The Burnt
Offering the Mazzaroth Declares
“By the word of Jehovah
were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth”
(Psalm 33:6).
God’s Eternal
Covenant − the hope of Life Eternal is a kingdom of sons of God. God purposed and designed the “reading” order
of His Eternal Covenant in the luminaires.
All is God’s doing. Walking with
God requires going the same direction and at the same pace. Walking with God requires the understanding
of His ways.
Psalm 19 is the key
to understanding the direction and order of the Eternal Covenant in the
Mazzaroth. The Psalms are Old Testament
Messianic songs of Israel’s praise to God.
Each Psalm is a prophetic revelation of the Eternal Covenant – the person
and work of God, past, present and future.
Psalm 19 is a kingdom psalm divided into two sections. The first section speaks of the glory of God as
seen in the immeasurable realms of the heavens and it declares the ways of God;
the second section reveals the unfailing words of the Law of the Lord − His
works.
The two sections of
the Psalm form couplets - synonymous or complementary concepts. For example, the message of the glory of God’s
ways declared in the heavens in the sign Libra is “The Transaction of
Propitiation.” The message in the Psalm is
sung back with His works − the words “The Law of the Lord is Perfect.”
Each section is a
perfect reflection of the other; each section is an illuminating witness of the
ways
of God in His works of creation and the words of His mouth.
The dominate luminary
- the sun, is the primary subject and then the stars. The power
of the Sun governs which luminaires are declared in the evening sky. The s-u-n is a sign of the S-o-n. Where the sun is tabernacle - ing in the
Mazzaroth is the primary focus; the secondary focus is the luminaries. God uses the light holders of the heavens for
a prophetic revelation. The figurative
pictures portray literal truths. The
message of the luminaires is the memorial of the person and work of the Son of
the covenant.
The earth is skewered
on its foundation of the north and south poles spinning on it axis and
revolving around the sun. The ecliptic
orbit is the sun’s path as the earth rotates around it. The earth moves in two ways. It rotates on its foundation (the imaginary
straight line through the earth from pole to pole) while it progresses steadily
in its annual trip around the sun. Planet
earth’s daily rotation from man’s position on earth is west to east making the
sun and stars appear to move in the opposite direction − from east to west in
our sky.
As we
saw in Job, Jehovah listed the stars in the correct and only order they are to
be viewed (Job 38:31, 32). The dominate subject
is the stellar constellation where the s-u-n abides, then the four luminaries
in the evening sky in their order.
Understanding this
vantage point brings simplicity and clarity to the message. There are always five stellar luminaries
linked together in the heavens, the constellation the sun is abiding in and four
stellar signs of the Mazzaroth. (The
number five in the scripture is the number, which speaks of grace).
Thus, as the earth
revolves around the sun, the eternal message of the grace of God offered in the
Son of the covenant is declared. The kingdom of God on earth as revealed in the Eternal Covenant that the heavens declare
is a three-phase plan so to speak. The first
phase is the institution of the kingdom;
Libra is the stellar sign of
eternity past which says He who is, “has done” [the kingdom is done] (Revelation 1:8; Revelation 21:5, 6).
The next phase is the
establishment of the kingdom; Virgo is the stellar sign which says He who was “it is finished” (Psalm
22, John 19:30) [the kingdom]; and finally the last phase is the consummation of the kingdom. Leo
is the stellar sign, which says He who
is to come “it is done”
(Revelation 21:5, 6).
The pattern of the ways
of God is repeated (“He is the Alpha and Omega” Revelation 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13)
both in the signs that the heavens declare and His written word, so that THE WORD,
the incorruptible Seed, the WORD of God, who is, who was, who is to come is not
missed.
Eternity
is worked out in time with the establishment of the kingdom on earth. The Old Testament teaching of the covenant Son
in the ceremonial law of the daily
offerings and the seven feasts of Jehovah will be practiced during the
thousand-year reign (Isaiah 2). This
continual teaching of the one who is the ransom and redemption, the
reconciliation between God and man, is a visual aid and example to the kingdom
of God’s Eternal Covenant. You must be
born again to be a son of God to enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3).
The kingdom on earth
is a kingdom of righteousness, peace and justice; the powerful authority of
Love is the Sovereign, but God is not all in all yet. It is not a “perfect” kingdom. During the thousand-year reign, the pride of
the self-will, which is having one’s will over the will of the Sovereign, will
be in subjection to the authority of Love.
