The Offerings

“But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice [peace offering] on the third day shall be burned with fire” (Leviticus 7:17).

God spoke to Moses out of the Tabernacle of the congregation (Leviticus 1:1). The offerings were now of worship and witness of Himself. Five offerings were given to Moses as God called out to him, not from Mount Sinai but from the Tabernacle.

The first three offerings were “Dedicatory Offerings.” It spoke of the value of Christ’s death. They are called the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. The offerings prefigured Christ as a “sweet smelling savor” to God, rather than as a sin offering.

The burnt offering speaks of the value of Christ’s death in terms of his “devotion.” The meal offering speaks of the value of the death of Christ in terms of its “perfection.” The peace offering speaks of the value of Christ’s death in terms of His “communion” (Leviticus 3; 7:11-13; Romans 5:1; Colossians 1:20). This was not an offering to make peace, but celebrated and rejoiced in the peace already made.

The power of the third day is that you and I are to experience communion in the Lord Jesus Christ daily, the same day the offering is made. Our communion in Christ ought to take us to tomorrow and then we start over again. To become stale is to lose our freshness and reality in our communion with Christ, and is meant to be cut off from fellowship. This applies not only to our quiet times, but to the holy celebration when we come together for the remembrance of the Lord in His death, until He comes.

The Only Message that Really Matters

“And he said unto the people, Be ready on the third day: come not near your wives” (Exodus 19:15).

God wants His people to be clean. We are to consecrate our lives to Him each and every day. What a privilege! The people in Moses’ day were told before meeting with God to do several things.

They were to hear and obey the words of Moses by washing their garments and abstaining from being with their wives sexually. Moses gave them the Word of God and this they were to do as part of His coming down to them.

The Word sanctifies and sets us apart from all that interrupts our fellowship with God. Without God’s Word we do not know how to live or what to do or how to maintain fellowship.  Our God is willing to accept the responsibility for a life dedicated to Him.

Our hearts are affected as we listen to His written Word. This results in an outward change of attitude and behavior. This will in turn lead us to be as God would position us and lead us out into this world blinded by sin and unbelief. What power as we wait on Him. Everyday can be a third day meeting with God.

For God To Be Seen

“And be ready on the third day; for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai” (Exodus 19:11).

Why the third day? Why not the first day, the second day, or even the fifth day? Everything God does He does in His whole Person. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are in total agreement. God is three in One. All is done together to show completeness and holiness. Without oneness there is fragmentation.

Everything we do we ought to do as a whole person. We are to worship God with our “whole spirit and soul and body” (I Thessalonians 5:23). What God does in us He does through us. Why? Our worship of Him effects our wholeness in the world. When we are whole-the body of Christ-then God moves.

We (all born again Christians) belong to God. He has redeemed us from our old way of life (individuality of choices). We have left that life behind and we belong to God. Because we belong to God, we must be separated from sin. We are set apart from the world and set apart unto the Lord together. Why? For oneness in Him. For His glory to be revealed in us.

“Whether, therefore, you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,” Paul admonishes the Church at Corinth (I Corinthians 10:31). We are not our own for we belong to Him and therefore to each other. When we realize we belong to Him then we will begin to understand we belong to each other in the household of faith. “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s well-being” (I Cor. 10:24).

When does God reveal Himself in strength, holiness, and power? When God’s people ready themselves to become what we are already in the body of Christ: One body of believers. “Consecrate Yourselves” is for the whole church to know we are one body with many members in Him. Revival in great power happens when we see the power of the third day.

Take God Seriously

“And Joseph said unto them the third day, ‘This do, and live; for I fear God'” (Genesis 42: 18).

Joseph’s brothers were standing in fear before this “strange man, Joseph” who was second in command over Egypt. The ten brothers stood in great fear because of their past sin against God by selling their child brother from a pit to traveling strangers. Guilt ridden and guilt driven caught up with them (Numbers 32:23).

They lied to their father Jacob and lied to themselves, but their consciences would never allow them to go free. Now they were locked up for three days in Egypt’s prison and they knew God was behind it. On top of that the brothers heard a “pagan viceroy” who mentioned the name of Elohim (God) which troubled their swirling minds and souls.  This brought great dissonance to their whole being.

What was this younger brother doing? Joseph was working it out for his brothers to be reconciled to one another and to confess their sin before God and their father. He was trying to get them to bow before the God of heaven. What a reunion when the boil was lanced.

God has made it possible for you and me to be released from our sins and to be reconciled to Him and to one another. Do we want our sins to catch up with us and find us out? Or do we desire God more than our sins?

The choice is ours. As Joseph said, “This do, and live, for I fear God.” Go to the mercy seat of God and the throne of grace and find help for your soul. Confess your sins before God and you will live. This is the great power of the third day.

God is the Lifter of the Head

“And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.”                                         –Genesis 40:20

The Lord Himself is the lifter up of the head (Ps. 3:3). So many times we depend upon people to help us, but their help never comes. Psalm 60:11 says, “Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man.”

It was the third day that the butler and the baker were lifted up and out of imprisonment to be placed before Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s birthday meant salvation to the baker and condemnation to the baker.

Poor Joseph was left in prison–he who had done nothing amiss (Gen. 40:15). It was two years before the butler remembered Joseph before he would be freed. And God is the One who brought the situation to mind once again.

God is with Joseph as he waited upon His God (Gen. 39:21). Joseph had his own dream and we have God’s promise, He will never leave us. The experience of Joseph led him to serve others even while waiting in prison. God will allow each of us to wait upon Him so that he may “put iron into our souls” (Ps. 105:17-22).

Remember the power of the third day. God raised His Son and He will raise you and me up as well. If the Lord controls us, it makes little difference who commands us. God gives victory in the place of defeat, honor in the place of shame, health in the place of sickness, and restoration in the place of a fall.