Leviticus Chapt. 1

The Burnt Offering

Work our way through the book of Leviticus for the next who knows how long?

1 chapter a week should take us roughly 27 weeks

if we stick to it, but I mostly want us to see

how the the OT sacrifices are just a

foreshadowing of Jesus and how he fulfils all of this

So, we may only get through the first few chapters

or we may walk / run through the

entire thing

It will be a quick survey and food to take home for deeper study

Goal is to spend roughly 10-15 minutes on it

I have been going through this book in personal study and just want to share it!

I contemplated even making this a series we cover in our Sunday evening service.

But for now, lets scratch the surface of Leviticus

Lets read chapter 1

then i will give a quick intro

Read Lev 1 .

Amen

By way of quick background

This book Leviticus gets its name from the fact that it

is “for the levites” or the priests

it mostly deals will the duties of the priests

and their service in the tabernacle

and our atonement of sins

This book is written hot off the tails of the end of

exodus starting actually in Exodus 19 where Moses came down from the mountain with instructions

and the plans to build the tabernacle

so, the tabernacle was built

as we saw at the end of Exodus

And if we look at the first verse of Lev

it says

Leviticus 1:1 “1 Then the Lord summoned Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting:”

The tent of meeting is the tabernacle

So God spoke to Moses

and most of this book is actually

Moses getting direct communication from

God and delivering it to the people

If we look it says “The Lord Spoke to Moses” in some form or fashion

38 times

then another 18 times it says God “Commanded Moses”

Thats 56 times God spoke directly to Moses

Red Letter of the OT, this would be full

So to say this is an important book is an under statement

Now, God began speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai

and he continues those words here in the tent of meeting

in fact the last verse of Lev says

Leviticus 27:34 “34 These are the commands the Lord gave Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.”

Ok, Lets move on

So much worship today is focused

on us, we see it not so much in our church

but in the Global church there is a lot of self worship

but here, God is showing the Levites and the Israelites

how to worship

and it is all about God

Now picture this,

Remember when Moses went up on the mountain to

receive the law

what did they do at the bottom of the mountain

they got quickly off track

and they fell deep into sin

so, lets talk about sin quickly

What did we learn from Adam and Eve about sin?

that it leads to death

sin leads to death

not one time

but all of the time

and who here doesn’t sin?

exactly

and that’s honestly us right

we fall into sin

and in order for that to be reconciled

there must be a sacrifice

a way to satisfy Gods wrath

Exalting Jesus in Leviticus (Our Sin Requires Atonement)

Somebody will must die because of our sin. Either we will die for our sin and we will be separated from God forever, or a sacrifice will die for our sin

God knew that he is holy and just

But he also loves us

that is why while the people were

sinning at the bottom of the mountain

God was giving Moses the instructions

for them to come back to Him

for them to meet Him

for them to be forgiven

isn’t that the gospel

While we are down here sinning

Jesus is up there, interceding on our behalf

because he was the ultimate sacrifice

that all of Leviticus points to

That is why within the book of Leviticus we

see the word Atonement occur 53 times!

to put that into perspective

we only see the word atonement

43 times elsewhere in the entire OT

Thus Lev says more about atonement than

anywhere else in the OT

and what did Jesus do for us?

He atoned for our sins

Now, the word atonement

is three words put together

At - one - ment

and it means reconciliation

it means 2 parties coming together

and becoming at one with each other

and that is what these sacrifices did for us

they brought us back to God

through the sacrifice of blood

we will see a lot of blood

but that is what satisfies Gods wrath

remember sin = death

but it is that blood that

brings us back to Him

to put it another way

Exalting Jesus in Leviticus Our Sin Requires Atonement

In the case of our relationship with God, it refers to the taking away of sin. God is perfectly holy, and sin is not allowed in His presence. Therefore, for sinners to be in the presence of God their sin must be removed, and that is the purpose of atonement.

So, as we work through this, we will see the word atonement

a lot along

So! Finally!

Chapter 1

The first offering or sacrifice we come to is

the burnt offering or the

Free will offering

Or sometimes the whole burnt offering

because the entire thing will be burned

We already talked about it is to occur at the

tent of meeting

which will later be the temple

and

So with that said

Chapter 1 is broken into 3 parts

we have the bull in 3-9

the sheep or goat in 10-13

and the birds in 14-17

why is that

so no matter what your income

or status

no matter what you could afford

God provided a way for you to make atonement

No one is to be held back from his grace

See, this is a free will offering

which means it wasn’t a sacrifice

that was required but one that came from the heart

one that was given freely

it was voluntary

because you or they loved God

now there are some sacrifices that were required

but this is not one of them

this is one of 3 voluntary offerings

and an offering means a gift to God

See God didn’t necessarily care about what

was sacrificed

but about the heart of the one that was sacrificing

that is why this is considered a general offering

meaning it wasn’t for specific sin

It is about the fact that we or they, were so thankful for God

that they just wanted to give to Him

just wanted to Worship him

because he so freely gives forgiveness

It makes us think about

giving to God because he is God

Giving to God because he is holy

Giving to God because we want to

because we recognize just who He is

and what he did for us

not because we are obedient

not because we have to

but because we want to

that is what this is about

So, V 3 says to offer an unblemished male

and what is that a picture of?

Jesus…

He was spotless

perfect sacrifice

and gave himself freely

for us

Each activity we will see is there for a reason

and a reason that is satisfied ultimately with Jesus

the what, unblemished male

V4 says he is to lay his hand on the head of the offering

this is a visualization of our sin being transferred

to that animal

it is an act that established a connection

if you will

between the animal

and the worshipper

and it was through that connection

and that transfer or guilt and sin

that they were atoned for

lets think about that for a second

as the sinner seeking atonement

if you place your hand on the animal

look it in the eyes

then watch it being killed

on your behalf

dont you think that would have

left some sort of impact on you

maybe made you think twice next time

you sin

now, while this is the burnt offering

some things would happen before that

number 1

v 5 says the blood would then be splattered on the

side of the alter

now, the alter represented God wrath

or judgment

and the blood being splashed on

it represented that God’s

wrath had been satisfied

so imagine

the alter was very hot

because the fire for the burnt offering was being

burned there

and as the blood was sprinkled onto the

hot alter

you would seem steam as it was cooled

thus a visible picture of his wrath being extinguished was seen

crazy huh

number 2

in verse 9 it says the entrails and feet were washed with water

what are the entrails, those are the insides

and what are the feet those are arguable the dirtiest part of us

as they, well back then

were dirty from sandals and walking everywhere

so by washing them they made the dirty

parts clean

they made the dirties parts holy

and fit for God

and when Jesus came and we were atoned for by

his blood

he washed us clean from the inside out

number 3

the priest took everything else and burned it

we see that in the last part of v9

and we see after that that it was a pleasing aroma to the Lord

which means He accepted it

He was satisfied

Now, that process is the same whether

it is a bull, goat, or bird

however, due the little amount of blood in birds

the process is a little different but the meanings are the same

So this whole free will offering or burnt offering

is a perfect picture of Jesus

see, with this everything was burned up

all was given to God

freely

a perfect sinless male animal

made atonement for our sins

our guilt

and it satisfied God

Just like Jesus did

when our sin was transferred to him

and his blood satisfied God

for us

If we have time for questions for discussion before we pray:

what was / is the purpose of atonement?

so why did that require death?

Within history we will see these sacrifices become more about self and less about God. More of an empty ritual if you will

what do you think we can do to combat just going through the motions