COVENANT

COVENANT

The blood of young bulls. (Picture of Jesus)

The offerings are revealed in great detail and their significance explained in the first 7 chapters of Leviticus.

Each offering has its fulfillment in the life and sanctification of the 'royal priesthood' and 'holy nation' of the New Covenant that applies to us today.

The 5 offerings of Leviticus 1-7 are a picture of our full salvation in Jesus Christ, who became all 5 for us at Calvary.

We also must experience all 5 in order to move on to full maturity in Christ.

Every Old Testament priest had to know how to make an offering unto God.

In the New Testament we are ALL called to be priests, not just those 'in ministry' or those who have the 5 fold ascension gifts of Ephesians 4:11-12. Sadly, this is much misunderstood in the church!

For every Old Testament offering there is a New Testament counterpart. For every shadow of the Old there is substance in the New.

1. THE BURNT OFFERING (Leviticus 1)

This involves our complete and total surrender to the will of the Father.

Every priest must have something to sacrifice to God. We have ourselves! He requires our all!

THE GRAIN OFFERING (Leviticus 2)

The full consecration to God of our material possessions and our natural gifts.

THE SIN OFFERING (Leviticus 4)

Faith in Jesus, whom has become the 'sin offering' on our behalf so that we might become righteous in God's sight.

THE GUILT OFFERING

A life of sanctification, separated unto God, and of being reconciled with our Christian brothers and sisters in love, forgiveness and acceptance.

The Sabbath (Day of rest)

A picture of our rest in Christ - not just one day a week but the full 7 plus eternity, living by God's guidance, not our own efforts.

Keeping the Sabbath is the seal or sign of the Mosaic Covenant. Unfortunately many Christians today observe the sign but miss or misunderstand the substance of entering into God's rest through the baptism of the Holy Spirit to which this sign points. We are religious rather than relational with God.

The fullness of our inheritance belongs to those who will enter into the rewards of the 1000 year kingdom of God on earth when they will reign with Jesus as kings and priests.

The sabbath is but a shadow, the reality is found in Jesus Christ.

God is not honoured or glorified by observing the natural shadows, but rather, in our becoming like Jesus.

I understand that this is difficult for many to accept.

The righteousness of the Law has not been abolished.

But rather, fulfilled in Christ who alone is our righteousness.

1. The Passover
2. Deliverance from Egypt.
3. Giving of the Law.
4. Building of Moses Tabernacle.
5. Separation of the Levites as priests.
6. 40 years wandering in the desert.
7. Entry to the Promised Land.

The final Old Testament covenant, directly pointing the way to the coming of Jesus 1000 years later.

The key area of the Mosaic Covenant for us today is found in the 5 offerings. For they point the way to maturity in Christ.

Sadly, with our emphasis on conversion, upon being 'born again', the necessity to mature in Christ in order to reap the full rewards our salvation, is too often overlooked.

12 BASIC FACTS ABOUT THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

1. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947-1956 in 11 caves (5 by Beduin; 6 by archaeologists) on the upper northwest shore of the Dead Sea. The area is 13 miles east of Jerusalem, and is -1300 ft. below sea level (Jerusalem is +2400 ft. above sea level).

2. Near the caves are the ancient ruins of Qumran, which was excavated in the early 1950's and appears to be connected with the Scrolls.

3. The Scrolls appear to be the library of a Jewish sect which was hidden away in caves around the outbreak of the Jewish-Roman War (66 C.E.). Archaeological evidence indicates the settlement had been inhabited since about 150 B.C.E.

4. The sect has most often been identified with the Essenes, who are mentioned by the historian Josephus and are in a few other sources, but are not in the N.T. They were an intensely messianic, apocalyptic, baptist, wilderness, new covenant group, led by a priest they called the "Teacher of Righteousness" who was opposed and possibly killed by the establishment priesthood in Jerusalem.

5) The Scrolls so far discovered represent a library of over 900 documents representing as many as 350 separate works in multiple copies, many of which are represented only by fragments. Cave 4 alone contained 520 texts in 15,000 fragments.

6) This library contains copies of the Scriptures (Isaiah Scroll), copies of other non-canonical books known to us (Enoch), and holy writings which the group itself produced (rules of faith, commentaries on Scriptures, and many other fascinating works otherwise unknown to us). In Cave 3, there was one Copper Scroll found, which contains a list of 64 hiding places where gold, silver, sacred objects, and other scrolls were hidden.

7) The major intact texts, from Caves 1 & 11, came into Israeli hands and were published by the late 1950's--they are now in the Shrine of the Book museum in Jerusalem.

8) The bulk of the scrolls were in Jordanian control and were placed with a team of Christian (mostly Catholic--no Jewish) scholars who over the next four decades published eight volumes of material. The team was left intact by the Israelis after the Six Day War (1967). The publication schedule was constantly delayed and many outsiders found the official team to be arrogant and unyielding. The team was expanded in the 1980's and was much more broadly based, finally including Jewish scholars and a more open approach to sharing materials.

9) As much as 40% of the Scrolls, mostly fragments from Cave 4, remained unpublished and unreleased (photos), until pressure mounted in the 1980's. A breakthrough occurred in the Fall, 1991: the photos were published by the Biblical Archaeological Society in a non-official edition; a computer reconstruction, based on a concordance, was announced; the Huntington library pledged to open their microfilm files of all the scroll photographs.

10) The Scrolls are of great interest to both Jews and Christians. They represent a non-rabbinic form of Judaism, and also contain many important parallels to the Jesus movement. Final interpretations of these materials, with the newly released Scrolls fully factored in, remains open.

11) Scrolls related to those found in the caves around Qumran were also found at Masada, the Herodian fortress taken over by Jewish Zealots after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and finally taken by the Romans in 73 C.E.

12) An ostracon (inscribed pottery sherd) containing a 16 lineletter written in 68 C.E. by someone giving their property over to the community was discovered at the site of Qumran in January, 1996.