The Sacrifice – Judges 6:15-24

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The Sacrifice

Judges 6:15-24

And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. (Judges 6:15)

And the LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. (Judges 6:16)

And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. (Judges 6:17)

Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. (Judges 6:18)

And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. (Judges 6:19)

And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. (Judges 6:20)

Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight. (Judges 6:21)

And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord GOD! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face. (Judges 6:22)

And the LORD said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. (Judges 6:23)

Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. (Judges 6:24)

For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. (Hebrews 3:3)

For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. (Hebrews 3:4)

And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; (Hebrews 3:5)

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: (Galatians 4:3)

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians 4:4)

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5)

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6)

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7)

   We have become accustomed to the 15 minute sermonette that we hear on Sunday. This has created an ignorance of the holy Scriptures, and should show us that these workmen are not worthy of our attendance. Studying, reading and knowing the Word of God is laborious work, Timothy knew this quite well, and Paul reminded him that he should be a workman, a laborer in the things of God and in God’s Word. There is no verse or line in the Bible that stands alone. We are exhorted to go line by line, and precept by precept overlaying the truths of the past into the truths of the present, and these truths are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

   The beginning of man’s transgressions began at the tree of good and evil. For by one man sin came into the world, and death by sin, therefore, Adam brought the curse of sin and death to all men. So all are sinners, and all must die. I tell everyone that the most consistent preacher that I have ever seen is death. He always has the same message, and it always brings the same result: sin equals death. So death passed upon all men at the tree of good and evil. We can also look at this tree as the tree of good OR evil. If Adam did not partake, it would have been good, however, his transgression brought evil into the souls of all men by the vehicle of sin. Man made a choice, and he chose disobedience over obedience to God. Adam knew the penalty. He knew the judgment would be stern. He knew the judgment was death. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: (Genesis 2:16) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:17) For in that day thou shall surely die. The very moment that their eyes were opened they saw deadmen walking for both had died to God, and the Spirit of God had departed from them both. They were looking at naked flesh under the judgment of God from which they had no escape. In a desperate attempt to hide this body of death they sowed fig leaves together to cover their sin, and then tried to hide from the presence of God. The fig leaves were to cover the sin that was written all over their flesh.

Side Note: You may have wondered why the Lord cursed the fig tree. Could it be central to the tree of good and evil, and the leaves that Adam and Eve took to cover themselves? Christ came looking for fruit, and there was no fruit for God. This had been decided long ago in the garden.

  Their entire naked bodies witnessed against them. In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established, and we have two witnesses of sin: Adam and Eve. We have two witnesses of death, and we have two witnesses of evil and every word of God was established, Thou shalt surely die. (2 Corinthians 13:1) This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. This is the first time in the recorded Word of God that we see the surety of the Word of God. For what God demanded He fulfilled. What He spoke came to pass. There was no variance to the Word that He had spoken to Adam. It was the first time that we behold the surety of the Word of God from God Himself to man. And this Word that He spoke to Adam STILL this very day testifies that His Word endureth forever. Man is still the slave of sin, and sin still brings forth death.

   Divine inspiration in the Word of God, and the continuation of that very inspiration, or is it really inspiration? Hath not God said? Can God give exact copy (meaning the exact words) and keep that copy through the thousands and thousands of years? Why should we give any credit to the opinions and reasoning of man concerning God’s Word? Should not the testimony and the clarification and the copy come from God Himself? And could not the Creator of all things keep that copy, and at times add to it, or take from it, after all it is man who is told not to add or to take away, but God is the complete authority. And He has put His authority into the written Word of God through the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ. So then, we read the Scriptures not with our eyes, but with our faith, and our eyes. Only faith can believe what God has to say, and only those of no faith will question the Word of God. So there you have it! The breath of God is the Word of God, and it shall continue forever. Both Adam and Eve were witnesses against themselves, and that witness through the Word of God is passed on to all mankind in their very death. After the fall of man, man had to face God, and God reaffirmed His judgment against their sin.

The Sacrifice in the Shadows

   God begins by working in shadows, and these shadows travel through the history of mankind. The first shadow is not given to us in detail. This was when God began the work of redemption. The Lord took two lambs, Behold the lamb of God, and sacrificed them in the presence of the two offenders. He showed both Adam and Eve the penalty of their sin in the death of the innocent victim, the lamb of sacrifice. God shed the blood. And the blood became a most important part in the redemption of mankind. For without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22)　 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.　(Leviticus 17:11)

   This was being taught to both Adam and Eve as a shadow of the great sacrifice to come: God’s only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God took the covering of the lamb and covered both Adam and Eve with these skins so that they would always have a reminder of that death. For man had not yet experienced physical death. This would take place outside the garden of God. Upon the death of the first man, there was no witness to the mortality of man, and the enmity and the hatred of man against His Creator. Cain was at enmity with God, he was a God hater, and this led him to become disobedient. And in his disobedience he became a hater of his brother Abel because of Abel’s obedience to God. When Abel was slain, we beheld two things: 1) that Cain was a murderer; and 2) all men would face their own mortality. No longer would they have to wear skins for they wore their mortality in their own flesh each and every day. God took the symbol of the death of another to cover their sins and nakedness. They partook of the tree of sin and death. And in our age today God gives man a choice to partake of the tree of life OR death in our Savior Jesus Christ. As God told the Israelites in Deuteronomy Chapter 30 verses 15 and 19, See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;(Deuteronomy 30:15) I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: (Deuteronomy 30:19)

