“Our Daily Bread” http://odb.org
The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie http://www.harvest.org/devotional

Written by Pastor Rob Barkman for “Settled In Heaven Ministries” @ http://settledinheaven.wordpress.com/

View original post @ https://settledinheaven.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/leviticus-2337-offer-an-offering/

Leviticus 23:37 – “Offer An Offering”

INTRODUCTION TO OUR SERIES:

Leviticus 23:33-44 gives us a condensed version of God’s instructions about the Jewish “Feast of Booths” (also referred to as “The Feast Of Tabernacles”). This wonderful Jewish feast will be the subject for this Thanksgiving devotional series.

You might be wondering why this feast is a good subject for a Thanksgiving series. It is because the two main goals of this feast are the exact same goals that every Christian should strive to attain during their Thanksgiving Day celebration…

1. To cause a remembrance of the Lord’s gracious workings.

2. To develop an attitude of appreciation in these workings.

By our Lord’s grace, during the course of this study our hearts will be pointed towards accomplishing both of these goals during this Thanksgiving holiday series.

(Please note: If you are interested in a fuller study of this feast, refer to Numbers 29:12-38 for more details. For this devotional series, due to its length, we will only be looking at the shorter text on this subject found in Leviticus 23:33-44)

TODAY’S TEXT:

Leviticus 23:37 (KJV) – “These [are] the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim [to be] holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:”

Leviticus 23:37 (ESV) – “These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day,”

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL:

“These [are] the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim [to be] holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day:”

Each offering during the Feast of Tabernacles was to be performed on a specific day (see Num 29 for details). The four types of offerings include:

Please note not all of these above offerings are literally “made by fire”. This phrase could be speaking of the Burnt and Meat Offerings only. These were the ones that were placed upon an altar and consumed by fire.

However, it is also possible that the phrase “offering by fire” can also, by implication, refer to all four of the above offerings. In our last devotion we saw that the implications of a burnt offering was three fold, it was an offering to the Lord that:

1. The offering by fire was a picture of their service to the Lord, giving that offering over to the priest was a symbolic representation of their work being dedicated entirely to their Lord.

2. The offering by fire was a picture of their service to the Lord, causing them to suffer loss of the offering (giving up a lamb, bird, harvest first fruits etc) as it was totally consumed in the flames.

3. The offering by fire was a picture of their service to Christ, the smoke ascended into the clouds, representing their earthly service ascending into the heavens to the throne of God.

Although some of the above four offerings are not literally burned up, describing them as “offerings by fire” certainly applied based on all three of the above basic principles.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:

Folks in this section of Scripture there is much that can be learned concerning thankfulness for the Lord’s great blessings upon us. Some of these include:

1. Our appreciation to the Lord is not simply an inward attitude and emotion, but it is also to be shown in our lives and actions. One of the best ways to appreciate our God is to live out our appreciation by being living sacrifices for His glory, this includes:

a. total surrender to the Lord

b. separation from the sinful aspects of this world to the Lord

c. placing a premium on a personal relationship of close communion with the Lord

d. giving of our time, talents and labors to the Lord.

Romans 12:1-2 KJV – “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

By planning ahead and setting an appointment for quiet time with the Lord and His Word, we can allocate the time necessary to truly be thankful to the Lord this holiday season.

Homepage…  http://www.settledinheaven.org

Text Blog…  http://www.settledinheaven.wordpress.com

Video Blog… http://www.youtube.com/settledinheaven

Email… settledinheaven@gmail.com

(2015 SIH Thanksgiving 12-Part Devotional Series)