portion, we read, in Leviticus chapter 3, verse 16 was the fat portion of it and I'm going to read now from the New America Standard version: And the priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar as food, an offering by fire for a soothing aroma, all the fat is the Lord's.
Now as I said earlier, this is anthropomorphic language, that this offering, the Scripture said was offered up as food to the Lord. Obviously the Lord doesn't eat like we eat, he doesn't eat animals like we eat animals but this is anthropomorphic language. In other words it's language that the Lord uses to try to communicate with us in a language that we can understand. We see this phenomenon happening often in Scripture. You might come out of some confusion by understanding that some of the Bible is written anthropomorphically and so for example when it said the Lord repented, concerning when he looked upon the world and he saw that all man was wicked and so he had to destroy the world except for Noah and his family with the flood, the Lord looked at the world and he said that he repented, that he had made man, and what does he...you think well what happened, didn't God know that man was going to fall? Didn't the Lord know that this was going to happen? I thought he knew everything so why does he have to repent now?
We read another place in Scripture where it says the Lord repented, but this is anthropomorphic language, Beloved. God knew where he was going; he had a plan for all eternity. The Bible says that Jesus was slain before foundation of the world in the plan of God but this language that the Lord uses to help us understand, be able to relate to him with words, Beloved, that makes sense to us. So here we read, again using this anthropomorphic language, that this offering in verse 16 of Leviticus 3 was food to the Lord and that the fat portion of it was God's. Let me read it again, Leviticus 3:16: And the priest shall offer them up in smoke on the altar as food, an offering by fire for a soothing, this was something that blessed God, it brought him pleasure, for a soothing aroma all fat is the Lord's. It is important to note that the first three of these offerings, the Burnt Offering, the Gift Offering, and the Peace Offering, all of these were sweet, savor offerings to the Lord.
Some of the translations read that they were a soothing aroma and what this means, Beloved, is that these offerings gave God pleasure. When it says it was a soothing aroma to him or a sweet savor aroma to him doesn't that involve the sensation or the experience of pleasure? And the Lord wants you and I to understand that we can bring him pleasure that when we choose to love him, when we choose to put him first it brings him pleasure. We can either bring him pleasure or we can grieve him. Sometimes we don't realize this about God. We just think that God is and there's nothing that we can do that moves him, there's nothing that we can do that moves him emotionally, God is complete in of himself, we cannot take away from him as being God, we cannot add to him as being God, he is complete, he is whole but somehow, Beloved, it's a mystery that you and I, whom he created in his own image to love and to have a relationship with him, can bring him pleasure or we can grieve him.
Remember when Yeshua was on earth, and Lazarus had died, and they came up to him and they said, "You know if you would have been here, Lazarus would not have died". And the Scripture says Jesus wept. I mean he was moved. Other times we read that Jesus looked upon them and they were like sheep without a shepherd and he was moved, the Scripture says, with compassion. Both in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament we read not to grieve, that means to bring sorrow, not to grieve the Holy Spirit, that's a person of God. And so we can bring God pleasure and we see in this particular verse that this offering that was given to the Lord, because this particular offering was a free-will offering, this grain offering, this Gift Offering that's called the meat offering or the meal offering, Beloved, this was an offering that was simply a love offering. It's like when you give somebody a gift just because.
In Israel it was common, they would give the Lord this fine flour, and the oil, and the frankincense just because they wanted to say I love you. I love you for who you are. I love you that you decided to create me, that you brought me into the world to experience life. I love you and I'm thankful to you for all you are. And so when a worshipper came and told the Lord this through the presentation of this offering it was a soothing aroma to him; it brought him pleasure. I want you to know, Beloved, that you and I can bring God pleasure or we can grieve his Holy Spirit. Now I want you to also understand that not only did the Lord have a portion in this offering that read about in Leviticus chapter 3, verse 16, but we read in Leviticus chapter 7, verse 11 through 18 that the worshipper and the priest also had a portion of this offering.
So here we have this picture of the Lord sitting down and having a meal because we just read in Leviticus 3:16 that it was presented to the Lord as food, and so here we have a picture of the worshipper, the priest, and the Lord all sitting down and having a meal together and when we think of having a meal with somebody what do we think of? We think of fellowship. That's why the Bible says let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to the Lord, and it's speaking here in the Book of Revelation about all the wonderful things that God has planned for us and the climax of it, Beloved, is the marriage supper of the Lamb. We're going to read about it in a second, where we have a meal with God in heaven. Meal, Beloved, is the symbol of friendship and of fellowship.