   God was the first to shed blood of an innocent victim. This shadow would move through the history of man until the innocent victim on the cross of Calvary, and this innocent victim was the Christ of God for the Son of God bore the sin of the whole world. The curse came at a tree, and the curse was removed at a tree. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (Galatians 3:13)

   I am sure that the two guilty parties (Adam and Eve) saw the slaughter of the lamb. I also believe according to the sacrifices in Leviticus that God must have built an altar or used a great stone. And I believe that those sacrifices were then consumed by the fire of God for this would be consistent with the rest of the Word of God. Also remember that God put His fire at the entrance of His garden: a flaming fiery sword of judgment, therefore, before man left the garden he already knew what fire was all about. Man would not discover fire, for God revealed fire to man, and that first revelation of fire spoke of God’s judgment, and the witness of that fire in the flaming sword reminded them of that judgment. When they were driven out of the garden, the Lord put Cherubims to guard the way and to be a witness against man.

The Shadow of Things to Come

   The flaming sword was a shadow of things to come as the mercy seat in the tabernacle was a shadow of things to come. Both the sword and the mercy seat were witnesses of God’s judgment and also God’s mercy. The Cherubims looked down on the mercy seat as witnesses to us of the heavenly, and the mercy of God. In the garden they were witnesses against man, in the tabernacle over the mercy seat they were a witness for man that God was going to send forth His grace at the sacrifice of Himself and at the shedding of His own blood. The sword of judgment must come forth first before the eyes of mercy can deliver grace.

   Now lets go to the gospel of John: we see a garden, and in that garden there is a tomb where never a man had been placed. It is this tomb where the Christ of God was placed, and from this tomb (in this garden) came the breath of life in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We also have the witness of two Cherubims and the voice that spoke that He is not here, He is risen.

But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, (John 20:11) And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. (John 20:12)

   This completed the long trail from the tree of death to the tree of life. For in Him is life, and He holds the power of an endless life. (Hebrews 7:16) And now God says, I give you life and I give you death. I have set before you life and death. Again man is faced with the choice: life in God or death by sin. As the two Cherubims looked down on the mercy seat (seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain) they looked down on the sword of judgment and fire that one day would fall on God’s dear Son to take away the sin of the world. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)

And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. (Exodus 25:18)

And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. (Exodus 25:19)

And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. (Exodus 25:20)

We now understand the reason for the first sacrifice in the garden of God that was a shadow of the great sacrifice of God Himself.

The Shadows – Angel – Oak Tree – Rock – Kid – Flour – Fire

   Now lets look at the sacrifice that we have in Judges Chapter 6. Let us remind ourselves of the scene that God sets before us. We see the oak tree which speaks of strength. We see a rock or great stone that speaks of the altar of God. We see the winepress reminding us of the suffering of God’s Christ. And we behold the angel of the Lord, the Lord of heaven and earth, and then we see the empty vessel in Gideon: this empty vessel would deliver God’s people Israel.

And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. (Judges 6:13)

  It is Gideon who called the angel, and gives the angel the title of LORD. He confirms that it was the Lord who brought them out of Egypt, and this was the Lord, the Angel of His presence. In Chapter 4 there are four references to the same Lord standing before Gideon. This was the manifestation of Jesus Christ as the angel of the Lord. Once again, this is an important fact because Christ is revealing Himself and all that is about to take place is a shadow of what is to come at Calvary just as Abraham and Isaac went up into mount Moriah with the wood, the fire, and the knife. When Isaac asked Abraham, Where is the sacrifice? Abraham replied, GOD HIMSELF will provide a sacrifice.

   Why is Christ revealing Himself to Gideon? When man fails, when the priesthood fails, when the prophet fails, when the king failed in the realm of man, there is no other way to bring the people of God back to Himself, it has to come through divine intervention in this case: His divine presence. It is God who must raise up a deliverer as Abraham in Genesis 14 when he delivered just Lot. Like David when he destroyed Israel’s enemies, God took him from the shepherd’s fold and used him for God’s glory. Throughout the history of mankind when man continued to fail and to show his true nature, it was only by God’s divine intervention that mankind can be set on a true course. This all came through the fullness of time at the end of the world when the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was manifested among men, walked among men, and through the true heart of man Christ was put to death by man. After the true Deliverer came there has been no other deliverer than Jesus Christ. For Christ went to the root of evil, and delivered us from both sin and death by the death of the cross and His sacrifice He delivered us once and for all.

   Gideon, the empty vessel, must become a mighty man of valor in the presence of the angel of the Lord. Through Scripture we have many witnesses from the Word of God. We have death in the lion’s den, and yet the jaws of death were held shut by the angel of the Lord. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. (Daniel 6:22) Once more we have the angel of His presence protecting Daniel from all hurt. Then turn to Daniel 3:28, Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.

