Behind the Scenes of Biblical Scenes, Pt. 5
Study Guide, September 15, 2024
Pastor Clay Olsen
When is the last time you had a conversation about the four stages of wound healing? Say what? Well, we have all talked about the healing of our wounds or cuts and such from time to time. With kids, all you have to do to get them talking is to ask them about their ‘Boo boos’ and ‘Ouchies’….or tell them about your ‘Ouchies’. But, once again, even the healing process of ‘ouchies’ or wounds is just another testament to the wonders and awesome ways that our Creator has made us…has made the human body.
Last time we pointed out the marvels of the workings of the human eye, which is second only to the brain in its complexity. But even the most common part, and most extensive part of the human body, is marvelous beyond description. We’re talking about ‘our skin’. For when skin is wounded, either accidentally or surgically, the body sets into motion four stages of wound healing.
The first stage is Hemostasis. As soon as there is a wound to the skin, the blood vessels constrict to reduce blood flow. And clotting agents are sent to the site of the wound to seal the broken vessels. The second stage of wound healing is Inflammation. In this stage white blood cells rush to the wound area to clean up and absorb damaged cells. That’s why the skin feels warm to the touch, with that battalion of little cell soldiers rushing around the wound site. You can also think of them as like little Pac Man cells gobbling up the bad bacteria and such. Then the third stage is Proliferation. The body sends fiber type cells to begin filling in the wound. It is also called ‘Granulation’, as these collagen cells connect with each other to fill in the damaged area. And this process continues and expands into the fourth stage of Remodeling. Sounds like a house remodeling job. This is where more collagen fibers work to rebuild tissue and remodel the wounded area.
Fascinating, right? Makes us think of the Psalmist’s words of Ps 139:14- “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.” NASU Everybody should know it very well, because the wonders of the human body can only be explained through the wonder working of the Creator of the human body!
But now, just like there are four stages of wound healing for human skin, there are five stages of healing for the human soul. And we first see them outlined for us in everyone’s favorite devotional book – the Book of Leviticus! What? Isn’t that your go-to book for your personal devotions? Well, yes, Leviticus is a bit technical with its many instructions of ceremonial laws and dietary laws and daily health laws and such. But still, there is a fascinating section which reveals the provisions for how the wounds of the soul can be healed, not only for now, but for all eternity. These five stages of soul healing were in fact, previews and symbols that all found their fulfillment in the healer of souls Himself, our Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals. And our God heals not only human bodies, but also, and foremost, human souls. Plus, they still hold powerful principles for us to practice in our own lives today for keeping our soul healthy and equipped for helping others as well.
So, let’s take a look behind the scenes of these five stages of soul healing that we find in Leviticus. And remember, these five ‘Offerings’ were foremost symbols that served like neon lights for nearly 1500 years pointing to the One who would fulfill all of these offerings in His life and ministry as our only Savior and God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Which is another fact that is very helpful and inspiring for us, God’s people, to know and to think about as we walk through the pages of the Scriptures…that behind the scenes of nearly everything we see in the Bible is our glorious Messiah. As has been pointed out: You can write one word across the whole of your Bible – Redemption. The message of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation is the message of Redemption…Redemption by our God who loves us so much that He came to redeem us from the penalty and the power and even one day, the very presence of sin. No wonder that great hymnwriter, Fanny Crosby wrote: “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child, and forever I am.”
So, here we go. Now if we were to thoroughly walk through each of these five stages or offerings, it could turn into a series on its own. So we’re going to just highlight some of the remarkable teachings and symbols of these stages of soul healing. But one thing to note right away is that each offering points to a specific ministry of Jesus and of His fulfillment of these offerings.
Again, the purpose of these offerings was that they provided a temporary way that the people could experience healing in their souls through having their sins forgiven and have themselves restored to fellowship with God. These offerings, or sacrifices, were necessary until, as is stated in Gal 4:3-7- “So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” NASU
Speaking of “Abba! Father!”…Can you believe the Creator and Lord of the Universe wants you and me to call Him ‘Abba! Father!? He does! In fact, long before you ever knew God as your personal Lord and Savior, God longed for the day when you would call Him ‘Father’…call Him ‘Abba’, your Creator, Redeemer, Savior…Father. J.I. Packer stated that what comes into your mind when you think about God as your Father is the most important thing about you. What comes into your mind when you think about God as being your Heavenly Father?
