July 25, 2019
Our God Is Faithful and Holy—He Can Be Trusted
Numbers 28
Angie Mosier
Central Truth
God required the Israelites to offer specific sacrifices to Him to atone for their sins and maintain fellowship with Him. Today, if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ's death as atonement for our sins, we can enjoy fellowship with God now and throughout eternity.
Key Verse | Numbers 28:22
"[A]lso one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you."
Numbers 28
Daily Offerings
1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’ 3 And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering. 4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; 5 also a tenth of an ephah 1 28:5 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin 2 28:5 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters of beaten oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering, which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. 7 Its drink offering shall be a quarter of a hin for each lamb. In the Holy Place you shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the LORD. 8 The other lamb you shall offer at twilight. Like the grain offering of the morning, and like its drink offering, you shall offer it as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
Sabbath Offerings
9 On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: 10 this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
Monthly Offerings
11 At the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; 12 also three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull, and two tenths of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; 13 and a tenth of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering for every lamb; for a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. 14 Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, a third of a hin for a ram, and a quarter of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of each month throughout the months of the year. 15 Also one male goat for a sin offering to the LORD; it shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
Passover Offerings
16 On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD's Passover, 17 and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, 19 but offer a food offering, a burnt offering to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; see that they are without blemish; 20 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths of an ephah shall you offer for a bull, and two tenths for a ram; 21 a tenth shall you offer for each of the seven lambs; 22 also one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. 23 You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering. 24 In the same way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. It shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.
Offerings for the Feast of Weeks
26 On the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, 27 but offer a burnt offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old; 28 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths for one ram, 29 a tenth for each of the seven lambs; 30 with one male goat, to make atonement for you. 31 Besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall offer them and their drink offering. See that they are without blemish.
Dive Deeper | Numbers 28
As believers in Christ, we know that all Scripture is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16). So that means that even in the Book of Numbers—an intimidating and often hard book to understand—God has something to say to us!
Here's what He taught me:
- In Numbers 26–32, God prepared the younger generation of Israelites to enter the Promised Land. (The older generation would not enter it because of their disobedience to the Lord and lack of faith.)
- Application: God asks us to have faith in His plan for our lives and walk in obedience to Him regardless of our circumstances (Hebrews 11:6; Jeremiah 7:23). We can trust that He will be faithful to His promises as He was to the younger generation of Israelites.
- In Numbers 28, God required very specific sacrifices—daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly—by the Israelites to maintain fellowship with Him. God is perfect and holy, and He hates sin. He has always required a sacrifice to atone for mankind's sin (Leviticus 17:11). We can see that even in this passage, God is pointing to the Greatest Sacrifice that was to come—the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.
- Application: We must daily confess our sins to maintain fellowship with a holy God. While we do not need to offer animal sacrifices today, we are called to respond to the atoning work of Christ's death by obeying God; spending time in His Word; sharing the Good News of Jesus; and serving and loving others.
- God is in the details. In Numbers 28, He provided exacting specifications about the sacrifices required for the Israelites to abide with Him.
- Application: God knows every hair on our head (Luke 12:7). He knows our thoughts, our fears, our hopes, our desires. As believers in Jesus, we can trust Him with the smallest and biggest details of our lives. Whatever you are facing today—for us, when I was writing this devo, it was infertility—we can trust that God loves us (Psalm 86:15), is for us (Romans 8:31), will not forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8), and is always faithful (Lamentations 3:22-23).
Discussion Questions
1. In your life, how can you attest that God is in the details?
2. Do you feel that you have a right understanding of your own sin and God's holiness? Are there things you need to confess today to maintain fellowship with Him?
3. Has the Lord spoken to you in a new way through your reading of Numbers in The Journey this year?