   Again we have the divine witness of the Spirit of God. It was the Spirit of God who gave Nebuchadnezzar the eyes to recognize the image in the fiery furnace that the fourth image was, in fact, the Son of God. There is no way in these fires that he could have recognized the Son of God. This had to be a movement of the Spirit of God upon him. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. (Daniel 3:25) We see here full recognition that this image was the Son of God. There would be no other that would come to their rescue. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s gold image, therefore, they would not be friends with the professed gods of Nebuchadnezzar this would only leave one to deliver, and God who could deliver Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It was the God of glory, the one true God, Jesus Christ. In Chapter 3 of Daniel the same king called the image ‘the Son of God,’ and ‘angel’ in verse 28 in the phrase send his angel, and then he used the words to deliver his servants. They were not servants of the angels but of God.

   Paul used a similar expression in Acts 27:23, For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, This was undoubtedly the Lord Jesus Christ for Paul showed that the angel owned him, and that he served this angel. This could only be Jesus Christ.

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; (Ephesians 3:8)

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (Ephesians 3:9)

To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, (Ephesians 3:10)

According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: (Ephesians 3:11)

   Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego we are not the servants of angels, neither are we the servants of men, we are the servants of God. One brief glimpse into the fiery furnace, only the ropes that bound them were burned. They were free in Christ. On the cross Christ loosed our bands and made us free in Him. In all these manifestations we have one Lord over all things, and God blessed forever. The angel of the Lord has all the characteristics of Christ. For it is Christ who gives gifts to the Church. It is Christ who chooses His vessels for service, however, today man would completely deny this for we have come to a point that those who profess Christ would rather have man teaching them in man’s intellectual power than to have the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, in their presence. The intellectual power of man is very persuasive, and through this power he will take man away from God and not lead man to God. This fits man’s M.O. from the beginning: sin and death. Man will deny God in the most perverse ways by defiling God’s holy vessels like Belshazzar in the book of Daniel. Today we do not have the articles of the tabernacle, we have the true Tabernacle which is Jesus Christ. Belshazzar has not changed. He attempts to defile the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ by his religion. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (1 Corinthians 2:12) The only message of God must come from God. And it must be given by the Spirit of all truth. And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:4)

    Now we go from the angel of the Lord to the Rock that followed Israel through the wilderness in the desert surrounding the nation of Israel: God gave them a Rock. (Exodus 17:6; Psalm 78:15; Psalm 105:41) This Rock gave them water, and Paul stated that this Rock was Christ! And the drink that they received was not natural water, but it was a spiritual drink just as the manna from above: this water also came from above for in this manifestation Christ was showing Israel that He Himself was Living Water.

   If the Lord of glory could manifest Himself as a Rock, could He not manifest Himself as an angel? The angel of His presence (this phrase) takes us to the highest Himself, there is a presence of the Almighty God that He does not share with mortal man. It is the presence of His own effulgence and the completeness of His Godhead bodily. Man comes into God’s presence, God does not come into man’s presence. He manifested Himself in many ways, and gave man many presence of Himself: the angel of the Lord, and the Rock that followed them, all denote a presence among men. Even with His disciples the only time that He revealed His glory was on the mount of transfiguration, and this was His glory that He would receive of the Father after His resurrection.

   What blocks man from the presence of the Almighty God? We are of Adam. An Adam was driven out of God’s presence. And there is no way for Adam to return to the garden. Man has to be changed. A new creation, and a new creature has to come forth by the wooing and divine birth manifested by the Spirit of God in one’s heart. Only then can the creature fully know the presence of God for Christ liveth in me. Where in the previous history of mankind did anyone, even Adam, have the closeness to God as a child of God has today? Adam could only say that he was in the image of God. We can say, I live in Christ and Christ lives in me. The reality of this is the manifestation of the Spirit of God within our heart, soul and spirit. Now let us journey to Isaiah Chapter 63 verses 7 – 9.

I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. (Isaiah 63:7)

For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. (Isaiah 63:8)

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. (Isaiah 63:9)

His Presence Manifested

   This was the angel of His presence, the personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ with the nation of Israel. In verse 9 He carried them all the days of old speaking of the past history of Israel and particularly their wanderings in the wilderness where He (the Lord) manifested Himself as a cloud by day, and as a fire by night. For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. (Exodus 40:38) This is a very important part of the manifestation of God’s glory. His manifestation was over the tabernacle, the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, in His glory was both the cloud by day and the fire by night. Both the cloud and the fire contained the glory of the Lord as in Isaiah Chapter 6.

In the year that king Uzziah died  I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)

Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. (Isaiah 6:2)

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (Isaiah 6:3)

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:4)

Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)

   Isaiah beheld the Lord upon His throne just as John beheld the Lord Jesus upon His throne in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Chapter 4 verse 2, And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. In Isaiah the prophet looked up into heaven and beheld the manifested image upon the throne: it was the Lord. The prophet also declared that this was the King, the Lord of hosts using His title in the book of the Revelation as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. John was caught up out of this earth and into heaven no longer bound by sin and death, and he beheld the jasper stone, the foundation of all truth, the Lord of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon His throne. Isaiah before the cross, he looked up; John after the cross looked forward to the glorious day when all the redeemed will be with their blessed Lord through all eternity.