And so God's wants us to understand who he is to us, that he's not a God that's far away, that he's a God, Beloved, that is here, and near, and in us, and we just need to be praying for revelation. I mean when we read a Scripture we know it in our mind and we think we know it but we need to be praying it. Like in other words if we read that we can trust God that he's sovereign, we should be praying, Lord, help me to be praying, Lord, help me to be able to trust you with my circumstances, help me to see that your involved in my circumstances, help me to see that you really are my friend, that you really are my friend. Help me to understand how near you really are to me. Help me to understand, Lord, that I'm not in this world as a victim and at the disposal, or the victim of just the course of life in the natural but that you're my friend and you're with me and that I can trust you.
We need to praying these things, Beloved, so they mean something to us and so that we have revelation. And so this meal that God has through this sacrifice with the worshipper and the priest, it reminds me of Revelation 19, verse number 7 and 9, hear the Word of God: Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him for, listen now, for the marriage supper, here we go, God, having a meal with his people, a marriage meal, the pinnacle of intimacy, for the marriage supper of the Lamb has come. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Yeshua, Beloved, said right before he was crucified, he said to his disciples in the Book of Matthew, chapter 26, verse number 29, he was having a Passover meal with them, it's the meal that we get the Lord's Supper from, and this is what he said to them there, "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine with you again from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom".
So here is Yeshua, once again, God in the flesh, having a meal with his disciples, he said, "I'm not going to be able to have this meal with you again until we have it together again in my Father's kingdom," and we just got done reading when the pinnacle of that is going to happen; it's going to be, Beloved, at the marriage supper, hallelujah, of the Lamb. God, Beloved, is our Lamb. God, Beloved, is our friend and I believe that we friend and I believe that we can gain in our understanding of this an experience by praying about it. Maybe you don't feel like God's your friend. Maybe you don't really feel that God is close to you. You know what, just begin to pray, ask and you'll receive, seek and you'll find, pray when you're driving to work, pray when you're at work. If you don't go to work, pray wherever you are, pray when you're at home.
Don't just pray once a day, don't just pray five times a day, keep praying Lord, help me to know you're my friend, help me to know how near you are, help me to know that you're nearer than a brother, that you're the best friend, Father God, that I could ever have. Help me to experience it, Lord. Help me to know it deep inside me. Let me not just believe in it, Lord, but let me know it inside. Put it in me. How many of us, we believe certain things but we really don't know what we believe, not saying that we couldn't say what we believe but we don't know it inside. In other words, we say we believe God loves us but do we really know God loves us? I mean are we really convinced inside that God loves us or do we walk around with the spirit of judgment on us all?
You know what, begin to pray, Lord, help me to know you love me; help me Lord, I need to know your love; your Word says that I should know the height, and the depth, and width, and breadth of the love of God for me in Messiah. Father, help me to know it. I don't know it! I believe in it, Lord, I see it, I quote in Scripture but deep inside, Lord, I'm not carrying it inside me. I'm believing it from afar so come inside me Jesus and imprint upon my soul the knowledge of your love for me that I can walk in that fellowship with you inside. The mystery of the Gospel, Yadid, Beloved One, is Messiah in you. Pray about these things. The Peace Offering, the Offering of Sheh'-lem, the Offering of Shalom is about God's friendship with you, it's about completeness, Beloved.
And so Father, we ask you to breathe, breathe, we ask, Father, the Offering of Sheh'-lem inside us and help us, Lord, to respond by offering it back to you and walking, Father, in friendship with you in Jesus' name, amen.
And so we've covered the first category of offerings up to this point. We've covered the sweet savor offerings, the offerings that were soothing aroma to the Lord, the Burnt Offering representing total dedication and commitment to Yahweh where the entire offering, the inside, the outside, all of it was burned upon the altar there and it ascended up in smoke to the Lord. We look at the Burnt Offering, total commitment to Yahweh as the worshipper laid his hands on that offering and it became a symbol of himself and the Lord is demanding, Beloved, the same thing from you and I, total dedication, total commitment to him. And then we look, Beloved, at the Grain, or the meal offering, the meat offering which is about just giving him an offering because we love him, telling him how precious he is like the woman of old that anointed his feet with the costly bottle of perfume just because she loved him so much, totally voluntarily and not out of compulsion. And now we just got done studying the last of the sweet savor offerings, the offerings that were a sweet aroma to the Lord, we just got done setting the Offering of Sheh'-lem, the offering of friendship has taken place when we enter into relationship with God through Yeshua.
Now we're going to look at the last two offerings, as we look at the second category of offerings, the second category of offerings, Beloved, that were offered up to Yahweh inside the Tabernacle were the guilt offerings, the offering, Beloved, for sin and the offering, Yadid, Beloved Ones, for trespasses. In Leviticus chapter 4 we have the sin offering. In Leviticus, chapter 5 and 6 we have the trespass offering. The sin offering was different from the trespass offering in the sense that the sin offering, Beloved, was about general forgiveness, it's connected to general redemption. The sin offering, Beloved, was for the sinner. In other words, we by nature of the Scripture, says in Ephesians 2, are children of wrath, that there's something about fallen humanity that in of itself he is in sin.
