🔥 Taste & See: The Table, The Altar, The Heart

Sin entered through food… and God, in His mercy, is using the table to bring us back.

📖 Vayikra | ויקרא | "He Called"

Torah: Leviticus 1:1 - 6:7 (5:26)

Prophets: 1 Samuel 15:2-34; Isaiah 43:21 - 44:23

Brit Hadasha: Mark 7:1-30; Romans 8:1-13; Hebrews 10:1-18, 13:10-16

When we closed the book of Exodus, we weren’t just finishing a story—we were standing in one of the most breathtaking moments in all of Scripture.

The tabernacle was built. Every detail completed exactly as the Lord commanded. Every detail, every measurement, every thread, every piece—finished according to His instruction. And then—something happened that should arrest our attention every single time we read it.

The cloud descended. The glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

God moved in. Not symbolically. Not figuratively. He came down… to dwell among His people.

And from that moment forward, everything changed. Israel no longer moved on their own.

When the cloud lifted—they moved.  When the cloud stayed—they stayed.

Their entire life became dependent on His presence.

And then we turn the page… and enter Leviticus.  And something subtle—but incredibly powerful—happens.  The cloud doesn’t move. Not even once.

The entire book… they remain right there. Camped. Still. Positioned at the foot of His presence.

Because Leviticus is not about movement. It is about learning how to dwell.

God is essentially saying: “Before I take you anywhere…you must learn how to walk with Me.”

And it begins with a whisper: “And the LORD called to Moses…”

He called. He didn’t demand. He didn’t threaten. He didn’t distance Himself.

He called… from the tabernacle.   

From the place where His presence now dwelled. And if we miss that—we miss everything.

Because Leviticus is not God pushing people away. It is God drawing them near.

We’ve been taught to read this book as a book of sacrifice.

Loss. Blood. Obligation. Rules. But what if we’ve misunderstood it?

What if the very word we’ve built our theology on… has caused us to miss the heart of God?

Because the Hebrew word used here is korban.  And korban does not mean sacrifice.

It means: to draw near.

Yes, something is given.

Yes, something is consumed.

Yes, something is costly.

But the focus is not the loss.

The focus is the approach.

God is not saying: “What will you give up for Me?”

He is saying: “How will you come close?”

And to understand that… we have to go back.  Back before Sinai. Back before Moses. Back before the tabernacle. Back to a garden.

In Eden, there was no altar. No priesthood. No offerings. No system. There was only presence.

God walked with man in the cool of the day. His feet on the ground. His voice in the air. His presence fully accessible.

There was no distance. That was the design.  That was the goal. Nearness.

And then… it was lost. Not through war. Not through violence. Through food.

“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food…”

Food became the doorway of rebellion.  Appetite became the battleground.

And when sin entered in, that moment, that fractured everything. 

Man was driven out. The garden was closed. The presence was no longer freely accessed.

God did not change. He still desired to dwell with His people.

So He made a way. Not yet back to Eden fully… but toward it. Through the tabernacle.

Through the altar. Through korban. Not to take from them, but to teach them to come near again.

And what’s so fascinating is that every one of these offerings….. is food.

Food that is fully consumed on the altar.

Food that is consumed by the priest.

Food that is shared between the priest and the one bringing it.

Do you see it?  Sin entered through food, and now God is using food to tach us how to come back.  Restoration.

The table was the place of the fall, and now the table becomes the place of restoration.

But God gave them multiple ways (food offerings) to draw near.

A life fully surrendered—nothing held back.  (Burnt Offerings)

A life of daily offering—the work of your hands, your time, your effort, your provision. (Grain Offerings)

A life of fellowship—eating with Him, before Him, in His presence. (Peace Offerings)

And then… ways to deal with sin. (Sin Offerings and Guilt Offerings)

Because God, in His mercy, makes a distinction that we often ignore.

Not all sin is the same.

Some sin is willful. Intentional. Defiant.

But some…is ignorance. Unintentional. Done without understanding.  Or done in accidence.

And this matters more than we often acknowledge.

Because today, we live in a time where people gain a little knowledge of Torah… and instead of becoming humble… they become harsh. Rigid. Puffed up. Judgmental. Unloving.

But Scripture says: Knowledge puffs up.  Love builds up.

When your neighbor puts up a Christmas tree…They are not standing at Sinai rejecting God.

They don’t know.

When someone eats what God called unclean… Most of the time, they are not doing it in rebellion. They’ve never been taught. They have leaders telling them it doesn’t matter.

And I cannot help but believe…

that the same God who distinguishes between intentional and unintentional sin…

still sees the heart.

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

But hear me clearly: Mercy does not redefine truth.

And at the same time…truth must never strip us of mercy. That’s the tension we are called to carry.

And this is where the offerings go deeper. Because they weren’t just about sin.

They were about a lifestyle of nearness. A life of surrender. A life of gratitude. A life of fellowship. A life of repentance. A life of restoration.

Not just saying sorry…but making things right. Restoration.

And ultimately life centered around Him.  He is the consideration with every choice we make.  He is the both literally and metaphorically in the center.

And there is a thread woven all throughout Scripture that we cannot ignore.

And it runs straight through the table.

Food mattered in Eden.

Food mattered with Noah—before the law was ever written down.

Food mattered when Esau traded his birthright for a meal.

Food mattered when Daniel refused Babylon’s table.

Food matters in the prophets—where those eating what God called abominable are warned of judgment in Isaiah 66.