The completion of the kingdom will be at the end of the age with the
consummation of Love when God will be
all in all and He will only have sons
of God (no nations of people). No more
will man be in the flesh.
The
difference between the Law of the Ceremonial offerings and the civil law of commandments is that the
civil law of the commandments and statutes is for the theocracy of God’s government
for a municipal society (Exodus 19, 20); the Law of the ceremony of the offerings is the Law of Love for a holy people. In the
figurative teaching of the ceremonial law
of the offerings is the picture of how this kingdom of holy people is
fulfilled.
God’s covenant was
established upon earth through Israel’s forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob-Israel (Genesis 15:18; 17:1-8, 19-21; 26:1-5; 28:10-22; 35:11-15; Exodus 2:24;
Psalm 105:6-11). He spoke to the sons of
Israel in types and symbols; in this way, God shadowed Himself forth in the covenant
Son. For His people Israel, Jehovah God
preserved the truth of the Eternal Covenant in the ceremonial law. Although the ceremonial offerings foreshadow the different characteristics of the person of God –
Spirit Being of Deity and His work of redemption, they unite to show
the person and work as one.
The one offering (of Himself), for all of
mankind once for all time and for all eternity, the one sacrifice (of His body)
has several aspects and each aspect is in a separate picture (Romans 6:10; Hebrews
7:26-28; 9:23-28; 1Peter 3:18). In each of the Levitical offerings,
Jesus is portrayed in three roles. He is
Priest (after the order of Melchizedek),
He is the Worshipper of God (as the
Son of Man) offering the offering, and He is the Offering being offered – (the animal offered).
The
Eternal Covenant is God’s covenant; all is God’s “doing.” God is acting from Himself and according to
the worthiness of the Son of the covenant. Man has no part in the offerings. “Doing” the will of God is to believe and
receive the Eternal Life offered. This
is the message of the Eternal Covenant in the luminaries and the message of the
ceremonial law of the offerings.
The book of Leviticus is the record of the Eternal
Covenant in the Law of the Offerings.
The difficulty in understanding the truth presented in the types set
forth in Leviticus is that we are not sufficiently acquainted with the reality
of the substance of the Son of the covenant who is foreshadowed within
them.
Light without
understanding is knowledge without
glory. The glory of God is seen in the
face of Jesus Christ; the more we come to know of God in fellowship with Jesus Christ,
the more the eyes of our understanding will be opened in the spirit of our
being to see Him in communion as He is (Ephesians 1:17-23; 5:17-18).
God
appointed the ceremonial laws and the feasts of Jehovah as sacred festival celebrations of great
rejoicing. Singing, praise and worship
were included in the service of the sacrificial offerings to celebrate and commemorate the person of
God (Spirit Being of Deity) and honor the work of the covenant Son.
There are five different offerings in two
classes recorded in Leviticus, each distinct in character. All the offerings required the victim to be
without spot or blemish. The victim was
put to death.
Leviticus begins with the first class of
offerings, the sweet savor offerings. There
are three sweet savor offerings unto Jehovah: the burnt offering, the meal offering and the
peace offering. In the sweet savor
offerings, Christ appears in our stead as a man in perfect holiness. His offering withstands the fire of God’s
searching holiness and is accepted a sweet savor to Jehovah.
The remaining two offerings, non-sweet savor
offerings, are the sin offering and the trespass offering. These five offerings give details of the one offering, Jesus Christ.
Jehovah God created animals with specific
characteristics that give a clear picture of certain truths of mankind. You have heard of the expressions, “sly as a
fox,” “subtle as a serpent,” or “stubborn as a mule”? Different aspects of the person and work of
Jesus are shown in the characteristics of the animals chosen for sacrifice;
“Strong as an ox,” “gentle as a lamb,” or “stately as a ram.”
In selecting animals for His picture, the Lord differentiates between clean and
unclean animals. A difference exists between
God’s one clean man and the unclean sinners.
Four of the offerings speak of Christ’s death
and one, the meal offering, speaks of His life. Each offering is a memorial to the Eternal
Covenant of God realized in the Son
of the covenant. A
drink offering is not listed with these offerings. We have it in the order of the offerings
recorded in Numbers 28 and 29 with the law of the daily offerings and the
offerings of the feast days. With the
drink offering, there are six offerings.
