What the Bible says about Sacrifices, Animal
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Genesis 15:10 Genesis 15:10 and 17 show us a small portion of the ancient practice of making serious covenants. Those making the covenant prepared a sacrifice by dividing animals or fowl in two, then both parties passed between the divided carcasses. This symbolized the seriousness of their intentions in that the divided carcasses represented what would happen to them if they did not keep their oath! They placed their lives at risk. The carcasses were then burned, symbolizing their acceptance. The smoking oven and burning torch symbolize God. In many instances in the Bible, God represents Himself through the image of fire (i.e., the burning bush and the pillar of fire). The sacrifice in Genesis 15 is interesting in that only God passes between the divided carcasses because, in reality, this is an oath of only one party, God, to keep His promise. In this specific case, Abraham has agreed to nothing, but God has bound Himself with utmost seriousness to meet the requirements of His promise in full. This promise will be fulfilled only because of God's character and grace. The 14th thus signifies the ratification of the promise by sacrifice, and the 15th, what it accomplishes by providing visible evidence of God's faithfulness (e.g., the Israelites go free). John W. Ritenbaugh Countdown to Pentecost 2001 Related Topics: Animal Sacrifices | Burning Bush | Burnt Offering | Covenant | Covenant , Conditions of | Covenant, Symbolized by Divided Carcasses | God's Faithfulness | Pillar of Fire | Promises to Abraham | Sacrifice | Sacrifices | Sacrifices, Animal | Smoking Oven as Symbol

Leviticus 1:14-17 Notice also the especially wide cost difference between a turtledove and the other animals. This suggests some have more required of them than others, which is confirmed in Luke 12:48: "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more." This distinction is drawn even finer when we understand that with the bullock, sheep, and goat, the offerer slays the animal. However, the priest kills the dove. In fact, the priest does everything regarding the dove except bring it for sacrificing. John 10:11, 15, 17-18 explains this more fully, showing that the priest voluntarily sacrifices Himself. We can understand in the offering of the turtledove that its death is seen as the work of the High Priest and Mediator, thus it emphasizes Christ's intercessory work for those who are weak. The weak require more help and not as much is required of them. God does not expect more of us than we can deliver. John W. Ritenbaugh The Offerings of Leviticus (Part Two): The Burnt Offering Related Topics: Animal Sacrifices | Jesus Christ as High Priest | Jesus Christ as Intercessor | Jesus Christ as Mediator | Offering, Burnt | Offerings of Leviticus | Old Covenant Sacrifices | Sacrifice | Sacrifices, Animal | Turtledove

Numbers 29:12-13 That is typical of what God requires on every one of the festivals except for one thing—the number of sacrifices required. The Feast of Tabernacles is a type, a symbol, of the Millennium, of the rule of God on earth. What we see here is a requirement to give offerings during the Feast of Tabernacles. What is so interesting is that the Feast of Tabernacles requires more sacrifices than all the other holy days combined! Far more! There were 172 animals sacrificed during those seven days. Since the Feast of Tabernacles represents the Millennium, and the priest stands for us, and his major responsibility is to make offerings on behalf of the people before God, does that not picture how big our responsibility will be during the Millennium? There will be more sacrifices, more priestly work for us during that time than at any other period in God's plan. Physically, the Levitical priests offered animals. In the Millennium, we will not be sacrificing animals. We need to understand what a priest does so that we understand sacrificing. A priest does a lot of it, and during the Millennium, there will be a need for a great deal of spiritual sacrificing. John W. Ritenbaugh Preparing to Be a Priest Related Topics: Animal Sacrifices | Feast of Tabernacles | Priestly Work | Sacrifices, Animal | Spiritual Sacrifices

