Introduction

The book of Leviticus is “taken up with the laws… which God gave to Israel through Moses, concerning their sacrifices and offerings, their food and drinks, and cleansings; and other special laws and regulations.” By these laws, God set Israel “apart for himself and distinguished them from others nations.” The book is called Leviticus because the Levitical priesthood was “responsible for carrying out these laws and ordinances, both to do them and also to teach the people their responsibilities.”

Leviticus 1

v1-2: Direction is given to the people of Israel, so that the sacrifices they offered, “might be most expressive of both the great sacrifice of atonement which Christ was to offer in the fullness of time and also the spiritual sacrifices of praise which believers should offer daily.”

v3-9: The animal to be offered must be male, without defect, and the best they had. This represented the “complete strength and purity that were the dying sacrifice of Christ, and also the sincerity of heart and integrity of life that should be in Christians, who are presented to God as living sacrifices.” In laying their hand on the head of the animal, they were showing their dependance on the sacrifice, which was “a type of the great sacrifice on which the iniquities of us all were to be laid” and acknowledging that though they “deserved to die… the death of [their] sacrifice might be accepted as a sacrifice of atonement.”

v10-17: As the offering was burned on the altar, it was a pleasing aroma to the LORD. “He was reconciled to the offerer and… took pleasure in that reconciliation.” Provision was made in the law for the poor, and their sacrifice, “if they come from an upright heart,” was just as acceptable to God as that of the rich, “for he accepts according to what a man has, and not according to what he has not.” Later on in the Scriptures, “Christ’s offering of himself to God,” and “the spiritual sacrifices of Christians,” will be described as pleasing aromas and acceptable to God.