As we discussed yesterday, now that the tabernacle has been built there is a central location where Israel can bring sacrifices and offerings to the Lord. Though this tent of meeting is movable, there is a sense of permanence about it because it will go wherever they go. It's time now to institute further laws in regard to what a person is to bring to the tabernacle and how they are to bring it.
Chapter One deals with the burnt offering. We studied the first four verses regarding this offering yesterday and now we pick up with verse 5 which is the only verse we'll be talking about from Leviticus today.
"You are to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting." (Leviticus 1:5) In yesterday's study we learned that the bringer of the offering had to bring his best: a healthy male from his flock or herd. The bringer had to lay his hand on the head of the animal to signify the symbolic transference of his sin to the animal standing in for him. Today we learn that the bringer is the one who takes the life of the animal (which was done in one swift motion with a special sharp knife across the jugular so death would be instantaneous). Everything about this sacrifice is intended to feel like a sacrifice. It's intended to be very personal and "hands on". And I believe it's intended to feel sad and solemn and even offensive to the bringer of the offering.
If a person did not have to bring his best to the Lord, he would not respect and revere the Lord and consider the Lord as holy. It's imperative for man to respect, revere, and consider the Lord holy. If we fail to lift the Lord up like this in our minds and hearts then we will fail to see how far we have fallen short of perfection. If we fail to acknowledge our shortcomings then sin will cease to seem like a problem to us. And if sin ceases to seem like a problem to us then we won't feel sorry for it, won't repent of it, and won't receive forgiveness for it.
If a person did not have to lay his hand on the animal's head before sacrificing it, and if a person did not have to kill the animal himself, he could manage to maintain a degree of separation between himself and his sin. But by laying his hand on the animal's head he is admitting that he himself deserves to die for his sins but that the Lord is willing to accept the substitutionary death of the animal instead. By being the one to take the animal's life, the person finds it difficult not to feel remorse. It's due to his sin that the animal is being offered. This is a solemn occasion. It's sad. The person's sin is the reason the animal must die and that's why the bringer of the offering (whose hands are dirty with sin) must be so "hands on" with the offering that blood will wash over his hands. This offends the sensibilities of man and I think it's intended to be offensive. Sin is offensive to God. The penalty for sin is death and death is offensive to God because He did not create us for death. Though God is willing to accept substitutionary death in place of taking human life, the Lord would prefer that no death occur at all, but when sin entered the world through man then death entered with it. (Romans 5:12) Death was never God's perfect will for man or for the other creatures He created. But death became necessary because of sin and I think the Lord intended man to feel disturbed by the need for sacrifices.
Did you know that the Bible calls the cross, and the crucifixion of Christ, an offense? The Apostle Paul referred to it as such in Galatians 5:11. The gospel message---which is nothing without the cross---was offensive to many in Paul's day and it still is offensive to many. We are going to look at several reasons why this is.
First of all, the crucifixion of Christ offends the sensibilities just as the sacrificial system of the Old Testament offended the sensibilities. It's messy. It's difficult to think about. It's difficult to look at. The crucifixion of Christ involved pain and blood and sweat and tears and thirst and the sting of rejection and the shame of false accusation and a feeling of abandonment by God. (For reference see Isaiah 53:1-12, Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:46, John 19:28.) We naturally want to look away from such a physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually agonizing spectacle.
For another thing, the message of the cross offends man's pride. It tells man he is not perfect. It tells man he has fallen short and that he is a sinner and that he needs forgiveness. So many people are offended by even the merest suggestion that they don't have the right to live their lives exactly as they please or that anyone (even the God who created them!) has the right to judge them. People are offended at the notion that they will have to answer for their deeds someday in the presence of a holy God and Judge.
For a third reason, it offends man's desire to make his own way, like that old song that says, "I did it my way." Many are offended when told that there is only one way to God: through the One who testified of Himself, saying, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) God couldn't have made the way to salvation any easier for man than by giving us one way to be saved. He didn't leave us to fumble around in the dark and figure it out for ourselves. He provided one simple, well-lighted path for us to follow. He issued the invitation to all. No one is excluded or disqualified or discriminated against. He invites us all to come to Him through Christ and be saved. So why do some find this one way so offensive? I think it's because once we come to Christ the Lord focuses on conforming us into the image of His Son. (Romans 8:29) For the rest of our lives here on earth, everything that God has to say to us and everything that He allows to happen to us is for the purpose of making us more like Christ. And a lot of people don't want to be anything like Christ. Nothing could be less appealing to them. To be like Christ is to love sacrificially. To be like Christ is to minister to others. To be like Christ is to serve rather than to be served. (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45) To be like Christ is to put not only our fellow man ahead of ourselves but to put God ahead of ourselves, which brings me to the final point I'd like to make today.
To be like Christ is to put the will of God before one's own will and to say to the Lord, "You are God and I am not." It means to say what God the Son said to God the Father: "I have come to do Your will, My God." (Hebrews 10:7), and, "I desire to do Your will, My God." (Psalm 40:8) and, "Not my will, but Yours, be done." (Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42, John 6:38) To be like Christ is to allow God to have sovereign authority over our lives. Ever since man has lived on the earth, man has tried to make a god of himself and has failed miserably. Following our own inclinations is the same thing as idolatry, for we are making the statement, "I am the god of my life. I will do what I want, where I want, how I want. No one has the right to advise me or judge me." You've probably heard the saying, "The man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client." This is wise advice about not thinking we can adequately defend ourselves in a court of law. Even defendants who are lawyers are advised not to defend themselves. But there's also another saying which goes, "The man who makes himself into a god has a fool for a god." A frail and sinful human being can't make anything more of himself than what he already is: a frail and sinful human being. He's incapable of adequately running his life or of defending himself someday in the holiest court of all. We must have only one Defender and only one God, for He alone can advise us, guide us, save us, sanctify us, defend us, and declare us not guilty.
The sacrificial system offended the sensibilities of man and it was intended to offend him---so man would have to face his faults, admit he was a sinner, acknowledge that he deserved the death of his body and eternal separation of his soul from God, and accept that God alone could save him. The cross offends the sensibilities of man for the same reasons. If we are not sinners, then why did the holy Son of God shed His blood in place of ours? If the holy Son of God shed His blood for us, then doesn't this mean His sacrifice is the only sacrifice acceptable to God? And if His sacrifice is the only sacrifice acceptable to God, then isn't Christ the only way to God?
We can be offended by the cross to the point of rejecting the gospel message or we can allow the offense of our sensibilities to bring us face to face with the truth: that we are sinners, that our sins have made us worthy of death, that our sins have earned us eternal separation from God, that Christ came and shed His blood so we don't have to be separated from God, and that God offers us eternal salvation only through Jesus Christ the Son of God.
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