Exodus 29:36  And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.
37  Seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.
38  Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually.
39  The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:
40  And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering.
41  And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
42  This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.
43  And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.
44  And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest’s office.
45  And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.
46  And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.

Yesterday was an exciting day for the nation of Israel. Hamas actually kept their word and released twenty Jewish hostages alive. That was a great thing. There were families that rejoiced in being able to hug their loved ones after more than two years apart. There is much more that needs to be done in that region yet. The world of course is now focused on the material things in that region. Those who are saved need to continue to pray for Jews to be saved both in Israel and across the world. Of course there is also a great need for Gentiles to be saved.
We cannot ignore the fact that Mr. Trump played a part in bringing about this release of the hostages. We also must not ignore the fact that none of this would have happened without God’s hand at work. God often uses the ungodly for His purposes. We should not confuse that and wrongly assume that a person must be saved because of what they do. The “doing” of a Christian comes after the “being” as a Christian. It is very clear that Mr. Trump is not a Christian. His chief spiritual advisor is a heretic.
God has given Israel and the world another opportunity to look to Him and see the need to know His peace and blessing. God is also giving the wicked, who have insisted there is no God, further opportunity to prepare their lives for the acceptance of that “man of sin” that God says will come one day. We are moving closer to that time with every passing day. It is a very dangerous thing to insist on following an imaginary deity, rather than knowing the true God. The Bible warns that God can and does turn people over to a “reprobate” mind when they insist on rejecting Him. That is because God is a God of love. Love does not reward evil. Love glorifies Truth and exposes evil.
In our text, we see in verse 36 that there would need to be a bullock offered every day as a sin offering for atonement. Every day the nation would need to be reminded of the importance of being set free from sin. Of course the bullock could never provide that for them. All that it could do is provide an atonement, a covering for the sins of the people.
We see as well that the altar would need to be cleansed every day after that offering was made. It would need to be anointed in order to sanctify. The altar needed to be free from contamination from that animal sacrifice and the covering for sin that it provided. All of this was again a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We, those who are truly saved, need to be cleansed of sin on a regular basis. True Christians will admit they sin. We are thankful for verses like I John 1:9. We have the privilege of confessing our sin to God and being forgiven and cleansed.
We see in verse 37 that the altar also needed to be cleansed. An atonement needed to be made for that vessel. The altar would see much blood over the years. The altar would bear the stain of those sacrifices. It would need daily cleansing. This is in contrast to the Lord Jesus who was never tainted by the sins of the world.
We read in verse 37 that this altar also needed to be sanctified prior to being used. This too would take seven days, speaking of completion.
We see further in verse 38 that the priests would be busy every day offering animals. Every day they needed to offer a lamb in the morning and another lamb in the evening. There also needed to be the tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil. We see here that the Jews must have either had quite a store of olives that they brought from Egypt, or God led them to places where there were olive trees on their journeys. They needed olive oil for the lamps and they needed oil for the sacrifices. They would need this for forty years in the wilderness before they entered the promised land.
We come across the word “wine” in verse 40. The lazy man’s assumption here is that the nation of Israel had alcoholic drink available to them and they even used that as an offering to the Lord. Some people argue that the water in that part of the world was not very clean and they would use wine to mix with the water to make the water drinkable. That is a myth. The wine would be symbolic of the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ blood was pure and without blemish. Alcoholic wine is not pure. It is corrupted. That is how it becomes alcoholic. In the Bible, the word “wine” is a generic word. It can refer to alcoholic drink, but it can also refer to grape juice. Since this wine was to represent the blood of Jesus Christ, we know it was not alcoholic drink. The Bible also often reminds us that alcoholic drink is not for human consumption. It is forbidden by God’s people. We know that Noah made alcoholic wine and he sinned in getting drunk.
We read further in verse 41 that the morning and evening offerings were to be the same. In verse 42 we again see that these offerings needed to be done daily throughout their generations. These offerings were essential to prepare the people for the Lord to meet with them. These offerings were necessary to sanctify the tabernacle. These offerings were a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is:

Hebrews 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

We see in verses 43-44 that it was the LORD that would sanctify the vessels and the tabernacle itself. The bullock and the lambs were symbolic of what Jesus Christ would ultimately do. The tabernacle needed to be holy. The New Testament reminds us that Jesus Christ is the Temple and that those who are saved are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Holiness is important to God and should be important for every true child of God.
In verse 44 it was also important that Aaron and his sons be set apart for service to the Lord. They needed to set the example of what God expected of all the Jews.
God promised to dwell among the children of Israel. It was important for Him to dwell among them. They needed His blessing and protection. Without Him they had no hope. We see that He was the One Who brought them out of Egypt. He would be the One to bring them safely through the wilderness and into the land of Canaan. He would be the One to drive the current occupants out of the land of Canaan and make the land available for the children of Israel.
In verse 46 we see a phrase that we often see throughout the Old Testament. God wanted the Jews to know that He was the LORD their God. We also see that God wanted the pagan nations to know that He was the LORD God. It is essential for mankind to know the true God. We see so much confusion in this regard today, both among the Jews and the Gentiles. Most people have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. Their god is an imaginary god who is unable to help them. Thus there are multitudes of people who claim to be Christians, but their lives are a mess. They do not know the peace of God and they are involved in all kinds of vices that keep them in bondage rather than knowing God’s peace. It does not need to be that way. In fact it will not be that way for those who are truly born again.
Pastor Bartel