Life in the Sacrifices

When you think of the biblical sacrifices, what comes to your mind? In the simplest sense, I tend to think of an animal dying to appease God. You kill the animal, burn it, and God forgives your sin - isn't that the point of offerings? If you've been following along on my blog, then you know there's much more to understand from God's offertory system!

Last time, I wrote in detail about the role of death in the sacrifices. Jesus Christ's death is the death pictured by the sin offerings of the Old Covenant, and this is the most basic point of our understanding in our relationship with God: that Jesus had to die for our sins to be forgiven, so that we could be reconciled. But is the sacrificial system all about death?

 The first few chapters of Leviticus deal with the main different types of offerings that could be brought before God and how to prepare them. They served different purposes and had different meanings, as I've briefly outlined earlier in this series (Sweet-aroma Offerings and Sin Offerings). The meaning that we most often associate with sacrifices - death of an animal as payment for sin - is fulfilled in what's called the "sin offering" of Leviticus 4. But in Leviticus 1, we read about something very different - an offering where sin isn't even in the picture.

The Burnt Offering

Leviticus 1:2-4
When anyone among you brings an offering to the LORD... 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 of the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the LORD. You are to lay your hands on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted for you to make atonement for you.

The idea of atonement here does not denote forgiveness. Rather, it is a sense of being unified or harmonized with God - being "made at one." The verses continue to describe how to prepare the animal just the right way, which I'll break into in verse 9:

Leviticus 1:9
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, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

I don't want to repeat the entirety of the last article, but you can cross reference Leviticus 4:20-21 to provide a contrast here between how the burnt offering and sin offering were to be carried out. You'll find that the sin offering was NOT burnt on God's altar, but carried outside the camp to be burned - the death for sin had to be taken out of God's presence. But notice that all of burnt offering was burnt on God's altar, in His presence, and it was acceptable and sweet to God.

Not death, but life

What's the difference? Doesn't the burnt offering still require the death of an animal? Look back at verses 2-4 and notice that this offering was NOT given because it was required, NOT because someone was stained with sin and therefore separated from God, but rather because a person wanted to bring an offering. This was an offering that was willingly brought before God rather than by compulsion.

It's no secret that Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the sacrificial system, but too often our understanding of that role is limited to His work of forgiving our sins. Consider that He offered Himself not only in His death, but also in His life! 

It wasn't the death of an animal that God found pleasurable when He called the burnt offering a pleasing aroma, but the giving of one's life. And the sacrifice of Jesus' life is equally important for us as the sacrifice of His death:

Romans 5:10 

If, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him by the death of His son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved by His life!

Two categories of sacrifice. One for sin, not fit for God's presence nor intended to bring God pleasure, but REQUIRED nonetheless - the death of His Son, which death we earned. The other, the perfect, sinless life of our Savior, dedicating every part of Himself - every thought, every action - to the Father, being burned completely on God's altar to become a pleasing and sweet smelling aroma.

Offer your own life

We know that through baptism we share in the death of Christ, whereby we take part in the sin offering of Jesus. But we can also share in the sacrifice of His life by living as He lived:

Romans 12:1 

Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not be conformed to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

I hope that the term "living sacrifice" holds more meaning for you as a result of this study!

The type of sacrifice that is pleasing to God is not a death, but a life - a life that is dedicated to God's way from a willing and obedient heart, as Christ gave. That's what we have to strive for: to put every part of ourselves on the altar before our God.