The Burnt Offering -- Total Surrender to God
Why Study the Levitical Offerings? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction:
The burnt offering is the first offering described in Leviticus, and it sets the time for everything that follows. God calls Moses from the tabernacle and says “If his offering is a burnt sacrifice… he shall offer it of his own free will” (Lev. 1:3). The entire animal was consumed on the altar — nothing held back, nothing reserved, nothing kept for the worshiper. It was a sacrifice of total surrender?
This morning we study Leviticus 1:1-17, the foundational text for the burnt offering.
This offering appears throughout the Old Testament — in Genesis, Exodus, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Job, and the Psalms — and consistently represents complete devotion to God.
Today we will explore what the burnt offering meant for Israel, what it teaches us today, how it points to Christ, and how we must respond under the New Covenant.
There is no way possible for us to look at every time the burnt offering was used and the many different nuances of the different occasions.
But maybe a way of striking a cord that demonstrates how interesting the Old Testament truly is and how interwoven it is into the New Testament.
Body:
What the Brunt Offering Meant for Israel.
The burnt offering was unique among Israel’s sacrifices because it represented complete surrender, consecration, and devotion to God. Although it included atonement (Lev. 1:4), its emphasis was not primarily on sin but on the worshiper’s total yielding of himself to the lord. This sacrifice was more about the realization of sin and having the proper heart.
Recognition of sin and the burnt offering.
In Second Samuel 6 David desires to bring the Ark of God Home from captivity.
David allows it to be done in an inappropriate way and Uzzah dies as a result (2 Sam. 6:1-6).
David get upset with God and kind of pouts (2 Sam. 6:7-8).
He then realizes what it means to to actually fear God and ask himself a relevant question (2 Sam. 6:9).
9 David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”
He then takes the ark to Obed-Edom’s house and leaves it there for 3 months (2 Sam. 6:10-11).
After the 3 months had pass David realizes that Obed-Edom was being blessed by the presents of the Ark and David makes a second attempt to bring it home (2 Sam. 6:12).
2 Sam. 6:13 shows what David was doing during the 3 month period.
13 And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep.
He was figuring out how to carry it properly.
He desired to please God and so when he was pleasing to God he stopped immediately and recognized His previous sin (Lev. 1:4), and showed His gratitude and dedication to God because God did not have to give Him a second chance.
After David got the Ark home he again showed his gratitude to God by offering a burnt offering and then a peace offering (we will talk more about the peace offering when we get to it).
This offering was not so much about the sin as it was Davids heart.
This is shown in another account of David sinning by numbering the people and then offering a burnt offering.
2 Samuel 24 tells us of this occasion.
David wants to number Israel and he does not have God authority but he does it anyway (2 Sam. 24:1-9).
He recognizes He sinned and desires to be forgiven (2 Sam. 24:10-11).
But the prophet tells David there are going to be consequences to His actions and He has 3 choices (2 Sam. 24:12-13).
David gives his answer in 2 Samuel 12:14 and tells Samuel that He desires the plague.
God carries this discipline out in 2 Samuel 24:15-16 and many people in Israel die because of David’s sin.
2 Samuel 24:17 demonstrates a principle that is also found in the New Testament about leaders.
David recognized as king that he had a higher responsibility and he appealed to God for the people.
17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”
This idea that leadership has a higher responsibility is all throughout the New Testament.
Acts 20:28 God made the elders overseers and shepherds of His people.
1 Timothy 5:17 recognizes that elders who have ruled well of being worthy of double honor.
James 3:1 says leaders will receive a stricter judgment.
Hebrews 13:17 speaking of elders says “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account.”
In Verse 17 He realizes he has sinned and 2 Samuel 24:18-19 is about David seeking a place and a way to make it right.
2 Samuel 24:20-24 demonstrates David’s heart.
Araunah offers David anything he wants to sacrifice for free (2 Sam. 24:20-23).
2 Samuel 24:24-25 is David’s response about the burnt offering he was going to offer.
24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.
David buys it because he want it to come from his own.
He want’s it to be a free will offering
And he wants it to cost him.
This is part of what gives David atonement but it is so much more than just that.
It is David’s heart he gives it to God freely.
David cares about forgiveness from God but this sacrifice is more.
This sacrifice is more about David caring deeply that he hurt God.
This is why God did not accept King Saul’s burnt offering and removed the kingdom from Him because his heart was not right.
20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
He made excuses and did not care about the people but his own selfishness.
When the children of Israel offered a burnt offering it was to be about God and recognition that they needed Him (not just what they could get out of God — atonement), and dedication that they would be wholly given to Him.
