Num 28:2, "Command the sons of Israel and say to them, 'You shall be careful to present My offering, My food for My offerings by fire, of a soothing aroma to Me, at their appointed time.' 
	This chapter and the next might seem to be out of place in the midst of the narrative story of the beginning of the entry of the second generation of the redeemed Children of Israel into the Promised Land. Dr. Allen, in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary addresses this seeming detour with the following observations.
	Quote, The intrusion of laws on holiness, worship, and vows serves to remind the readers that they are reading not only a story of dramatic power but also an account that is profoundly religious in nature. This is not just a story to entertain but an account that serves to present the highest demands of purity, worship, and obedience on the people of God. As the first generation was given numerous laws on worship and behavior in preparation for its entry into the Land of Promise (chs. 5-10), so now the second generation, which is the heir of all, receives its own new laws on offerings and vows. They will be the people of God in His land; in everything they do they are to reflect His character by obeying His word.  
    	…Perhaps the reason for the insertion of these passages at this time is to indicate a sense of continuity in the impending transition from the leadership of Moses to that of Joshua….The change of leadership does not indicate a change in the worship patterns of Israel; these are confirmed to continue. The modern reader likely has only a vague awareness of the role of sacrifice in the worship patterns of the OT. These extended chapters attest to the all-pervasiveness of sacrifice in the life of the people and the enormity of the work of the priests on their behalf.
	Chapters 28-29 follow a clear order and progression. They do not give all new material; much had been given in earlier sections of the Torah. But the repetition and restatement of these sacrifical gifts to the Lord serves to remind the people who were about to enter the land that it was not an ordinary land they were entering, nor were they an ordinary people. The land was God’s promised land, and they were covenant people. Everything that they were to become was extraordinary, for they were in league with Him. So offerings pile on offerings, sometimes overlapping in what seems to us today to be a bewildering, benumbing collage. But these offerings were the perpetual reminders of who the people were, who their God is, and the enormity of their need to respond to Him in overwhelming gratitude. For what people has ever received the blessings of Deity that this people enjoyed? And what god is there who is like their God? End quote.
	In his continued explanation, Dr Allen highlights something of utmost importance that may be overlooked by the current day reader of this Book of the Bible. Quote, The most significant issue for the modern reader, I suspect, is not in the details of each of these sacrifices nearly so much as in the wording of these commandments. The personal involvement of the Lord, the emphasis on His speaking, and the direction of worship are paramount issues. The original text of v.2 has some difficulties, but great stress is presented on the pronouns “me” and “my.” Here is a translation of vv.2-3a that presents this emphasis:
	Then Yahweh spoke to Moses saying:
	“Command the Israelites, and say to them,
‘You must be careful to present to me my offering,
My food of my offerings by fire, my soothing
Aroma, at the appointed time for each.’
“And you will say to them,
‘This is the offering by fire that you shall present to Yahweh.’”
	Attention to this wording should correct the notion so common among Christians in our day that the OT is filled with the laws of Moses concerning sacrifice and that it was the purpose of Jesus to set us free from such bondage to ritual. Whatever we may think of these laws should be conditioned by the wording of the text. These were not the laws of Moses but the law of Yahweh. In fact, to speak of “the law of Moses” is something of a misnomer. It is the law of God, as this wording makes abundantly clear.
	…As we, the modern readers of Numbers, think scripturally, this overwhelming emphasis on sacrificial worship has one intent: to cause each reader to think of the enormity of the offense of our sin against the holiness of God, thus driving the repentant sinner to the foot of the Cross. All sacrifices - whether of the morning or evening, of Sabbath or New Moon - have their ultimate meaning in the death the Savior died. Apart from His death, these sacrifices were just the killing of animals and the burning of their flesh with attendant ceremonies. After His death, sacrifices such as these are redundant - indeed offensive - for they would suggest that something was needed in addition to the Savior’s death. But before His death, these sacrifices were the very means God gave to His people in love to help them face the enormity of their sin, the reality of their need for His grace, and - in some mysterious way - to point them to the coming cross of Savior Jesus. End quote.
	Now then, let us consider the fact that what pleases God in the sacrifices of His people are not the number of sacrifices but the heart with which those sacrifices are offered unto Him. When they are offered in accordance with His Word, in full obedience unto Him because He is worthy of every effort of our lives in obeisant service, they are a pleasing aroma.
	That is the course of why there were so many sacrifices given in the OT. It was the means of God to keep His people constantly remembering Who He was and what He had done. As they did so, they were to honor Him and to obey Him with joy and with adoration. After all, God was demanding a large number of sacrifices which amounted to great numbers of animals and flour and oil and spices and tremendous hours of labor by the priests and Levites. 
	It has been calculated that each year, the required sacrifices that would have been offered, at a minimum, would include the following numbers of animals and amounts of other items – 113 bulls, 32 rams, 1086 lambs and at least 12 male goats. The amount of flour would have been more than a ton. They would have needed more than a thousand bottles of oil and more than a thousand bottles of wine. 
