Wed.’s Devo - The Burnt and the Peace Offerings

Read: Leviticus 1:1-3:17; Mark 1:29-2:12; Psalm 35:17-28; Proverbs 9:13-18 Leviticus is a book for the priests with all their instructions. Levi means “joined” as in joined to the Lord. Leviathan is Satan’s messenger and his name means “their union”. Satan has a counterpart to everything God has. Other meanings of Leviathan include “their burrowing and a coiled animal”. So their union is under the surface, hidden, secret and twisted. Leviathan shows up in secret societies and underground meetings. Today, we read the instructions God gave Moses about the burnt offering and the peace offerings. There were three levels of offerings you could give determined by what you had. If you were blessed with animals you gave of your flock. If you didn’t have animals you could bring a bird. If you had neither, you could bring grain. All were considered pleasing offerings to the Lord. Both the burnt offering and the peace offering was burnt on the altar. There were warnings that if you brought grain you could not present it with yeast or honey. If you brought a live animal you were never to eat the fat or the blood. Yeast is what activates the bread and raises it. Jesus had not risen from the dead. Blood represents life and these sacrifices could not give eternal life until Jesus rose from the dead. Honey and fat have to do with excess and sweetness which only comes from Jesus. Everything God had them do was a picture of what was coming in the future. They had been promised a land of milk and honey when they got to their promised land. We are promised that in God’s Kingdom. In Mark, we read that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and he healed people he didn’t know. When he healed the man with leprosy, Jesus told him to go and present himself to the priest and let it be a testimony to them that the Messiah had come. Jesus had come first to the priests which were the ones ruling the house of Israel. Instead, the man went and told everyone and didn’t go to the priests. This opened a floodgate of people who came to Jesus to be healed. Jesus wanted to go through the right channels of authority on the earth but this made it impossible so he had to stay in secluded places to survive. When Jesus returned to Capernaum, there were so many people crowding to see him that four men carrying a paralyzed man had to dig a hole through the roof and lower the man down to where Jesus was. The first thing Jesus said to the man was that his sins were forgiven. There are reasons for sickness and one of them is sin. This was the case in this person. Either he or someone in his ancestry had opened a door to sin that ended up causing him to be paralyzed. The religious leaders were there observing and thought it blasphemy for a person to forgive sins. Jesus perceived their thoughts and asked them “Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ’Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk”? So to prove he had the authority to forgive his sins, he told him to stand up and walk and he did. Jesus had come to give them ears to hear spiritually so he naturally opened deaf ears. He came to give them eyes to see spiritually so he healed blind eyes. He came to forgive them of their sins so he did that and healed their walk. Everything Jesus did in the natural was what he was doing in the spiritual. Many received only the natural healing and later cried “Crucify him!” Others got it both naturally and spiritually and went on to spread the good news after Jesus resurrected. Lord, help us to be able to see what you are doing in our lives to open our ears and eyes and hearts to the Kingdom. May we respond rightly to your discipline and your leading. We surrender everything to you.