Numbers 28

CHAPTERS 28 AND 29THEME: Law of the offeringsNow that Israel is prepared to enter the Promised Land by a new census which mustered the able-bodied men for warfare, and by the appointment of Joshua as commander, its spiritual life is dealt with. The offerings have already been instituted, but here, for the sake of completeness, all the national sacrifices which were to be offered during the whole year are reviewed. Because in Leviticus we looked at these offerings in detail, we will only touch on certain points here that are particularly interesting and meaningful. Why did God spend so much time with the details of these offerings? Very candidly, it is rather tedious. This is especially true in our day when we do not offer bloody sacrifices. And it must have been tedious for them also. I marvel at how meticulous things had to be for the offering unto God. Why is there such detail? The reason is so wonderful that I wouldn’t want you to miss it for anything in the world. It is actually the preciousness of Christ that is brought to our attention herein fact, the abiding preciousness of Christ.

Numbers 28:1

LAW OF THE OFFERINGSNotice the emphasis"My offering …my bread …my sacrifice …unto me." You recall from the Book of Leviticus that there were two kinds of offerings. Of the five offerings, three of them were sweet savor offerings; two of them were non-sweet savor offerings. The sweet savor offerings represented the person of Christ; the non-sweet offerings speak of the work of Christ in redemption for you and me. Now here God is talking about sweet savor offerings, and He calls them My offerings. These offerings represent not what Christ has done for us, or our thoughts of Him, but they speak of what God thinks of Him. Now what does this mean to you and me? We hear a lot today about worship and worship services. But how much is true worship in our services? How much is just aimless activity? Real worship is when we think God’s thoughts after Him. This sweet savor offering which God speaks of as My offering, My bread, My sacrifice, represents what God thinks of Christ.

God is satisfied with what Christ did for you and me on the cross. What about you? Are you satisfied with what Christ did for you on the cross? Are you resting in that today? His invitation is “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat_11:28). Have you brought your burden of sin to Him and received Him as your Savior?

Are you satisfied with who He is? If He is not the Son of God, then what He did is absolutely meaningless. True worship is a recognition of who He is and an adoration of His Person. In other words, it is thinking God’s thoughts after Him.

Numbers 28:3

That burnt offering, speaking of the Person of Christ, all went up in smoke; it all ascended to God. And this is the aspect of this sacrifice that is all important. When we come to chapter 29, we find it is a continuation of the laws of the offerings. God wanted His people to come to Him with joy on these wonderful, high, holy days, the feast days. The exception was the Day of Atonement.