   Since God could manifest Himself in a cloud, in a fire, and He could manifest Himself sitting on a throne in the days of Isaiah, and He could manifest Himself to the apostle John as the Almighty God in heaven above, could He not manifest Himself as the angel of the Lord: the angel of His presence?

The True Sacrifice — The Only Sacrifice

   We’re not done, don’t run away, there is more to come . . . Numbers 22:22 (witness, witness, witness, witness). And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. God’s presents a prophet named Balaam. He had hired out and had given himself to the power of the devil in Balak, a worshiper of Baal. Even his name reflects his worship. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal, that thence he might see the utmost part of the people. (Numbers 22:41) Balaam had been hired to curse the people of God, and the Lord manifested Himself as the angel of the Lord to stop this evil prophet. In verse 31 we read, Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. (Numbers 22:31) We see the angel here, but notice what Balaam did, he bowed down flat on his face, a position of worship, this would not have been accepted by an angel of the Lord, compare Revelation Chapter 22, verses 8, 9 and John 9:38.

And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. (Revelation 22:8)

Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God. (Revelation 22:9)

 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. (John 9:38)

   In Revelation John is refused his worship because he was trying to worship his fellow servants. In John Chapter 9, we have the Person of the Son of God, the man born blind worships Him, and the Lord Jesus does not deny nor restrain the man’s worship of the Son of God Himself, but accepts his worship.

   We also have a testimony from the lips of Balaam in Chapter 35, verse 22 and in Chapter 23, verses 4 and 5 of the book of Numbers.

And the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam, Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. (Numbers 22:35)

And  God met Balaam and he said unto him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram. (Numbers 23:4)

And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak. (Numbers 23:5)

   Balaam is given the Word of God, and then the Holy Spirit tells us that it was God who met Balaam, and it was the Lord who put the words in Balaam’s mouth. Compare this with Jeremiah 1:9, Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. Now remember we’re in the book of Numbers, this was long before the age of Gideon, and yet, this Baal worship continued among the children of Israel. In Balaam’s day God revealed Himself as the most high Almighty God.

He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: (Numbers 24:4)

He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: (Numbers 24:16)

   In verse 16 we have two titles: the most High, and the Almighty both referring to the angel of the Lord. (Psalm 87:5) Why should we be interested in Balaam? Baal was the god, Peor was the place of the ritual of Baal in all it’s lasciviousness. Later in the history of Israel, the word ‘Peor’ became the actual ritual, and was spread throughout all of Israel. We see this even in our modern age with the statues of Rome and their idols of worship all over the world. Peor became one of the rituals of Baal, and it was to mix with the people of God to commit whoredom with the children of Moab by mixing their women with the children of Israel. To show the magnitude of this corruption in the days of the kings of Israel and Judah, Jehoshaphat’s son married the daughter of Jezebel who was a worshiper of Baal. This led to the complete contamination of Judah under Athaliah. She became queen over Judah for seven years, and in those seven years the people of Judah went whoring after Baal. This is the same contamination that we had before the flood with the line of Seth. The line of Seth bore the title, sons of God, yet, they mixed with the children of men, and with the women of the descendants of Cain (the cursed one). This was exactly the same ploy that the devil used against Israel to mix the children of Israel with the accursed thing.

   In Gideon’s day the children of God had commingled with the daughters of the Midianites. Now let’s go back to the book of Numbers: What did God do when Israel mixed themselves together with the Midianites? Twenty four-thousand Israelites died in the plague. And more would have died if Eleazer had not stood in the gap and killed both the man and the Midianitish woman. Remember that this was a rite of Baalpeor; Eleazar placed the spear right where it had to go, into the belly of the woman to show that the judgment was against the contamination of the people of Israel with the Midianites. This unrestrained intermixing of the godly and the ungodly continued into the days of Gideon.

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. (Judges 6:1) 　

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: (Judges 2:11)

And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. (Judges 2:12) 　

And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. (Judges 2:13)

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. (Judges 3:7)

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him. (Judges 10:6)

   God allowed the nation of Israel to be possessed of by the very same Midianites that we find in the book of Numbers and of Baalpeor. Baalpeor was the mixing of the godly seed with the whoredoms of man, and yet, this goes back to the days and even to the death of Joshua in Judges Chapter 2. Read verse 11 thru 13.

And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. (Judges 2:8)

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: (Judges 2:11)

And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. (Judges 2:12)

And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. (Judges 2:13)

   This is the tragedy of idolatry. It is the intentional sphere of Satan to take the heart of man away from God and place it on another object or image. Idolatry leads to all the rest of the sins of mankind. Without God over man there is no restraint in man’s mind, his conscience, in his heart, or in his soul and spirit. When man gives up God, he becomes subject to Satan, sin, and his fellow men. Slavery is not the chains of iron, but the chains of idolatry, and the sin it leads to. The worship of Baal stayed with the nation of Israel throughout its history because of the sins of Manasseh the nation went into captivity. And those sins were the sins of idolatry and all that came with it. Even when the people returned back into the land, they could not give up Baal.

