Turn with me in your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 1. 

Leviticus 1:1-4  And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,  2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.  3 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord.  4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

Leviticus 1:10  And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.

Leviticus 1:14  And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons.

When Gentiles come across the Book of Leviticus in the Bible, many skip it over. What does Leviticus have to do with Christianity? I think is short sighted, and foolish.

The Bible says in:

2 Timothy 3:16-17  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 

When the Apostle Paul was writing the Book of Timothy, his Bible was the Hebrew Old Testament. Leviticus is part of that “all Scripture” that God has given us, and it is profitable. You cannot be a mature Christian unless you understand the truths in every Book of Scripture.

Leviticus is a book God wrote to the Priests of the faith. In the Old Testament, the Priests were of the Tribe of Levi. In the New Testament, every Christian is a priest before God. The Apostle said:

1 Peter 2:9  … ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light

And again in:

Revelation 1:4-6  John to the seven churches ….  5   from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,  6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

I could go on, but I don’t have the time. You as believers in Christ are priests unto God. You will never – as the sons of Levi did – offer an animal sacrifice to God. We are not cleansed from sin by the blood of an animal. It is the “the blood of Jesus Christ {God’s} Son {that} cleanseth us from all sin.” The Bible further tells us of the Old Testament Sacrifices that the Old Testament sacrifices were a SHADOW of things to come. Comparing the Old Testament Law to the New Testament Jesus, the Apostle said that the Levitical priests:

Hebrews 8:5 … serve{d} unto the example and shadow{σκιά skiá, [pronounced skee'-ah], something formed by interception of light}  of heavenly things …

Hebrews 10:1-4  For the law having a shadow {σκιά skiá, [pronounced skee'-ah], something formed by interception of light} of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.  2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.  3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.  4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 

When the Light of God shined in the Old Testament, Jesus stood in front of it and cast a shadow represented by the animal sacrifices. If animal sacrifices could make people right with God, then Jesus would never have had to go to the Cross. But animal sacrifices were done, repeatedly done, from when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden and until that Hill we call “Calvary”. 

      What Can Israel & The Church Learn From The Shadow Sacrifices?

1 First of all, we can learn of the holiness and majesty of God. When God made Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden, God told Adam:

Genesis 2:16-17  … Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 

Though God put man and woman on the earth to “dress it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15), God is still very much King over His creation. As King, God established a standard as to what man should do and not do. God gave Adam free will, and Adam was free to obey or disobey God – but if he disobeyed there were consequences. What were they? God said, “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. God did not make death optional. He said “surely die”. God is holy, righteous, and just. There is no sin in God. God establishes the standards. Not us, but God.

When the Prophet Isaiah was allowed to look into Heaven, he saw the holiness of God revealed. We read:

Isaiah 6:1-3   … I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up… 2 Above {His Throne} stood the {angelic} seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.  3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

God is King, and God is Holy. The holiness of God speaks to the truth that He is ABSOLUTELY MORALLY PURE in all that He says and thinks. God gave Adam a very reasonable command. He has access to eating 99% of every fruiting plant in the Garden. Adam knew the consequence – and yet, he still ate of the forbidden. By rights, Adam should have died. But what happened?

Genesis 3:21  Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
 
Adam led Eve into sin. He was now spiritually separate from God. Adam and Eve should have died. But they didn’t. Why? Because:

2 God loves His human creation. God would have been totally justified in destroying Adam and Eve. But God didn’t. The death that Adam and Eve deserved was put on an animal. This is the very first animal sacrifice in the Bible, and God is the One Who made the sacrifice. The animal that died covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness, their sinfulness. The Bible says:

Hebrews 9:22  … almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission {of sins}.

Fast forward through the Bible to the saving of Israel from Egypt. God’s Israel had been held in bondage by a Pharaoh who though he was a “god”. God sent word to Pharaoh through Moses:

Exodus 4:22-23 … Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:  23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

Just as it was in the Garden of Eden with Adam, God gave Pharaoh a choice. You can either “let Israel My son go”, or God said “I will slay thy son”. Because God is LOVE (1 John 4:7-21), He did not IMMEDIATELY bring death on the firstborn in Egypt. God brought 9 plagues to Egypt, each attacking a different aspect of Egyptian life. One source notes:

“Just as the "Ten Commandments" become symbolic of the fullness of the moral law of God, the ten ancient plagues of Egypt represent the fullness of God's expression of justice and judgments, upon those who refuse to repent. Ten times God, through Moses, allows Pharaoh to change his mind, repent, and turn to the one true God, each time increasing the severity of the consequence of the plagues suffered for disobedience to His request. Ten times Pharaoh, because of pride, refuses to be taught by the Lord, and receives "judgments" through the plagues, pronounced upon his head from Moses, the deliverer. ”

Pharaoh ignored the nine plagues, then God told His people to take a lamb without spot or blemish, sacrifice it, and put its blood on the entry of your homes. God said:

Exodus 12:13 ... when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy [you], when I smite the land of Egypt. 

If the lamb died, and its blood was placed on the home, then the death that was coming would “Pass Over” that home. Israel did as God said, and on that day the firstborn of every home in Egypt not under the blood of the lamb experienced sure physical death. Israel walked out of Egypt because of the blood of the lamb.

God led His Old Testament people to the base of Mount Sinai, and here God gave the five books of the Law to Moses on that mountain. It was through the Law that God established the animal sacrifice to temporarily cover the sins of His people. When Moses was on the mountain with God, the children of Israel made a golden calf to worship – a bloodless, man made thing. When Moses came down the mountain and entered the camp, he cried out:

Exodus 32:26  … Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.

Because the “sons of Levi” or the “Levites” heard Moses and gathered together with Him, God set the Levites apart to be the Priests of Israel. 

