Leviticus 1 - On Your Behalf

Your sin requires a costly, bloody sacrifice.

Faithlife.com

Leviticus 1:1–9 (NIV)

1 The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, ² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the LORD, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.

³ “ ‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the LORD. ⁴ You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you. ⁵ You are to slaughter the young bull before the LORD, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁶ You are to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. ⁷ The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. ⁸ Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar. ⁹ You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 19

Q. How do you come to know that

your Savior must be truly man

and truly righteous?

A. The holy gospel tells me.

God himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise;

later, he proclaimed it

by the holy patriarchs

and prophets,

and portrayed it

by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law;

finally, he fulfilled it

through his own dear Son.

Summary

The book of Leviticus is well known for tripping up even the best intentioned Bible reading plans. The first two books of the Bible, which we've now completed, go from one adventure to the next as they begin to trace man's journey from being evicted from Eden to the new heavens and earth described at the end of the Bible. As we met and were immersed in the stories of the patriarchs, we came to be convinced early on that salvation is only possible by God's grace alone.

But here we are at the threshold of Leviticus, and the action is going to dramatically slow down as the book describes how Israel was to be holy - that is, set apart from the nations. It begins with seven chapters similar to our reading today that describe the intricate details of the various sacrifices - rituals that seem so foreign, odd and even grotesque to our modern ears.

But it's in these seemingly strange and exceedingly bloody details that we can learn so much about one of the most important theological concepts that you need to understand: atonement (sometimes referred to as propitiation). Leviticus helps us understand that sin has a cost that must be paid for.

Commentator Rousas Rushdoony explains it well:

There are thus three conditions required in animal sacrifices: first, the only animals acceptable were those that had been specified as clean by God’s law; second, they were domesticated animals which were commonly used for food; third, they were a part of the sacrificer’s personal property and wealth, and thus they cost him something. Even the poor had to give a sacrifice which cost them something, a dove or a pigeon. Thus, in the sacrifice of atonement, nothing man does can earn his redemption: it is entirely an act of sovereign grace on God’s part. At the same time, it is not costless to man.

  Dig Deeper  

Although these sacrifices of atonement certainly had a financial component, they involved so much more than just paying a penalty. They demanded a very personal, hands on confession.

The repentant man must lay his hand on the burnt offering so that it would be accepted on his behalf to make atonement. The innocent animal, a male without defect, would be substituting himself on behalf of the sinner. The intimate connection of placing hands upon the animal's head was meant to drive home the point that the sinner deserved the death that the animal would receive.

But even then the sinner's duties were not yet complete. The man himself was required to slaughter the young bull before the LORD with his own hand. What an intense way to come to understand that the penalty for sin is lifeblood as the sinner held his dying animal as it bled out, having been substituted in his place!

The priest would then take over, bringing the blood and splashing it against the sides of the altar. Every piece of the cut up animal would be burned on the altar as a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.

So as we read through the sometimes tedious book of Leviticus this week, pray that through the reading of this portion of God's Word that you will come to more deeply understand what it means that Christ, through His sacrificial death, became a substitutionary atonement for you.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the LORD, whose holiness demands a perfect atonement for sin;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Gratefully acknowledge that Jesus Christ substituted Himself as the atoning sacrifice for all of your sins;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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