The Third Day

The Peace Offering

“It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire” (Leviticus 19:6).

God desires and commands a freshness about our lives. There is to be an aroma of holiness that is fitting of Christ.  A freshness and newness of life will result when we desire Christ above all.  

It is an odious thing to be stale and contaminated by sin. Because we have peace with God we ought to strive to rest in the peace of God that speaks volumes of a life endued  with power from on High.

Anything that is a stench in our lives ought to be confessed and burned by the consuming fire of God. An awareness and attitude of holiness should be the prevailing function of the Spirit of God allowed to dwell habitually in our temples.

The power of the third day is that we can confess our need and our sins before a holy God and He hears that cry. God has promised peace not only by our justification through the cross of Christ,  but also our “peacefulness” by His life freely dwelling within us.

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  • The Third Day

    Only What’s Done for Christ Will Last

    “And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity” (Leviticus 7:16).

     

    God commanded the people of Israel not to eat of the flesh of the sacrifice after three days. For if the offering is given to God it will not be accepted. The Bible tells us that it is “an abomination.” For whosoever eats of the sacrifice on the third day will bear his own perverseness in penalty.

     

    When you and I are not enjoying the presence of Christ daily then we begin to stale-out and contaminate those around us. Our families are affected, our coworkers are contaminated, and all around us are brought down lower than where they were before.

     

    The church suffers and the glory of Christ becomes a non-reality in the life. What an abomination before God and among others. God brought us out of the bondage of sin, given us newness of life, and supplies us the opportunity for nobility of life.

     

    The sacrifice of the peace offering was meant for identification with Christ and with others. It was a meal shared together as well. He has become our peace and since we have the peace of God then we are to be at peace with one another. But the person who is compromised, the person who is play-acting, the one who is not in God’s Word failing to read, study, and feed off of Christ, will fail others and will fail to glorify God in the only life they have to offer to God.

  • A Living Sacrifice

    “Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house, opposite the king’s house; and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, opposite the entrance of the house” (Esther 5:1).

    The nation of Israel was in trouble. Haman fooled the king into slaughtering innocent people. Mordecai publicly displayed his grief and allowed people to know his position. He would not stand by and do nothing while authorities were about to slaughter his people, including children.

    Esther was God’s prepared servant for that hour. She was willing to die, “If I perish, I perish.” She became a living sacrifice to accomplish the work of God.

    Sometimes it takes a crisis to remind us that we do not serve God alone. Serve God and you will be surprised of those who show up. God has His people.

  • Serving a Friend for God

    “Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah” (2 Kings 3:11).

    Everyone needs a friend who is true. But what we need more is to be a friend who is true. Elijah had a friend in Elisha. Elisha was chosen by God to become a friend of Elijah. Though Elijah found Elisha and threw his mantle over him for the purpose that he might train him, prepare him, and lift him to the office of a prophet, Elijah’s training led to a deep friendship.

    Are you a true friend? Do you serve your friend in the Lord with compassion, prayer, and love? Will you miss this friend when he or she is gone from earth? Today in our society many people are “thankful for us” but are you “thankful for a friend.” Elisha poured his life into his aging friend. Why did he pour water into the hands of Elijah? Is this symbolism for serving Elijah? Did Elijah’s hands carry arthritis? Did the warm water help?
     
    The Master’s yoke is to led  and taught by God to become a true friend to others.     God needs you and wants you to surrender to Him so that you may encourage and build others up. We all need a friend but we need to become a friend first of all.

  • Near But So Far Away

    “Righteous art thou, O LORD…Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit; thou art near in their mouth, and far from their heart” (Jeremiah 12:1a,2).

    We are living in a day of cardboard Christians, pseudo saints, and plastic preachers. Far from being true in the innermost being to God there is falsehood and deceitfulness. Any nation that finds itself in this position is a nation in great decay and headed for destruction.

    Words will never move the hand of God to bless unless they are words backed from a righteous life found only in God. God desires truth, humility, honesty, and that is found only in Yawheh, the Covenant Making God.

    The prophet Jeremiah was planted in God and true to the core of his being. He was wheat among the poisonous tares of his day. He saw planted around and next to him those who had taken root in the land and who had filled the air with their words that were religious but unrighteous, in other words people far from God.

    Friend we are in conflict with the world. It will only get worse and the affliction is real. As long as the world becomes more religious and God’s people become compromised then we can be assured it is all shaping up for judgment. Yet you and I do not have to fall into despair. Jeremiah said, “But thou, O LORD, knowest me; thou hast seen me, and tested mine heart toward thee” (Jeremiah 12:3). God tests us that we may be proven. Character develops in Christ as we understand the times and we are aware of the devil’s tactics. We are on the winning side!

  • Autonomy

    “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

    Anytime you and I walk outside of the Spirit of God we are using our own thoughts and actions. We are fraudulent in our true salvation. When we were born again God the Holy Spirit baptized us into Christ. Everything we do should be in obedience stayed upon Jesus Christ.

    If we walk according to the flesh, our old unredeemable nature, then we are walking alone and making decisions without God’s power and presence. Yet, God has prearranged for His children to abide in His Son. Therefore this abiding assures us of God’s mighty work through us by His Spirit.

    The radical part of our salvation is that God saved us, and will save us, and does save us. He saves us from ourselves if we abide in humility and staying power.

    What a great God we have. Practice the presence of Christ today in your life and see if it does not make a great difference. No longer are we running the show, which is worldly, but God is working out His plans and purpose through each of us individually. No autonomy here, just God’s economy.

  • The Christian Faith Entrusted to Us

    “As for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1).

    Biblical knowledge is meant to be both intellectual and experiential. There are two sides to the same coin and it is meant to be enjoyed together. Knowledge without response is like an incomplete sentence or a song without a chorus. We have to go beyond merely quoting the truth….to obeying it.

    Why are we to contend for the faith? Because there are false teachers, wolves in sheep’s clothing, counterfeits, apostates in our pulpits across the church scene.  Theology was important to Jude and Paul. God takes the truth seriously. We must know what and why we believe. That is God’s call on every believer.

    Our faith is not primarily a feeling. It is belief based on fact. It is more about a grounded assurance than personal philosophy. We can not simply make up facts or imagine things about God and then base our lives on those thoughts.

    Faith fads, theological trends, popular contemporary thinking, is carrying an unthinking church away from strong historical beliefs and Scripture. Just believing something doesn’t make it true. It’s either true or not, independent of our belief in it. Everything that is not Scriptural and experientially defended in our daily lives sets up misrepresentation of the God of doctrine and truth. Just ask the woman at the well in John’s gospel chapter four.

    It may feel as if the Word of God is rocking back and forth, swaying to the fads of Christianity, but it is not…for the Word of God is stable, it is not changing, progressing, or emerging. We are called to stand for and proclaim what is true, and even when necessary to expose false teaching and heresy. Always ask, “What does the Bible say? And not “Does it make me feel good, happy, or accepted by others?”