Do not appear before Yehoah empty-handed!
Yehoah, our Lord and
Creator, is inviting us several times a year to come and rejoice with Him on the occasion of His feasts.
But on these occasions, our Lord is asking us not to appear before Him
empty-handed.
Let us read in Deuteronomy, chapter
16, verses 16 and 17, how Yehoah speaks to each
family and is attributing importance to each of the words:
" 16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before Yehoah your Elohim in the place which He chooses: at the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of
Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before Yehoah
empty-handed. 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to
the blessing of Yehoah your Elohim which He has given
you. "
All family leaders therefore have
the duty to prepare and bring an offering for Yehoah.
Good or bad
offerings!
Making an offering to our Lord means
also its preparation with a good attitude, if we love our Father in the skies, we
must aim to make us pleasant just as our offering must be too.
If we succeed in presenting a
pleasant offering, it will certainly be accepted by our Lord.
To help us succeed in this project
of making a pleasant offering, the Bible gives us a lot of advice on how to proceed.
For instance, it is worth reading the differences between the way Abel or Cain,
the former making a pleasant offering and the latter displeasing to their Lord.
Let's read this in Genesis 4: 3-7:
" 3 And in the
process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of
the ground to Yehoah. 4 Abel also brought
of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And Yehoah
respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and
his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
6 So Yehoah said to Cain, “Why are you
angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will
you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its
desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
Let us notice that the one who offers and his offering form a whole: both are pleasant or
both unpleasant!
Abel takes care to choose the
firstborn while Cain brings what comes to hand without taking care to choose
the first-fruits. Abel takes care to make his offering
with their fat. Abel is love with his offering while Cain is botching it up to
get rid of it without making the slightest effort to be himself and make it
pleasant!
According to
the blessing that Yehoah has given to you!
Before deciding about the kind offering
and its value, Yehoah is asking us to meditate and among
others to remember all the blessings we have enjoyed thanks to Him.
People are usually doing the
contrary when they plan to give someone a gift with the idea to get a favor in
the future.
This is the kind of deplorable
attitude that Balak, the king of Moab, had when he is
inviting with a great expense the false prophet Balaam, the great religious
leader of his time and that we could compare with the Pope today. Reading the
details of this event in Numbers 22, one sees that Balak
is trying to buy from Balaam a curse against Israel which seems to threaten
him.
Another example of a repugnant
offering is the one briefly described in the book of Acts, chapter 8, verses
18-24:
“18 And when Simon saw
that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he
offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone
on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 But Peter said to him, “Your money perish
with you, because you thought that the gift of Elohim could be purchased with
money! 21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your
heart is not right in the sight of Elohim. 22 Repent therefore of
this your wickedness, and pray Elohim if perhaps the
thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are
poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”
24 Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to Yehoah
for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”
No, this is not at all the kind of
offering that our Father is looking for! Yehoah on
the contrary wishes to receive simply a sincere and loving thank
you for all His blessings we might have received if this is the case.
Flawless
offering!
As beautiful and valuable as we hold
it to be, our offering of communion with our Lord must nevertheless meet a very
important criterion stated in Leviticus, chapter 3, verse 1:
" ‘When his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering, if he offers
it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish
before Yehoah."
This instruction still has its value
today: do not make an offering that is incomplete or truncated! The following
account of the New Covenant should make us seriously think about the risk we
take if we offer our Lord a lame offering. Let us read and meditate carefully while
reading this account in Acts, from chapter 4 in verse 32 to chapter 5 in verse
11:
" 32 Now the
multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did
anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all
things in common. 33 And with great power the apostles gave witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. 34
Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of
lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were
sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed
to each as anyone had need.
36 And Joses, who was also named Barnabas
by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the
country of Cyprus, 37 having land, sold it, and brought the money
and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Chapter 5
1But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a
possession.
2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware
of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy
Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? 4
While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in
your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not
lied to men but to Elohim.”
5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down
and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these
things. 6 And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him
out, and buried him.
7 Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not
knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter answered her, “Tell me
whether you sold the land for so much?”
She said, “Yes, for so much.” 9
Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the
Spirit of Yehoah? Look, the feet of those who have
buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10
Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young
men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her
husband. 11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who
heard these things.
12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were
done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 13
Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14
And believers were increasingly added to Yehoah,
multitudes of both men and women”
This story should make us think, we
who are unfortunately too used to trying to deceive the Tax or the laws of the
road or any other rule: each time, it is as if we were lying to our Lord who
allowed the setting in place of all these rules and authorities.
This brings us quite naturally to
another very important aspect of the offerings.
Almost all offerings must be leaven-free!
This requirement of Yehoah is stated from the beginning of the book of
Leviticus, in chapter 2, verses 1 and 11:
" ‘When anyone offers a grain
offering to Yehoah, his offering shall be of fine
flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put
frankincense on it. ...
‘No grain offering which you
bring to Yehoah shall be made with leaven, for
you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to Yehoah
made by fire."
We can understand from the texts of
the New Covenant that the leaven is a symbol of sin which can spread so quickly
among people as the leaven makes all the dough rise! (I Corinthians 5: 6-7)
So today, before making an offering
to our Father, we must do everything to present ourselves before Him as clean
as possible and hopefully without sin, taking care in
particular to purge our thoughts of all bad thoughts.
Last but not least: As in each good cooking recipe,
Do not forget to add a little bit of salt
to give flavor to your offering!
Yehoah insists about
this in Leviticus 2:13:
“And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with
salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your Elohim to be lacking
from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt."
Today, in the eyes of our Father, the salt of the New Covenant, are
the country of still unborn believers. Here is what our Lord Jesus said about
it in Matthew 5:13:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor,
how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and
trampled underfoot by men."
Give even your
necessities without any second thought!
“41 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the
people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. 42
Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. 43
So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to
you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the
treasury; 44 for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out
of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” (Mark 12:
41-44).