Leviticus 1:1–9
The Offerer Offers the Animal to the LORD. Leviticus 1:4–9
There are several actions of obedience that take place here in our text with regards to the sacrifice.
Number one. The worshipper was to place his hand upon the head of the animal of sacrifice. That is in Leviticus 1:4. Here is how it reads, “Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.” The animal is still alive when this is done. The offerer is coming into direct contact with this animal. We could say with the essence of the animal. You see, the head was seem to be the seat of life. The head represented the whole being.
Now when we read Acts 18:6, the apostle Paul is angry here and he said, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” Your blood be on your own heads. What’s he saying there? Is he saying the blood is going to be on their physical heads only? No, when he said heads, he means your blood is going to be on you, totally you, your whole being. The head just represents the seat of life. It represents who you are.
And so the offerer is placing his hand on the head of the animal. We may wonder, what is he doing? Well, the text doesn’t really tell us directly what this act is. It doesn’t provide a definition, but we do get a hint from the context in verse four: it will be accepted on his, that’s the worshiper’s, on his behalf. What seems to be the context, of this placing the hand on the head, is that the worshiper is identifying himself with the animal as his substitute. That animal is going to die and shed its blood rather than the offerer. It will be accepted on his behalf. So the animal is taking his place. The worshipper is reminded of this fact just before he slays it.
Then in verse five, the animal is killed before the LORD. Who kills the animal? That’s interesting. The priests don’t kill the animal. It’s the offerer. He is responsible for the animal’s death. He kills it. Now this act really is significant because as the blood is being poured out of the body of that animal, that animal’s life is being poured out of its body. Leviticus 17:11 says, “‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’” The priest does have a role. What he’s doing is catching the blood as it’s poured out into a bowl. Then he casts or sprinkles that blood onto the sides of the altar. So that’s what’s happening in verse five.
Now we look at verse six and also verse nine. In verse six we learned that the sacrifice is skinned and it’s cut into pieces. In verse nine, we see that the sacrifice is washed. Who is doing all that? Well, it’s the worshipper again. It’s the offerer. The priest is not doing that. So all this preparation for it to go onto the altar and be burned is being done by the offerer.
Now the priests are working there at the altar. They’re putting fire on the altar. They’re performing their duties as they relate to the altar. But the washing of the animal parts, that’s also done by the worshiper. That would ensure that any dirt, any mud and any excrement is washed completely off the parts of the animal’s body so that the priests when they receive it won’t be defiled when handling that carcass.
So the gift the worshipper gives to God is completely handled by the offerer. Now he’s called the offerer for a reason. He is doing the offering. And that requires work. So let’s now draw some Christian applications.
Christian Applications from Leviticus 1:4–9
We’ll deal with three Christian applications from this particular text.
Number one, the worshipers should get his hands dirty. That’s kind of a funny way to look at it but like the Israelites who were 100% involved and invested in what they brought to the LORD, we are to be hands-on in our worship to God. Now this does not mean that we have to preach the sermon. This does not mean that we have to lead singing.
What does it mean? This means that when we sing, we are truly singing God’s praise. We’re sending Him praise from our hearts through our lips up to Him. Because we are to sing, we are basically to play our hearts. We are to make melody in our hearts. Sing and make melody. And so it means to be real. We’re not just singing a tune. We’re not just saying the words and not thinking about what they mean, but we are singing with the understanding.
This also means that when we participate in the Lord’s supper, we are truly communing with our Lord. What are we doing? We are discerning the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We are examining ourselves. We are meditating on what the Lord Jesus did for us. We don’t just outwardly visibly partake of the emblems and think of nothing and just do it as a tradition.
It also means that during the sermon we are truly hanging on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, not set necessarily hanging on every word of the preacher. Now you may wonder, whoa, what’s the difference here? It’s because when we have a human being up there in the pulpit, and as we’re listening to the sermon we have to be like the Bereans to make sure what is being preached is the Word of God. And so we make sure we are careful as we listen to what is being heard. Does it match what the Word of God says? But having said that, if indeed, the preacher is preaching the Word of God, we hang on every word of that. And not only are we listening to every single word, but we are listening with a view to make proper application of what we are hearing.
Now sometimes we listen to a sermon like we watch TV. You know, we almost have to be spoon fed. But we have to be active in our listening and whatever application is being pointed out, we need to be active in how it can be applied to your life, to my life personally, and in a very real way. The preacher, he’ll lay out those principles, and he may give an illustration, maybe a couple of illustrations, a couple of examples of application, but everyone’s life is different. We need to be active listeners so that when we hear the word of God, we need to make that proper application to our lives.
What can I do with the message that I have just heard? What can I do about it today? What can I do about it this week? When I’m at work what can I do with that message that I just heard? When I’m in the community, whatever it is that I’m doing, what sort of application can I make? How can I make it real? Active listening.
