Burnt offerings, while not uncommon to Israel, had special meaning and application for the Israelites as dictated by God. As stated in a previous post, this was one of the most common types of sacrifices, and they already had some understanding about this type of sacrifice. So, what did they understand? They were able to draw upon the experience from several more notable ancestors.

From Noah’s burnt offering experience (Gn 8:20-22), Israelites saw that the burnt offering was a means of avoiding God’s wrath and of obtaining God’s favor. God’s blessing did not come from their good deeds, but by their burnt offering, i.e., their pledge and dedication to God. From Abraham, willing to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering (Gn 22), the Israelites understood the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant (Gn. 12:1-3) involved the death and resurrection of one of Abraham’s offspring. The ram Abraham offered died in the place of Isaac – a picture of what was to occur in their future when Christ, their Messiah, would come. While the second point is very clear to us, it likely was not to the Israelites of that day. Yet, they clearly understood the first point.

So, what does all of this mean for us today? We need to understand and recognize that Christ was the fulfillment of the burnt offering these Israelites made. Several scriptures point to this fact: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29); Christ was the final and complete archetype as He died “once for all” (Hb 9:12, 26; 10:10). Yet, faith is still the requirement. The burnt offering symbolized the Old Testament saint’s faith in God’s provision for his sins, and for his access to God. The burnt offering symbolized the Old Testament saint’s faith in God, and his intention to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love his neighbor as himself (Dt 6:5).

This type of offering is important for us to understand as it will also be a part of our future once Christ returns. A burnt offering will be made every morning on the altar by the priests (Ek 46:13). People of the land (likely meaning Israel) will provide a percentage of their flocks to the Prince for burnt offerings and other offerings (Ek 45:15-16). The Prince will offer burnt offerings on New Moons, Sabbaths, and Feasts (Ek 45:17). People throughout the world who accept the Lord as the Hope of their future will be brought to him as an offering (Is 66:20), likely symbolically representative of a burnt offering.

Yet, in spite of all of the regulations around the sacrifice, it was never about the act of the sacrifice itself: “With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Mi 6:6-8).

So, what is our sacrifice today? Consider this verse: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Hb 13:15-16).

Let’s summarize what we have learned about the burnt offering:

It was for man’s depravity (his sinful state). This sacrifice was almost always needed in order to approach God for any reason. We can only approach God because of Christ becoming our burnt offering to offer himself for our depravity.

It was a principle of particularity. God was very particular in how man would approach Him. We can only come to God through Jesus Christ: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6).

It was a principle of acceptance of God. Most self-help books tell how a person should accept themselves, while the burnt offering was all about making a person right with God. Scripture states it is a better goal to hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant” (Mt 25:21).

It was a principle of atonement through the shedding of blood. The sinful state of man requires the shedding of innocent blood: without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin (Hb 9:22). Why blood? Maybe because God breathed into man a breath of life (Gn 2:7). Oxygen is what we breathe, and blood cells carry the oxygen; so, blood represented life. Perhaps that is why eating blood was prohibited (Lv 17:10).

It was a principle of identification. The one making the offering had to identify with the animal, understand he was bringing his best to represent him, and symbolically transfer his sin to the animal which is then worthy of death. We, today, identify with Christ who bore our sin and died for our sin.

It was a principle of sacrifice. Neither the one making the offering nor the priest benefited from this type of sacrifice. What was gained was a statement of devotion to God. We, too, are to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to him (Ro 12:1-2).

Hopefully, you see that the acts of these ancient Israelites have meaning for us today. Certainly, we can offer a sacrifice of praise to the One who has bestowed life to us and given us an eternal hope. Can you do that today?

A major resource for this post and others like it regarding Leviticus was the research done by Bob Deffinbaugh posted on Bible.org.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens