Leviticus Series #2
The Sacrificial System
Leviticus 1 - 10
CHCC: June 20, 2010
INTRODUCTION:
Today we’re going to look at the first part of the Old Testament Book of Leviticus. This book outlines the details of the Laws that God’s Nation would follow. Last week we talked about how the People of Israel told Moses, “We will do everything the Lord God tells us to do!” But God knew better. He knew those good intentions wouldn’t last any time at all. So the first system God instituted for His People was a system of Sacrifices for sin.
Let’s start with just a quick fly-over of the first 10 chapters of Leviticus:
Knowing that the people would sin, God put in place a way for their sins to be forgiven. Chapters 1-5 of Leviticus command several kinds of sacrifices that would make the unholy people appear holy in God’s sight.
· Burnt offerings (chapter 1) were voluntary in nature and were offered for payment of sin in general
· Grain offerings (ch.2) were also voluntary and were meant to show honor and respect to God in worship
· Fellowship offerings (ch. 3) are also voluntary and used to express gratitude to God
· Sin offerings (Ch. 4) are mandatory, and meant to make payment for unintentional sins or uncleanness, neglect, or thoughtlessness.
· Guilt offerings (Ch. 5) are also mandatory and meant to make payment for sins against God and others. A sacrifice is made and the injured person is compensated
Chapters 6-10 contain instructions to the priests and Levites for administrating these offerings. Then the historical record tells of the ordination of Aaron and his sons into the priesthood and the beginnings of their ministry in the newly built tabernacle.
Chapter 10 gives the account of the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, who offered unauthorized fire on the altar --- and the Lord himself struck them dead. This serves as a reminder that this Levitical Law was not to be trifled with. Everything was to be done exactly as God commanded … in every detail.
Try to imagine what it was like for the average Jew living during the time of the Levitical Law system. Suppose we could go back in time as an investigative reporter to interview a Jew as he exits the tabernacle:
“Excuse me, Mr. Jew, you seem very relieved compared with the way you looked when you entered the tabernacle just a short time ago. What’s your secret? What makes you feel so much better about the past year of sinning? Did you promise Yahweh that you’d do better this coming year --- that you would turn over a new leaf?”
The Jewish man responds, “No, nothing like that took place.”
Slightly confused, you press on to discover the truth. “Well, did you carefully name off each sin and ask Yahweh to cover your sins?”
“Certainly not!” the Jewish man exclaims.
“Well then, what exactly made you feel relief from guilt for all the sins you committed over the past 12 months?”
At this point any well-educated Jew would give the same response: “What made me feel better? The blood of bulls and goats that covered my past sins, of course! Yahweh has always demanded a BLOOD sacrifice for sins, and now --- because of the animal I brought to offer as a sacrifice --- my sins are covered!” (The Naked Gospel, Andrew Farley, p. 106)
This is God’s system. It has always been the case that one thing brings forgiveness of sins --- namely, blood --- nothing else: Hebrews 9:22 says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
1. The Repetitive Sacrifices
The book of Leviticus details a complex system of continual, repetitive sacrifices. A huge number of animals had to be killed in order to satisfy the rigid requirements of the Levitical Law. A Jewish Priest was more like a Butcher than like what we think of as a Priest.
He spent day after day in strenuous labor --- with a sharp knife --- dispatching, gutting, skinning, cleaning, quartering, and finally burning a variety of sacrificial animals. It was dirty, grimy, smelly, and backbreaking work. A priest had to be physically fit in order to be able to perform Tabernacle duties (That’s probably why they were instructed to retire at age 50!)
First he offered sacrifices for himself and his family. Then he offered sacrifices for other people. The blood involved in this messy work soaked the ground and was splashed against the tabernacle furniture. The quantity of blood required for this purifying work would make the squeamish sick to their stomachs. The bleating of dying animals would terrify young children. No doubt, this whole matter of animal sacrifices would be repulsive to modern sensitivities.
