The Supernatural Stream

The Offerings according to Moselle

Hi! it's Moselle! As you know I'm doing the “through the Bible reading plan” and I read about the  offerings today in Leviticus  and they are so powerful! So I'm going to tell you about them.

In the Bible we have: The Burnt offering ,The Grain offering, The Peace offering, The Sin offering, & The Guilt offering.

Let’s start with the Burnt offering. This offering had to be totally burnt up in smoke on the altar. This means that God wants me totally like the animal. So that is every day and not just on Sunday.  The Priest had to clean the ashes of the offering every day in his Holy undergarments! That's special!

And then we have the Grain offering. Aaron’s sons presented this to the Lord. This is a mixture of grain, olive oil and sprinkled with incense. It can be the harvest grain or the young green shoots.  Pretty cool right? This represents that at any season whether you are nine and working at the roasting room or you are receiving your retirement check, just keep giving to God! Whatever you have, and whatever the season of your life-- Give! Give! Give!

Then we have the Peace offering. Peace to God means that everything is in his order. If you were God you would want to have everything in your order right? I mean I would if I were! If God gave you something cool like a motorcycle, you would give him something back right? That is telling God you know where it came from! Right? So anyway that's the peace offering.

Then we have the Sin offering. Again you sin. This I think is even worse! The animal sacrificed here has to be perfect! IT MUST! Because you sinned BAD!! BAD TO THE BONE! Hehe..... Anyway back to the story. So it’s a valuable thing to sacrifice! Right? You know its not good..... you know....... that you sinned against God! But its normal. It’s ok! He will always forgive you, but usually sin will cost you something. That's the sin offering.

     And then we have the Guilt offering.  It’s like the cherry on top of the sin offering. This offering costs something very valuable. So in the Bible they say: give me “the ram” not “a ram” but “the ram”. Because it is the main guy in the flock. He is the one that makes the little lambs and that makes the shepherd rich.  So we know that it will cost something valuable in our future. But for us he might say: (this is just an example) Give me your house! (because that's what’s valuable now days) or your car!

In the Bible they say you “unintentionally” sinned, but I don't know what that means so I'm just gonna put “sinned”. Anyway, back to the story. Because you sinned is why you have to give it up! I think this Guilt Offering means that this kind of sin will cost you something of your future.

All these offerings help you understand what will make God happy with your life. So I hope you enjoyed my “TRUE” story. Thank for listening to God’s word spoken through me!

Bye!  Love,                                                                                                   Moselle

Some Helpful Information for Leviticus

Here are some Photos and videos for this month's reading

Exodus describes the building of the Tabernacle in the WIlderness.  A few years ago, our friend Dr. Randall Smith built an exact replica of the Tabernacle, and set it up in a desert setting near the Dead Sea just south of Jericho.  For many years the Tabernacle in the Wilderness Study Center provided many students a realistic model of the structure, and a quiet place to mediate on how we are to approach God.

Here are a few photos taken by us over the years.

 

The court yard of the Tabernacle featured a bronze laver, an altar for the sacrifices, a place for the preparation of the animals, and the Tent of Meeting.

 

 

The Bronze Laver was a place of cleansing- something required before a meeting with God.

 

The animals were brought to the Tabernacle (Leviticus 1) and prepared for sacrifice.  Sharp knives were required!

 

The Altar was for burning the sacrifice.

The Olah offering (Burnt Offering) was a completely consumed offering, painting the picture of us giving it all to God.

 

 Inside the Tent of Meeting, was a 7 candle Menorah which represented the "Light of The World" which Jesus used later to describe Himself.

The Table of Shewbread was a place to keep some of the Manna.  It was a reminder of God's provision to His people.

The Table of Incense was a reminder of how our prayers go up to God.

The Ark was the place where Atonement took place.  Dr. Smith used the designers of the Paris Disneyland to make this copy of the Ark, and the Gold used was over $10,000.00.

How do we understand all this?  Here is one suggestion:

An excerpt from Echoes Into Eternity

“As we come into the Scriptures and try to understand what is going on in the pages, we have to realize when I open my Bible, I step out of my 21st century world and go to another culture in another time.  So it is a little more than just reading it and believing it. Mark Twain is the one who said, “We know a lot of things that just ain’t so.”

“The reality is this: There is not one word of Scripture written to me personally, but every word of Scripture was written for me.”

“When God spoke, He spoke to a specific people at a specific time in a specific place to benefit me much later- but not to me.  He said it to them in a way that they would understand it.  I’ve got to do something more than just read it and believe it. 

It’s like putting a tea bag into hot water- I’ve got to allow the Scripture to permeate my “water” and change who I am by the principles involved in it. It is the principle behind the cultural practice that I am after.  What everlasting truth can I draw from this story that is relevant and applicable to my life today? We believe that there is a simple and direct manner to understand Scripture.

 We call it:

The Principle Approach to Scripture.

Look at a simple example from Leviticus 1:

 Then ‍the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,  “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an ‍offering to the Lord, you shall bring your ‍‍offering of animals from ‍the herd or the flock.

  ‘If his offering is a ‍burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male ‍without defect; he shall offer it ‍at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord.                                             Leviticus 1:1-3

In verse one, we see God calling out to Moses.  From this I know God often takes the initiative in His fellowship with mankind.  This is an important principle for me to remember when I am feeling far from God.

In verse two, God orders the people to bring an offering from their own herd or flock.  I can conclude that God wants me to return to Him some of the things He has freely given me.  This is a good principle of relationship between God and me, and an important principle of God’s economics. 

In verse three, God says to bring an animal without defect.  From this I see God wants my best; He will not be happy with a half-hearted response from me.  If He asks me to give $100 to the missionaries, He will not be pleased if I give only $50. If I am to paint the widow’s house, He wants me to use the best paint I can afford.

According to some teachings, I could throw out Leviticus by saying “We are not under the Law!”, but I then would miss many of God’s Truths that apply very well to my life today.  If we read the Scriptures, searching for the principles and truths behind the specific cultural practices, then we begin to receive life from the Word of God, not just dusty, out-of-date commandments.”

One thing to realize is that the Bible is a library of 66 books.  This library, like many modern libraries, contains different types of literature.  The “Type” of literature determines the steps to take to understand and extract the everlasting truths and principles.  Let’s face it, we read a court document much different that we would read the lyrics to a love song.  It is the same with the Bible. 

Read the entire article "The Bible Through First Century Eyes"

Since we are wandering around the desert in  Exodus & Leviticus & Numbers, here are some pictures of a recent trip to the Negev Desert.

We also have a video of  that trip in a YouTube format at the bottom of the page.  Enjoy!!!

These scenes are from a trip to the Negev Desert in southern Israel. The Camel Team included Pat & Kandi Obrien, Carlie & Luke Broadhurst, Moselle, Arielle, Lukas, and Mikaela Bagby, Shai (our guide) as well as Laura & Maik Bagby.

Seek The Lamb