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111_The burnt offering

Lev 1:1-9 The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.

3 “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. 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 Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 6 Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, 7 and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 And Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 9 but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

On a cold winter evening in London, a young man named William Booth walked through the streets, witnessing the plight of the poor and destitute. His heart burned with a passion to serve God by helping those who were lost in the darkness of sin and suffering. He was the founder of the Salvation Army. He once said, “The greatness of a man’s power is the measure of his surrender.” He made no half-hearted devotion but offered his life completely to God.

Booth’s life reminds us of the burnt offering in Leviticus 1, a sacrifice that was wholly consumed. It pictures absolute surrender and devotion. All of the book of Leviticus unfolds the nature of God’s relationship with his redeemed people. The old covenant God made with Israel was established at Mount Sinai. Beginning with their sinfulness and weakness, it moves to display the riches of God’s provision to restore man to fellowship with him.

The laws of sacrifice and purification were not arbitrary but neither were they able to remove the guilt of sin. “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.” (Hebrews 10:1). But they were a pointer to the final and perfect sacrifice that would be performed once for all when God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world. Colossians 2:16-17 declares that these rituals were “a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”

A shadow is caused by the light shining against a real object. Similarly, all the sacrifices in Leviticus were shadows cast by the light of God shining on the perfection of Christ. The multiplicity of sacrifices and feasts reveals all that a single symbol could never have fully expressed, of God’s plan and purpose in Christ. Hebrews 1:1-2 confirms this truth: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”

Leviticus 1 details the instructions for the burnt offering. This type of sacrifice existed long before the giving of the Law. Abel offered a lamb to God. Noah offered burnt offerings after the flood. Abraham offered a ram to fulfil his worship of God, when his son was spared.

Several aspects are emphasized here. The laying on of hands on the animal’s head is a means of ensuring that the animal will be accepted in atonement for the person. The animal had to be without blemish, just as Christ was without sin. It was slain at the door of the tabernacle as a sacrifice to God rather than any idol. Its blood was then sprinkled on the altar to signify the death through which atonement was made. The entire animal was then burned after removing the skin, cutting it up, and washing the entrails and legs. Christ offered himself wholly to God as a sacrifice and sweet-smelling offering of love. He was clean in both the external and internal aspects of his life, both in heart and in his walk.

The sacrifice was wholly consumed by fire. As Christ said of himself, “Zeal for thine house has consumed me.” Unlike other offerings where parts were eaten by the priests or the offerer, the burnt offering was for God alone. It was “a pleasing aroma to the Lord,” (Leviticus 1:9), of wholehearted devotion and faith. Ephesians 5:2 exhorts us, “Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Israel often turned this sacred ritual into mere religious formality. Their sacrifices became empty gestures rather than heartfelt devotion. Micah 6:6-8 rebukes this mindset, “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings? … He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

God has never been interested in mere religious activity; He desires the total commitment of the heart won to love and faith, in response to his rich goodness and grace. Paul exhorts believers in Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Like the burnt offering of old, which was always burning on the altar, our sacrifice is an ongoing and daily surrender of our wills, desires, and ambitions to the Lord.

Hebrews 13:15-16 calls us to “offer up a sacrifice of praise to God” and “not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” True devotion is not merely outward, as in singing hymns and attending services; it is in our actions, choices, and willingness to give ourselves fully to God.

The Tabernacle and its rituals were glorious, but they signified only that the time when true cleansing would be revealed had not yet come. Christ Jesus offered himself up so that we might approach God with confidence through him. As we lay our hands on him by faith, we identify with him. We join with him in his death for sin so that we may be one with him in his new life. By our death and resurrection with him, we are distanced forever from this present world and joined to God.

The cleansing of the sacrifice before it was burned reminds us that we are not to offer ourselves to God while still clinging to sin. Rather, we are to be cleansed, both outwardly in our conduct and inwardly in our motives, led by the Holy Spirit. Then our life becomes a “pleasing aroma to the Lord.”

William Booth gave himself in love to God, and through him thousands of people were touched by God’s love. Let us offer living sacrifices and not the dead works of religious duty and social conformity. Let us give ourselves in wholehearted faith to be wholly consumed with the zeal to do God’s will, to love him as he deserves. God bless.