We don’t spend our days around animals like ancient Jews did, but for a person in a pastoral economy built on the value of cows, sheep, oxen, goats, domesticated birds, and other animals, all of this sacrificing had an economic impact. You literally watched a portion of your livelihood going up in smoke.
And for children, there was an emotional sense of loss. Often a lamb was treated as a pet. The Passover Lamb lived in the home for four days, and then was sacrificed at the Temple, before parts of the meat were returned to the home to be prepared for the Passover meal.
Sacrifice was messy business, but it had to be done … and it had to be done over and over and over again. Each year’s sacrifices merely rolled sins forward for another year. The weight of rolled forward sin piled up, waiting for a future time when sin would finally be taken care of once and for all time
I’m not sure whether the people got fed up with all this messy, repetitive work or not (though I suspect they did.) Isaiah records for us, that God became fed up with it. God saw that the people were just “going through the motions” with no real desire to connect with Him. Listen to His lament over Israel’s superficial worship in Isaiah 1:11-15:
"The multitude of your sacrifices-- what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats … Stop bringing meaningless offerings! …
Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood;
It’s pretty bad when a worshipper gets sick of going to church … but imagine how bad it must be when God himself gets his fill of Israel’s half-hearted worship.
We need to realize that God always had something better in mind. In the Levitical system, God was Present within a Tabernacle prepared for him … and later on in a Temple. But all along, God had a plan that would enable him to live inside people, making the human heart into his holy temple.
In the Old Testament, God promised to write his laws on human hearts rather than in tablets of stone (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 37:24-26) The writer of Hebrews refers to these promises in Hebrews 10:15-17: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then He adds, “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
So what would it take to enable God to remember our sins and lawless acts no more?
2. The Once and for all Sacrifice:
Picture the scene. An Israelite camp in the desert, several thousand years ago. The Tabernacle tent pitched on top of a hill in the center of the camp. The high priest running down the hillside shouting that he has found the perfect spotless lamb which will be sacrificed on behalf of all the people, taking care of their sins for the rest of their lives.
Imagine the excitement! (The Naked Gospel, Andrew Farley, p. 105)
Of course this never happened during the days of the Old Testament. But it DID happen at the opening of the New Testament. The final prophet of the Old Levitical system actually made that statement. He was the son of a Levitical Priest named Zachariah, and he came to be known as John the Baptizer.
His job was to announce that what God had promised in Jeremiah and Ezekiel was about to come to pass. God was going to forsake the temple and all its rituals … and take up residence in human hearts.
John 1:29 records the announcement that the one perfect lamb had been found: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
The final priest and prophet of the Levitical Law testified to the final sacrifice needed for sin. Once this sacrifice was completed, no other animal sacrifice would ever be needed again.
Crucifixion day marked the end of the entire Levitical System. That’s why the Temple Curtain was torn from top to bottom. This curtain separated the Holy of Holies – the part of the Temple where God was present – from the regular folks who came to worship Him. Jesus provided the way for all of us regular folks to enter the Holy of Holies and enjoy the Presence of God in our own Hearts. The price for this access was His own blood, and the rending of that Curtain was the rending of His own body.
CONCLUSION:
If you went into the Jewish Tabernacle or the Temple, you would discover something very different from our church buildings. There were no chairs (or pews) for the worshippers or for the priests. There was an important reason for this omission.
Imagine you wandered into the temple and you see the High Priest reclining in his big old La-Z Boy. What would you think? “Well, I guess His work is all done and he has nothing left to do.”
There were no chairs so the image of UNFINISHED business would always be present in the Temple.
The Book of Hebrews explains this: Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Hebrews 10:11-12
Jesus, our eternal High Priest, HAS FINISHED His Redemptive Work. Everything that needs to be done to cover your sins has been completed. Nothing further needs to be done.
And it gets even better! Look at Ephesians 2:4-6: Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
Jesus is seated in Heaven … and, because we are IN HIM … we are seated with him in Heaven. IF you have chosen to put your TRUST in Jesus, then your salvation is secure … it’s a done deal … already fully accomplished because of Jesus once-and-for-all sacrifice.
