sermonette: Devotion and the Days of Unleavened Bread
Burnt Offerings
David C. Grabbe
Given 19-Apr-03; Sermon #607s; 14 minutes
The cover article of the March and April issue of The Forerunner magazine is on the burnt offering written by John Reitenbaugh. I'm going to take a few minutes to review and to summarize parts of that article because as we are going to see, the burnt offering is especially relevant at this time of year. The primary theme underlying the burnt offering is complete and wholehearted devotion to
God. This is seen in the fact that the entire sacrifice is burned up on the altar. As with the with the other offerings, only a portion of the animal was burned. The Hebrew word that is translated burnt literally means that which goes up or ascent as opposed to descent. It has a connotation of something going up in smoke. The Jerusalem Bible says that the word means holocaust, which gives you some idea of the totality that the word implies. The burnt offering expresses an individual ascending before God in his entirety. There is no part of him that has not ascended.
Jesus Christ ultimately fulfilled the sacrifice with the way that he lived his life. Every glimpse that we catch of him in the Gospels fits the words I must be about my father's business. He was not concerned about establishing a physical kingdom or gathering earthly treasures to himself, but at every turn we see him doing his father's bidding. The burnt offering is different from the other types of offering in that it represents devotion and does not picture sin or the death of the person performing the offering, offering, but rather what he does while he is still alive. The person carrying out the sacrifice was commanded to put his hand on the animal before it was killed to signify that the animal represents the person giving himself. The killing of the animal represents the person bringing himself near to God and making a gift of his life for as long as it should continue by devoting it in its entirety to God. The person holds nothing back. The imagery of each part of the animal being offered further expounds on the principle of devotion. The head of the animal signifies one's thoughts and judgments. The fat represents one's general health and energy and strength. The entrails, the internal organs represent even one's emotions being completely devoted to God. The legs of the animal represent a person's walk, the actual conduct of his life. Again, the burnt offering indicates total surrender to God. There is nothing held back and nothing is reserved for the self. Please turn with me to Leviticus chapter 23. And starting in verse 5, this is where we find the basic instructions for the day of
love and bread.
Leviticus 23:5. On the 14th day of the first month at even is the Lord's
Passover, and on the 15th day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. And the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein, for you shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord 7 days. In the 7th day of the holy convocation, and ye shall do no servile work therein. We see that the primary symbol during the days of lemon bread is of course the bread made without leavening. We are not only told to avoid not which is leavened, but we also, we are also commanded to eat unleavened bread every day. We understand that the that leavening is symbolic of sin, and this festival pictures living a sinless life. Furthermore, even though it is not referenced in these verses, we know that Israel was brought out of Egypt, another symbol of sin during the days of unlove and bread, and we know this represents each of us also being led out by Christ from this sinful world. Notice in verse 8 that the Israelites were commanded to give an offering made by fire every day of the week. The instruction to give an offering made by fire is a very general one because all of the offerings were made by fire. Leviticus 23 does not give the specifics of the types of the offerings, but it shows that the Israelites' responsibility was twofold. They not only had to substitute unleavened products for leavened ones, but they also had to give offerings above and beyond the daily sacrifice. Please turn with me to Numbers chapter 28. Numbers 28 starting in verse 17. Here's some more details of the days in love and bread. And on the 15th day of this month is the feast. 7 days shall unleavened bread be eaten. In the 1st day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no manner of servile work therein. But you shall offer sacrifice made by fire for a burnt offering unto the Lord. 2 young bullocks and 1 ram and 7 lambs of the first year. They shall be unto you without blemish. God gives the details here of what He required when he commanded Israel to give a daily offering made by fire. From this passage we can see that the Israelites had to give a burnt offering, and the verses after the show that a
meal offering as well as
sin offering was also required every day. All of this was in addition to the daily sacrifices that God required. From the time that we have left, we are going to briefly examine the significant role that the burnt offering plays in the days of love and bread. To bring it up to our time, the days of the love and bread symbolized not only a life without sin, but the command for the burnt offering. Also shows that a large part of this week is about a life entirely devoted to God. We know from the name of this festival that the primary emphasis is on the sinlessness that comes from having Christ live his life in us. But this festival is not complete without also observing every day that we are called to hold nothing back in our service and our devotion to our redeemer. Back in verse 19, we see that God specifies two bullocks, 1 ram, 7 lambs every day. For the week this adds up to 14 bullocks, 7 rams, and 49 lambs. There are some interesting implications in this because of what the different animals represent. The bullocks, rams, and lambs had different values in terms of what they were worth to an average Israelite, but in the scriptures, God doesn't focus on the monetary value as much as the characteristics of the animals. The imagery of the bullock is of patient, untiring, and successful labor and service to others. Thinking back to the afternoon sermon on the first day of the oven bread, the bullock works without complaining and is content to just keep plodding along. In fact, these animals will literally work themselves to death. They will just give and give and give of their strength and of their energy. It is very easy to see Jesus Christ in this picture.
