What We Should NOT Do?It is certain that we should not be blatantly disobedient to the Law of YHVH. Immediately the demand is created for line drawing, that is, just where does the Law begin and end? Where are we to draw the lines?
The bottom line: Will we be held as guilty, damned and deficient before the Almighty because we eat bacon on our cheeseburger? (Some even draw their line at putting cheese on the burger!)
More on this later...
First, we need to speak of the Laws and Ordinances pertaining to the Feast Days. As we read about these Feasts in the Scriptures, we find they are riddled with sacrifices and offerings.
There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether we should kill sacrifices...well, in a way we do!
Throughout the history of Think Red Ink Ministry, around the beautiful presentation tables set on the first evenings of the Feast of Tabernacles, there have been many smiling faces. Every year we set these gorgeous tables of the finest our money can buy and that hands can prepare. Ladies have hurried to make their finest culinary crafts and set the table with their best offerings.
This table and its contents is our gift to Jehovah...but, included are six or eight very unhappy turkeys! I don't mean to make light of this just for the sake of levity...but, it IS something to consider.
Ten minutes of this kind of consideration and I'll return to vegetarianism.
So, how are we to consider this death at our table?
Our Feast tables are to be places of mirth and joy, gathering and life. How is it they still are punctuated with the death of innocents? How is it we, who are freed from sacrifices to redeem our souls, are still killing...still sacrificing to ourselves?
An Appointment with Death
Our "enlightened" society has far removed the bloody butcher's knife from the post-modern kitchen. In doing so, we have removed the realities and necessities of death from the sight of many who could benefit from such knowledge.
What animals must die so you can live? How many pairs of lungs having the breath of Jehovah in them have stopped on your behalf? What living creatures have given their lives so that you could continue living?
I know these are unpleasant thoughts; but, it only shocks when we are so far removed from the reality of life - and death!
No doubt, there will be death at the table today (look for it - it's there). There will be death at the table tomorrow, and something will stop living so you can survive. It becomes evident that "sacrifices" occur every day on behalf of the human race. This concept is so prevalent, encompassing, and universal there must be something we can learn from it.
Where did the idea of killing and eating animals begin? It all began at the beginning:
"And God ... said to Noah, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." (Genesis 9:1-4)
I don't know if this was a change in the mind or plan of Jehovah, but it seems that after mankind was redeemed, a consumable sacrifice was instituted. Just as the children of Israel were commanded to consume the Passover lamb in lieu of their firstborn, another sacrifice was instituted which involved death and subsequent consumption.
At the Feast of Tabernacles, we are compelled to bring these food offerings to Jehovah. He, in turn, gives them back to us and invites us to consume and enjoy!
Every Levitical priest of the day (along with his family) was commissioned to eat many of the sacrifices given to Jehovah. Killing, followed by death, followed by preparation, and then consumption for purpose of redemption (whether our bodies or souls) equals sacrifice - like it or not.
Is this behavior to continue? Are you ready to draw a line?
A line of demarcation that is readily apparent is revealed in the operations INSIDE the Temple. Anyone other than the consecrated Priests who attempted to carry out these ordinances was punished by death. It was considered a blasphemous act of sacrilege. Clearly these actions were to be carried out by the Priest only.
I think these sacrifices are separate (both physically and theologically) from the average man. I believe it is safe to build upon the premise that we are the Temple of God. This Temple is US - the body of Christ. I also think there is plenty of Scriptural evidence and well established doctrine that Christ came to sit as High Priest in the Temple of the Lord:
"And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." (Zechariah 6:12-13)
"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up ... But he spake of the temple of his body." (John 2:19-21)
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?... for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19)
"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:16)
It is simple to make the connective parallel between the Temple and the present-day body of Christ. We can also see that all of the blood sacrifices occurred INSIDE the Temple. Our Messiah clearly satisfied the sacrificial requirements as well as those of the High Priest!
It should be obvious that today we are not held to the accomplishing any of the Law pertaining to Temple sacrifices since this activity was carried on INSIDE of the Temple, the dwelling place only of YHVH and His High Priest and Son, Jesus Christ. Things changed with the death of Messiah and now these acts are done once - eternally - by Jesus, our Messiah. Any action toward any other sacrifice would be an absolute insult to the work of Christ's Spirit within us, and clearly classified as "...despite to the Spirit of Grace...".
So, we see that the Laws of Sacrifice have not been abolished. Either they have been continued in the innocuous form of commonplace butchering of animals for food, or have been thoroughly and eternally satisfied in Christ Jesus. After all, we must reconcile our thinking with the RED words, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (Matthew 5:17)
Unfortunately, in either case, we (as a society) have nearly forgotten the Law, its implications, and its necessity. We no longer consider the death of animals (as we munch on our Big Macs) in order to sustain our lives. Worse, we do not remember the blood of Messiah (that has yet to even dry in the mind of His Father) as it drips from the Mercy Seat of the Ark.
We forget because we are so far removed from the reality of death! At one time, the whole world operated upon the principal that something had to die so that another may live.
Through our life-giving sustenance, the Lord YHVH instituted a daily reminder of that truth; but, alas, in our society, we must settle for our children going on a farm field trip at least once during a twelve-year education in order that they may no longer live under the delusion that milk comes from a plastic jug at Wal-Mart.
Our pulpiteers have been successful in teaching the so-called "Grace Message" intellectually separating the congregation from the Old Testament Holy Days and sacrifices. As a result, many claiming the forgiveness of YHVH, and claiming to be "saved" because they have been "washed in the blood" have NO IDEA what they are talking about!
The bloody death of Yeshua is as foreign to the modern Believer, (who supposes benefit from His necessary sacrifice) as the mustard-stained upper lip of the chubby teenager at Burger King is from the stench of the slaughterhouse.
The Feasts of the Lord YHVH have a purpose...more next week. | 
Check Moon Phase 05-04-6010 (07-16-2010)
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