The lemon tree is tall and stately, growing to ten to twenty feet. It fills the air with a wonderful aroma, both from its flowers and its oil. But, just like any other beautiful thing in nature, it does have God created defense mechanisms, the twigs have thorns, and the juice of the lemon is acidic. This discourages the birds, and other animals , from climbing up, or flying by and taking a taste. It's just not worth getting a thorn in the beak or in the paw, or sprayed in the eye with acidic juice. Lemon trees can't handle any cold weather, and must be irrigated if it gets too dry. If the wind blows too hard, they lose their leaves, the possibility of a crop as well.
It's time to do some comparisons:
I'm definitely NOT tall, or pretty. I don't permeate the air with a wonderful scent, unless I accept it, because I'm a sinner, but because of Christ, I am a sweet smelling offering to His Father. That's a deep thought. God can't stand the stench of sin, that was one of the many reasons for the continuous offerings in the Temple. Christ's blood covered our sins once and for all. But does His own Father want to smell His Son's blood? I think it's similar to house cleaning, most of the products are lemon scented, you don't want your guests to know that how hard you worked to clean the house, but the aroma remains. God had the solution planned from the beginning to the "sin problem", His Son did not back down. He, God must have wept with both pain and pride.
Now, it's our turn, we have to be proud of Jesus, and accept what He did for us.
Look up these Scriptures:
Num28:6
2 Cor 6: 17-18
Phil 4:18
2 Cor 2:15
The Old Covenant contained a complicated offering system:
1. The burnt offering-covering sins, symbolizing surrender, love, and commitment to God.
2,.The grain offering ( the first of the crops) voluntary, a manner of giving thanks for first fruits.
3. Fellowship or peace offerings are all voluntary, symbolic of fellowship with God.
a. Thank offering--------Thankfulness for a special blessing
b, Vow offering---------Offers a ritual expression of a vow
c. Free will offering-----Symbolizes general thankfulness
4.Sin Offering: mandatory offering with varying degrees of sacrifice based on the economic status of the person giving the offering. It was made by some one who had sinned, or had POTENTIALLY sinned.
Each of these offerings, except the grain, and the sin, for the very poor, required blood sacrifice of an innocent animal. Note how the sin offering included even those who might have sinned . It's a Catch 22. A person who really loves God does not want to be dishonest with Him, but believes he believes he has followed the Law to the letter, but perhaps he slipped up somewhere. So even he must make a sacrifice. All of these people walked with guilt raining on their shoulders.
1. Why is it so important that Christ's blood made His offering atonement for sin once and for all for you?
2. Do you struggle with that? How? What else could the Lord have done to cover your sins?
Dear brothers and sisters I struggled with that for a long time. I thought that one thing I had done was just too awful for the Lord to forgive. A wise man told me I was forgiven when I accepted the Lord. What did I want? Did I want Him beaten more? Crucified again? Of course not. His blood covers it all, the past, the present and the future. The hardest part is getting past the pride, and accepting it. WE want to fix it, just like the two year old saying "Me do it". We can't, only He can.
3. How burdensome would you find this offering system? Remember, your offering had to be perfect, and exchanged for the Temple coins. Would you still worship at the Temple?
4, What do the scriptures I have chosen mean to you?
