Sat.’s Devo - The Offerings

Read: Leviticus 1:1-3:17; Mark 1:29-2:12; Psalm 35:17-28; Proverbs 9:13-18
Leviticus was Moses’ third book and was written to the priests. It was to give them instruction in being priests, the different offerings and what to do on the feast days and how to live their lives. In the end of the chapter it gives the rewards for their obedience and punishment for disobedience. Since we are the priests of the Lord, this is a very important book for us.
We read today about three of the five different offerings that were offered. An offering was presented in order to come close to the Lord and that was its main objective.
The first is the burnt offering or the “olah”. It was to be consumed on the altar and the only thing that went to the Lord was the smoke. It was a visible picture of Jesus being our lamb slain on the cross for our sins and ascending to heaven. The heart of the offerer is total surrender. This offering bought their salvation from sin. This offering was mandatory.
The second offering was the thanksgiving offering which was an offering of grain with olive oil and frankincense on it. The frankincense neutralized bad odors and sanitized the priest from fungi, bacteria and microbes that they might have been exposed to in the animals they sacrificed. For us, it is the offering of gratefulness which does the same thing. When we are grateful, we cannot be contaminated with bad attitudes and selfishness. We become a sweet and fragrant. This offering was voluntary and had to be offered without yeast or sin. Hebrews 13:15 says, “…Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”
The third offering was the fellowship or peace offering. This offering was also voluntary and brought by the person who was moved to express love and gratitude for God’s goodness and to be drawn closer to God. It was to be a living sacrifice like the first. In Romans 12:1, Paul beseeched us to present ourselves as living sacrifices that were holy and acceptable unto God.
In Mark, Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever and the men who was demon-possessed. Then he cleansed the leper. He did all these miracles on the Sabbath since that is when the people met. This really made the priests and Pharisees mad since they considered healing to be work. It was not in their laws that you couldn’t heal on a Sabbath since they had never done that themselves; it was more about their jealousy because Jesus could do something they couldn’t.
Everything that Jesus did naturally was what he came to do to their spirits and their souls also. He came to cleanse people of their sin, heal their hearts and give them a new walk.
Lord, help us to offer to you our whole self, our thanksgiving and live in peace with you.