Six is the number of man. The numerology of the
ceremonial offerings shows the beautiful picture of the Eternal Covenant
accomplished by the Son of Man and memorialized in the Son of God – the covenant
Son.
In the
order or listing of the law of the offerings, the burnt offering is listed
first; though in the order of service, it was not first. The Eternal Covenant in the stars explains the
order listed in the book of Leviticus.
The
burnt offering is listed first. First
the servant, the Son of the covenant, Jehovah, the bullock (Taurus) from heaven a service animal,
big, strong and powerful becomes the lamb offered, slain before the foundation
of the world and the ram, the substitute given, the resurrected Son, the first
born begotten Son of God from the dead (Aries). Of
the twelve covenant luminaries only two of the stellar signs portray animal
pictorials relating to the Levitical offerings of the ceremonial law; they are Taurus
and Aries.
The
star chart drawing of the bullock Taurus
is the burnt offering of the
ceremonial law. In May, the sun is in Taurus – (The sun tabernacles or dwells
in Taurus).
From God’s vantage point, Taurus is the sixth sign from
Libra. Six is the number of man. The ruling authority of Love is the message in
Taurus.
“The
Coming Ruler”
(Taurus) is the Servant of Jehovah. The four
luminaries are Virgo, Libra, Scorpio
and Sagittarius. When viewed altogether, the Coming Ruler, the Son
of the covenant (Taurus) the Son of Man, the begotten Son from the dead, is the Seed
of the woman (Virgo), the
Transaction of Propitiation (Libra),
the One who will destroy the seed of the serpent (Scorpio)
as the “Delighted-in Conqueror” (Sagittarius).
In the
star chart drawing of Taurus, the
head of the bull with its two enormous horns is downward and appears to be
rushing forward. The middle and hinder
part of the bull includes the body of the next sign Aries. The sign of Aries reveals “The Gentle Merciful Lamb.” The star chart drawings show Aries
as a male lamb or ram who also
has horns upon the head.
In the scripture,
horns are symbolic of power. Thus, the
two signs “share” the same body, signifying the bull and the ram are the same person
of supreme power and authority – the Son of the covenant, the begotten Son
raised from the dead; the two sets of horns symbolize the “reaching” of that
power and authority to the four corners of the earth.
The sweet savor offerings were consumed on the
altar of sacrifice in the outside court of the tabernacle called the altar of
burnt offering (Leviticus 1:3-17). The
altar of burnt offering was the table of Jehovah (Malachi 1:7-13). Whatever was put on the table was the food of God, His sustenance (Leviticus 21:6,
8, 17, 21-22).
In the first offering presented upon the table of God, fire fell from
heaven from before Jehovah and consumed the food put before Him, the burnt
offering and the fat (Leviticus 9:24); and “…the fire shall ever be burning
upon the altar; it shall never go out” (Leviticus 6:12-13; Exodus 29:42). The fire from heaven is the symbol of God’s
holiness consuming the food set upon His table and it caused all to ascend unto God as a sweet savor.
The
sweet savor offerings were offered on the altar of burnt offering, the sin offering and the trespass offering were offered outside the
camp. The Hebrew word used for “burnt”
offering is literally “ascending.” It is
the same as the word used for the burning of the incense.
Jehovah God set forth the offerings, which
would picture the person and the work of the Son of His Love. God finds food, that is, satisfaction, in the
unblemished sacrifice of the Son of the covenant, the one portrayed in the
offerings. The perfect holiness and
harmlessness of a man undefiled by sin was a sweet feast to Jehovah God.
The thoughts and intents of the covenant Son
(Jesus) throughout His earthly pilgrimage and His obedient life even to the
death of the cross were those in which the Father could delight (Philippians 2:5-8).
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 3:22; 9:35; 2 Peter 1:16-18), food
according to His taste.
Man cannot make himself alive unto God. Man cannot stay the corruption of the
body. Man cannot heal himself of
sin-sickness; therefore, man cannot make himself safe from the condemnation of
being destroyed as a defiled creation.
Man must understand the purpose of God; sons
of man must be born from above as sons of God. His Creator God does all for him. Man needs redemption. He must return to God and be set free and
delivered from death. Man needs to be
born again (John 3:3).
