24th Portion
[17-23 March 2024]
Theme of the Book of Leviticus:
Life as a priest.
Meaning of "vayikra" = "and He called"
This week's Torah portions:
Sunday: Leviticus 1:1-13
Monday: Leviticus 1:14-2:6
Tuesday: Leviticus 2:7-16
Wednesday: Leviticus 3:1-17
Thursday: Leviticus: 4:1-26
Friday: Leviticus 4:27-5:10
Shabbat: Leviticus 5:11-26 & Isa 43:21-44:23
Apostolic Writings:
Hebrews 10:1-18 & 13:10-15
Daily Bread for Busy Moms:
Isaiah 2-9
Psalms 142-147
Acts 9-14
Welcome to the first portion of Leviticus! I can't believe that we're at the 23rd portion of this reading cycle already!
Remember that the 5 books of the Torah each have their own theme. And they build upon one another to create an overall theme. In Genesis we read about pursuing life. In Exodus we read about becoming a dwelling place for God. And now in Leviticus, we'll read about the instructions on how we should transform our lives so that we could be priests unto the King of kings!
Remember that this priesthood is not a literal one like it used to be in the Old Testament, where they were bound to sacrifices, etc.
When we combine the themes of the first three books - we see that the goal is always LIFE! To choose life and live in a way that will bring forth life. And we bring forth life / choose life when we, ourselves as the modern day temple, become a dwelling place for God. And we can only become a dwelling place for Him when we obey His instructions - in other words, when we live as priests.
We now know that we have to choose life and that we should create a dwelling place for God. And now from Leviticus we can learn more in depth on just how exactly Abba wants us to conform our lives so that we can become priests. Remember that the priests served in the tabernacle (dwelling place).
Although we no longer have to bring physical sacrifices, it's super insightful for us to understand the symbolic meaning behind each of the sacrifices. Blood no longer has to flow, since Yeshua's Blood flowed on the cross and atoned for our sins. However, to apply His Blood to our lives - we should understand the symbolic meaning of the sacrifices and apply the principles to our lives.
We read about five different offerings in the book of Leviticus, namely:
Ascending offering;
Meal offering;
Peace offering;
Sin offering;
Guilt offering.
You can do an in depth study on the spiritual significance on each one of the above, but we'll look at the combined lesson we can learn from these Old Testament instructions. The life of a priest is a life of consecration. The priests made atonement for their sins continuously. Whenever they have sinned, they repented through the offering of their sacrifices.
Thus from this we can learn that we should also repent for our sins continuously. Being born again is a once off thing. But repentance is a continuous, daily thing! It later on become a lifestyle! It's about living a lifestyle of repentance. Whenever we realise that we have sinned, we should repent for our actions and choose life (Genesis), so that we (our lives) could be a dwelling place (Exodus) for God.
When the priests came to do their service at the tabernacle, they first had to wash themselves at the copper laver. In the same manner, we have to wash ourselves with the Blood of Yeshua when we have sinned. Although our salvation is a once of matter. We give our hearts to Yeshua once and that's done. But sanctification is a continual thing. We have to continuously sanctify ourselves as we are fleshly people and we sin often - even when we don't want to. Just like Paul said - the things he wants to do, he doesn't and the things which he doesn't want to do, he does. Repentance is a sanctification matter.
If we are the modern day tabernacle/temple - then the same spiritual principle applies to us today which did back in the time of the physical tabernacle. Whenever there is sin, there had to be atonement. The same applies for us today. When we have sinned, we have to repent and apply Yeshua's Blood to our lives so that our sins can be atoned for. When we sin, we sacrifice our obedience. Obedience brings forth blessing. When we turn away from obedience, we are living in sin. Life as a priest is about living in a continuous lifestyle of repentance. Abba no longer lives in a building or a dwelling place. He now lives in His children's hearts. And if we want Him to dwell in our hearts, I have to ensure that my life is a dwelling place for Him.
This is a constant journey. It has no final destination / arrival whilst we are here on earth. We have to live a life of dying to ourselves. We have to become a living sacrifice unto God!
We cannot have the resurrected life with Yeshua, without first having the sacrificial live with Him as well. Yeshua had to die on the cross so that we could live. In the same way, for us to inherit this salvation - we have to apply what Yeshua has done for us and die to ourselves spiritually as well - so that we could become born again as new creations through Yeshua our Messiah!
A life as a priest starts of with realising that you have to lay down your life. We have to live a crucified life. A life where we can testify that we don't live any longer for ourselves - but only for Yeshua. To know Him and to make Him known! It's a life that's led by faith and not by the physical. As humans we have fleshly desires and Abba has created us with a free will to choose. And we need to realise that this entire process of dying to ourselves and laying ourselves down, does not come naturally to us. It therefore has to be a deliberate choice we make!
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Portion 23: Vayikra (This blog you are reading now)