The Book of “Leviticus” was given as a guidebook for the Levites, to tell them how sinful mankind can approach the Holy God of the universe. Animal sacrifices were temporary, shadows that would be fulfilled in Christ. What can we learn from these shadows?

        No One Approaches God Without The Blood Of The UNBLEMISHED

Leviticus 1:1-4  And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,  2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord…

The first thing we need to notice is the little word “If”. No one was made to come to God. This was a free choice that each person made. This is true under the Old Covenant or the New. No one was ever forced to worship God. God calls “whosoever will” to come to Him. Salvation has always been a choice to you must enter into willingly. Jesus said:

Matthew 16:25  WHOSOEVER will save his life shall lose it: and WHOSOEVER will lose his life for MY SAKE shall find it.

Romans 10:13  For WHOSOEVER shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (also Acts 2:21). 

Sin is so terrible in God's sight that it can only be covered with the shedding of Blood. In the Old Testament the animal had no free will to choose, but the person wanting an audience with God chose. Under the Old Covenant:

Leviticus 1:2-3   … ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.  3 IF his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish

The Israelite had a choice as to the type of animal that they brought before God. If “of the cattle”, then the creature chosen was YOUR BEST animal. It was a “male without blemish”. Why a male, and not a female? The Bible tells us that:

Romans 5:12  … by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned

Sin came into the world “by one man”, by Adam. So when an animal sacrifice was to be made, the animal chosen had to be a “male without blemish”. It had to be a perfect specimen of the herd. This is a shadow that looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Bible says:

Romans 5:17-19  … if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)  18 Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.  19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. 

The creature was “WITHOUT BLEMISH” because the One Who would pay for our sins, the Christ, would be “WITHOUT BLEMISH” of sin. Though the creature sacrificed under the Law was the owner’s creature, when Jesus came, sinless Jesus came of His own free will. Our Lord taught His disciples "how He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matthew 16:21). The Lamb of God must die in our place. Jesus was without blemish. The Scripture says:

1 Peter 1:18-19  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;  19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 

God told His Old Covenant people:

Leviticus 22:20  You must not present anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

If the creature had a blemish, it could not be accepted as a covering for sin. A sinner cannot pay the penalty for another sinner. The Christ would be completely without sin. Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). 

When Jesus died, it was the Blood of God’s Son (Acts 20:28) that paid for our sins. 

The blood of the unblemished male bullock temporarily covered the Israelis sin. But the Blood of Jesus Christ covers our sin once and for all (1 John 1:7).  The Scripture says:

Hebrews 10:4, 9-10, 12  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. … 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.  10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 12  … this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 

    There Is No Atonement If You Do Not Put Your Hand On The Head

Leviticus 1:4  And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

The Blood of the perfect bullock, lamb, or bird could not make a permanent atonement for our sins because the bullock, lamb, or bird did not cause the sin that brought mankind into its fallen state. Man did this. We have seen before that “By ONE MAN sin entered the world”. But here’s something we can see from the shadow. The sinner must:

          PUT HIS HAND UPON THE HEAD OF THE BURNT OFFERING

The person for whom the Atonement would be made would personally touch the creature that was to be sacrificed. If you did not “put your hand upon the head”, there was no Atonement. By putting your hand on the head of the Atonement, you recognized that you are a sinner, and the penalty of your sins are being transferred to the creature for judgment.

This is what happened with Jesus. When Adam sinned, his action not only plunged the world under the fountain of sin's corruption, but his foolishness also cut off any hope of rescue. Because of Adam we are ALL fallen away from God’s holiness. But God rescued us. God must rescue us – if we will be rescued! We know that Jesus came forth from God. We know that in Christ:

1 Timothy 3:16 … God was MANIFEST in the flesh

Jesus Christ – God the Father’s Eternal Son – lowered Himself for us. The Father said of Jesus:

Hebrews 1:8  … Thy Throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of RIGHTEOUSNESS is the scepter of Thy Kingdom …

Jesus is pure. He is holy, He is God. And yet, 

Philippians 2:6-8 … being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

Jesus Christ became our “BURNT OFFERING”. He died for our sins. Jesus, Who entered this world through a virgin, Who remained untainted by sin, died to redeem us from sin. The Bible says:

Revelation 5:9  … {Jesus was} . slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 

Hebrews 9:12-14 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption [for us]. {13} For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: {14} How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

The Old Testament Saint followed God through a temporary atonement. But Jesus brought a once and for all atonement. Jesus Christ paid for our sins so we can have access to God. Our works cannot save us. The animal sacrifices proved this over and over again. It is the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus that saves us. 

However, once saved, we are saved “to serve the living God”. We are told:

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 

The Christian has been “BROUGHT TO GOD”. We no longer chase after the false gods of this world, but we serve a Risen Savior.

         Jesus Gave Himself So That ANYONE Could Come To God

Leviticus 1:3If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish...

Leviticus 1:10  And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.

Leviticus 1:14  And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons.

Under the Old Covenant, a person could come to God with a creature “without blemish” that was a “male”. But you could bring a bullock, a sheep, a goat, or a bird. What does this speak to? Jesus Christ came to make payment for every person. He is not out of reach of anyone. Do you know the Lord Jesus? If not, today would be a great day to run to His arms. The great Pastor C.H. Spurgeon said:

“An awakened conscience will never be quieted with anything less than the blood of the Lamb: it rests at the sight of the great Sacrifice, but nowhere else.”

It is only by the Blood of the unblemished Lamb, Jesus Christ, that we have peace with God. Once we enter into His Kingdom, we work for Him, for His glory. May God touch your hearts with his Word. Amen and Amen.