God’s Eternal Covenant declared in the luminaires
preserves this great truth. Only a born
son of God is fitted to be a true worshiper of the living and true God. Only a born son of God worships in spirit − in
the very being of his person to understand the truths of the deep things taught
by the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 2:9-14).
In the
figurative teaching of the ceremonial law
of the offerings, the first expression
of love and devotion is from God to
man and then man to God. Man’s
expression of love is as worshiper.
The burnt offering is offered
for acceptance as a worshiper, the offering of a life wholly burnt. The offering represented the offerer as an accepted worshiper of the
living God, a worshiper wholly surrendering himself to the will of Jehovah, a
sweet savor unto Jehovah, well pleasing to Him.
It was offered to God to secure the
acceptance of the offerer. It was
offered of the offerer’s voluntary will.
The offerer voluntarily offered himself
for acceptance as a worshiper and identified with the One Offerer
acceptable to God for worship; the offering is accepted for the one bringing
the offering.
In the sweet savor offerings, sin is not seen
or considered. In these sweet savor
offerings, the burnt offering and the meal offering and the peace offering, the
offerer came in acceptance as a worshiper in the presence of God’s infinite
grace.
To “execute”
the offering from a sense of obligation as a religious duty “spoils” what God
has done in the symbolism of His offerings. The sacred ceremonial offerings were festivals
of great rejoicing. In
the covenant Son, God has one perfectly righteous man, one man
wholly acceptable unto God as a worshiper.
This righteous man offers to take the death
penalty appointed to man (Hebrews 9:27).
One man dies in man’s stead that “whosoever believes into Him might not
perish, but have Life everlasting” (John 3:16).
This was not the death of a sinner.
This was the death of a sinless sacrifice. There is no salvation apart from the sinless sacrifice
(Hebrews 9:28; 10:12-14).
The one mediator between God and man is
lifted up between heaven and earth to make peace with God (1Timothy 2:3-6; Hebrews
9:14-15). The one righteous man, the one
acceptable sacrifice, lifted up that the world might be reconciled unto God
(2Corinthians 5:19).
The Son of the covenant fully satisfies the
qualifications to be the mediator between God and men. He fully satisfies God, and He fully satisfies
the heart and conscience of man. In
fact, He is man’s only satisfaction; nothing else will do.
The cross of the Son of the covenant is the way
into the presence of God (John 14:6; Hebrews 10:19-22). The death and resurrection of the birthed son
of God is man’s exodus out of Adam (Romans 6:3-13; 1Corinthians 15:22). The one man, who will judge the whole world
in righteousness, is lifted up that He might draw all. Not only did Jehovah have one righteous man,
His birthed Son, He had one sinless worshipper to be the mediator of the New
Covenant, His first begotten Son.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no
remission of sin, no ransom of the soul, no redemption of the body. Without the covenant Son, there is no sin
offering; sin is not put away once for all.
As the offerer, Christ is set forth in His person, the Word become flesh
(John 1:14), God the birthed Son, who took the likeness of man to meet God’s
requirement for a righteous worshiper of God (Philippians 2:5-11; Acts 2:22; John
12:28-29).
Christ, as the offerer, took His body, the
body prepared for Him as His offering, that in that body He might reconcile man
unto God and that He might reconcile His people unto God (2 Corinthians 5:14-21;
Colossians 2:9-17; John 11:47-51; Acts 2:22-36; 3:12-26; Hebrews 10:9-22). His body was His offering. After living in that body in perfect
obedience delighting to do the will of His Father, Jesus willingly offered it
in sacrifice to His Father that He might put away sin once for all (Hebrews 9:26-28;
10:10).
All was burnt on the altar; all pictured the coming
life lived by Jesus Christ, a burnt sacrifice, an offering by fire of a sweet
savor unto Jehovah (Leviticus 1:9).
God gave Jesus a body, and Jesus gave the
Father the life lived in that body. Life
is that part of His creation that God claimed as His. What is the purpose of living? Man’s purpose is to choose to become a son of
God.
The burnt offering is God’s claim of a life,
a life of Love. The fulfillment of that
claim required a life from God’s birthed Son, required the son of His Love to
love Jehovah His God with all of His heart and all of His soul and all of His
strength. The burnt offering, the life
of Love is food that satisfies Jehovah God, all to be consumed in His
holiness.
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No Glossary for the Burnt Offering the Mazzaroth Declares
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