   In the days of the Lord Jesus as He walked in Samaria (And he must needs go through Samaria) and sat on Jacob’s well, Samaria was a mixture of all the ungodly nations surrounding Israel. The Samaritans did not worship God for the Lord Himself said, Ye worship ye know not what. (John 4:21-23) For they were still worshiping Baal and Ashtaroth, and other false deities. Christ mentioned that they were worshiping in the mountain, must likely it was mount Ebal where Joshua had built an altar to the Lord.

Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister. (Deuteronomy 27:4)

And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. (Deuteronomy 27:13)

Then Joshua built an altar unto the LORD God of Israel in mount Ebal, (Joshua 8:30)

As Moses the servant of the LORD commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD, and sacrificed peace offerings. (Joshua 8:31)

And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. (Joshua 8:32)

And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, as well the stranger, as he that was born among them; half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. (Joshua 8:33)

And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. (Joshua 8:34)

There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them. (Joshua 8:35)

    This is the altar that Joshua built in the land of Ephraim, a descendant of Joseph. Remember that the Spirit of God tells us distinctly that the Lord Jesus came to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph, and Jacob’s well was there. This is to take us back to the root of the twelve sons of Jacob so that we might understand how far these Samaritans were away from God. The altar that Joshua built in mount Ebal was no longer, yet, the Samaritans worshiped false deities in that mountain. This corruption had crept in long before the captivity of Israel and had continued into the day of the Lord. I repeat, they were worshiping a god that they did not know.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. (John 4:21)

Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. (John 4:22)

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (John 4:23)

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)

   Why do we link this to Baalpeor or Ashtoreth? Because both were noted for the sins of the flesh. We see this corruption in the woman by the well, the woman of Samaria. The Holy Spirit distinctly gives her this title, ‘the woman of Samaria,’ to identify her with the idolatrous corruption of Samaria. In identifying this corruption the Lord revealed that He knows that she has had many husbands, and the man that she had then was not her husband. This was the same Baal worship that ruined the kingdom under Solomon and reached its peak under Ahab and Jezebel. This Baal worship also captured and took control of the early Church under the prophetess that the Lord called Jezebel.

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. (Revelation 2:20)

And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. (Revelation 2:21)

Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. (Revelation 2:22)

And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23)

   In the book of Jude these children of Jezebel are called the sons of Baal, the ungodly. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 4)   Not only did these ungodly men deny the Lord Jesus, but they practiced the works of Balaam as we see in Jude 11 -13.

Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. (Jude 1:11)

These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; (Jude 1:12)

Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 1:13)

These are the same ungodly who Paul warned us about in 1st Corinthians Chapter 10, verses 6 – 11, and verses 20 and 21.

Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. (1 Corinthians 10:6)

Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. (1 Corinthians 10:7)

Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. (1 Corinthians 10:8)

Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. (1 Corinthians 10:9)　

Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. (1 Corinthians 10:10)

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)

But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. (1 Corinthians 10:20)　

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. (1 Corinthians 10:21)

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. (1 Corinthians 5:1)

And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. (1 Corinthians 5:2)

For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, (1 Corinthians 5:3) 　

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Corinthians 5:4)

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Corinthians 5:5)

We also have the testimony of Peter. But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. (2nd Peter 2:10)

Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. (2nd Peter 2:11)

But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; (2nd Peter 2:12)

And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; (2nd Peter 2:13)

Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: (2nd Peter 2:14)

Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; n (2nd Peter 2:15)

   It is a false assumption of man that the early Church prospered in every way. The early Church from the very beginning was a suffering Church. Even Paul described his life as filling up the sufferings of Christ because that was part, and is still part of true Christianity. The Church that we see today is the Church that Balaam (through false prophets) has given to us. We do not want to face this issue because we don’t want to look into our own hearts, into our own souls and into our own spirits. These are the waters of Marah, and only the Lord can heal them.

   Corruption is not a new thing. It was at the very beginning of Church history under the Nicolaitans. They brought in the same lust, and the same Baalpeor, and the same sins against the Almighty. In the book of the Revelation the Lord Jesus uses His angels to condemn the evil that had come into the Church. There is no victory march of the Church in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3. It is the failure and the disobedience of the people of God to their God. These seven Churches reflect in many ways the message in the book of Judges. Only the remnant is noted in every Church, even in Laodicea it comes down to one man and one God when the Lord Jesus says, I stand at the door and knock. And then we have the word, ‘if,’ this brings in the character of man. For it is ‘if’ any man open the door. It is not ‘will’ any man, but ‘if.’ Again the Lord Jesus is looking for an empty vessel so that He can come in and sup with him and in turn that man can sup and commune with the Almighty God.

    To prove that this worship was not a new worship in Samaria, the woman of Samaria told the Lord Jesus Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. She was not speaking of Joshua, she was speaking of the worship of Baal and the rites of Baalpeor. And her thoughts did not change until the Lord exposed her life and revealed Himself to her as the living waters of life far greater than the waters of Jacob’s well. This later would bring the words out of her mouth, Come, see.

