Law of the Offerings — Tom Bentley

The Law of the Offerings in Leviticus

Now we are going to turn to the book of Leviticus again and read from chapter 6 as we are now about to consider the law of the offerings. We do not have time to read all that is recorded about these subjects, but we trust the Lord will help us.

Chapter 6 please and verse number 8. The Lord spake unto Moses saying, Command Aaron and his son saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. It is the burnt offering because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning.

The fire of the altar shall be burning in it. The priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.

And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. The fire upon the altar shall be burning in it. It shall not be put out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering and order upon it.

And he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar. It shall never go out. And this is the law of the meal offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord, before the altar, and he shall take of it his handful of the flour of the meal offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meal offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the memorial of it unto the Lord.

And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat. With unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. It shall not be baken with leaven.

I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. Even all the meals among the children of Aaron shall eat of it.

It shall be a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings made by fire. Every one that toucheth them shall be holy. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the Lord in the day when he is anointed, the tenth part of an heap of fine flour for a meal offering perpetually, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night.

In a pan it shall be made with oil, and when it is baked, thou shalt bring it in, and the pieces of the meal offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour unto the Lord. Now verse 24,. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering.

In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord. It is most holy. The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it. In the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Now chapter 7 verse 1,. Likewise, this is the law of the trespass offering. It is most holy. In the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass offering, and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon the altar, and he shall offer it.

Of it all the fat thereof, the rump and the fat that covereth the inwards, and so on. Now verse 8,. And the priest that offereth any man's burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered.

Verse 11,. And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which he shall offer unto the Lord. If he offereth it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil of fine flour fried.

Besides the cakes he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings. Now look down please to verse number 28,. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel.

He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings unto the Lord shall bring his oblation unto the Lord of the sacrifice of his peace offerings. His own hands shall bring the offerings of the Lord made by fire, the fat with the breast it shall he bring, that the breast may be weaved for a weaved offering before the Lord.

And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron's and his son's. And the right shoulder shall he give unto the priest for a heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings.

He among the sons of Aaron that offereth the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right shoulder for his part, for his portion. For the weaved breast and the heave shoulder have I taken out of the children of Israel from off the sacrifice of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest, and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel.

Now would you trust the Lord will add his blessing to this reading of his holy word. Now there's one thing that is very evident in the law of the offerings, which I trust we already have recognized and I trust understand.

When we look at the offerings as they're presented from chapter one onward, we find the order is very simple. Burnt offering, meal offering, peace offerings, then the sin offering, and fifthly the trespass offering.

I would think that that is very very clearly the mind of God coming out from himself, commencing with what is nearest to his heart in that which the burnt offering would present, and then coming right out to where we were found in all our desperate need as sinners meeting the claims of God on our behalf.

That is the way God does work from himself. We have found that when we look at the order of the tabernacle presented from chapter 25 of Exodus right through to the chapter 31, we find that God commences with what is nearest to himself, the Ark of the Covenant, and then moves in an orderly fashion as he deals with the subject before us.

You understand that that is really the great Ephesian ministry, isn't it? God commencing with his divine purpose and moving out toward us in divine love, bringing us in on the ground of acceptance and forgiveness in his Son, and finding us in chapter 2 dead in trespasses and in sins.

It is the very opposite, shall we say, to the epistle to the Romans. God commences, if you will, with us in all our need. Chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3. The whole world is guilty before God. Then there is that great work of justification, and that expands itself as you know into sanctification, and then in chapter 8 we end with glorification.

We enter in ultimately to the divine purpose of God as seen in chapter 8. So it is going in a different direction, but it is accomplishing the mind of God perfectly. So here are actions, here are principles that emerge even in these chapters that are reflected and developed in our New Testament.

The Peace Offering as the Goal of Fellowship

But when we come to the law of the offerings, we find God in his sovereign way changes the order. And he commences with the burnt offering, then he goes to the meal offering, and then he goes to the offering.

Then the trespass offering, and finally the law of the peace offering. Now I would think that that was really to indicate the objective that God is working toward. God is working toward a people that are capable by the work of Calvary of having fellowship with him and with his Son.

So it is lovely to see the goal in the law of the offerings is indicated by the peace offerings being mentioned last. Now those are very simple observations, but I trust we will reach them, recognize them, and rejoice in them.

