“It is...an offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord” (Lev. 1:17)
My prayer partner and I have completed The Lectio Course, a study by Peter Greig outlining steps that will help Bible readers hear God’s voice and draw closer to Him as they read. The reading experience then becomes an act of worship: Step 1, Read; Step 2, Meditate; Step 3, Pray; Step 4, Contemplate. The practice calls for choosing a word or phrase that stands out during reading, listening for how it speaks in a way that leads us to encounter God beyond the text. Through imagination and application, reading then comes alive. I have personally found this true as I follow the Bible Recap plan.
For example, reading Ex.19:17 this phrase stood out to me: “Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.” I thought of other times in the Bible when crowds gathered and who might be among them—such as at the feeding of 5,000, and the crowd at the cross. And even crowds in everyday life, such as those at the Superbowl, where devotees gave their loyalty to either one team or the other. God is seeking those who are committed to putting their faith in Him. At the feeding of the 5,000 it only took one of the 12 disciples to notice a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish, knowing it was a meager offering, yet Andrew presented it to Jesus. Just as Moses followed all the specific instructions given by God, the disciples obeyed Jesus’s instructions and not only was the crowd fed, but there were leftovers. What about the crowd at the cross? Yes, there were blood thirsty, indifferent observers and cruel executioners, but there was a loving, devoted mother and “the disciple whom Jesus loved” who was entrusted with her care before Jesus breathed His last breath. The scene at the crucifixion was one of great brightness in the moment He shows His love and respect for His mother from the cross, the place of great darkness; His death was a time of great sadness as the sinless Son of God took my punishment upon Himself, yet it was also a time of great joy for the same reason—I am now free from the penalty for my sin, eternal death. Instead, I have been given eternal life.
So what connection shows up between Old and New Testament Scriptures? In both, there is the search for true devotion. Regarding the grain offering described in Leviticus 2:6, Moses instructed that it be crumbled, which reminds me of bread made from crushed heads (vv 14, 15) and that parallels Matthew 6:30-35, where Jesus speaks of Himself as the bread of life: “He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty.” The One who is the bread of life was later crushed for our sake on the cross. Here are some other take aways: Are we wholly holy when we approach God? How do we show our love for God and others? One way is remembering God’s goodness and passing it on. We worship by giving and by celebrating God’s gifts to us because all we have belongs to God. He is both our high priest and servant (Heb.4:14 & Mk.10:45).
Thanks be to God for the sacred threads that tie all the books of the Bible together, each giving reader more understanding of the character of God through Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End (Rev. 21:6).