3:16: The Peace Offering

 

Series Summary

In this series, called 3:16, we will be exploring several significant passages in the Bible that are located at the 3:16 chapter and verse marker in their respective books. These passages cover a wide range of variety, from a variety of authors, covering a variety of topics, through a variety of time periods of Israel’s and the church’s history. The only common denominator in this series is where each of those passages is located in the Bible, at a 3:16 mile marker. You likely already know that all Scripture is inspired by God. That fact is stated in 2 Timothy 3:16, which is one of the 3:16’s we’ll look at in this series. But while all Scripture is inspired, the chapter and verse designators are not. Those came later – the Old Testament around the 13th century, and the New Testament a little later. They were added to help make it easier to find a particular passage, especially when someone was trying to manipulate a bulky, awkward scroll instead of a book. But, even though the verse numbers aren’t inspired, it’s curious that so many weighty passages are found at the 3:16 mile marker. Maybe God knew that we needed some things to be easy to remember. In this series, we will be looking at several different passages that are found at 3:16, in different books of the Bible. In some cases, we may only look at the verse, or maybe two or three. For others, we may need a good portion of the chapter in order to understand it completely. But all of them are found at the 3:16 point. Among the 3:16's we'll examine are John, Genesis,  Proverbs, Colossians, Daniel, Ephesians, 1 Peter, 2 Timothy, and more. It'll be unique. It’ll be enlightening. And we hope you’ll join us as we examine the 3:16’s of the Bible!

Sermon Summary

When most of us hear "Leviticus" we almost immediately tune out, because we have a hard time reading through this book. It's filed with laws and regulations, sacrifices and rituals, priests and tabernacles, and things like skin disease and other conditions. It's confusing, because we live so far away from this setting, in location, in culture, and in time. So we don't really pay close attention to it as—if—we read it. But when we do read it, it screams Jesus at us, and in Leviticus 3, we read about the peace offering, and the specifics of how it was to be celebrated. But more than just another sacrifice, it foreshadows how Jesus is our peace, and he has brought that peace into our relationship with God, reconciling us to him. Paul even goes so far as to state in Ephesians that Jesus is our peace, eliminating the things that keep us divided and separated form God and one another. Take some time this week and read Leviticus 3.. And look for Jesus in there as you do.