2 Corinthians 4:16 Once fellowship with God is established through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that is not enough. This fellowship must be built upon. For it to continue, it has to be renewed day by day. In other words, sacrificing has to continue. Our relationship with God, then, is not constant because we are not unchanging as God is. Our attitudes fluctuate, our faith increases or decreases, and our love, joy, and peace ebb and flow in their intensity. Sacrifice, whether it be the sacrifice of Christ or our own personal sacrifice, plays a major role in all of this because these things are not constants within us, so they have to be renewed daily. We can conclude that a sacrifice is then either a means of reconciling or a means of strengthening what already exists—a necessary means of becoming or continuing at-one-ment with God. We need to add another factor to this. In the Old Testament, the gifts given to God are arranged in the order of their value: An animal is of greater value than a vegetable. Consider Cain and Abel's offering. Abel gave an acceptable one, while Cain gave one that was unacceptable for that circumstance. It might have been acceptable in a different circumstance. Nonetheless, the Bible arranges them in order of priority, as in Leviticus 1-3: A bullock is of greater value than a ram, which is of greater value than a kid or a dove. There is a principle here. Let us step this up even higher. The offering of a son is of greater value than the offering of any animal. When Abraham offered Isaac, it was far greater in value than the offering of a lamb, ram, or even a bullock. In this case, God would not accept anything less than the very best. It had to be the offering of what was nearest and dearest to Abraham's heart. From this we learn that it is not just the intrinsic value of the gift, but also the relative cost to the giver to which God attaches the greatest importance of all. A widow's two mites can be a greater offering than all of the silver and gold a wealthy man can give. From this, then, we can extract another principle: The greatest gift of all is self-sacrifice. John W. Ritenbaugh Preparing to Be a Priest Related Topics: Abel's Offering | Abraham's Sacrifice | At-One-Ment | Atonement | Cain's Offering | Christ's Sacrifice | Christ's Sacrifice, Cost of | Fellowship with Christ | Fellowship with God | Jesus Christ's Sacrifice | Offerings | Offerings, Animal | Offerings, Poor Quality | Offerings, Quality | Reconciliation | Reconciliation with God | Sacrifice | Sacrifice as a Way of Life | Sacrifice, Blemished | Sacrifice, Costliness of | Sacrifices | Sacrifices, Animal | Self Satisfaction | Widow's Mite

Hebrews 9:9 The sacrifices and offerings, though sincerely and fastidiously performed over centuries, could never accomplish what the offerers looked to them to do. They are symbols, shadows, of events and processes that have a far greater scope than most people ever realize. Though they are no longer necessary - because they were fulfilled primarily in the sacrifice of Christ "once for all" (Hebrews 9:11) - they can still teach us a great deal about this way to which we have committed our lives. John W. Ritenbaugh The Wavesheaf Offering Related Topics: Christ's Sacrifice | Food and Drink Offerings | Forms, Shadows, Symbols, and Types | Jesus Christ's Sacrifice | Sacrifice | Sacrifice as Metaphor | Sacrifices | Sacrifices, Animal | Shadow of Things to Come

Hebrews 10:1-3 "Those sacrifices" identifies the body of laws being talked of here - the sacrifices, of which the law is just a shadow. They were not a part of the original covenant, but were added later (see Jeremiah 7:22-23). Verse 3 tells us why it was considered to be a schoolmaster. God had a good reason for them doing these things: They were to remind people of sin. They did not define sin. They were commanded because people were sinning; He made them give sacrifices to remind them that they were sinning! John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Seventeen) Related Topics: Christ's Sacrifice | Food and Drink Offerings | Forms, Shadows, Symbols, and Types | Jesus Christ's Sacrifice | Sacrifice | Sacrifice as Metaphor | Sacrifices | Sacrifices, Animal | Schoolmaster | Schoolmaster, Law as | Sin | Sin Offering

Hebrews 10:4 This is why the animal sacrifices had to be done over and over and over again. Not one sin has ever been forgiven in the history of mankind—from Adam and Eve on—because a sacrificed animal shed its blood. All the sacrifices did was to make people aware that they were breaking the Ten Commandments or the statutes and judgments. John W. Ritenbaugh The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part Seventeen) Related Topics: Animal Sacrifices | Awareness of Sin | Forgiveness | Forgiveness of Sins | Offerings | Offerings as Reminder of Sin | Offerings, Animal | Sacrifices | Sacrifices, Animal | Sin, Forgiveness of

 

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