You know David said, "In sin I was conceived". And so the sin offering is just a general offering for the sinner. general redemption, whereas the trespass offering in Leviticus chapter 5 and 6 was for specific sins that the Israelite had committed. Now we read as we study Leviticus chapter 4 through 6 that the offering for sin and the offering for trespasses was predominantly for those things that the guilty party had done, get this now, listen, that were unintentional. So I'm going read to make this point clear, Leviticus, chapter 4, verse 1 and 2 and in Leviticus chapter 5, verse number 15, hear the Word of God: Then the Lord spoke to Moses, "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying if a person sins," get this now "unintentionally in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done". And then in Leviticus chapter 5, verse number 15, with the trespass offering, hear the Word of God: The Lord said, "If a person acts unfaithfully and sins," get this now, "unintentionally".
And so these offerings were generally for sins that was done, listen, unintentionally and yet when we study some of the specific trespasses that the trespass offering atone for we ask our self how could this trespass have been done unintentionally. And so for example, I'm going to read for you now, from the Book of Leviticus, chapter number 6, verse 1 through 3, remembering that these offerings for sin that was done unintentional and then the Lord goes ahead and He lists the sins for the trespass offering that the trespass offering could atone for and when you hear this, you're going to ask well how could that be unintentional? So hear the Word of God as I read Leviticus chapter 6, verse number 1 through 3: Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "When a person sins and acts unfaithfully against the Lord and deceives his companion in regard to a deposit".
Now how do you deceive somebody in regarding a deposit unintentionally? Let's continue on. "Or a security entrusted to him, or through robbery". How do you rob somebody unintentionally, right? Let's continue on. "Or if he has extorted from his companion". How do you extort somebody unintentionally, right? "Or has found what was lost and lied about it". How do you that unintentionally? And this continues, I could show you other places here as well, yet you could provide an atonement for this and yet the atonement was for those things that were done unintentionally. How do we explain this? Well I think it has to do, Beloved, with Revelation.
Remember when Yeshua was on the cross in Matthew and the other gospels and think about what they had done to them, they plucked out his beard. Was that intentional? I would say so. They spit on him; was that intentional? I would say so. Beloved, they mocked him, they jeered at him, they hated him, they called for his crucifixion, was that intentional? I would say so and yet Yeshua said as he looked upon them, "Father, forgive them," listen now, "for they know not what they do". That speaks of unintentionality. So on the one hand these people were doing something intentional and yet Yeshua on the other hand said it was unintentional. Why? Because they didn't have Revelation and I believe that's how we understand these offerings. These offerings, Beloved, atone for people that did things but they didn't have the revelation of the Holy Spirit to really fully understand the gravity of what they were doing, of how they were rebelling against the ways of God.
This is illustrated in the Book of Matthew, chapter 12, when we look at the sin, Beloved, of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, I'm not going to have time to finish this today, you'll want to make sure to join me on next week's broadcast because I'm sure that many of you, like me, had been very fearful about what the Scripture says is the sin that no one can ever be forgiven of, not in this age or in the age to come. Yeshua says it's the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and I believe as we study this section of Scripture in Mark, chapter 12, talking about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, we can tie it in to Leviticus chapter 4, 5, and 6 as we understand the atonement that took place for sins that were unintentional, even things like robbery and lying and we reference this to the fact that we're going to see next week that when Yeshua talked about the sin of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit he said that any sin that is done against the Son of man, he said, any word, he said, that's spoken against the Son of man, any word, he said, that's spoken against me, speaking of himself, can be forgiven but anyone, he says, that blasphemies the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven in this age or the age to come.
What's the difference? The difference is, Beloved, that when someone blasphemies the Holy Spirit, they know what they're doing. Join me on next week's broadcast as we look at the sin, by the grace of the Lord, of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, how it applies to this world today and how it ties in, Beloved, to the sin offering and the trespass offering that were offered up to Yahweh in the Tabernacle. As we close this broadcast today, let's ask God for mercy. Let's ask him, Beloved, to consume our life as a sacrifice on the altar. I can preach about these things, Beloved, but we need the power of the Holy Spirit, amen, to cleanse us and transform us.
So, Father God, we've looked at the offerings, we've looked at the offerings, Father God, that you commanded, that you gave revelation about in the Torah, and we ask you, Father God, to do and will in our life that which will be pleasing to you. Lord, your Word says that you're the author and finisher of our faith and that, Father God, you're the potter and that we're the clay, and Father, I ask you for myself and I ask you for those that are watching and are in agreement right now, Father, will you take us, and cleanse us, and make us, and mold us? We want to be a sweet and savor aroma to you. We want to offer up our lives to you, Father, even as Yeshua did as a fragrant aroma to you. We want to walk before you, Lord, perfectly so we ask you, Father, to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Have your way in our life, Father God, we want to be a living and pleasing aroma and sacrifice to you.