The 3 Types of Sweet-Aroma Offerings

As I explained in The 2 Types of Sin Offerings, there are two main categories of offerings described in the bible: those that were offered because of sin and those that are a "sweet aroma" to God. These "sweet aroma" offerings often involved the sacrifice of an animal, but not for the purpose of forgiveness! They are found in Leviticus 1, 2, & 3 with no mention of sin or forgiveness whatsoever. Rather, these were pure acts of worship intended to highlight different aspects of the worshiper's ongoing relationship with God.

Jesus Christ is the one-and-only offering for the sin of all mankind, meaning that no other person needs to make a sin or guilt offering ever again. By contrast, the sweet-aroma offerings reveal elements of our walk with God that we must strive to perfect. We can and do bring burnt offerings, grain offerings, and peace offerings before our God in the New Covenant!

Overview of the Sweet-Aroma Offerings

Once a person is forgiven and cleansed from sin, the 3 sweet-aroma offerings showcase different aspects of the offerer's worship of God. The big distinguishing factor among these 3 is who consumes the offering.

#1 - The Burnt Offering

The burnt offering is so-called because every part of it was burned on the altar, being totally consumed by God. It required the death of an animal and the shedding of its blood:

Leviticus 1:4 

He shall put his hands on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. 

The word "atonement" is not synonymous with forgiveness and in this instance does not entail forgiveness at all! Rather, this type of atonement means being "made at one" - that is, being brought into a more complete relationship with God. The idea is that the offerer, thoroughly cleansed of sin and blameless before God, brings a gift for the sole purpose of pleasing God.

The imagery of laying hands on the head of the offering signifies that the worshiper is identifying himself with the animal being offered. Under the New Covenant, this symbolizes that we must offer ourselves as burnt offerings to God - allowing ourselves to be completely consumed by Him (Romans 12:1-2). It is our personal fulfillment of the Greatest Commandment: to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 

This is something that Jesus Christ certainly did, but the meaning of the burnt offering does not end with Him in the same way that the sin and guilt offerings do!

#2 - The Grain Offering

The grain offering is the only one of the 5 major offering types which did not require a sacrifice of blood. Because the shedding of blood is required to forgive sin (Hebrews 9:22), this fact alone proves that the grain offering served some other purpose. It is called the "grain" offering because of what was offered: "fine flour" made from grinding down grain, such as wheat or barley. 

Contemplating the difference between an animal sacrifice and an offering of grain, what stands out to me is the fact that obtaining grain requires man's labor in a more direct fashion than obtaining animals. While animals reproduce mostly on their own, grain has to be planted, tended, and harvested - even then, beating it down into a fine flour requires more work on man's part. In brief, the substance of the grain offering points us to the conclusion that this type of offering is concerned our labor.

A portion of the grain offering was burned on the altar as God's portion, but the rest of it was eaten by the priests. In the New Covenant, the grain offering represents doing good works:

Hebrews 13:16 

But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 

These good works glorify both God (the portion burned on the altar) as well as Jesus Christ, our High Priest, who set the ultimate example of good works for us.

#3 - The Peace/Fellowship Offering

The peace offering was primarily made as an act of thanksgiving (Leviticus 7:12). It required an animal sacrifice and was the only offering which the offerer was allowed to partake of - in this case, a portion was burned for God, a portion was given to the priests to eat, and a portion was given to the person who made the offering. 

Hebrews 13:15

Therefore by [Christ] let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

The act of giving thanks to God is our acknowledgment that we have been satisfied - that we are receiving our portion of our sacrifice to God. The beautiful truth is that God and Jesus Christ love to hear us express thanks for what They give us! Doing so is a sweet and pleasing aroma to our God!