Leviticus opens with instructions about worship and sacrifices when Moses had finished building the tent he was instructed to build in Exodus (v.1-2). Right from the beginning, what we pick about Leviticus, is that it is God who prescribes his acceptable worship. And one of the things we must not forget is that God determines how he is to be worshipped, what pleases him and what displeases him. We are not at liberty to determine how we will worship God. We don’t invent ways by which we will please God. As we read through Leviticus, we meet Nadab and Abihu who were killed for offering strange fire to the Lord which the Lord has not commanded them.
This brings me to our title this morning.
The Lamb Without Blemish
This title is taken from the verse 3&10. What I will seek to show us this morning is how the sacrifices of Leviticus, at least in Chapter 1 points us to Jesus Christ. We will look at four ways by which Christ is represented in the text: (i) Jesus The Lamb Without Blemish, (ii) Jesus The Atoning Sacrifice; (iii) Jesus The Pleasing Aroma To The Lord, (iv) Jesus The Mediator Between God and Man.
This is going to be an interesting journey and I pray I am able to communicate for you to see the beauty of Christ in the text.
If you have ever read Leviticus, from Chapter 1 to the end, perhaps, you may identify with my experience. It is one of the most difficult and boring book to read and study with all its details about sacrifices. But boring as it may be, it is God’s word and ought to be preached, read and studied. And so we will do just that.
Listen to a quote from Charles Swindoll on Leviticus
“The book of Leviticus was the first book studied by a Jewish child; yet is often among the last books of the Bible to be studied by a Christian. Today’s readers are often put off by the books lists of laws regarding diet, sacrifice, and social behavior. But within these highly detailed directives we discover the holiness—the separatedness, distinction, and utter “otherness”- of God. And we learn how sin devastates humanity’s relationship with their Creator”
Now Leviticus in the first 7 Chapters outlines a number of sacrifices which I will attempt to address in subsequent sermons.
-
Laws for burnt Offerings (Chapter 1)
-
Laws for grain Offerings (Chapter 2)
-
Laws for peace Offerings (Chapter 3)
-
Laws for sin offering (Chapter 4)
-
Laws for guilt offering (Chapter 5)
Our attention will be on Chapter 1 today. Now how do we understand all these sacrifices in light of God’s dealing with his people? Primarily, all these laws were for the holiness of God’s people. It shows us how God’s people are to live their lives and to relate with a holy God. Leviticus is about the holiness of of God and the holiness of God’s people. It is in Leviticus we find the command “Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). Christianity, brethren, is a religion of holiness. You don’t become a Christian and live your life anyhow. God requires holiness from us and the sacrificial system of Leviticus gives us a picture of that holiness. Are you living a holy life? Does your life portray one who has been saved and reconciled to God? How do people perceive you in their interactions with you? For those of us in the corporate world, do we give people cause of concern knowing we are Christians and how we go about our duties? Parents, can your children honestly testify of you that you are a godly man or woman? Husbands, wives, singles in a courtship… how is it going? What’s the testimony about you?
Now in the sacrificial system of the Israelites; the animal sacrifice required of them is an animal without any defect. That is what our title The Lamb Without Blemish is about. A sacrificial animal shouldn’t have any defects…maimed, blind, limping—it is to be a whole animal. This pointed to a perfect sacrifice. It is indicated this phrase appears about 13 times in Leviticus. If you remember, when we went through Malachi, we saw God through the prophet Malachi rebuking the people for sacrificing to him animals with blemish
When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the LORD of hosts (Malachi 1:8)
All the sacrifices of Leviticus were to deal with the sins of God’s people in many ways and make it possible for them to relate with a Holy God. But most significantly and what we are interested in today is that all those sacrifices pointed to one great event in redemptive history; that is, the death of Christ for the forgiveness of sin. Indeed in Leviticus, we see clear glimpses of the sacrifice of Jesus for the salvation of sinners.
Jesus The Lamb Without Blemish (vv.3;10)
I have explained the requirements for animal sacrifice in Leviticus. What is required is an animal without blemish. And this in the scheme of things, pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. One thing we should not ignore is the detail in the text. The animal is just not to be without blemish. But the animal must be a “male”. Look at the text again: (vv.3;10). This requirement is unambiguously fulfilled in Jesus Christ, he was a male child. I will not need to dwell on this point; because I am yet to meet anyone or read anywhere about Jesus not being a male.
Now the most important aspect of Jesus being the Lamb without blemish is that he was a sinless man. The son of God didn’t have in him any traces of sin. And the biblical accounts clearly points that out. The apostle Peter speaking about our salvation said
knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:18-19).
During Jesus’ trial, 3 times Pilate declared him not guilty (John 18:38; 9:4; 9:). Yet he went ahead to give him over to be crucified. We can never throughout the New Testament see Jesus tainted with sin. If He had sinned, then he would be disqualified to die in our place. The Hebrew writer clearly points us to a lamb without blemish: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15).