Now the order has changed, but then we want to observe that the obligation is very, very strongly and very, very succinctly conveyed to the people of God. And of course you will notice, very, very important, that the words are for the greater part addressed to Aaron and to his sons.

Now that makes it very important, doesn't it? Here are men that under these days and under this economy were granted to no peculiar nearness to God in their tremendous responsibility in functioning for God in these occasions and in these offerings.

Now they are addressed directly in the law of the offerings. Now let us grasp that this evening, this afternoon, because you and I are priests under God. So that the message is directed to us in that better sense, shall we say, because God in the Old Testament is obliged under the circumstances to take up different things and teach different things therefrom.

But when it comes to the identity of this truth in relation to the believer, we find that not only is he an offerer, but he is also a functioning priest. Now you know that that is the order of God in these great books.

We find men in the book of Numbers numbered for war. They're warriors. And then in the next chapter we find men numbered for work. They're Levites. And then we come on to find that there are those that are linked with the priestly family.

They're worshipers. So here are three different sets of men presenting a different issue in each case. But you and I find them coalesced in ourselves. We are not only worshipers, we are workers. And not only are we workers, but we are warriors.

So let us see that God is taking up individuals and is teaching things that we can bring together into our own experience as the people of God in this day of grace abounding. Now this is the point then that I'm going to emphasize on the few paragraphs that are before us in the ministry this afternoon.

The Priest's Command and the Continual Fire

And so the first thing is it's a commandment of the priest. For that word occurs in verse 9, command Aaron and his sons saying this is the law of the burnt offering. So here is God giving a command, giving a command to the high priest.

And the high priest is to order his sons in privilege accordingly. So the commandment of the priest is very clearly the point in these opening verses from verse 8 to verse 13. That brings you and brings me into the order of this command.

That we enter into practically, spiritually the order that God is issuing. I think we all know that. We all know that. We all understand our obligations before God this afternoon. Now what is God saying to Aaron and to his sons?

He's saying this is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering, it is the burnt offering because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning. And the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.

Now as we have seen in chapter 1, so in this short paragraph, the word fire is predominant. It occurs at least four times in verse 8 to verse 13. So it's really a repetition of what we've already learned.

The prevalence of the fire and therefore its continuance is very much before us. The continuance of the flame. Now that's what God is urging at this time. What does that really indicate? What does it really mean to us this afternoon?

I think it means this, that God is wanting to be maintained amongst us a testimony to the constancy of the efficacy of the death of Christ and the pleasure and the acceptance that God has derived from the death of his Son.

That is something that God would ever want us to maintain uppermost in our mind. Now whatever else may happen, whatever else may come into our lives, whatever else may be occupying our mind, our time or whatever, here is something that must never be allowed to wean, must never be allowed to fade.

The constancy of that sufficient sacrifice maintained as a burning fire in our hearts, in our minds forever. And I don't think, beloved, that it will ever ever fade surely. And certainly throughout all eternity it will be our constant joy to reflect upon the eternal sufficiency of the sacrifice of the Savior.

You will remember in the last chapter of Nehemiah there is an offering called the wood offering. Now that meant that in order for this fire to be maintained there had to be resources brought to supply the constancy of the flame.

You understand that? I would believe that when they moved under the directive hand of God from place to place and set up the altar and prepared it for sacrifice, what happened in 1 Kings 18 would happen each time.

God would ignite it from heaven and then it was their responsibility to make sure it was kept burning, kept burning. I wondered what resources I'm drawing upon in my experience as a believer in Christ that maintains this in my life every moment of every day.

Is it something that I was touched with 63 years ago when I trusted Christ? Is that it? Or is it something that's vibrant at this moment of time? That's the big issue now, brethren. And here's the commandment of God too.

I trust we bow to that commandment this afternoon that we have resources ordered of God brought into our hearts and minds before God this afternoon that never allows, never permits the fullness of the sacrifice of Christ to wane for one moment in our conscious experience.

That's what's here. Now as he functions there are two things he has to do. There's the maintenance of the flame, the continuance of the flame, and then there is the carrying of the ashes, putting them first of all beside the altar.

That's a big issue now. There's more on that than I can handle at this moment of time simply because I would like to ask my brethren to draw me their concept of this altar and what you understand this altar to look like, the altar of burnt offering.

I'll ask you before the night's out to do it for me some of you men and by what you draw and by what you say I'll be able to assess if you understand what's here. Not that I understand it but I'm trying to grapple with it and what I advance on this has been publicly reduced to nothing.

