Leviticus 3 - Steve Wiggins Daily Devotional

“If his offering is…” Leviticus 3:1
A friend of mine tells the story of the woman who was trying to decide how she should confess her sins. She asked, “Shall I ’fess ’em as I does ’em, or shall I bunch ’em?”
The problem of “bunching” is very much related to our study of the offerings. The offerings of the Torah are something like the tools in a workman’s shop: There is a particular tool for each particular task, and you never use the wrong tool for the task.
The Torah seems to have more offerings than we can count. That can lead to a fair bit of frustration on the part of the modern day Messiah follower, but there is a very important lesson to be learned here, which may help to motivate us in our study of these offerings.

There is no specific Torah-commanded offering, which sums up the entirety of Yeshua’s atonement. Thus, we must see that Messiah’s death, burial and resurrection served to accomplish many different functions, and not just ONE. Basically, through His death and resurrection, Yeshua fulfilled ALL the requirements of the law, which had been parsed-out as several individual offerings.

We tend to “bunch” the benefits of the work of Messiah, rather than considering them one at a time. In so doing, we risk not recognizing the enormity of the blessing of Grace, offered to mankind. One great contribution the Book of Leviticus gives to us is that it names each specific sin…along with the way to be restored to G_d. Through His suffering, we gain greater insight to the intricacy of the atonement that the death of Messiah, the Lamb of G_d, provides.

The pre-Messianic Jewish worshipper would sacrifice the various offerings at prescribed times and he would grasp, to some degree, the blessings G_d had given. With each offering, a particular blessing was attached, but it was not all-encompassing and comprehensive atonement. For us modern believers, ALL the blessings of G_d are realized by ONE offering, made once-for-all by the death of Messiah at Golgotha.

In considering the Torah offerings, we are given the privilege to pause and to focus on the PARTICULAR benefits & blessings we have received in Yeshua’s death & resurrection. And we can thank Him (in our hearts & prayers) for each facet of His atonement, as He reveals them to us when we read His Word.

Blessings,
~Steve Wiggins, Associate Leader, Worship Leader
Shuvah Yisrael
Daily Devotional, Sunday, April 13, 2014