I'm always blessed and inspired by my pastor's messages, but one thing he said in yesterday's sermon really made me think. He was talking about how many Christians are praying for revival in our country, when he asked, "Would we be ready for it, when it comes? and What if it does not look like what we expect?" He gave the example of the Day of Pentecost, when hundreds and hundreds were speaking to each other in their native tongues, and were able to understand any language they heard. What if that happened again, for example? Would we, as Baptists, go "Oh no, NO! Speaking in tongues ceased after the apostolic era!" What if the early Church had rejected Pentecost, because it fell "outside the box"?
Here's a parallel story. It may seem as though I am rambling, but I will get to the point, eventually... A few months ago, I attended a Messianic Jewish Yom Kippur service. To be clear, Messianic Jews are people of Jewish descent who worship Jesus as their Messiah. These congregations also include Gentile believers who want to honor God by participating in some of the elements of Jewish tradition. I had never been to such a Yom Kippur service. It featured worship music/singing, preaching from both the Old and New Testaments, and an incense-burning ceremony at the end. This latter was intended to focus our hearts on drawing near to God, while letting our spirits dwell on His holiness. Malachi 1:11 prophesied about such an occasion as this when he wrote (referring to both Jewish and Gentile believers) - -
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same My Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
Although foreign to mainline Protestants, incense-burning has been an integral part of worship for both Jewish and some Christian sects for hundreds of years. When I was in Jerusalem, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, I witnessed three Christian priests (3 different Christian denominations), walk near the place Catholic, Coptic and Russian orthodox tradition holds Christ was buried, each priest swinging a brazier of sweet-smelling incense.
Why?
It is a curious thing that God, although Spirit, has a keen sense of smell (Genesis 8:21). I am spending so much time on this point, because it is totally foreign to most of my evangelical readers. The smell, the smoke of the Olah, the Burnt Offering, was delightful to God, and was a key element of this sacrifice. Let's dig in.
First of all, burning incense is not an Olah offering, despite my anecdotal personal experience related above. Nor is Olah what many of my readers will think of when we think of a "burnt offering." Most evangelical main-liners have a very one-dimensional view of all Old Testament offerings, viewing all of them as being atonement offerings. This is not an accurate understanding.
In Hebrew, the word OLAH is spelled with the following four characters: Ayin ("See"), Vav ("the connection"), Lamed ("Ascending"), Hei ("by God’s Grace"). It literally means “See the rising of the smoke of the Burnt Offering that connects us to the grace of God”. The Korban Olah is "the sacrifice which rises".
The Korban (remember what this word means?) Olah was offered morning and night, twice a day, and it was the only offering Gentiles were allowed to offer at the Temple. This offering signifies complete abandonment to God. See if you can find that message symbolically in the details of this Temple ritual.
The oldest and commonest korban, the Korban Olah was not brought by the worshipper to compensate for any sin or guilt. The worshipper had nothing to gain by bringing this offering, nor did he "profit" in any way. The male animal was completely surrendered to God, symbolizing the worshipper's complete submission to God's will. No choice cuts of meat were retained by the giver. Only the hide of the animal was retained, and that was given to the priest who performed the sacrifice (Leviticus 7:8). No ritual purification was received by the giver; no expiation was given either. The altar fire, kept burning day and night in the Temple, completely consumed the Olah burnt offering. And, the smoke produced ascended to Heaven as a sweet-smelling savor, before the LORD (Exodus 29:18).
This voluntary offering was brought with great joy of heart, the worship from a glad heart, longing to draw near to God. It is first described in Leviticus 1:10-11, mentioned by King David in Psalm 27:6 and is also mentioned in Psalm 51:19. It was this type of offering Noah offered in Genesis 8:20, Abraham offered in place of Isaac, on Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22:2), and Jethro {father-in-law of Moses) offered, in Exodus 18:12.
These types of offerings were also practiced by the early Christians. One notable instance is recorded in Acts 18:18 and in 21:23-24 of Paul taking a temporary Nazarite vow, along with four other devout Jewish believers in Jesus. The details of this vow included offering a korban olah, as well as other korbanot, as described in Numbers 6.
What are some other New Testament applications of this information, to transform this post from esoteric knowledge to practical application in the walk of faith? As Christians we are unable to offer a literal korban olah (not yet anyway), since there has been no Temple since 70 C.E. All Temple sacrifices obviously ceased at that time, nor have they resumed. An end-times Temple will be rebuilt, however, according to New Testament prophecies. There is a cadre of priests in Jerusalem who practice the sacrificial rites, to keep the knowledge of them alive, in preparation for that inevitability.
The apostle Peter speaks of Christ followers as "living stones", a living altar, if you will, a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:5). Similarly, the apostle Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-23 describes what these spiritual sacrifices should look like: rejoicing in all circumstances, praying continually, giving thanks in everything. In 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, Paul goes on to describe our Christian lives as a pleasing aroma unto God. In Romans 12:1, he speaks of our lives as "a living sacrifice". May all of us who bear the name of Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach) do so daily, with the reckless abandon born out of an all-consuming love for Him.
Sources:
Making Sense of Sacrifices - Part 1, Dr. Jennifer Scrivner, Beth HaShomer Ministries
https://www.mechon-mamre.org/jewfaq/qorbanot.htm
https://www.openbible.info/topics/sweet_smelling_savor_scripture
https://myvalleynews.com/what-is-the-nazarite-vow/