In other countries they don't like the way that I look at it like in this way some brethren and they have tried to do this and that but there is no answer to it in what they suggest and so I want you to think of what do you conceive this altar to look like.

How was it constructed and every feature about it because you're going to have to tell me how, how the ashes of each offering was readily available because they were to take the ashes and put them beside the altar and then they were to carry them forth without the camp onto a clean place.

Now the ashes, the ashes as you know is the evidence, the certifying of the fact that the work is done, that the fire has done its work. Ashes are always there. Something is burned and there it is in ashes.

What has happened? There's the evidence that fire has done its work. Right? Now God says when he comes to that point he has to be very careful to cover the flesh and he has to put on his linen garment and his linen breeches.

The Priest's Garments and the Judgment of the Flesh

Now that will, that would occupy more time and certainly would be a very important issue as it is here when we would come to chapter 16 and on the day of atonement this is how the high priest was to dress with his linen garment and his linen breeches.

Now just visualize that for a moment. If you go back and I hope and trust we'll have time this afternoon to say something about it. When you go back to Exodus chapter 28 and chapter 29 you were given a preview of the garments of the priest, the garments of the priest and if you look at those two chapters you will find that God approaches the covering of the vessel in exactly the same way as he approached the communication of the tabernacle.

Now you see that's just too much for one moment isn't it? But you have to work at it. You have to work at it. And then in Exodus 28 29 you will see that God commences from the outside and works to the inside.

Right? And the closer he comes to the man's flesh the more white is seen. You got that? Just the same when he's dealing with the tabernacle. The closer you come to the world the more white is seen. Same order.

But what is God teaching? You know what he's teaching? By the time you reach that outer court it's practically all white. There is a bit that's not. There's a blending at the gate. There's that mighty wall of white.

The nearer God comes to the world commencing from his inner presence and moving out. Now he starts on the outside of the priest the way he started with the tabernacle. And the closer he comes to the man's flesh the more white is seen.

And here they are. White garment. Linen garment. And linen breeches. Now of course if we have time we'll come to chapter 8. And God starts on the inside in chapter 8. And the first thing that this man is dressed in is just this very thing.

My brethren you understand what this means and I understand it as well. When you and I handle holy things as I am this afternoon. Whether it be in giving of thanks. Whether it be in the ministry of the word.

Whether it be in the preaching of the gospel. You and I must be very, very, very careful that we know how to judge the flesh. My that's important. On this man's flesh are those garments that speak of the inflexible righteousness of God.

You know that. This linen. This white linen. This fine twine linen that is so prevalent in the tabernacle system has now become the dress of the man that's handling the evidence of the sacrifice made at Calvary.

Putting the two together. And wouldn't it be terrible, beloved, if you and I that handle these holy things were marked by a secret unrighteousness. By an evidence of the flesh that has failed to be covered and judged by the inflexible righteousness of God.

And how many have done that? How many have sinned in that respect? And isn't it a searching thing to know that if God is giving us the privilege this morning to rise in thanksgiving, my life must conform to divine requirements.

My whole being. For I handled holy things. And you did too, young man. And older friend. Didn't you? I trust you had those garments on consciously as you handled the evidence of the work done. Now we have to move quickly.

Much more we could say. But before I leave that, there's a question here. Is there any indication in the Bible as to whether the offerings were only offered during part of the day or were they offered 24 hours a day?

That's a good question. I cannot see anything other than this. That the sacrifice of the morning commenced with the burnt offering to God. And I would think that the evening sacrifice would have been the last offering and that would be God's portion in the evening.

But I would have thought as I look at the Word of God, in any occasion when these offerings are mentioned in 1 Kings chapter 8, for example, and in 2 Chronicles chapter 29, historically, that the operation at the altar was begun by the morning sacrifice and was concluded by the evening sacrifice.

I would feel that that is how I would answer the question. It was governed by the morning and the evening sacrifice. In other words, it was God's portion that initiated the exercise and it's God's portion that concludes the exercise for that day.

In other words, the consciously redeemed Israelite commenced the day knowing that there was something going into the presence of God that met the claims of God for a day. And then he could lie down at night and know that in the evening there was a sacrifice had gone in that satisfied the heart of God even in spite of any failure of his in the day through which he had come.

So I would feel, beloved, that the offerings in any historical occasion were given between the morning and the evening sacrifice. I trust that will help the questioner. Now let us move to verse 14, please, and down to verse 18 very quickly.