And there’s more. As we talk about this idea of being so involved in the worship, it also means that when we are there in the assembly, it is, in addition, with the purpose to spur our brethren on toward love and good works. And so it’s directed to God, but also as we are there we are concerned about one another. And so we are serving our brethren. What can I do to help my brethren? We do this through talking with one another, at the appropriate time of course, not during the worship service. So we don’t have to preach a sermon to spur one another on toward love and good works. We have spiritually oriented conversations them.
Now it’s interesting as we move to the next point of application that the offerer under Mosaic law did more work for his offering than the priest. I want you to think about that just for a moment. Let that sink in because you saw what he was doing. He brought the offering, he presented to the priest, he laid his hand on the head, he killed the animal, he cut the animal into pieces and he washed it. Then the priest put it in the fire. So the offerer is heavily involved.
Do we see that principle in congregations today where it’s the members who are bringing their gift of worship. Their gift is grand even in comparison to the preacher’s, in comparison to the song leader’s, in comparison to whoever is up there, doing it very visibly. It’s easy for worshippers at church to think of themselves as the audience and then lay all the work of worship at the preacher’s feet.
We need to think of our worship of God as essentially bringing a gift to the altar. The worshipper brought something to God as a gift in Leviticus chapter 1 and so do we. Hebrews 3:15 says, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” This is something we certainly do in worship. This is what we bring and it must be holy.
So our first act of application is getting our hands dirty.
Secondly, the combined efforts of the worshipers and those serving publicly should result in glory to God. It’s the combined efforts under Mosaic law, the combined actions of the offerer and the priest. What do they produce? Leviticus 1:9 says, “a sweet, smelling savour.” That means it was pleasing. All that was done in worship to God was acceptable to Him.
Likewise, let’s bring this forward. We want our worship to God when we meet as an assembly, those who serve publicly and those who are in the pews, the combined effort of everyone there, to be true worship to God, pleasing and acceptable to Him. Think of it as a collective effort. Our unity in this will result in glory to God.
Thirdly, the worshipper should have been changed. He should have been transformed by the end of the worship. In Leviticus, when we read this text, it’s hard for me to imagine that the offerer would be clean by the end of everything that he did. Because I am picturing him as bloodied up, his clothing after killing the animal, skinning the animal, cutting up the animal for that sacrifice. He may physically look different going home from the Tabernacle than how he looked when he was going in to the Tabernacle. I haven’t read a verse that really spelled that out in detail. However, there is indeed a change. There is no question about it.
There is a transformation that has taken place. This offer has experienced a transformation from going to the Tabernacle and offering his sacrifice. That transformation is spiritual. How do I know that? In Leviticus 1:4, what is the purposes of this offering? To make atonement for him. His sin has been atoned for. If he indeed worshipped God as God desired, then he has changed. He’s been transformed. He’s been made clean
Let’s look at this from a Christian viewpoint. We too should be changed. We should be transformed after worshipping God. No we don’t worship on the Lord’s Day so we can acquire atonement. That’s not why we go. But we do assemble to honour God. We assemble to commune with Him to, edify our brethren, to feast on His Word, and to give glory to His name.
But when we leave our worship services and nothing is different from when we went in to when we come out, if everything’s the same, did we worship God in spirit and truth? That’s a serious question. Did our coming to into His presence have no effect? Did our hearing His words that proceeded from his mouth have no impact at all? If there hasn’t been a positive spiritual change, what are we doing? What are we doing when we’re at worship if there has not been a change? We’re not worshipping God because we cannot be drawing near to God and that have absolutely no affect. Being with God needs to change us. You know we see this visibly in what’s written in the Bible. Moses, in the presence of God, was visibly changed. He was like light. He glowed. He was with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. We need to be changed after worshipping God. James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” If God draws near to you, He will enrich you all the more.
Again, I ask this. If this is not happening to us personally, we need to evaluate our relationship with God in our worship. We need to ask ourselves, “Why am I not being changed after I have worshipped the Lord?”
As we conclude this lesson, the sacrifice of Leviticus chapter 1 is the burnt offering. It demanded that the entire animal be given as a sacrifice to God and consume by fire. Like the old covenant offerers, Christian worship today demands preparation. But we forget that. You know what? I’ve forgotten that. Sometimes you’re just in a rush. You’re going through. You’re getting dressed. You’re moving along and you get there and you have forgotten to prepare. Worship, demands that we give our best to God. God does not accept leftovers. He demands that we be mindful when coming into the Lord’s presence.
Like the old covenant offerers, worshippers today need to to be willing to get our hands dirty. We need to be involved in the worship of God. We should focus on the results of our combined efforts, those who are leading publicly, and those in the pews are combined efforts. We should focus on giving glory to God as a unified body. And we should be changed. We should be transformed in being active in the worship of our God.