If you will let into your mind what God has said about how He thinks and feels about you…it will change your life. It will bring solace where there is stress. It will bring comfort where there is crisis. It will bring peace where there are problems. It will bring encouragement where there is discouragement…all when you begin to let yourself believe that your Heavenly Father does love you more than the height of the heavens above the earth, when you let yourself believe that your Heavenly Father delights to show mercy to you, when you let yourself believe that your Heavenly Father takes pleasure in each of your attempts to please Him, even as imperfect as those attempts are, knowing that there is forgiveness with God, so that you can freely fellowship with Him and serve Him…Oh yes, it will definitely change your life now and forever.
Now then, back to the sacrifices. Yes, the animal sacrifices were serious and startling…but they were absolutely necessary in order to bring healing to the soul, for they symbolized that the sentence of sin was death, and that one day the final sacrifice would die in order that we could live. So the first offering was The Burnt Offering. Lev 1:3-4- “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. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf.” NASU One thing we see in these offerings is that they were to be without defect. Again, every instruction about their present sacrifice had a connection with a characteristic of the coming Savior. Do you remember what Peter said about Jesus? 1 Peter 1:18-19 – “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” NASU The Old Covenant animal sacrifices were to symbolize the New Covenant sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who was without defect…sinless, and therefore able to cover our sins with His sinless blood.
‘Cover’? That’s what ‘Atonement’ refers to…a covering for our sins. For thousands of years, animal sacrifices ‘covered’ or ‘atoned’ for the sins of the people. It was a temporary covering…until the final sacrifice would accomplish something even more than covering their sins, and ours. Oh yes, Jesus’ sacrifice still covers or atones for our sin, but when Jesus came, He did something else that could never have been done through the symbol sacrifices of the Old Testament. When John the Baptist introduced Jesus as the Lamb of God, he said something that could have never been said before that time. Notice: John 1:29- “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” NASU That was the first time that a sacrificial lamb, this time a human sacrificial Lamb, was declared able to ‘take away’ people’s sins. Now, the Scapegoat sacrifice symbolically ‘carried away’ people’s sins, but it was impossible for any animal sacrifice to literally ‘take away’ people’s sins from their soul. Note: Heb 10:4-7- For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'” NASU
Plus, the offeror also laid his hand upon the offering, as a sign of complete identification with the offering as being a substitute for himself or herself. Yes, Jesus is our Lord and Savior, but He is also our Lord and Substitute. He both lived and died in our place…in place of us…instead of us. When you think – “Jesus died for me”, you need to add – “Jesus died because of me.” Those sins that put Jesus on the Cross, and for which Jesus died, were not just someone else’s sins…those were your sins and my sins that put Jesus on the Cross and for which He died. It was our sins that put Jesus on the Cross…but it was Jesus’ love for us that held Him there…held Him there until the redemption price was paid in full. And in pronouncing “It is finished”, He then gave up His life in death in order to remove the penalty and the power and one day even the presence of sins from our lives.
If there had been only two crosses on the hill of Calvary that day, we would still be under the penalty and the power and the presence of our sins. But on the third Cross was a Substitute…our Substitute. When we ask Jesus to come into our life and be our Savior, Jesus comes into our life as both our Savior and our Substitute. We will never have to bear the penalty of our sins because Jesus bore that penalty for us, as our Substitute. His sacrifice both covers our sins and also takes them away…as in never having to be condemned because of them. That’s why the Apostle rejoiced in stating: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Rom 8:1 NASU
And here’s another remarkable thing about this Burnt Offering for the covering of sins. For those who were poor and not able to provide a bull or sheep offering, they could bring doves or pigeons. Why does that sound familiar? Luke 2:22-24- “And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “EVERY firstborn MALE THAT OPENS THE WOMB SHALL BE CALLED HOLY TO THE LORD”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “A PAIR OF TURTLEDOVES OR TWO YOUNG PIGEONS.” NASU
Just think…the Owner of the Universe let His Son be born into a family that was so poor that they could not afford to offer a bull or a lamb for their sacrifice. The King of kings and Lord of lords grew up in a poor family, with little materially, but with everything spiritually. 2 Cor 8:9- “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” NASU This is just another picture of how Jesus has come for everyone and for anyone who will come to Him to receive His forgiveness and His life. He will even give to us the riches of Heaven and Earth.