With the quantity of the sacrificial items offered each and every year, the people were looking at a massive investment of livestock and other products to meet the just requirement demanded by God. This meant that the Lord was going to be the One to so bless His people that all the requisite numbers of animals and the amounts of flour and oil and spices and libations would be provided for them. It would be His blessing upon them which allowed them to bring these countless sacrifices unto Him in their obedient and thankful service. That is what would bring forth the pleasing aroma unto Him, not the actual smell of the burning animals and flour and oils and spices of preparation. 
	We see this in the manner in which God responded to the obedience that was demonstrated by Noah before and after the flood, as recorded in Gen 8:20-22. Gen 8:20-22, Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease." 
	The Lord made it very clear that He knew the heart of man at its core. The every intent of man was evil from birth onward. There needed to be some manner of dealing with that innermost essence of mankind, Accordingly the Lord promised that there would be abundance for planting and harvesting, for raising the flocks and herds in order for His people to have all that was needed to show their obedient love unto Him all the days of the life of this created time on earth. "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease."
    	The Psalmist, as recorded in Ps 40:6-8, understood that the sacrifices, themselves, were not the element of the fulfillment of the ordinances of God which brought pleasure to His heart. It was the displayed dedication of the man who so offered unto God that which was required, as that offering was given in reverent obedience and rejoicing in the truth that God was worthy of such sacrifice.
Ps 40:6-8, Sacrifice and meal offering Thou hast not desired; My ears Thou hast opened; Burnt offering and sin offering Thou hast not required. Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me; I delight to do Thy will, O my God; Thy Law is within my heart." 
    	The Apostle Paul, in Rom 12, verses 1+2, if we jump forward to the New Testament for a moment, brings this whole issue of our obedient service unto God to the forefront in the Letter to the Church at Rome. Rom 12:1+2, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 
	This is the essence of what we are to do as unto the Lord. Our lives are to be the vibrant and thank-filled witness of the One unto Whom we now live on this earth. That is something that is so often forgotten, both in the Old Testament times as well as in today’s harried and harassed society. We get so caught up in the day to day stresses and strains that we often forget that each day is a gift from God to us for His purposes in the manner in which we walk and deal with others on this earth. 
This was so true of the Nation of Israel as they became comfortable in the Promised Land. They began to take advantage of their relationship with God and began to forsake their love for Him and their appreciation of Him and their thankfulness for everything that He provided. They saw the sacrifices as merely something that had to be done in the course of each day as ritual and as custom, rather than as the reminder of the One to Whom they owed their everything. 
This is, as well, so often sadly true of us in our efforts to earn a living and being caught up in all the social upheaval and pressures on our time and energy and resources. We need to learn to keep our eyes on the reality that all that we have, all that we are, all with which we function each day is from the Lord. We are to honor Him in the every course of how we act and interact and order our day as living sacrifices unto Him.
The Prophet Ezekiel, in Ezek 20 verse 41, tells us that the heart of God will be satisfied as our lives so honor Him in obedient service in Ezek 20:41. Ezek 20:41, "As a soothing aroma I shall accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered; and I shall prove Myself holy among you in the sight of the nations. Our lives are to serve as those dedicated sacrifices which testify to the fact that we belong to God and love Him and want Him to be blessed in the way we live forth in this realm.
Again listen to the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor 2:14-16, as he highlights how the work of Christ is to be so in evidence in this realm in the manner of our being that soothing aroma which is the Lord’s due in our lives. 2 Cor 2:14-16, But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? 
	Again stressing the reality of the pleasing aroma to God that our lives of sacrifice are to bring forth unto Him, the Apostle encourages us with the manner in which our living sacrifice is to be manifested unto others in Eph 5:1-5. Please turn to it and follow along with me. 
Eph 5:1-5, Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 
    	There is to be that overwhelming sense of thankfulness in our hearts as we live on this earth in the place in which God has put us. Too frequently we are full of envy over what other people may have, or we are filled with worry over how to make it from paycheck to paycheck. We practice that which is so common among mankind in the forgetfulness and the defiance and the obstinacy of human nature rather than being found in the living sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His complete work of atonement on our behalf. He is the One to Whom we owe our every course of true life as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit so direct and empower us to live forth in the manner which honors our Lord God Almighty.
	As we conclude, we do so with the truth as voiced by the Writer to the Hebrews in Heb 7:25-28. Here is detailed what the effective work of Christ Jesus has accomplished for everyone who believes in Him and stands covered in His righteousness before the throne of God Almighty. 
Heb 7:25-28, Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever. So be it!    
	"Command the sons of Israel and say to them, 'You shall be careful to present My offering, My food for My offerings by fire, of a soothing aroma to Me, at their appointed time.' Amen. 

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 98:1. O Sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. Amen.