Jesus The Atoning Sacrifice (v.4)
Dear friends, Jesus is the perfect Saviour to take away our sins. He is the perfect Saviour who died in our place. He is our divine, holy exchange. He took on himself our sins and gave us his righteousness. That’s the point of the verse 4 and that is our second point: Jesus The Atoning Sacrifice (v.4). See, when an Israelite brings a burnt offering, they lay their hands on the animal and the animal becomes an atonement for them. A payment for their sins. They transfer their sin to the animal. I want to believe that an Israelite will have a deep sense of appreciation for all the processes involved in sacrificing the animal. A life is given in exchange for their lives. They must die for their sin. But the animal died in their place (vv.5-9) kill the bull, flay (strip its skin off), cut it into pieces, burn all of it. Friends a worshipper in Israel will clearly see the essence of this great exchange. They were to die. The animal died. A life for a life is what is going on here. The animals life is exchanged for theirs.
And that’s exactly what happened in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ. We deserve to die. But he died in our place. The apostle Paul puts this beautifully: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2Corinthians 5:21).
Do we have a good appreciation of what God has done for us in Christ? This is it. He died in our place so that we will be free and reconciled to God. He propitiated for our sins. He stood in between us and God’s wrath. The hymn writer says
He paid a debt He did not owe,
I owed a debt I could not pay,
I needed someone to wash my sins away;
And now I sing a brand new song,
“Amazing Grace,”
Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.
Jesus The Pleasing Aroma To The Lord
Dear friends, you and I have been reconciled to God if we have put our trust in Jesus. We have laid our hands on Jesus’ head. And our sin transferred to him. There is no sin marked on your record. Both past, present and future have all been absorbed in Jesus’ death. You are a free man. You are a free woman if you have believed in Jesus. I have a friend whose surname is Newman. That’s really it! You are a Newman! You are no more a debtor to sin. Jesus paid it all! You are ransomed, healed, restored: You are justified: You stand before God as one who has never sin. The blood of Jesus has paid it all. The sacrifice of Jesus has become a pleasing aroma on your behalf.
This is our third point: Jesus The Pleasing Aroma To The Lord. Notice how every sacrifice is to be “a pleasing aroma to the Lord” (vv. 9;13;17). This means the sacrifice must be accepted by God. See also that all the sacrifice is to be offered before the Lord (vv.5;11;14). The first use of the phrase pleasing aroma was in Noah’s sacrifice (Genesis 8:21: “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma).” This is not so much of how nice the sacrifice smells. But it is so much of how acceptable the sacrifice is. Jesus Christ’ sacrifice is a sacrifice pleasing to the Father. All the sacrificial system of the OT was a holding sacrifice. They couldn’t do the job entirely. So the sacrifices have to be repeated. But Jesus Christ has offered a final sacrifice that is a pleasing aroma to the Father. An acceptable sacrifice.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (Hebrews 10:4-10)
Jesus The Mediator Between God and Man.
If Jesus’ death was a pleasing aroma to the Father, then he qualifies as the only mediator between God and man. This brings us to our final point: “Jesus The Mediator Between God and Man.” The name Leviticus comes from the description of Leviticus in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. The phrase means “About the Levites or Pertaining to The Levites”. Who are the Levites and what about the Levites?
The Levites are one of the twelve tribes of Israel, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, Levi who were set aside for priesthood responsibilities in bringing the sacrifices of God’s people to God. They were called and set apart in the service of God. They were responsible to administer the sacrifices the people bring. Look at how this plays out constantly in the text: (vv. 5, 7, 11, 13, 15, 17). What we have read points us to the mediatory role of the priests in bringing the sacrifices of God’s people to God. Nobody else in Israel, in the wilderness, had the right of bringing a sacrifice to God on their own. No! It was unimaginable. You will die. King Uzziah in Israel tried it and he was struck with Leprosy (2 Chroniscles 26:16ff). Even Nadab and Abihu who were priest were struck down for offering strange incense (Leviticus 10:1-10)
Now the Priests in Israel in their mediatory role, points to a One Great mediator who lives forever to make intercession for us.
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
In concluding, the death of Jesus was to offer himself as an acceptable sacrifice to the father. But most importantly, when he died, he didn’t remain in the grave. He rose the third day according to the Scripture and he is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. This is the work Christ did for us on the cross. He paid the penalty of our sins so that you and I will be reconciled to the Father.
Friends, this is our hope. That Jesus died and rose again. And just as he rose from the dead, you and I who have believed in him will One day unite with him in glory.
But if you haven’t received Jesus and placed your faith and trust in him, you are doomed for eternal destruction. One day, you will answer for your sins and if you have not trusted in Jesus, you will be doomed for eternal destruction. A Holy, perfect sacrifice has been made on your behalf and as we celebrate the resurrection today, embrace the saviour and have a renewed hope for life:
if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9)
Facebook Comments