Leviticus 1
Its hard for me to wrap my head around a lot of the things that the Jewish people did in the Old Testament. The burnt offering is certainly one of those things. We all fall short, way short, of the Glory of God, and I can't really remember if there has ever been even one day in which I did not sin. We can safely assume that, in most cases, Gods people were also unable to make it 24 hours. Therefore, the burnt offerings were required to take place daily! So, they have something like two million of them in the desert; sinning, sacrificing, repenting and sinning again. Round and round. Despite the fact that the High Priest was able to perform one sacrifice daily for the whole of Israel, the place must have looked like an explosion at a ketchup factory!
Besides the shear volume of sacrifices conducted, the actual process is fairly straightforward. First, you need an animal that is healthy and without blemish. Animals cannot sin because they do not have a soul. . However, breaking a Commandment is not the only way to see evidence of sin and death. In the Garden, before eating the forbidden fruit, everything functioned perfectly. There were no blemishes or sickness or diseases. After the fall, as sin crept in, so did illness, mutations, death and blemishes. The sacrifice must have never broken a bone, never sick. Exclusion could be something as simple as a sheep that should be completely white but has some black spots.
Why does that really matter? It has to do with transference. Think of it like a couple of coffee cups. If my cup is full and want to give it to someone else, their cup had better be empty. If they are both full, how can I possibly pour from mine to the other. Now, during the Burnt Offering, you put your hand on your the animal to transfer you sin to it. Then you kill it and your sin dies with the animal. That's where the term scapegoat comes from. By giving our sin and punishment to the goat, or sheep, or ram, or bird we escape the punishment we so greatly deserve.
This sacrificed is accepted by the Lord to make "atonement" for our sins. In the Old Testament, atonement means to hide or cover up, to cancel. The sin is still there but in God's eyes it has been covered up. It reminds me of sealing a juvenile criminal record. In most cases there is no reason to dig it out. But in more severe cases, even though it is sealed, attorneys can look through it looking for clues and patterns.
Isn't that the beautiful thing about the sacrifice that Christ made for us? As a Man with a Soul He faced everything that we face. He knew our sins before we sinned and unlike that innocent unknowing scapegoat, He VOLUNTARILY took my sin on Him. He took your sin on Himself and carried them all to hell where they await Satan as his reward. The thing is, because He took all sin, yesterdays, todays and tomorrows, at the same time on Himself I don't have to worry about finding another flawless sacrifice. There are no ads on craigslist searching for a flawless goat or bull or sheep and you can't sell animals on eBay. Instead, I can spend my time getting to know the One that does not change.
Besides the shear volume of sacrifices conducted, the actual process is fairly straightforward. First, you need an animal that is healthy and without blemish. Animals cannot sin because they do not have a soul. . However, breaking a Commandment is not the only way to see evidence of sin and death. In the Garden, before eating the forbidden fruit, everything functioned perfectly. There were no blemishes or sickness or diseases. After the fall, as sin crept in, so did illness, mutations, death and blemishes. The sacrifice must have never broken a bone, never sick. Exclusion could be something as simple as a sheep that should be completely white but has some black spots.
Why does that really matter? It has to do with transference. Think of it like a couple of coffee cups. If my cup is full and want to give it to someone else, their cup had better be empty. If they are both full, how can I possibly pour from mine to the other. Now, during the Burnt Offering, you put your hand on your the animal to transfer you sin to it. Then you kill it and your sin dies with the animal. That's where the term scapegoat comes from. By giving our sin and punishment to the goat, or sheep, or ram, or bird we escape the punishment we so greatly deserve.
This sacrificed is accepted by the Lord to make "atonement" for our sins. In the Old Testament, atonement means to hide or cover up, to cancel. The sin is still there but in God's eyes it has been covered up. It reminds me of sealing a juvenile criminal record. In most cases there is no reason to dig it out. But in more severe cases, even though it is sealed, attorneys can look through it looking for clues and patterns.
Isn't that the beautiful thing about the sacrifice that Christ made for us? As a Man with a Soul He faced everything that we face. He knew our sins before we sinned and unlike that innocent unknowing scapegoat, He VOLUNTARILY took my sin on Him. He took your sin on Himself and carried them all to hell where they await Satan as his reward. The thing is, because He took all sin, yesterdays, todays and tomorrows, at the same time on Himself I don't have to worry about finding another flawless sacrifice. There are no ads on craigslist searching for a flawless goat or bull or sheep and you can't sell animals on eBay. Instead, I can spend my time getting to know the One that does not change.