The Gospel account of Mark shows the life of Christ from this perspective. It shows Christ in his tireless, unwavering service to mankind, which is possible because of his endless devotion to the Father. In the burnt offering described in verse 19, we saw that 2 bullocks were offered. It is interesting to consider this in the light of the commands to not be unequally yoked together with an unbeliever. When you have two different species of animals yoked together, they are going to pull at different rates and they are going to have different amounts of endurance. But with 2 oxen or 2 bullocks, there is the image of the strongest beast of burden working in its most efficient configuration, and that is in a pair. And again, the work in this context is that of a steady, patient, untiring service and devotion. God commanded that 7 male lambs were also to be offered every day as a part of the burnt offering. These seven lambs represent wholehearted devotion and uncomplaining submission. Devotion even in suffering, devotion in following without reservation or hesitation. The image of the lamb is one that we are well familiar with, so I will not expound on it a great deal, but it is a representation of innocence, innocence, gentleness, and a following a trusted leader. Even though monetarily they may not have been as, may not have been worth as much as the hardworking bullocks, the lambs typify the Christian ideal probably more than any other animal. Clams are central figures in the offerings and in many of the symbols,
parables, and stories of the Bible. We see Jesus Christ and various scriptures represented by the ox, by the lion, and by the eagle, but the lamb, without any qualifiers is an actual title given to him. A ram, and this here means an older male sheep, was also to be offered every day. The RAM represents leadership, stability, strong-mindedness, and singleness of purpose. And it is clear how these vital aspects, how these aspects are vital to our devotion to God. It is interesting though that for this burnt offering God commands 7 times more animals. They represent submission, following, and innocence and gentleness than the animals that represent strong-mindedness. This does not in any way mean that our devotion to God should be without backbone, without strength, or without stability. On the contrary, I think we can see that the opposite is true. But looking at the characteristics of the animals involved and the example of Christ's life, especially, I believe this ratio indicates that we should be more willing to be submissive and
meek in trusting of the leadership and less inclined to get out ahead of of the flock. Please turn with me to Galatians chapter 3. We're going to look at this in a larger picture. Galatians chapter 3. And verse 19. Wherefore then serves the law. It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hands of a mediator. It must be understood in the book of Galatians, Paul uses the terms law and covenant often interchangeably. In verse 19, the law is not referring to the general definition of right and wrong. Law is referring to the Old Covenant, and we can see that because at the end of the verse he says it was ordained in the hand of a mediator. If a king makes a law, there is no need for the process of mediation because the matter is not open for discussion among the people. A mediator is only necessary when both parties have to agree on something. And this clearly indicates a covenant rather than a decree or a law, so we could paraphrase the beginning of this verse as what then was the purpose of the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was in addition to the one that God made with Abraham. She says it was added. But it was not the first time that
God's law had been taught. The Bible says specifically that Abraham kept God's commandments. It shows Abraham and Jacob both tithing. It shows Abel and Noah having an understanding of
clean and unclean meats. The
Sabbath was created the very first week and it was reinstated to Israel before the Old Covenant was proposed. Reading through Genesis and Exodus, it is very clear that there was a codified set of rules, laws long before they were officially recorded at Mount Sinai. The Old Covenant was added because of sin. It was added not to provide a means of justification, but to demonstrate to Israel what was right and what was wrong, because their moral compass had been very badly damaged during their time in Egypt. The children of Israel sojourned in Egypt for 400 years, and during that time they lost the knowledge of God's way. They forgot his instructions to such a degree that God had to teach them all over again the life that was pleasing to him. They had been so immersed in the pagan Egyptian culture, that God that God's concepts were completely foreign to them. God added the Old Covenant to the one that he made with Abraham as a sort of booster shot, you might say. His rule was so off track that God had to realign them with His ways by means of this temporary covenant, which would be in effect until Christ came. Until God commanded sacrifices and offerings and various washings and rituals to hedge in His people and get them pointed back to the ideal. It is evident that the Old Covenant has served its purpose and now is obsolete, replaced by an infinitely better covenant as the
book of Hebrews shows us. That is also evident that even though the agreement is no longer in effect, this does not mean God's law has become obsolete. Christ Himself stated very clearly in
Matthew 5:17 that he did not come to destroy the law, but to show how to fulfill it, how to keep it in its entirety. Then he goes on to demonstrate the intent or the spirit behind some of the laws. We know from the scriptures that animal sacrifices could never ultimately fulfill God's purpose. It took Jesus Christ's earthly ministry to completely fulfill the requirement of the burnt offering, just as He made the ultimate sin offering through His death. So while we are not asked to kill animals and while Christ fulfilled this aspect of the Old Covenant, we are commanded to emulate Christ as much as humanly possible. Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law not by eliminating it, but by demonstrating it. In James 28 we are individually told to also fulfill God's law, which does not mean that we each try to abolish the law, but rather we should strive to live up to it in the letter and in the spirit. Likewise, Christ fulfilled the physical sacrificial requirements of the Old Covenant through His life and death. As we follow in his footsteps, our lives should also be a type of the burnt offering. Our lives should be entirely and wholeheartedly devoted to God in our thoughts, in our judgments, our health, our strength, our energy, our emotions, and in our daily walk. So during the rest of this week, each day as you eat the matzos and the Triscuits and the flatbread, remember that even though the sinless life is the primary symbol during the
Days of Unleavened Bread. The theme of devotion to God and service to man are other foundational elements because simply taking sin out of our lives is ineffectual without replacing it with something positive.