The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, (John 4:28)

Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? (John 4:29)

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. (John 4:39)

    Once again God had come to reveal Himself to an empty vessel for many believed the words of the woman of Samaria. Amongst the darkness of Baal worship and under the power of Baalpeor Christ snapped the chains of sin from many Samaritans. Today Samaria is all around us. We have the followers of Baal, we have the followers of Balak who worshiped Baal. These were the hirelings that the Lord Jesus warned us against in John Chapter 10. They are the Nicolaitans of Revelation Chapter 2 verse 6 and verse 15. These are also the men of 2nd Timothy Chapter 3, verses 5 thru 9. These men are men of lust Baalpeor. They creep like the old serpent into the houses of silly women and carry them away captive with their lusts. They prey on the children as they wear their robes of Baal. They seduce young boys and this goes all the way to the top of man’s religion, and it is not just the Roman church (falsely so called). Baal worship (in one form or another) is spread throughout the eastern countries and at its seat in the land of Shinar. It is growing into a great ephah full of leaven. And in these last days Baalpeor the deception of Satan has crept into the world’s political systems. They worship, but they know not what. The world is reeling from this deceptive work of Satan. We have approached the days of Noah. Do not think that the visible is the reality of spiritual life, it is just the opposite, it is a façade of Satan to deceive precious souls. Noah must have been a mighty man for in his faith he stood for God and God alone against a world of evil, and shall it be in the days before the coming of the Son of man the Lord Jesus Christ.

   There is a fallacy that homosexuality is just a weakness of man and his flesh. It is not. It is Satan’s deceptive work of Baalpeor. God never allows this wickedness. God always judges it, and even in our day, if you will open your eyes you will see His judgment on those individuals and on the nations that allows this heinous sin. The people who approve and move aside for homosexuality are partakers of the same sin.

Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. (Romans 1:32)

But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? (Psalm 50:16)

Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. (Psalm 50:17)

When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. (Psalm 50:18)

Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. (Psalm 50:19)

When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. (Hosea 7:1)

And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face. (Hosea 7:2)

They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. (Hosea 7:3)

They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. (Hosea 7:4)

In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners. (Hosea 7:5)

For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire. (Hosea 7:6)

They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth unto me. (Hosea 7:7)

Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. (Hosea 7:8)

    Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and he preached against the world’s perverse ways. This man lived in the darkest days of sin for God was going to destroy all flesh. Only Noah was found righteous. One man, a man of God, a preacher of righteousness (hated by the whole world of sin) stood in the gap for mankind for Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord. And in all the hatred that went out against Noah he was not affected by their unbelief. Like so many other servants of God, Noah simply said, Bring in on, I will not stop the message.

    Truly, he had a message of repentance for the world, but the world would not repent. And of course, the evidence of this is the flood itself. God said to Israel through Moses, I give you life, I give you death, sadly Israel chose (as a nation) death instead of life. Throughout history they found themselves in bondage to other men because of their sin whether it under the Midianites or the Perizzites, or the king of Babylon, or the king of the Medes, or the emperor of Rome. It was because of their sin that they found themselves in captivity to nations, and captivity of soul. Oh, how did we get here from the meat offering? This is all needful for the soul and the spirit to live in the reality of Christ. For the Lord Jesus said that if the world hated him they would also hate those who love Him. We must always have a message of repentance for an ungodly world. God does not call men because of their sin, but in spite of their sins. He is a God of mercy, and before the Lord Jesus began His public ministry He joined John in John’s ministry of repentance toward God. So I say to an ungodly world, Repent, repent, repent. The cup of evil of the Gentile nations is almost full. The sea of sin is swiftly swimming around the rim. Now back to the meat offering in Judges Chapter 6.

   The nation of Israel had forsaken God. This was the sin of Israel in the days of Gideon. He lived among a people of unclean lips like Isaiah and Jeremiah, as today one has to shield his eyes and plug his ears from the wickedness of this world. The nation of Israel had forsaken God, and yet, for all their troubles instead of repenting they blamed God. They knew their history among the nations from Egypt to their present time, yet, with all His miracles that God performed for them they worshiped Baal and went whoring after Baalpeor. They openly profaned their own bodies. This is all part of the plot of Satan. First, take the heart away from God. Secondly, destroy him from within, heart, soul and spirit. Thirdly, destroy any spiritual inclination toward God. Fourthly, Satan goes to work destroying the flesh both inwardly through drugs and habituates, and then outwardly through all the sins of the flesh. Look at mankind today. He has a painted jungle of sin all over his body. He wears the nose rings of the beast of burden, and the ear rings of the slave, and they wear them proudly to their god Baalpeor. This is the sin of the whole world. This is true in every nation under the sun. We see the antediluvians before our very own eyes. Every day in the city, in the towns, in hamlets, in villages, they proudly vault themselves in the face of God with all their sins. Adam and Eve wanted to hide their sinful flesh, but today the beast of man wants to display their sinful flesh so all can see their sin. They paint it, they puncture it, they maim it, and they disrobe it, there is no covering too small for them for in their hearts they want to expose all their nakedness and all their sin against and in front of an Almighty God. We live in the world of Sodom all around us, and if this is not enough they bring this wickedness into the fallen churches of Baal and present themselves as ‘Christians’ in front of their God. They know not who and what they worship. This is the deception of Satan. He is called the Destroyer for a good reason. He destroys the individual, he destroys the towns, the cities and the nations of the world, and Baal, Baalpeor, was the destroyer of Israel. God had no other choice to save His people, so the Lord Jesus came as the angel of the Lord to deliver Israel in mercy and deliver them through an empty vessel, the man Gideon. Once again, God does not choose the majority, He does not beckon to the crowd, He does not speak to the overloaded pews, God speaks to one man for the whole nation. As God chose Noah before the flood, as He chose Abraham after the flood, whether it is a Moses or a Joshua, or a David, or a Josiah, or a John the Baptist, all these men (and more) have been chosen through history to keep the crimson thread throughout man’s history till the fullness of time.

