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Daily manna from the Torah by Dr Ketriel Blad


VaYikra 24-1

And (he) called

Leviticus 1:1-13

it is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

Lev 1:13b ESV

How can the principle of the burnt offering be applied to our personal lives?

The olah offering (burnt offering) symbolizes the complete dedication of our lives. We give HaShem everything we are. We give ourselves to Him. The main thing that we give is not our possessions or our abilities, but ourselves as an ascension offering that burns before him until nothing remains. We do not belong to ourselves.

When we dedicate ourselves, we are presented before him. After that we will, piece by piece, experience the olah offering. It begins with us giving our lives, which is symbolized by the blood.

After we have given him our lives, he will cut us into parts. First he takes our head, our mind, and consumes it until there is nothing left. Our prayer will then be, "Not my will, but Yours be done. Things are not as I understand them, but as you understand them and as they are revealed in your Torah”.

The next step in the offering of our being is when fat is removed. This is the protection that covers our intestines (our motives, purposes, and emotions). Thus we become sensitive. Our numbness toward heavenly things is removed. We can compare this to the circumcision of the heart, compare with Deuteronomy 10:16. It can also be likened to a protective wall of arguments that is removed from our emotions and our mind, as it is written in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, “For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Messiah; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience will be made full.”(HNV revised)

The next step in the ascension offering is when the intestines and feet are washed in water. This represents the cleansing process of the Torah, as it is written in John 15:3, "You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”(HNV) In Ephesians 5:26, it is written, "that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word” (HNV)

The intestines represent motives, emotions, desires, and so on. The feet represent our lifestyle, our walk and our way of life. Our motives and our walk must be cleansed by the Torah in order to be offered up to the Eternal as a pleasing sacrifice. HaShem will never be pleased with our own desires if they have not first been washed by the Torah. Neither does he accept our lifestyle when it has not been purified by the Word. Everything must go through the correction process that takes place in a Spirit-led Torah study. Both the Torah and the Spirit are symbolized by water in the Scriptures.

In the olah offering, everything must be consumed. This means that you cannot save anything in your life for yourself if you are to be pleasing to the Eternal. Everything must be consecrated to your heavenly Father, part by part.

When you come to the Eternal the first time, with joy and longing to serve him, to be his servant and friend, he receives your life. He gives you a new life instead of the one that you gave him. This new life is the resurrection life through Yeshua the Messiah. Thereafter he will demand one part after another of your being, so that you can deepen your dedication until there is nothing left of you. Then you will be completely dependent on the new resurrection life in Messiah. When you have come to this level of the ascension offering, you are saying that your life holds no value to you, as it is written in Acts 20:24, "But I put no value on my life, if only at the end of it I may see the work complete which was given to me by the Lord Yeshua, to be a witness of the good news of the grace of God.”(BBE revised) In Matthew 10:39, it is written, "He who finds his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”(HNV) In Luke 22:42, it is written, "saying, ?Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”(HNV)

Those who totally surrender their lives to the Eternal will be immensely lifted up.

Shavua tov,

Ketriel


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