The Priest's Constitution and Spiritual Sustenance

Here I'm going to speak about the constitution of the priest, the constitution of the priest. We have had his commandment in the first paragraph, verse 6, verse 8 to 13. Now we're looking at the constitution of the priest.

For God is interested in how his functioning priests are sustained. That's a big subject, isn't it? The food of God for pilgrimage would be a very valuable subject this afternoon. They were just redeemed, you remember, and they fed on the roast lamb and that gave them power to leave an Egyptian world.

And then they were out into the wilderness and God reigned manna from heaven and there it was intended to maintain their pilgrimage through the wilderness. And then they crossed the Jordan and as they do so they eat the old corn of the land.

That doesn't mean it was old in the sense of age. It meant that they had nothing to do about it. It was provided sovereignly of God for them and they possessed inheritance in the strength of the food that God provided.

Now here are men that are going to function for God at the altar. Here are men that are going to function for God in these sacrifices of the various kinds, of the tremendous demand that that will make upon them.

Now says God, I want them to be sustained. I want them to be strengthened and they're going to partake of what is seen here as the meal offering. Verse 15, and he shall take of it his handful of the flour of the meal offering and the oil and the frankincense and so on and he'll put it upon the altar for a sweet savor, a memorial of it unto the Lord.

And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat. Now handful, appropriation, get that simple point. And then shall his sons eat. Aaron and his sons shall eat. That's assimilation. Assimilation.

The handful is his comprehension Godward. What he eats is his assimilation manward. Now I'm sure that we understand that in relation to our privilege. You can't go beyond your comprehension. But as I've said in the nights that are past, I trust that you're deeply exercised for God to increase your capacity, for God to enlarge your hand, that you'll give more to him than you've ever given before.

And in doing so, then you will be sustained by bringing into your own personal experience what you have offered to God. And here's my question now. What are you assimilating? What are you assimilating?

You think of the 24 hours of the day in which you live. And I know you're busy. And I know you have to be busy. And I know that life in its present emergencies and contingencies has all kinds of stringent demands upon you.

But I'm going to ask you again, what are you feeding on? What are you sustaining your soul with? Here is a presentation of Christ in all its perfection that you're going to find in one place and in one place only.

And that's this book. Whether you look at it figuratively, prophetically, historically, or doctrinally, whether you look at the books we're looking at at this moment, or into your prophets, or into your Gospels, or into the epistles, that's where it's going to be God.

Now young men and young women in Christ, what is your assimilation of this vast comprehension of Christ? What is it? Now you don't mind me saying this. I hope you don't mind. I hope you're not offended now.

I've been here a week. And very few have come to me to say anything about what I've been saying. Maybe you were too busy. Maybe you think I'm not approachable. Well I am. And when I come to a place, I measure the status by the reaction of the people of God.

If you were in Malaysia, and Brother Jim here, Brother William Skates, and Brother Greg, or whoever would be menacing the Word of God, you wouldn't get down the aisle until there would be a dozen after you asking you what you said.

And it just concerns me a little bit that one could be here and no one come to the house and say, Bentley, could we have an hour together on the Scriptures? That's strange. Measure your interest, if you allow me to do so, by your reaction.

You understand that? And that concerns me. Have I come, and have I ministered for a week, and hasn't touched you, to move you to come and to inquire closer as to these things? You see, I was just talking to Brother William there.

When I was a young fellow, I made it my concern to meet with the teaching brethren. The last night the great Harry Lacey ever spent in Belfast, I spent it with him. I was only a kid. Only a kid. But I drew from that man, and if I had known that was the last time I was going to see him, I wouldn't have left him.

And I left him at almost 12 o 'clock, and it was two hours or more before I reached home. I had to walk the whole way across Belfast. It did worry me a bit. I had drawn from one of the greatest men ever I had the privilege to look at and to listen, help from God.

Nothing has made more impressions upon me than that man's ministry and powerful God in the life of testimony I have sought to live for these years. Half of you had just a room, a bedroom, and a kitchen, and a little flat.

And after the big conference in Belfast with over hundreds, I walked up to Condie. I said, Mr. Condie, would you come tomorrow for dinner? He said, I wouldn't, brother. He said, what about my friend Will?

And there was the great Mr. William Thru standing there. I said, well, would he come too? He said, love to. Those men home the next night, it was very frugal, but those men sat with me that night in my little room, and I'll never forget it.