I want to ask this question as we begin to approach the next worship assembly that we will be attending. I pray it will be this Sunday that you have that plan to worship God wherever it is that you may be. My plan is that I’m going to be there on the first day of the week. Sunday, I’m going to worship my God.
Here’s the question. What gift will you bring? What are you going to bring? If you’re going to present God with a gift, will you prepare yourself to give it? Will your gift be of the greatest quality? And will you recognize that when you present your gift you will be in the presence of the One who formed you, who gave you life and rescued you from your sins? I urge you today, be active in the worship of your God. That’s our challenge.
I thank you very much for listening. It’s been my sincere pleasure to present this lesson to you from God’s word. I pray that God will bless you that you will draw near to Him. He will be your God and you will be His person to give Him glory together with all your brothers and sisters in Christ.
Karns, Tennessee
You can listen to and watch Bobby’s lesson here:
https://www.facebook.com/KarnsChurch/videos/1010312836119103/
(Editor’s note: Bobby gave this excellent lesson for the Karns church of Christ in Tennessee November 18, 2020. In 2022, Bobby and his family returned to Toronto to continue working with the Strathmore church of Christ and the Key to the Kingdom outreach to Canada which the congregation oversees. Bobby died suddenly of a heart attack Monday, October 31, 2022, at age 51, after preaching another excellent sermon the day before. Bobby’s influence will live on through his Key to the Kingdom programs and the many lives he has blessed with his sound Biblical preaching and teaching and the love of God he exemplified. Part 1 of Bobby’s article is available here: https://gospelherald.org/worship-the-gift-we-offer/. You can hear his lesson here:)
Leviticus 1:1–9 Part 1
(Editor’s note: Bobby gave this excellent lesson for the Karns church of Christ in Tennessee November 18, 2020. This year Bobby and his family returned to Toronto to continue working with the Strathmore church of Christ and the Key to the Kingdom outreach to Canada which the congregation oversees. Bobby died suddenly of a heart attack Monday, October 31, 2022, at age 51, after preaching another excellent sermon the day before. Bobby’s influence will live on through his Key to the Kingdom programs and the many lives he has blessed with his sound Biblical preaching and teaching and the love of God he exemplified.)
Introduction
Have you ever heard or been guilty of saying on your way to worship, “Man, I sure hope I get something out of this?” I’ve been guilty of this. I’m not proud of it. But yes, I’m guilt of thinking that. I’m guilty of saying that. When we say this we it really indicates we are forgetting to Whom worship is directed. It’s not about me. But rather it is about God. Worship is directed heavenward. God is receiving it.
Today’s worshipers can really forget this truth. I’m sure it’s no surprise to you to hear that these days religion and entertainment have very much become entwined. We have lost the notion that when we come before the Lord, when we use that phrase, “come before the Lord,” we mean into His presence, that we are to bring a gift, hence the title of the lesson, “Worship: The Gift We Offer.”
When I say gift, I’m not talking about the contribution although that could be a part of it. But when we approach God we are to present to Him our sacrifice of praise. We are to offer Him glory and honour. It is in this context of sacrifice that I want to draw some principles from the Old Testament text and bring them forward into the New Testament under the law of Christ. We can learn some principles here on sound worship practice. Specifically we are going to the book of Leviticus 1:1–9.
Leviticus 1:1–9
“Now the LORD called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock.
3 ‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD. 4 Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. 5 He shall kill the bull before the LORD; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting.’”
By way of background, the sacrifice here is the burnt offering. Its purpose was for sins in general. The entire animal, in this case a male, was to be offered up to God. It was symbolic of the covenant commitment made between God and His people. We read about this in Exodus 24:3–8. The burnt offering confirmed the covenant between God and Israel.
We will look at Leviticus 1:1–9 in two parts, first 1:2–3, then 1:4–9. We will look at what happened and make Christian application.
Leviticus 1:2–3
In 1:2–3 the offerer was to bring an offering without blemish to the Lord: 1) the offerer was to bring it, 2) it was without blemish, 3) it was to the LORD.
Verse 2 shows us the first part, “you shall bring your offering.” There a lot involved in the bringing. If you are going to please the Lord, it’s going to require some work. Before any bringing takes place, the offerer has to select the animal to bring to sacrifice. This choosing is in preparation for worshiping God. This is preparatory. Even before you go to worship, you have got to prepare. This is a task that would take some time. It requires forethought and effort. The offerer’s animals would require inspection to examine the animals and select what was appropriate, what God wanted. It was critical because what God wanted was the animal without blemish as we read in verse 3. Any blemishes could only be ascertained by way of careful examination. The offerer’s own heart is also being examined by God. So, the offerer is examining the animals but think about this: God is examining the offerer. You offerer, are you going to give Me what I have commanded you? Are you going to provide God the prize animal of the flock? God would not accept a defective offering.
