Atoning Sacrifice

November 14th, 2017
Atoning Sacrifice

Leviticus 1:3-4 (NIV) - “‘if the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord.  You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you.’”

So I have started the book of Leviticus the other day and I can tell you that I, like others, have thought Leviticus was just a book about offering sacrifices, procedures and what not. But, the more I read this book the more I see what God is trying to convey through it for me. It all just kind of unfolds before me. One of the things that God laid upon my heart while beginning to first chapter was, everything they did had a spiritual significance behind it. I chose these two verses because they hold depth to them. You’re probably thinking, “This girl is crazy!” But wait, hear me out first (haha).

Back then, when you came to the temple to offer up your male burnt offering, consisting of goat, sheep, dove or pigeon, it had to be visibly perfect to the human eye. Now, let’s break that down. Burnt offering was to be completely burnt up with nothing remaining. They did it as a propitiation unto the Lord. It also had to be a male because males were considered to be stronger and more valuable because of that. Then you would have had to check to see if the male was without blemish. It had to be presentable and pure and free of any imperfections in order to be qualified. If you had all of these components in your sacrifice, then you were able to present it unto the Lord out of your free will to the tent of meeting. So now imagine with me that you are in there and you are presenting your sacrifice unto God. You must lay your hand upon the head of your burnt offering. To lay your hand upon the head was a recognition that you identified as being the offering unto the Lord. It was like you were transferring your blame onto the lamb. As David Guzik quoted, “The one who would receive His atonement must “reach out” and identify himself with Jesus.”

All of these processes identify with Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross. But it also identifies what we are to give back to the Lord. What I am supposed to give back to the Lord. I never realized till writing this how much these two verses related to story of Jesus and what He did for me. To be specific, when reading over this sentence, “It had to be presentable and pure and free of any imperfections in order to be qualified,” is when God gave me that unique light bulb moment. God had to offer us His pure and blameless son in order to take away all of my sin. Just like the burnt offer signifies an atonement for our sins. But by God sacrificing his son, we don’t have to do offerings anymore because God tore the veil. That doesn’t mean we stop offering up a atonement.

For me, I want to offer up my entire life for Him. I want to identify myself with that burnt offering and completely lay myself at the feet of Jesus. I can do that by confessing my sins unto the Lord and asking him to purify me and search my heart and know me. By praying those things unto the Lord I am asking him too completely have every bit of me and make me His own. That’s why I am in Costa Rica. I’m surrendering myself to serve the King here and allow him to use me how he sees fit. I want Him to burn up every part of my flesh and create in me a new heart that’s on fire for Him.

Application
I will not watch any movies/shows tomorrow and dedicate the day to being filled up in the Spirit.


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