Today’s reading: Leviticus 1-3; Matthew 24:23-51
And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Leviticus 1:8a
46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. Matthew 24:46-47
What God commands pleases Him, but it is also beneficial to those who obey Him. God does not ask His people to do things which are detrimental to themselves. Obeying God is always the perfect way to live.
Furthermore, it is not hard to know what pleases God. His Word reveals what He wants us to do. We need not attempt to guess what pleases Him. It is clear. Read the Bible.
First, to please Him, we need an offering for our sin. In Leviticus, the Israelites were told what their priests needed to do to present a pleasing aroma to God. There were various kinds of offerings: guilt, grain, peace, etc. There is a phrase which is repeated here: “a pleasing aroma to the Lord.” Leviticus can come alive to us if we realize that our sin deeply offends the holy God who made us. Our sin is complex in that it permeates our best actions and our whole beings. Our actions are sinful. Our minds are sinful. Our motives are sinful. We commit both sins of omission and commission, that is, we do not do what we ought and we do what we ought not to do. We desperately need an offering for all this sin.
Leviticus tells us that we need an offering and Jesus Christ is foreshadowed as the only sufficient offering for sin.
Secondly, Leviticus tells us that not only is the just wrath of God averted by a proper offering for sin, but God is pleased when that offering has been made. In our Matthew reading, Jesus tells us that, just as the master was pleased with his servant so, we too can please our Master by doing what He commands. Obedience begins with faith in the One who offered Himself for the sin of His people (Matthew 1:21).
As you read Leviticus, don’t miss the point that Christ is the One who fulfills all these necessary offerings. Praise Him and seek to do what He commands for He will return to us. May He find us doing what He has commanded! May we be blessed on that day because we believed Him and sought to obey Him. There will be rewards for this. It is a win-win life.
Comments