The Third Day

Reigning in Grace

“And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted” (Leviticus 19:7).

 

The peace offering was to be a offering of voluntary measures. It was not forced upon the people of Israel to offer. But if it were not offered, or offered with a heart that was cold and indifferent, the worship of the people was not acceptable in the sight of God.

 

The offering was to be celebrated together in appreciation of God’s grace through the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the peace offerings. They each represented facets of the love of God expressed by sacrificial giving.

 

You and I should study these offerings and learn the value and virtues of the sacrifice of Christ for each sinner. The more we dive into the Old Testament the more we will understand the New Testament cross of Calvary.

 

When you and I try to worship or serve God in our flesh we fail to appreciate and have true communion with God and other worshippers. In the sight of the Lord it is an abominable thing to sit in a worship service and be out of contact with Him. That worship, either in a Sunday gathering or a Lord’s supper celebration, is not accepted by Him.

 

Why do so many stay at home while God has called us to gather? Why is there seemingly dullness and boredom in church? We have forgotten the power of the third day. God says that every day is to be a day of communion and when we forget and fail to remember we fail to reign in grace by One who is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Similar Posts

  • Culture Wise

     
    “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cling to that which is good (Romans 12:9).

    You and I know what it means to go from lost to found, from darkness to light, from the kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom of God. Any person who has been saved knows the difference. We know what it means to go home and to be right at home.

    We have been rescued and redeemed and thank God we have a right-standing before a loving God. But why is it that so many are perplexed regarding how to stand firm in that place? While we stand around, the ground seems to be shifty, uncertain, and unsafe. We don’t seem to know how to be conduits of redemption in a world that desperately needs to be redeemed.

    What are we to do? Here is how to live rightly in a wrong world. First of all, we are to think scripturally. Know what you believe. Know why you believe what you believe. And defend that truth every day of your life.

    Also, we are to live purely. We have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of us, enabling us to practice a lifestyle that is pleasing to God. Don’t inch closer to the cultural fire. Why? You will get burned.

    Love generously. We overcome evil with good. We overcome darkness with light. And we overcome apathy in all its awful forms with generous helpings of love. Be known for your great love. As you love others, you show them the love of the Father. As you care deeply, you show them He cares.

  • Peace, God’s Peace

    “Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:7).

    The Lord Jesus was judged upon a cross that was planted in His heart. He grew in statue and wisdom having searched the Scriptures and found favor with God and with men. The Scriptures and His life with sinful men proved the necessity of a Savior for their sinfulness and ignorance, while viewing the utter hopelessness of mankind without God’s intervention.

    We are afraid of so much in this present evil world and fearful of the future ahead. We may not speak of this in sober words but inside there is great conflict that is hidden and controlled by a deafening low sound within the recesses of the soul. It’s there but we do nothing about it.

    We will find God’s pardon at the cross and we will see God’s peace at the tomb where He no longer is dead. He arose again and now all sinful men may find peace when they kiss the Son. The peace with God and the peace of God only comes to those who view God through the prism of His grace.

    Can we say, “The Son of man has been delivered into the hands of sinful men, and was crucified, and the third day He rose again?” If you can say that in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit then you have a peace that the world cannot give or take away. It is called God’s Peace which is none other than God’s Son the Lord Jesus.

  • When Pain is Allowed

    “Saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day” (Luke 9:21).

    Being confident in God doesn’t make the pain we experience less deep but it can become less broad. If you and I have some things settled with God, there are boundaries around the field of pain we experience. With God our pain doesn’t have to spread out into the endless spaces of limitless meaning. God allows the touch of pain to test us and to see if we will trust Him and find His reward to be better.

    God set His plan in motion before the foundation of the world. His glory is seen in this aspect of His omnipresence. Before time was, He was. He sits upon time and He spans all time, history, and future. He circumscribed all things to happen to His people.

    We mainly think of the glory of God when it comes to OUR salvation, but have you ever thought of the glory of God because of who He is? God overturns all things to bring glory to His name. He sets all things into motion. Therefore our salvation is to His glory.