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians 4:4)

To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5)

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:6)

Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Galatians 4:7)

    All the history of man has been under the eyes of God, He has watched man, and He preserved man so that the fullness of time would come in sending His beloved Son to be the Redeemer of man. Therefore, we see God’s hand of mercy in Gideon to preserve Israel and to preserve that crimson thread so that the beam of light would not go out. Man prides himself of his self sufficiency and independence from God. This is because of man’s DNA of sin. It never changes. It is always present. Man is not self sufficient. He is totally dependent upon God. One hot breath of God’s judgment can remove man from off the earth.　In man’s independence he is shackled by sin from birth to death, sin has left its mark both in him and on him, and in the end the poor soul cannot even bury himself. Without salvation, without Jesus Christ, man is in a hopeless world, and without God in this world. So God comes, and Israel is in a mess they are worshiping Baalpeor and performing all his rites. They have built altars, they have raised up groves, and they have defiled themselves with Baal.

   In Judges 6:15, Gideon’s eyes are opened for he utters the words, Oh my Lord. . . . . And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. His eyes are now open like the blind man in John Chapter 9. Gideon not only beholds the Son of God, and worships Him in Judges 6:17. And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. In this verse we have the first and only mention of grace in the entire book of Judges. This should be a beacon of the Holy Spirit for us to see the value and the condition of the call of Gideon. Not that Gideon could deliver Israel for it was the value of the Caller that gave might to the vessel. God’s last words to mankind in the last Chapter in Revelation in the last verse is a message of grace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen. (Revelation 22:21)

   Noah found grace in God’s sight, and Gideon beheld Grace in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the angel of the Lord. And the last word of God to man in the canon of Scripture at the end of this world is grace. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only giver of grace. So the word ‘grace’ in Judges 6:17 points to the angel of the Lord being the Lord Himself, the very Christ of God. Gideon then lapsed into the spirit of man, he says to the angel, Show me a sign. In the day of the Lord Jesus the Jews sought for a sign, and the Greeks sought the wisdom of man. So now as then, we should be seeking God’s Christ.

The Need for A Sacrifice

   In all this Gideon is receiving a revelation from God. All of a sudden in verse 18 Gideon sees the need of sacrifice. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. This comes from within Gideon himself as he looked on the angel of God, the very Spirit of God convicts Gideon of the need for sacrifice. Gideon’s heart could say, Depart from me a sinful man, but his spirit cries out to the angel of the Lord, Depart not from me. Gideon is enlightened by the Spirit of God. He spoke to the angel of the Lord, Do not go, until I bring my present, my offering. The heart has been changed. Gideon is beginning to see his need before God, and also the majesty of God. This present was in fact the meat offering or what is also called ‘the meal offering’ for it spoke of the Lord Jesus as being the present, or the gift of God to us. The meal offering of Leviticus Chapter 2 in verse 3 is an offering that depicts Christ’s holiness and His holy walk before man. This present was in fact, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

The Meat Offering – Most Holy

And when any will offer a meat offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: (Leviticus 2:1)

And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: (Leviticus 2:2)

And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. (Leviticus 2:3)

   This offering in Leviticus is called a thing most holy. Now in God’s wisdom, in God’s mind, in God’s foreknowledge did He not know that His Son would be ‘most holy.’ This offering that is called ‘most holy’ is brought before us through the Spirit of God in Luke’s gospel Chapter 1 verse 35. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. That holy thing shall be called the Son of God it was truly, the most holy thing, the Lord of glory Jesus Christ.

   In Leviticus Chapter 1 we have the burnt offering. This was all for God. This was the sweet savor of His Son being offered for the sin of the world and it ascended up to God as a sweet savor. In Leviticus Chapter 2 we have the first approach offering: how man approaches God and sees the value of God’s Christ. Man must see the holiness and the righteousness of Jesus Christ as God the Father sees Him. The fine flour speaks of His holy walk through this world, the oil speaks of the light that is within Him, and that He sheds upon the world to draw man out of darkness unto Himself. The frankincense speaks of the sweetness and fragrance of His life. All this was placed on the altar of God to ascend back to God as the most holy thing.

   So Gideon is being drawn back into the holiness of God. Gideon was not a priest. The whole nation of Israel was under the covenant of the Aaronic priesthood, however, Israel had departed so God would accept an offering based on the Person of His Son and the holiness of His Son who would come in the fullness of time. So the angel of the Lord said, I will tarry until thou come again. Is this not true grace? Does not this speak of the dispensation of grace to all men God has said I will tarry until thou come. The Lord Jesus said, Come unto me. The Spirit of God says, Come unto me. The bride in the fullness of the glory of Christ declares to the world, Come unto Christ. This is true grace for God tarries for a man.

