The Pentateuch: The Sacrifices

Send us Fan MailWelcome to the Word of Life Study Series- The Sacrifices! We had just discussed in the previous podcast, how God had established a Tabernacle, a sacrifice system and a priesthood as the way for the Hebrew to approach Him. We saw how the Tabernacle was a physical representation showing us the way to God. We now want to learn about the sacrifices which are so strange to our western minds- doesn’t seem logical to our culture do they? Ministry website: www.wordinspire.org 1. BackgroundIn the beginning, God created a perfect universe that was orderly and harmoniously, operated within His will. But humanity chose to rebel against God’s will. Man’s rebellion brought chaos and destruction on himself and everything around him. We only need to look around to realize this truth. God calls man’s rebellion- SIN. He says we all do it because it’s our nature- it is within us. A lot of people try to blame the devil for their actions. But God says sin is an inside job. 2. The Sacrifice SystemNow God is going to make things even clearer by establishing an elaborate sacrificial system. The system would have five types of sacrifices. Each sacrifice would uniquely reveal something about the nature of the final sacrifice when God would give Himself on humanity’s behalf. Taken as a whole, they would form a complete picture of the perfect sacrifice. That way everybody would recognize Him when He came on the scene. 3. The Sin OfferingLet’s begin with the Sin Offering- Leviticus 4:1-5, 13; 6:24-30. You present the Sin offering to God because you are a sinner. The Ten Commandments made that very clear. Oh, you tried hard enough to keep them, but you couldn’t. There was something within you that caused you to fall short of their demands. You see before knowing Jesus, you were not a sinner because you had sinned; but you sinned because you were a sinner. That’s who you were, it was your nature. You inherited it from Adam. So as an Old Covenant Hebrew, in order to approach a Holy God, you must have a Sin Offering. 4. The Trespass OfferingWhereas the Sin Offering deals with your position before God, the Trespass Offering addresses your walk with God- Leviticus 5:14-19; 7:1-10. You offer it for the sins you have committed, rather than for sin itself. Old Covenant Saints were not born again as we are. Indeed they had a covenant with God as Abraham’s descendants, but they were still sinners by nature. When they sinned, they needed to bring a Trespass Offering. 5. The Burnt OfferingNow that you have expressed a desire for communion with God, you want to offer yourself to Him. You indicate this through the Burnt Offering. The Burnt Offering expresses your readiness for communion with God. It is a voluntary offering of yourself. God doesn’t force you to make this offering. You present yourself of your own free will- Leviticus 1:3-17; 6:8-13. 6. The Meal OfferingYou now come to the Meal or Grain Offering. Now that you have expressed a desire and readiness to commune with God, you want to walk with Him and serve Him. The Meal Offering symbolizes your walk in communion with God- Leviticus 2; 6:14-23. 7. The Peace OfferingYou have expressed a desire for communion with God through the Sin Offering and Trespass Offering. You have expressed a readiness for communion through the Burnt Offering and Meal Offering. You are now going to celebrate that communion through the Peace Offering- Leviticus 3; 7:11-36. This is the one you have been looking forward to presenting.  Support the show