Food matters in Revelation—where deception is tied to what people consume with the Harlot’s cup.

And yet today…this is one of the areas people resist the most.

We say: “It doesn’t matter what you eat.”

But Scripture says: “Their god is their belly.”

We have taken something God spoke clearly about…and made it optional…because it confronts our appetite.

This is not about legalism. This is about alignment. 

Who in your life decides what is good?  You or God? Who governs your appetite?  You or God? Who do you submit to?

Because appetite has always been a battleground.

But let’s not get it twisted. This isn’t just for those that ignore Torah.  This is also for those who claim to keep it. 

Just because you clean up your plate, doesn’t mean you don’t still have a dirty heart. You can remove pork and still walk in arrogance. You can keep Sabbath and still be self-centered. You can keep the feast days and still be far from God. 

And Jesus confronts that in this portion head on.

But still we have to remember and recognize that from the very beginning…

what we consume has been tied to obedience, identity, and covenant.

Even the Last Supper…it was a meal. A covenant… at a table.

But here is where we must be careful.  Because just as we can ignore truth… we can also weaponize it.

Saul tried to offer sacrifice in disobedience. He kept what God told him to destroy…

But then tried to offer it back to God….. but scriptures is clear that obedience is better than sacrifice.

You cannot live in disobedience…and then cover it with spiritual activity.

God is not impressed with offerings that are disconnected from obedience.

He is looking at the posture of our hearts. He has always been looking at the heart.

And that is exactly what we see in the prophets: “This people I formed for Myself…”

Do you hear the longing in that? “I made you for Me.”

Not for ritual. Not for performance. For relationship.

And then Jesus comes…and He takes it even deeper.  He confronts a people who had mastered outward obedience… but neglected inward transformation.

And He says: Yes—what you do matters. But what’s inside you matters more.

This was never about choosing one or the other. It has always been both.

And this is where the Spirit comes in. Because the promise was never just that we would know His ways…but that His Spirit would be placed within us…to cause us to walk in them. To desire them. To live them.  From the inside….out.

And then we come to Hebrews. And we see it clearly. The sacrifices were never the destination. They were a shadow. A picture. An object lesson pointing to something greater.

And in Messiah—we see it. One offering. Once for all. Perfect. Complete.

But don’t miss this…The altar didn’t disappear. It moved.

From a place… into a people.

Today…we offer our lives. We are living temples.  Our obedience. Our praise. Our hearts.

And suddenly we realize…this whole story…has been a circle. From a garden…to an altar…

to a cross…to a people…  And now, today, we are the offering.  Our lives, our obedience, our hearts, our appetites.  We will offer the will of our lives over to Him?

And here is where it call comes together… because this week we read when the people brought their offerings……when they approached God the way He said… when they drew near…..

👉 God responded.

Fire fell. He lit it.  He consumed it. 

Can you even imagine that moment?  They didn’t have to strive for it, manufacture it.  They didn’t have to conjure Him or hype it up. 

They simply obeyed. They drew near. Korban.

And God answered with fire. 

And that’s the God we serve.  Not distant.  Not silent. Not indifferent.  We serve a responsive God.

But… The fire of His presence will not fall on disobedience. It will not fall on mixture and it will not fall on our offering that our done “our way.” 

It fell…on what was aligned with Him.

And that should cause every one of us to pause. Because we want the fire. But do we want the alignment that invites it?

We want the presence. But do we want the surrender that sustains it?

We can’t be so quick to forget how clearly God stated in Exodus that the priesthood was to minister to Him.  We are here to worship Him.  Follow His will.

It isn’t about us.  And I think this is where we need to pause and audit ourselves.

Why are we here? Why are we gathered here today? Are we here to be entertained? Are we here to be fed knowledge to puff up more?  Or here just so can avoid being around someone who may not believe exactly as we do?  Or are we here…

👉 to minister to Him first?

Because when He said…“You shall have no other gods before Me”… that includes ourselves.

We cannot put our preferences before Him. We cannot put our comfort before Him. We cannot put our expectations before Him. He comes first. And when He comes first…everything else finds its place.

That means whether you’re teaching…or cleaning…or giving…or praying…or cooking…or serving quietly behind the scenes…it all matters.

Because the tabernacle didn’t stand because of one piece. It stood because of all of them.

The ark was glorious…The lampstand glorious… but without the hooks and sockets…

the whole structure collapses.

And that’s the body. Every role matters. Every person matters. Every act of obedience matters.

And here’s what we cannot miss… When the people brought their offerings…

when they came the way God said… when they drew near…

And the call has never changed. Draw near.

And now…because of Yeshua…because of His perfect offering…we can boldly come near.

But that doesn’t give us permission to live however we want. It calls us higher.

To deny the flesh. To go and sin no more. To pick up our cross daily. To walk in obedience. To live in repentance. To pursue righteousness.

Not perfectly… but persistently.

Because He is still calling.

Leviticus is not a book about sacrifice. It is a book about nearness.

It a book about a God who created you…formed you…and still longs for you. The God, the Creator, calling for His people.

Like a parent waiting for the phone to ring from their child.  Like a husband longing for his bride.

He is calling. Not to condemn. But to bring you close.

So the question is not: “What do I have to give up?”

The question is: Will I come near?

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Not from a distance. Not through someone else’s experience. But for yourself.

At the table. At the altar. With your whole heart.

And maybe…just maybe…what was lost in Eden…is closer than we think.