    Gideon was in the same plight as all of Israel. Gideon was feeling the hand of God’s judgment as was also Gideon’s father’s house. Israel was an idolatrous nation and God was judging them. Gideon’s father had a grove dedicated to Baal. So Gideon assessed the situation and knew that God was here among them to display His mercy. And His mercy alone would deliver Israel out of the hands of the Midianites by a chosen vessel. Gideon understood God’s grace. He used these very words, If now I have found grace in thy sight. He was under the all searching eyes of God and he realized this, he did not want to lose this opportunity with the words, Depart not hence. How many in the day of grace have been on the border, the very brink of the Jordan, and had not cried out, Depart not from me for I am a sinful man, when the Holy Spirit is wooing and calling them to God’s dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear readers, I hope in your hearts that you have cried out, Depart not from me. This could be your final call.

    Gideon not only knew the value of the meat offering, but he also knew the value of the blood offering in the kid that he would slay, the firstling of the herd without blemish and without spot. Even though there was no mention of the blood, the sacrifice, the kid had to die. In this we not only see the meat offering, but Gideon seems to combine both the meat offering with the peace and trespass offering. As the meat offering speaks of the purity of Christ and His holy walk before God for He is pure not only before God but also before man. The peace offering brings in man’s guilt before God and only through God in Jesus Christ can man obtain peace with God. The peace offering also speaks of Christ’s suffering on the cross to bring peace to all those who believe in Him. This is why Gideon calls the Lord Jehovahshalom, the God of peace or the God that sends peace. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the LORD, and called it Jehovahshalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. (Judges 6:24)

   Later after Gideon destroyed his father’s grove and the altar of Baal. Gideon builds an altar to God and then offers a burnt sacrifice in the bullock, and that offering speaks of God’s part in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Not only was Christ on the cross for mankind, He was on the cross for God as well. The Lord had to be The Perfect Sacrifice to please and satisfy the judgment of God. Consider Ephesians 5:2, And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

   Notice the words sweetsmelling savour it is only mentioned one time in the entire Bible. It is two words brought together by the Holy Spirit (a combination of two words ‘sweet’ and ‘smelling’) as a combination and a description of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Thus, combining all the Old Testament offerings found in Leviticus into one offering for sin in the Person of Jesus Christ. If you compare the burnt offering in Leviticus Chapter 1 with Ephesians 5:2 in Leviticus, it is a sweet savor. In Ephesian it is a sweetsmelling savor. This is the melting of the two words to describe both frankincense in the offering of the flesh, and the offering of the Spirit in the oil and the sweet incense to God. We lose so much by not digging through the pages of the Word of God for in Ephesians we have God the Father’s view of His Son combining the fullness of the sweetness of God with the everlasting fragrance of His sacrifice for man. This is God’s thought of His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. The man in heaven now (Jesus Christ) was perfected for us in the things that He suffered not only outwardly, but inwardly, therefore, the Lamb of God had to be perfect without and within. He had to match the complete innocence of the first two victims in the garden. He had to be placed on the altar of God which was the cross of Christ. He had to be brutally treated at the hands of man for Adam was enmity against God.

   In Adam’s transgression sin ripped a path through the whole world. With the man of Calvary it was not only a rip in the world, but the rip went all the way to heaven as the torn veil in the temple symbolizes. For the sacrifice of Himself freed both heaven and earth, and a door was pushed open so that all men could approach heaven through Jesus Christ. We only have to hear the voice of the Spirit of Christ saying, Come up hither. We are linked to the Lord Jesus by His Spirit within us. We have been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. In the Spirit we have communion with Christ, and communion with heaven, and in the body that is still on this earth, Christ through His omnipresence takes up His abode and lives within each believer. We are part of both heaven and earth, and we are all of Christ. The heavenly Man (Jesus Christ) now possesses us. He shares heaven with us in His ministry to us by the Spirit of God who dwells in us.

   The seven Spirits of God in the book of the Revelation is the fullness of His Spirit, and the children of God worship Him in the fullness of His Spirit in Spirit and in truth not only on earth, but also in heaven. Our voices are heard in the ears of God. As we present His Son as the sweet savor of our life He looks upon His Son and the words still resound from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He has sat down upon His throne in heaven. He is seated there as the well of life, and this well of life satisfies His soul in the souls that He brings forth. And now, they are no more servants, nor are they friends, they are much closer: they are brethren. The seven Spirits of God not only speak of His holiness, but the fullness of His rest in the thing that He accomplished on the cross of Calvary. This is the meat or meal offering in Jesus Christ. And it was symbolized in the angel of the Lord in the book of Judges. For when Gideon presented his sacrifice the Lord put forth His staff and fire came out of the stone and the angel of the Lord was satisfied. God had not only received the sacrifice, but in that sacrifice He had completed His transaction with the empty vessel Gideon. The first thing that came to the new vessel was the great awareness of his great God. He worshiped Him, thus, the first sacrifice, the meat offering is for the glory of Christ Himself. When He had purged our sins He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, the highest Himself. 

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3)

Amen.

 

© Copyright 2018, Michael Haigh

Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.

All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)