August 20, 2013
SERIOUS SACRIFICE
Numbers 29
Grace Long
Central Truth
The amount of continual sacrifice required for sin in the Old Testament points us to the beauty in the blood of Christ and leads us to repentance.
Key Verse | Numbers 29:32–34
"Then on the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs one year old without defect; and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams and for the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance; and one male goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering." (Numbers 29:32-34)
Numbers 29
Offerings for the Feast of Trumpets
1 On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets, 2 and you shall offer a burnt offering, for a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; 3 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah 1 29:3 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters for the bull, two tenths for the ram, 4 and one tenth for each of the seven lambs; 5 with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you; 6 besides the burnt offering of the new moon, and its grain offering, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offering, according to the rule for them, for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD.
Offerings for the Day of Atonement
7 On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation and afflict yourselves. 2 29:7 Or and fast You shall do no work, 8 but you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma: one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old: see that they are without blemish. 9 And their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram, 10 a tenth for each of the seven lambs: 11 also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the sin offering of atonement, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
Offerings for the Feast of Booths
12 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days. 13 And you shall offer a burnt offering, a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD, thirteen bulls from the herd, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old; they shall be without blemish; 14 and their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each of the two rams, 15 and a tenth for each of the fourteen lambs; 16 also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering.
17 On the second day twelve bulls from the herd, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 18 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in the prescribed quantities; 19 also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
20 On the third day eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 21 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in the prescribed quantities; 22 also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.
23 On the fourth day ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 24 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in the prescribed quantities; 25 also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering.
26 On the fifth day nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 27 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in the prescribed quantities; 28 also one male goat for a sin offering; besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.
29 On the sixth day eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 30 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in the prescribed quantities; 31 also one male goat for a sin offering; besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offerings.
32 On the seventh day seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 33 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, in the prescribed quantities; 34 also one male goat for a sin offering; besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
35 On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly. You shall not do any ordinary work, 36 but you shall offer a burnt offering, a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish, 37 and the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, in the prescribed quantities; 38 also one male goat for a sin offering; besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.
39 These you shall offer to the LORD at your appointed feasts, in addition to your vow offerings and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your grain offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.”
40 3 29:40 Ch 30:1 in Hebrew So Moses told the people of Israel everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Dive Deeper | Numbers 29
Imagine the amount of slaughter! Imagine all that blood! Imagine a life in which we were constantly having to watch blood flow out of living things in order to restore fellowship with the Father. Would we take our sin more seriously if we had to watch the blood flow?
One thing that has surprised me about raising boys has been the amount of bloodshed. Each crash I hear in our home is followed by a decision. Band Aid or ER? It has caused us to develop the "Long No-Glue Policy." If you try to use surgical glue to glue a Long boy back together, he will bust through that glue in the hospital parking garage.
Glue doesn't hurt. It doesn't require the skin being broken again, but in our experience it isn't effective. So we opt for stitches, listen to them scream, and watch them suffer all in the name of healing. When you can do nothing to ease their pain, you can look them in the eyes and comfort them with your presence. It is hard to watch, but it is harder to look away.
There is one Father who watched His Son's blood flow and did look away. It was blood that flowed for my sin.
Our sin doesn't seem that serious to us, so we cover it with glue. We glue it with service or checking off our quiet time. But it is serious. It was paid for at great cost. We no longer watch blood flow from animals, but we can look to the blood that flows from the cross where the Son of God died in our place. The great cost of restoring relationship with the Father should remind us of the seriousness of our sin and lead us to repentance.
There is nothing more serious than a Father allowing His Son to bleed to death for us.
"[A]nd not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:12)
Discussion Questions
1. How seriously do you take your sin?
2. Do you use the Word of God to evaluate the sin in your heart, or do you compare yourself with others?
3. What type of "glue" do you use to try to put yourself back together to make yourself acceptable to God?