As you can tell, we are not going to get through all of the five offerings today, but we will get through this next offering: The Grain Offering. Lev 2:1-2- “Now when anyone presents a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it. He shall then bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests; and shall take from it his handful of its fine flour and of its oil with all of its frankincense. And the priest shall offer it up in smoke as its memorial portion on the altar, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord.” NASU
Also, the offering included something Southerners are going to love. Look at this: Lev 2:16- “The priest shall offer up in smoke its memorial portion, part of its grits and its oil with all its incense as an offering by fire to the Lord.” NASU How about that? So God loves grits, too? There you go! So you can add grits to the menu at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Plus, we know the Lord loved seafood, so maybe one of the dishes will be ‘Shrimp and Grits’!
What’s going on here? Actually, a whole lot is going on here, but one thing that’s not going on is that this offering is not about atoning for sins, but about thanksgiving to God. This was the worshipper’s opportunity to share a ‘thanksgiving meal’ with God. Except, the worshipper offered every part of it to God as a symbol that everything that he or she owns has been provided by God and belongs to God. In a similar way, our practice of tithing or grace giving unto God is similar to this Grain Offering or Thank Offering. In our giving a portion of what we have, we are recognizing that we are ‘Stewards’ or ‘Managers’ of what truly belongs to God, since God is the actual owner of all things. Yes, Praise God, He credits us with the labor that we do. God credits us with the service we offer to Him. God credits us with the good works we do with all He has provided. But, as children of God, we still understand that God is the real Owner of all that we have. Even what we do have is due to the gracious provision and power God gives us to do what we do. We understand what God revealed to His people in Deut 8:18- “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth.” NASU We are to clearly understand that our very talents and aptitudes and abilities all come as gifts from God to us all…not to mention our very ‘breath’!
So again, this ‘Thank Offering’ for God’s people was a special way of giving thanks and rededicating their lives…their time, their talents, and their treasures to their loving God, who gave them good gifts to enjoy and to share. And we can still practice this very offering in our own lives in our stewardship habits. That’s why we say that our whole life should be a ‘Thank Offering’ to our God. When you give of your time, and your talents, and your treasures unto the Lord, it’s like you are there in Leviticus offering your Grain offerings, your Thank offerings to the Lord.
And as you are doing that, do you know how your God is responding? It says that when you give your offerings of your service and your abilities and your finances unto the Lord, He receives it like a ‘soothing aroma’ unto Him. It’s like when you come into the room where a thanksgiving feast has been prepared and you say, “Oh my, that smells so good. I can’t wait to enjoy this feast!” Well, this passage in Leviticus 2 tells us that’s how God responds to your thank offerings as well. We certainly love what God gives to us. But how great to know that God loves what we give to Him, in our time, and talents, and treasures. How amazing that you and I can bring to God, our Heavenly Father, that much joy and that much pleasure.
So here we have another ‘behind the scenes’ scene that we should be seeing. As you serve the Lord and give of yourself to the Lord in a ‘Thank offering’ to the Lord, remember to think about, and through your eyes of faith, to see God’s response to you. Remember how God receives it all. Remember to see your Heavenly Father’s smile as He enjoys your offerings as being like a soothing aroma to Him. And then think about this: Making God smile is all the motivation you will ever need to worship and serve Him with your ‘Thank offerings’ day by day. And as you do, your own soul will grow even healthier and more and more whole.
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