Leviticus 1:1 Yahweh called to Moses, and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When anyone of you offers an offering to Yahweh, you shall offer your offering of the livestock, from the herd and from the flock.
3 “‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without defect. He shall offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before Yahweh. 4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5 He shall kill the bull before Yahweh. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 6 He shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. 7 The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire; 8 and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar; 9 but he shall wash its innards and its legs with water. The priest shall burn all of it on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
10 “‘If his offering is from the flock, from the sheep or from the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without defect. 11 He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before Yahweh. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. 12 He shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat. The priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar, 13 but the innards and the legs he shall wash with water. The priest shall offer the whole, and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
14 “‘If his offering to Yahweh is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall offer his offering from turtledoves or of young pigeons. 15 The priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar; 16 and he shall take away its crop and its feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes. 17 He shall tear it by its wings, but shall not divide it apart. The priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
It is inconceivable yet true that the God of all creation, the God who wove us together and breathed life into us, came down to the tent of meeting and personally spoke to Moses. God instructed him as to how fallen sinful rebels may enter into God’s presence and receive, not only forgiveness, but also the blessing of a restored relationship with their Creator.
Those bringing their sacrifice to worship God are instructed to offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting. The altar was placed inside the door of the Tent of Meeting. There the worshipper is to offer his sacrifice, the male [livestock] without defect. And the offering is not just a simple matter of the sinner handing the animal that is to stand in his place to the priest. So that he will never forget that his sins are serious and deserve death, God requires that the sinner himself lay his hand on the animal, symbolizing the fact that the animal is taking his place. Next he must personally slaughter the animal. As the life-blood drains from its body, the priest catches the blood and sprinkles it on the altar that is inside the Tent of Meeting. Next the worshipper must skin and butcher the animal, handing the cuts of meat to the priest to place on altar, symbolizing the fact that the worshipper deserved to be placed on the altar and burned up in the fiery wrath of God.
The graphic description of the burnt offerings in the opening chapter of Leviticus, leaves us no doubt as to the vile, unnatural, and hideous nature of our sin. We are totally corrupted and rightly deserving of death. In fact, we should immediately notice that the sinner coming before God to worship is so stained with sin that he is not even allowed to immediately enter into God’s sanctuary.
The aroma of the sacrifice is pleasant to Yahweh because it represents the Promised substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, John 1:29, who will one day be slaughtered, bleed, and die to redeem sinners. The Lamb of God that was first promised thousands of years earlier to Adam and Eve.
Later in their history God gave Israel a song-book that contained numerous Psalms that the worshipper could sing while this ritual is taking place. God also established an orchestra and choir. 2 Chronicles 5:12
First, as the worshippers walked up to the temple in Jerusalem, to prepare their hearts and minds for worship, they would sing Psalms of Ascent, acknowledging their sin. One example is:
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared. Psalm 130:1-4
As the animal was slaughtered the sinner could sing a song of sacrifice. For example:
May it please you to prosper Zion,
to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar. Psalm 51:18-19
To which the priests could sing in reply…
May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;
may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and grant you support from Zion.
May he remember all your sacrifices
and accept your burnt offerings. Psalm 20:1-3
Because we are steeped in sin, God says, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9:22. In other words, the only way that sinful man can be reconciled to God is through the sacrifice of the male without defect. The sacrifice, representing Christ, the Lamb, without defect, must be sacrificed as a substitute in our place before we can even come before the God who gave us life. Why? Because in our lawlessness, 1John 3:4, we have all exalted ourselves against the Lord of heaven. Daniel 5:23. It is imperative that we each understand that: Your iniquities have separated you from God: your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Isaiah 59:2. You are such a vile and wretched rebel in the eyes of your Creator that he refuses to even look at you or listen to your lies and the rationalizations that you use to justify your sins. We love to portray ourselves as innocent victims when actually we are the guilty perpetrators of unspeakable sins against both our nature and against our Creator.
Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor — that is the only way out of our “hole”. This process of surrender — this movement full speed astern — is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Harper)
This is a far cry from the false, soft gospel that we hear proclaimed in many of our modern churches: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” This counterfeit message teaches that God wants you to have the desires of our heart. God wants to fill that God-shaped vacuum within your heart, the vacuum that you have unsuccessfully been trying to fill with sex, drugs, money, possessions, friends, family, and experiences. “If you just ask Jesus into your heart”, all of your problems will be solved because God promises happiness, healing, peace, and prosperity.
This felt-needs gospel, described by Christian Smith as “moralistic, therapeutic, deism”, (Christian Smith, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, Oxford) is a thoroughly man-centered doctrine teaching that God’s goal for your life is for you to find happiness. Having asked Jesus into your heart as a kind of fire insurance against an eternity in hell the “believer” feels free to seek happiness in any way that they choose.
Incredible as it may seem, accepting Christ and making a profession of faith makes little to no difference in a young person’s attitudes and behaviors. The majority of our churched young people are adopting a Christianity but it is not true Christianity. (Josh McDowell, The Last Christian Generation, Green Key Books)
The vast majority of people who are members of churches in America today are not Christians. I say that without the slightest fear of contradiction. I base it on empirical evidence of twenty-four years of examining thousands of people. (D. James Kennedy, Coral Ridge Ministries, PCA)
Of course we all are afflicted with those ills common to mankind. We all may, at various times, face loneliness, heartbreak, unhappiness, hollowness, sickness, fear, disappointment, poverty, anxiety, despair, meaninglessness, and more. These are very real problems for which God can give us comfort. But our overarching problem, the problem that keeps us out of God’s presence, the problem from which God hides his face from us and refuses to hear us, as Leviticus shows, is that we are, first and foremost, sinners – rebels. We have placed our desires over obedience to God. Our goal is to be autonomous like our father Adam, like the fish out of water. God’s goal for our lives is for us to be reconciled to God by the forgiveness of our sins. This is only available through the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. The sacrifices described in Leviticus were pictures serving as placeholders looking forward to the ultimate sacrifice of the Creator himself: He who knew no sin became the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT
To tell an unbeliever that God has a wonderful plan for his life can be seriously misleading. We need to adjust our presentation of the gospel. We cannot dismiss the fact that God hates sin and punishes sinners with eternal torment. How can we begin a gospel presentation by telling people on their way to hell that God has a wonderful plan for their lives? (John MacArthur, Grace to You, gty.org)
How are we to be reconciled with God?
Like the sinner coming to the tabernacle in Leviticus, in order to come before God we first must acknowledge our self-centeredness, confessing and repenting of our sins and placing our trust in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Christ told his disciples that he came to, convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. John 16:8 That is why repentance for the forgiveness for sins is to be proclaimed, in (Jesus) name, to all of the nations… Luke 24:47
When Peter was asked, What must we do to be saved? he did not say, “Ask Jesus into your heart”, instead he replied,
Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38
Likewise the Apostle John said,
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Just like the Old Covenant worshipper coming to the temple, we are unrighteous and we must repent and confess our unrighteousness, placing our trust in the Lamb of God who was sacrificed in our place. Only Christ can save us from the wrath of God. 1 Thessalonians 1:10
Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assents to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receives and rests upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation. (Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, Question 72)