Exodus 29:38-46, “Now this is what you
shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day regularly. (39)
One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall
offer at twilight. (40) And with the first lamb a tenth measure of
fine flour mingled with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin
of wine for a drink offering. (41) The other lamb you shall offer at twilight,
and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering, as in the
morning, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. (42)
It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the
entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to
speak to you there. (43) There I will meet with the people of Israel,
and it shall be sanctified by my glory. (44) I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the
altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. (45) I
will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. (46)
And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out
of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.”
In the above verses God gives to the people of Israel the instruction
to offer sacrifices at the start and the end of each and every day. They are
commanded to do this every day and to do it continuously, through all their
generations. Why does God give this instruction, especially considering the
value of a lamb?
There are several reasons as to why God institutes this practice.
Firstly the people are to learn that God is to be worshipped from sunrise to
sunset, their day begins and ends with worship, it is to be framed by worship.
They need to learn that worship is not just what takes place on the Sabbath or
during particular festivals and feasts, rather their worship of God is to be
continuous. They are to worship God as much in the temple courts as they do in
their homes or places of work. They are to seek to glorify, honour, obey and
trust God in all things and in all places. They are to be a people who give
themselves whole-heartedly and daily to the worship of God.
Secondly it is to remind them that God is worthy of worship and worthy
of receiving that which is first, best and that which is of great value. They
start the day by first giving praise to God, by first offering up food offerings
before they partake of food, and again at the end of the day in thanksgiving
for God’s daily provision of their needs. Its purpose is to put the people’s
perspective in the right place at the start of the day and at the end of the
day. God is first, God’s receives thanks first, God receives from us first and
God is to be thanked and worshipped for all that He gives to us.
Thirdly, it is to remind them of the holiness of God and their own
sinfulness. We cannot make it through a single day, or night without sinning in
some way, shape or form, and thus there is the need for us to constantly approach
God and seek after His forgiveness. The people of Israel were to offer up these
burnt offerings each and every day as an acknowledgement of God’s holiness,
their sinfulness and to then seek after His forgiveness. It was a daily
reminder to them, of their great and constant need of God’s grace.
Fourthly, they were to offer up these sacrifices on a daily basis in
joy and thanksgiving, because God was amongst them, He was their God, and they
were His people. God had placed His special blessing upon them as a nation, and
the tabernacle and the tabernacle worship served to constantly remind them of
this fact. It is also served to warn them against sin and against taking this
special position for granted. God was only present because of His grace, and
not because of their greatness, therefore God could remove His presence and
hand of blessing at any moment. Thus they were to live constantly conscious of
the fact that they lived in the presence of God, and should therefore live in
holiness, fear and trembling. They were to live in such a manner that their individual
lives and their national life displayed their obedience and love towards God,
and pointed the nations around them to the greatness, truth and glory of God.
For us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ the challenges and
lessons are much the same. By God’s grace, we do not need to offer up
sacrifices in the morning and the evening, because Christ is our great
sacrifice, His one sacrifice is sufficient for every day. But it is just as
important for us to start and end each day with repentance for sin and then
with the worship, adoration and acknowledgement of God, of who He is, His
provision, grace, faithfulness, holiness and goodness. This worship is to shape
the rest of our day, whereby the chief desire of our hearts should be to live
for the glory of God, not taking our special position as God’s children for
granted, but rather wanting to give a good account. We desire to live so as to
show that we live our lives in the presence and worship of God and it is our
joy to daily point people to the glory and grace of God as revealed through the
person and work of Jesus Christ.
Holy Father, we come to You in humility and
confess our sins, we know that we have strayed from You and Your ways in the
past 24 hours, thus we ask once more for grace to cleanse us. Thank You that in
Christ we have found and received this grace, thank You for the joy this brings
us today. We pray that through the working of Your Spirit You will enable us to
live lives of worship today, so that we will honour, obey and glorify You in
all things and in doing so point others to the Lord Jesus Christ. May You and
You alone be the centre of our lives today. Amen.
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