The book of Leviticus is often referred to as a Biblical speed bump to those who resolve to read the Bible in a year and zoom through Genesis and Exodus quickly, until they reach Leviticus. Leviticus delves into the “legalities of the law” given by God primarily to the priests (from the tribe of Levi), but is applicable unto every one who is a royal priest (that is all who believe in the name of Jesus). The spelling out of the detailed requirements of the law, the protocols to be followed, the attire to be worn … superficially dont appear to be that interesting, but contextual analysis of Leviticus surfaces some incredible hidden truths and parallels that cannot go unheeded in this day an age.
One such aspect is in the area of ‘Offerings’ recorded in Leviticus. What’s with all the offerings in Leviticus?
There are five offerings mandated and explained in this book (Leviticus) viz.
- Burnt Offering
- Meat Offering
- Peace Offering
- Sin Offering and
- Trespass Offering
As part of the Burnt offering, the blood of the offered sacrifice was sprinkled (poured out) before the sacrifice was to be burnt as a sweet savor unto God. In other words, this offering was a blood offering, with everything else being consumed by fire. The blood of Jesus was poured out as an offering for the salvation of mankind (you and me) and his sacrifice was a sweet smelling fragrance to God (Eph 5:2). The Bible records that there is life in the blood (Genesis 9:4). Extrapolating these facts, we then realize that our burnt offerings is in essence offering our very own lives (blood) to God (as a living sacrifice), and being consumed by the Holy Spirit of God (The Fire within).
Meat refers to things we eat and drink for sustenance. Making a meat offering would imply that we offer all that sustains us, so that we are totally dependent on God.
Peace offering (also known as Fellowship offering) refers to sacrificing that which encumbers us from having fellowship with God. Making a peace offering is then two fold – 1. making peace with God a.k.a, getting right with God, by confessing our sins and 2. offering to have fellowship with God in lieu of our fellowship with the world. In simple terms, letting God know, that He is MORE IMPORTANT than anything else in the World. Making a peace offering would imply that we reject the world, embrace the cross.
Sin offering refers to the confession of all that we think, say or do, know or the secret faults (Psalm 19:12) that displeases God. Jesus is our sin offering to God (1 Peter 2:24) and by our acts of repentance, confessing our sins, we are to offer our sins to God seeking his forgiveness. No matter how offensive or grave our sins are, God is willing to forgive us our sins. Adulterers (David), Murderers (Saul), were all forgiven. Even the ones who murdered Jesus himself, were forgiven when Jesus pleaded for them saying “Father forgive them for they know not what they do). There is no sin so big, that God will not forgive if you earnestly seek his forgiveness and confess with you mouth, for He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of ALL unrighteousness. Sin offering in a nutshell is to seek to Love the Lord, with all our heart, all our souls, all our mind and all our strength.
Trespass offering (also known as Guilt offering) refers to the confession of all that we think, say or do or the secret faults that displeases Man (whom we have trespassed againsts and feel guilty for). This is getting right with man. In a nutshell, this is to seek to Love your neighbor as yourself.
In summary,the five offerings mandated and explained in Leviticus as it applies to us today is
- Burnt Offering – Offer our lives
- Meat Offering – Offer ALL that sustains us
- Peace Offering – Offer to be in fellowship with God
- Sin Offering – Offer to confess our sins against God
- Trespass Offering – Offer our guilt from wrong doing against man
Also, Warren Wiersbe beautiful exposits that
- The Burnt offering and the Meat offering has to do with our COMMITMENT to God
- The Peace offering has to do with our COMMUNION with God and
- The Sin offering and the Trespass offering has to do with our CLEANSING from God
NOTE: Whoever is not CLEANSED, cannot have COMMUNION with God nor can they be COMMITTED to God.
Point(s) to Ponder:
What’s in your/my offering? Let us present ourselves as a living sacrifice.
The turtledove is one of the few birds that is listed as a clean bird that can be used as a burnt offering (Leviticus 1:14). For more information on offerings, see What’s with all the offerings in Leviticus?