Two of the greatest men that God ever raised in my life for ministry and teaching. There I was drawing from them, making friends with them. They were going to be my friends the longest day they lived.

They noted it. They encouraged me. The day would come when I would stand with them. They stood with me. They shared their love. They shared their fellowship. Why? Because as only as we fill it, I knocked at their door.

You see, I have to bring it in personal, and I have to make it real what I mean, brethren. And you see, we're not here to spend the time, you know. And it's a sad thing that when you go, that very, very few are prepared to spend time with you with your book.

And I wonder where the assimilation is coming from. And I wonder what your comprehension is doing. So I trust you'll work at it, because here is the bringing in of Christ to the very being. And you need help on that.

The Priest's Consecration and Devotion

Now quickly, verse 19. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer in the day when he is anointed. Now, this is taking us to his consecration.

This is the consecration of the priest. In the first paragraph, we had his dress. In the second paragraph, we had his diet. In the third paragraph, we have his devotion. The day would come, and it's in chapter 8 of Leviticus, and chapter 9, when these men would be anointed for service for God in a most public way, with all Israel looking on at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And in doing so, here is what God wants from them. Now, that's a big paragraph. I trust you'll take time to look at those few verses and see what God has to teach his servants in this respect. And you and I, you and I have been brought into the good of a divine anointing.

Therefore, we are responsible before God. That is the point, brethren. And that's the point of this extended issue here. And you can see what they're to do. They were to bring not just a handful. That's in the first paragraph of the meal offering.

But now, they have to conform to one of those means that were specified in chapter 2. And as God says here, it shall be bacon, pieces of the meal offering shall thou offer for a sweet savor unto the Lord.

I'm going to take time now. Here's a process. You understand that we're intensifying now the assimilation point. It's not just a handful. Now, it has to be prepared. Because he's being anointed to function for God in the most responsible of positions in Israel.

And God wants from such a person something tangible of time. Something tangible of thought. I'm going to take a form. Now, that's your work. As you work at your Bible, you're going to enter into things about the Savior that are not just simply sitting on the surface.

The Sin Offering and the Holiness of the Priest

Now, quickly. Verse 24. And the Lord speak unto Moses, saying, speak unto Aaron and to his son, saying, this is the law of the sin offering. The place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord.

It is most holy. And that, of course, is a very, very important issue. Now, I would think, brethren, I had a chat with a brother this morning. And I appreciated it very much. I would believe that all the offerings were killed on the north side of the altar.

That point is very important. And it's here stressed again. Because God would never allow even the shadow of the priest to fall upon the sacrifice. And in the morning sacrifice, to kill it on the east side of the altar would have cast a shadow upon the sacrifice.

But on the north side, that never would have happened. Secondly, the north is the place of mystery. The north is the place of darkness, the land of the north. And yet, in that sphere, God has established the work of Calvary to illuminate, to dispel the darkness that we were in, in all our day without Christ.

It's at that very place that has so great significance. That's where the sacrifices were to be killed. And in the place where thou killest the burnt offering, thou shalt kill the sin offering also, on the north side of the altar.

That I believe is very important to it. Isn't it lovely to think of all this presented in relation to what we have already seen in the sin offering? And the priest that offereth shall eat it, verse 26.

And where it is to be eaten, verse 29, and the males among the priests shall eat thereof, it is most holy. Now that's an important issue too, isn't it? We have already mentioned that in relation to the absoluteness of the claims of God upon us that we must eat the sin offering.

I give you examples of that in the ministry. We could look at it in chapter 10 of Leviticus, you remember. And I give you other portions to consider. And really it means this, that you and I have to enter in the fields of the death of the Savior.

What was it that caused Him to die? What was it that brought Him to die? Why must He die? And we understand, and we must never, we must at all times seek to preserve, we must never fall into the trap that sin doesn't matter.

That is a terrible thing in the life of a believer. We must make sure that we preserve our lives and seek divine preservation, more importantly, that we never incur divine displeasure in our lives through sin.

And if we do, we will mourn and repent and get down into the very dust of God as we give examples. Daniel 9, never forget them. Ezra 9, Nehemiah 9, easily remembered, brethren. And listen to those great men and those chanters pour out their grief for their own sin and the sin of the company of Israel.

That's an example, I think, those are three examples that are extra special in the Word of God on this question of eating the sin. Now quickly, chapter 7, verse 1 to 10, the compulsion, rather the compliance of the priest.