    If we confess Christ as the Son of God and Savior, and take up our cross and follow Him, He will reveal to us His kingdom and His glory. When you and I experience the glory of God, the demands of discipleship become blessings that carry us along in joyful obedience. Passing the test means loving God to the end.

  • The Third Day

     

    “And the evening and the morning were the third day (Genesis 1:13).

     

    If you notice God begins in the evening to the morning and calls it “day.” Whether it is the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth day, the Creator God named a “day” beginning in the evening and concluding with the morning. Twenty-four hours in the day that God does His marvelous work.

     

    Would it not be a good and holy thing for us to concentrate on God in the evening hours? So many times we think we must begin in the morning to set the day before us. But God sets the day beginning in the evening hours.

     

    In the evening, many times, we throw off restraints and we fall into the arms of the flesh. Child care, dinner time, tv, pjs, or special events–dinner with friends, movie, ballgame, etc. and we can neglect to rest in God’s evening day to recreate us for the whole day.

     

    Give God your evening. Meditate upon the One who began creation’s story with the evening. It just might be He wants to create His image in you to reflect His glorious creation through you. Life begins in the evening and runs through the morning and afternoon and God calls it the “third day.” May every day be His glorious image in us.

     

  • A Father Who Owns A Bakery

     
    “But seek you first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”  (Matthew 6:33). 

     

    How many truly believe that if we seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness that He will give us all that we need? This is His promise to a people who know how to maneuver and who naturally lean upon their own strength, who do not call upon their God.
    Our God has promised to meet our financial needs, health issues, that which is needed to wear for the body, and our future concerns. But do we believe Him? Why should we when we can ask others (banks, parents, churches, organizations individuals), and we can travel to a place where groceries are available, medical coverage that is given, and other helps from so many places and people? Why do we need God?
    In many ways we have not depended upon the Lord and His kingdom. We keep living the  same way as we always have, deciding not to pour our lives out to Him, but to live for what is in sight and available. Yes! There’s pain, and problems, and great needs that abound. But we either think we can help ourselves or someone else can provide the need for us. Let’s choose the Father.
    As the Lord Jesus depended upon His Father in Heaven, we are to depend upon our Lord Jesus for all. Someone has well said, “God has something up His sleeves besides His everlasting arms.” When we realize we do not belong on earth and we are headed to glory, then we can and will turn to our Father who provides every good and perfect gift.
    It is better to have a Father who owns a bakery than to have a warehouse full of bread!
    “The cords that bound my heart to earth were loosed by Jesus’ hand; Before His cross I found myself a stranger in the land.”

     

  • Scattered Word

    Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

    In earlier days the Bible was maligned by even the religious establishment.  The church itself was against the translation of the Bible into languages of the people.  There were some who wanted the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, for themselves, for their own personal reading.  This evoked bitter and awesome persecution.  This privilege was denied the people for hundreds of years.  Martin Luther was a grown man when he said, “I have never seen a Bible,” and he had been in church all the days of his life.

    John Wycliffe translated the Bible into the language of the people.  He wanted it to be possible for anyone who wanted to know the Word to have it.  He said, “I’m going to make it possible that a plowman will know more of the Word of God than the priest himself, than the king himself.”  John Wycliffe died before men could burn him and try him.  But even after his death they exhumed and publicly burned his body, then cast his body as ashes upon the River Swift.  If anyone was found with a Wycliffe Bible , the Bible was hung around his neck and he was publicly hanged and burned.

    What the English inquisitors did not realize was that when they burned the body of Wycliffe and scattered his ashes on the River Swift, that river flowed into the Avon, and Avon flowed into the sea, and the sea loved the shores of the continents of the world, including the new land of America.  Wherever the sea carried the ashes of John Wycliffe, there God scattered the truth of the Word of the Living Lord.  Isn’t that glorious?  Over the whole face of the earth the Word of God has traveled.  That’s God!