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THE OFFERING PRESENTED TO THE LORD (LEVITICUS 8:18-29)

REFLECTION

Our reflection theme is “The offering presented to the Lord.” An offering is a sacrifice presented to a deity, mainly on an altar. There are different types of offerings and reasons for presenting them to the Lord. We shall focus on the fact that offerings are presented or sacrificed to the Lord as a ceremonial sign of invoking, acknowledging, and experiencing His presence in the lives of worshippers.

Dear friend, Leviticus 8:18-29 describes burnt offerings presented to the Lord to mark the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests of Israel. “The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Bring Aaron and his sons, their garments, the anointing oil, the bull for the sin offering, the two rams and the basket containing bread made without yeast, 3 and gather the entire assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting.” 4 Moses did as the LORD commanded him, and the assembly gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting…Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the LORD. ” (Leviticus 8:1-4,28) In other words, before Aaron and his sons were ordained as priests, it was necessary for burnt offerings to be made by Moses to invoke the presence of God and cleanse them for the Priesthood. Dear friend, we no longer offer animals in our chapels today as burnt offerings to the Lord because God had made a perfect and atoning sacrifice on our behalf when John the Baptist said concerning Jesus “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Again Peter reminds us that “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18-19). Jesus has now become our High Priest who makes sacrifices on our behalf, “Now there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. 26 Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:23-27)

Beloved in the Lord, the only offering we are required to present to the Lord is our lives or bodies as living sacrifices to the glory of God. Paul admonished us in Romans 12:1-2, “… I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. We must offer our bodies as living a living sacrifice through faith, obedience and service to the Lord.

In summary we have discovered that offerings are presented or sacrificed to the Lord as ceremonial sign of inoking, acknowledging and experiencing His presence in the lives of worshippers. Let us continue to experience the glory of God in our lives by offering our bodies living sacrifices.

PRAYER

May the Holy Spirit strengthen us to be living sacrifices to the glory of the Lord.