Leviticus 1

Today we begin the book of Leviticus. This book is literally “the laws of the priests”, and contains very little narrative. It is here in Leviticus that we learn about the idea of SACRIFICE. This concept is central to the gospel, and this book contains many pictures for us of Jesus Christ, our perfect sacrifice!

The first chapter deals with a specific sacrifice that was known as the “Burnt Offering”. This offering was central to Jewish life, and it wonderfully shadows Jesus Christ, the lamb who was slain. Let’s look now at the particulars of this sacrifice.

1. This offering was an act of free-will. Sacrifices to the Lord are meaningless if they are out of pressure or coercion. The Lord desires a willing heart! Just as the owner of the animal to be sacrificed freely offered it up, constrained to do so by love; so also God the Father offered up Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, because of His deep love for US.

2. The size of the offering was not what was important. God didn’t consider those who offered bulls and goats as better than those who offered a pigeon. What He was looking at was the heart behind the offering. He wanted to know that our motives were pure! In theory, you could have a prize-winning Ox that was a worthless offering in God’s eyes, and a simple pigeon given by a heart filled with love that meant more than anything else. It reminds of the time when Jesus said that the widows two mites were worth more than ALL of the other offerings they were witnessing combined!

3. The offering must be pure. The offering could bear no blemish, no birth defect, or broken bones… no signs of weakness or sickness. To ensure that an offering was “pure” and “without blemish” it had to be inspected by the priests. Do any of you remember when Jesus was inspected? Sitting before the council of the high priest, they could find no real fault with Him! He truly was our sacrificial lamb.

Notice with me the way that this would go down. The man bringing the burnt offering would place his hands on the animals head, identifying himself with it, showing that his sin was now in figure being taken on by the beast. The bible tells us clearly, without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins! This person realized that this beast was dying for the sin that dwelt in him, dying to repair the breach that existed between him and God. We are told that the sacrifice was accepted as ATONEMENT.

You may remember Hector and me talking about this word before… It is truly a wonderful idea. Just what exactly is Atonement? It literally means to paint over something with pitch. Maybe you remember the last time we saw pitch in the scriptures… It was back in Genesis. Noah coated the ark with pitch to keep the waters of judgment out. It was the covering that kept Noah and his family safe inside the ark while the world around was judged for their sin. The concept is very similar here in relation to the Burnt Offering. God was providing a covering to protect the Israelites from the Judgment they faced as sinners, He was promising protection from the penalty of sin, at the expense of an animal’s life. They would take the blood of this slaughtered beast and sprinkle it around the altar, this signified that the life was in the blood, and God required a life to cover the sin of every individual. This covering was temporary, for it to be permanent it would have to do more than cover sin, it would need to remove sin.

This is where we see the New Covenant in Jesus, the “Better Covenant” in all of its glory.

But when Christ had become a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building nor by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered once for all into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
(Heb 9:11-12)

Not just atonement in the Old Testament sense. Now all those who trust in Jesus Christ have Eternal Redemption by the blood Jesus poured out for us on the heavenly altar. Not just covered, now our sins are removed by trusting in His perfect sacrifice, and we are owned eternally by Jesus Christ! Not just a covering, He cleansed us completely!!!

I am so excited about Leviticus, and I know Hector is as well. You will probably see us go often to the New Testament, especially the book of Hebrews during this study. That is because it is there that we find the fulfillment of what the se sacrifices looked forward to, and it is there that we find life through the greatest sacrifice of all.