King Saul gave a burnt offering but it was selfishness and a refusal to accept that He need God.
And it was not accepted.
God made this offering one that anyone could do.
It could be a bull if that is what you could afford (Lev. 1:3).
It could be a sheep or a goat if that is what you could afford (Lev. 1:10).
It could even be a turtledoves or pigeons if that is what you could afford (Lev. 1:14).
Anyone who desired to draw near to God could do so with the best they had to offer.
This is why the money changes in the temple were so atrocious to Jesus (Matt. 21:12-13).
Here is what the burnt offering meant to Israel in a nutshell.
God is holy — approaching Him requires reverence and sacrifice.
Worship is costly — It demands something valuable.
Devotion must be total — the whole animal was consumed.
Sin is serious — Atonement was needed to spare the worshipers and all of Isreal in Davids account.
God is merciful — He provided a way for sinners to draw near.
Worship is accessible — offering s ranged from bulls to birds. It was about the heart of the worshiper but if the worshipers heart was right it was going to cost something.
God desires the heart — not empty ritual, but genuine surrender.
What the Burnt Offering Teaches Us Today
God still calls His people to total devotion.
The burnt offering teaches that God wants all of us, not part of us.
Jesus teaches that God wants all of us not part of us.
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Worship must be intentional and sacrificial.
The worshiper brought the offering “of his own free will (Lev. 1:3).
God does not force devotion; He invites it.
Jesus stands at the door and knocks.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
God deserves our best.
The offering had to be “without blemish” (Lev. 1:3).
Ultimately this refers to Christ.
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
But God still desires our best.
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
True worship involves surrender.
The burnt offering teaches that worship is yielding to God’s wisdom.
David said often I have sinned.
Here are a few places.
2 Sam. 12:13
2 Sam. 24:10
2 Sam. 24:17
1 Chron. 21:8
1 Chron. 21:17
Ps. 51:4
David yielded to God.
Here is what the bible says about the wisdom that is from above.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
The fire never went out on the alter.
Leviticus 6:12-13 — the fire for the burnt offering was to burn continually.
So is our fire to burn continually.
15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
How the Burnt Offering Points to Christ.
Christ is the perfect “with out blemish” sacrifice.
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Christ offered Himself completely.
2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ” 8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Christ was wholly consumed in obedience.
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Christ fulfilled the meaning of the burnt offering.
Total surrender
Total obedience
Total devotion
Total offering of Himself to God
Christ’s sacrifice is the foundation of our worship
19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
How We must Respond (Application)
The burnt offering teaches us how to live as New Covenant worshipers. We do not offer animals, but we do offer sacrifices.
We offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1).
We offer the sacrifice of praise continually.
15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
We offer sacrifices of doing good and sharing.
16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
We offer obedience
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
How our sacrifices parallel the burnt offering.
The burnt offering was voluntary — so is our devotion.
The burnt offering was costly — so is discipleship (Luke 14:25-30).
25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
The burnt offering was total — so must our surrender be (Matt. 22:37).
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
The burnt offering was continually offered (the fire never went out on the altar — Lev. 6:12-13 ) — so must our worship be.
15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
The burnt offering was pleasing to God — so are our spiritual sacrifices.
5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Conclusion:
The burnt offering teaches us that God deserves everything.
It teaches us that worship is offered freely, costly, wholehearted, and continual.
It teaches us that we should be more concerned with how we offended God and what we can do about it then what we can get out of it.
In other words in the burnt offering they were there for God because they loved Him.
Now did they get something out of it — of course; they obtained atonement but it was not because of what they did.
They still did not deserve atonement. Forgiveness was still by grace.
The blood of bulls and goats never took away sin.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
It is the same way for us.
No matter what we do we still do not deserve forgiveness from God.
10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ ”
The burnt offering points us to Christ, who offered Himself completely for our salvation.
And it calls us to respond by offering ourselves — our lives, our praise, our obedience, our service — as living sacrifices given totally to Him.
The burnt offering is not just an ancient ritual.
It is a picture of the life God calls every Christian to live: a life of total surrender.
When we understand the burnt offering, we understand what it means to belong wholly to God.
And when we belong wholly to God the proper decisions happen because we desire to make them.
The burnt offering predates the Levitical law.
Abel’s sacrifice in Genesis 4 is thought to be a burnt offering by most scholars.
4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering,
Noah offering after the food was a burnt offering.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
Abraham’s offering of Isaac and subsequently the ram caught in the thicket was a burnt offering.
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