In Deuteronomy 15:21, Moses said, “But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.” Such an offering would insult God. Unfortunately the Israelites did that very thing. We read in Malachi 1:8,
And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice,
Is it not evil?
And when you offer the lame and sick,
Is it not evil?
Offer it then to your governor!
Would he be pleased with you?
Would he accept you favourably?”
Says the LORD of hosts.
The mindful selection of the animal, however long it may take depending on how many animals the person may have, he needs to ensure it is without blemish. That was necessary even before the act of worship.
With this we want to make a critical point: worship is an intended act. We don’t fall into worship accidentally. Sometimes people use the phrase, “Worship is 24/7, we’re always worshiping God.” I want to draw your attention to Genesis 22:1–5. We are familiar with the account. God commanded Abraham to take his one and only son Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering. What does the text say? “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son.” This is all obedience but is this obedience worship? The text says in verse 5 that when they arrived at the mountain, “Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.’’’
So what was all that before? What that was before was service, obedient service to the commands of God, how Abraham was living his life. Worship hadn’t happened yet. So, a distinction is made between obedient service and worship. Worship to God is intended and it requires preparation. Preparation for the burnt offering involved selecting an offering without blemish.
Thirdly, the offerer comes into the Lord’s presence. He brings the sacrifice. The sacrifice is without blemish. He is coming into the Lord’s presence with this choice sacrifice. The text says, “he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.”
Let’s consider what’s happening here with regard to holiness. Leviticus is very much about holiness. It is a theme of the book. The holiness of the offering as well as the holiness of the offerer is purposed to be worthy of the holiness of the Lord’s presence. There is a whole lot of holiness going on here. Remember, Moses was required to remove his sandals when he was in the presence of the Lord because he was standing on holy ground (Exodus 3:5). It was God’s presence that made that groundholy. When God calls His people who would bring Him these sacrifices to be holy, as Leviticus 19:2 says, “‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.’”
Christian Application
Let’s make Christian application to what we have read in Leviticus 1:2–3. Worship to God demands preparation. That’s number one. Like the Israelites, we are to ready to worship God, mentally and spiritually. With regards to the contribution, the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians that the Macedonian churches, “they first gave themselves to the Lord,” then their means (2 Corinthians 8:1–5). “They gave themselves first to God.” What does that really mean. They were in service to Him. They obeyed His voice. They were committed to Him. Their allegiance was to God.
We could do the outward actions of worship properly. We can dot our “i’s” and cross our “t’s” when it comes to the physical actions of our worship. I want to be clear, we do need to do the acts of worship the way that God wants us to do them. Those directives are here in the Bible. But those directives of God also include our genuineness of heart. God wants our hearts as well as our obedience. Quoting from Isaiah Jesus said, “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honour Me with their lips.” What does that mean? Visible evidence of praise and honour. That’s visible. People can see it. It’s with their mouths; it’s with their lips. What did Jesus say next, “but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8). Before we approach worship to God, we need to prepare ourselves for what we are about to do, what we are about to give God. Before we give God our gift of worship we need to give ourselves first to the Lord.
Number two. Worship to God demands giving Him our very best. The Israelites had to painstakingly examine each animal of their flocks to determine what was best. In Colossians 3:23 Paul tells us, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,.” What does heartily mean? With a whole heart. Think again of our worship as giving a gift to God. If we are shopping for someone for their birthday and we are intent on giving them a gift and we really care about them, are you not going to seek out the very best gift you can find? You may go to different shops looking for that one perfect gift. You may be willing to stand in long lines. It’s going to take time. It’s going to take effort. You’re making a strong investment in finding this one perfect gift. Is not God worth all that effort? A loved one will get that perfect gift. Our God should receive our holy gift; Leviticus 19:2 again, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, whatever we we do, we “do all to the glory of God.” God is the focus of all we do. He is the focus of all that we are. So, it’s more than just actions, it’s who we are as people. Doing things to the glory of God and with all our heart includes the time of our assembly together for worship and it involves our whole life. It includes our worship.
Third, worship to God demands we recognize we are coming into His holy presence. A building may just be a building but when use our facilities to praise God in worship, we enter into His holy presence. This principle is expressed in Psalm 95, a call to worship and obedience,
Oh come, let us sing to the LORD!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
3 For the LORD is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.
4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.
5 The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
What do we learn from this? In worship we kneel, we bow down, in reverence before our Maker when we worship Him. Sometimes it’s a challenge to get the whole assembly to hush and recognize what we are about to do. Is visiting one another important? It’s great at the appropriate time. Worship is for God. The offerrer brings a perfect sacrifice to God.
To be continued…
Karns, Tennessee
You can listen to and watch Bobby’s lesson here: https://www.facebook.com/KarnsChurch/videos/1010312836119103/
