Sacrifices To Please The Lord
June 10, 2021
Commentary
Why are there such detailed regulations for each offering? We can be sure that God had a purpose in giving each of these commands. Starting from scratch, He was teaching, His people a whole new way of life. He wanted to cleanse them from the many heathen practices they had learned in Egypt and restoring them too true worship of Himself. These strict details were to keep Israel from slipping back into their old ways.
The burnt offering was the basic sacrifice that expressed devotion and dedication to the Lord. When we surrender ourselves to the Lord, we put our “all on the altar” and hold nothing back. The ritual of the offering could not be varied. The sacrifice had to be a male animal from the flock (vv. 10-14) or it could be a bird (vv. 15-17). The worshiper had to bring the sacrifice to the door of the tabernacle, where a fire was constantly burning on a brazen altar (6:13). The priest made sure it was without a blemish (22:20-24). In the same way Jesus Christ was made a sacrifice for our sin “without a blemish and without a spot” (I Peter 1:19).
In the case of the burnt offering, the person offering the sacrifice was saying, “Just as this animal is wholly given to God, I wholly give myself to the Lord.” When the offer er laid a hand on the sacrifice (1:4) it symbolized this persons’ identification with the sacrifice and a transfer of something to the sacrifice. The shedding of blood and the laying on of hands meant the worshiper was symbolically transferring sin and the guilt of the sin to the animal who died in the place of the sinner.
Application
No matter how hard I try to clean up my life myself and make it presentable to God it is useless without applying the cleansing power of Christ’s shed blood to my sinful condition.
Leviticus 1:10– 17 (NET)
10 “‘If his offering is from the flock for a burnt offering —from the sheep or the goats—he must present a flawless male, 11 and must slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will splash its blood against the altar’s sides. 12 Next, the one presenting the offering must cut it into parts, with its head and its suet, and the priest must arrange them on the wood that is in the fire on the altar. 13 Then the one presenting the offering must wash the entrails and the legs in water, and the priest must present all of it and offer it up in smoke on the altar—it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.
14 “‘If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, he must present his offering from the turtledoves or from the young pigeons. 15 The priest must present it at the altar, pinch off its head and offer the head up in smoke on the altar, and its blood must be drained out against the side of the altar. 16 Then the priest must remove its entrails by cutting off its tail feathers, and throw them to the east side of the altar into the place of fatty ashes, 17 and tear it open by its wings without dividing it into two parts. Finally, the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar on the wood which is in the fire—it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.
Illustration: Copper kettle cleaned up
A woman once wrote that at a garage sale she had spotted a handsome antique copper kettle for only $2.50. It was badly tarnished, so she asked the woman running the sale if the discoloration would come out. She cheerfully offered to try some copper cleaner on it and disappeared with it into the house. Reappearing with the gleaming kettle, she handed it to the buyer for inspection. It was indeed a more attractive item, plus it also had a new tag attached. It read: “Like new-$10.” This is interesting. When the copper kettle first went on sale, it’s owner practically gave it away. But something changed its worth. What made the kettle more valuable? A simple cleansing. When the owner took the trouble to clean away the grime/ removed the discoloration and stains it was worth 4 times as much Almost everything IS more valuable once it has been washed and cleaned up, and so it is with us (Source Unknown).