Tag: passover

TWO LAMBS  

Exodus 29:38-46 NET.

³⁸ “Now this is what you are to prepare on the altar every day continually: two lambs a year old. ³⁹ The first lamb you are to prepare in the morning, and the second lamb you are to prepare around sundown. ⁴⁰ With the first lamb offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. ⁴¹ The second lamb you are to offer around sundown; you are to prepare for it the same meal offering as for the morning and the same drink offering, for a soothing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. ⁴² “This will be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you to speak to you there. ⁴³ There I will meet with the Israelites, and it will be set apart as holy by my glory. ⁴⁴ “So I will set apart as holy the tent of meeting and the altar, and I will set apart as holy Aaron and his sons, that they may minister as priests to me. ⁴⁵ I will reside among the Israelites, and I will be their God, ⁴⁶ and they will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt, so that I may reside among them. I am the LORD their God.

We need to do some things regularly.

The Lord instructs the children of Israel here that when they set up the Tabernacle they are to prepare a particular offering to him every day, continually. Every morning they were to sacrifice a lamb and every evening another lamb. Most of us are creatures of habit. We have things that we do every day. Nobody has to check up on us and make sure we are doing those things. We get into the habit of doing those things perpetually so that they are instinctual.

For me, Bible study is like that. For years now, I have followed a regular ritual that begins with translating a biblical text each day, followed by a devotional from that text. I have gone through the Bible several times that way. People wonder how I can publish so many books every year, and that habit is the reason. Because I have studied and written so many articles, devotionals, and theological posts, it is relatively easy to put them together in book form.

I’m also methodical about the medicines I take. I know which meds to take in the morning and which to take in the evening. I take them first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I label my medicine bottles with a big “M” for my morning meds and a big “E” for my evening meds.

My sermon preparation follows a pattern as well. I usually do my research for the next week’s message on Monday, write the sermon presentation, and record the video on Tuesday. That leaves Wednesday for visitation, Thursday for Food Bank, and Friday and Saturday for my weekends. It’s all habitual. It’s how I function. The pattern helps me get everything accomplished that is important to me.

I’m not one of these “last minute” people. If I came to a Saturday night and had done no preparation for my sermon, I would be a basket case. In fact, if I had to wait until Wednesday to write my sermon, I would be nervous and anxious. I don’t mind deadlines, but I feel better if I can finish a project a month before the deadline.

Now, I am saying all this to clue you in on how I do things. But it seems to me from today’s text that God wanted to establish some habits for the children of Israel, too. He wanted them to get used to doing certain things at certain times every day, to doing the things that really matter on a regular schedule.

We need to worship God regularly.

According to today’s passage, the most important thing on God’s list for his people to do regularly was worship him. The offerings that he prescribed for them were the way they would show their appreciation for God, and he told them to sacrifice those offerings every morning and every evening at sundown. That is why he told them to offer two lambs every day. These were not family offerings. These were not for individuals. They were national offerings. The priests would offer them for the whole nation.

But notice the nature of these morning and evening sacrifices. They consisted of the meat of a lamb, oil, flour, wine… everything that would be part of a fine meal. Why did God want them to prepare a meal for him twice a day? He did not need to consume any food. That is not it. But in every tent, every family would prepare a meal for themselves every day. They did this to sustain themselves, but it was also a way of coming together and enjoying each other’s company. It was a time of fellowship for each family.

The sacrifices that God prescribed for his people were to take place at a place called the tent of meeting. They symbolized God’s desire to get together with his people regularly, consistently, and habitually. From the standpoint of what God wanted, he was prescribing a unique form of worship: a symbolic meal shared with the Almighty twice a day.

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus tells the church in Laodicea, “Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me” (3:20). That is what God wants of his people. He wants them to worship him by showing their appreciation for him the same way they would do for a family member.

It makes sense if you remember that these are all former slaves. They were not used to being able to show their appreciation for anyone. The only way they knew how to commune with anyone was over a nice meal. That was the height of their gift-giving. Now, they have been rescued from Egypt, but they have not been automatically transformed culturally. They still have minimal experience with divine worship. But they do know how to show their appreciation by sharing a meal. That is what God asks of them.

He gave them their freedom. He could have asked for much more, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to stay close to them. When he smelled the aroma of those meals cooking, it was soothing for him. He could overlook many offenses as long as his people wanted to please him. Just two meals a day was all it took for that.

God will meet with us regularly.

Today’s passage also tells us about the other side of the bargain. It outlines what the Israelites are going to get for regularly communing with the LORD. He promises to meet with the people and speak with them at the entrance to the tent of the meeting. The pagans all around them had their rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices that they used to manipulate their gods. But the worship of the Israelites was not to be like that. They were not trying to appease an angry God. They were trying to stay close to a compassionate God. He was not just going to be there for the meal. He was going to be there for the people themselves. He was going to speak to them there.

He was also going to share himself. He would pass on his holiness to the place, to the priests, and to the people. They would become different people because God himself would transfer his holiness to them. He would be their God, and they would be his people. Ten chapters earlier, he told them that they were to him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (19:6).

That is what New Testament Christianity is supposed to be as well. Peter tells believers, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Just as the Israelites were called out of slavery into holiness, so we—the church—are called out of the darkness of sin into the marvelous light of God’s holiness.

Now, the point is not that we have to be holy in order to experience God’s presence. It is the other way around. We become holy as we experience God’s presence in our lives through regular, consistent, perpetual worship. We don’t change for him. We change by staying close to him. Once we are saved by grace through the shed blood of Christ, we can come into the presence of God and commune with him regularly. Nothing we can do for him comes close to what his regular presence can do for us.

Devotions from Exodus:

The book is 296 pages long and was released on May 17, 2024.