Sword & Trowel 2018: Issue 2 


enabling help of the Lord. We pledge ourselves today also,


longing to be a sweet savour of Christ wherever the Lord places us: not testy people, difficult people, cold people, unhelpful people, unfriendly people, but a sweet savour of the presence of Christ. There are some very significant re- strictions in the old rules of worship. We note that the eleventh verse of the chapter demands that — ‘No meat of- fering, which ye shall bring unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven.’ No leaven! ‘For ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey.’ We think of honey as something good, but there is a reason why it must not go into any offering made by fire. We are told that honey, if it is burned in the mix, will soon take on fermenting properties. It will act like leaven, and there must be no fermen- tation, for that stands for corruption. It must not be there. It stands for novelty and influence which inter- feres with the original prescription in some way. There must be the re- fined products of flour, frankincense and pure olive oil, and nothing else – nothing that would dramatically change the structure of these prod- ucts, and alter or corrupt them. This refers to nothing other than the corruption of the world, and it was obvious to the worshipper of those days. Today, however, this prin- ciple is frequently abandoned even by Bible believers. Many claim complete liberty or freedom from biblical di- rection and example, bringing in the bands, contemporary entertainment music and even drama into Christian worship, and doing whatever they


page 20 True Repentance for Believers


like. Innovation is ‘in’ — the quest to make an impression, to create an ef- fect, to make things more interesting to the flesh. One of the most obvious messages to us from the orderliness of Old Testament proceedings is — do nothing to corrupt sincere wor- ship; do nothing that is foreign to the prescription. Today we need to be taught all over again. It is as though believers need to be brought into a great classroom and made to learn (as one would teach little children the ancient ceremonies) the most basic principles of obedience to God. Here they are set out before us — no leaven, no tampering, no adding to worship things that do not belong. A further rule with an abiding mes- sage is given in verse thirteen — ‘And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the cov- enant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering.’ Why with salt? Because, as a


preservative, it reminds us of the covenant that God had made with them. In other words, as far as God is concerned, from his side of the relationship with his people, he will be absolutely faithful. If they confess their sins, those sins will stay for- given. Salt keeps things. This is the meaning of the salt of the covenant. If God makes promises to his people, they will be kept. From our side also there should


be the ‘salt’ of lasting repentance of sin. If we are serious, we will not lightly repeat the same sin tomor- row. Salt indicates the faithfulness and preservation of the Spirit, and the durability of our repentance and


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