God's Acceptable Worship: The Burnt Offering of the Flock Text: Leviticus 1:10-13
Introduction: The Grammar of Acceptable Worship
We live in an age that despises definitions, detests boundaries, and is allergic to prescribed forms. Modern worship, so-called, is often a slushy, sentimental affair, driven by what makes us feel good, what seems authentic to us, or what the latest trend dictates. The operating principle is sincerity, not obedience. But when we come to a book like Leviticus, we are brought up short. We are confronted with a God who is utterly holy, and who therefore has very specific, non-negotiable requirements for how sinners are to approach Him. He is not looking for creative suggestions from the marketing department.
Leviticus is the grammar book for the worship of the holy God. It is detailed, it is bloody, and to the modern mind, it is strange. But if you do not understand this grammar, you cannot possibly understand the gospel. To dismiss these rituals as primitive or irrelevant is to take a pair of scissors to the very fabric of redemption. These sacrifices are not random acts of appeasement offered to a grumpy sky-god. They are divinely authored pictures, living prophecies, of the one, final, and perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the gospel in charcoal sketch.
The burnt offering, or ascension offering, which we are examining here, was an offering of total consecration. The entire animal, apart from the hide, went up in smoke to God. It represented the complete surrender of the worshiper to God, a life wholly given over. But of course, no sinful Israelite could offer himself up that way, not completely. This offering was therefore a picture of the one man who was, in fact, wholly consecrated to the Father, Jesus Christ. And it was a picture of our consecration to God, which is only possible because we are united to Him by faith.
So as we walk through these seemingly archaic details, do not let your eyes glaze over. We are not antiquarians studying the religious habits of a long-dead tribe. We are Christians, looking at the shadow of the substance we now possess. Every detail here is freighted with meaning, and every detail points us to the cross and to the nature of our own response to that cross.
The Text
‘But if his offering is from the flock, of the sheep or of the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall bring near a male without blemish.
And he shall slaughter it on the side of the altar northward before Yahweh, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash its blood around on the altar.
He shall then cut it into its pieces with its head and its suet, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood which is on the fire that is on the altar.
The entrails, however, and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall bring all of it near and offer it up in smoke on the altar; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.
(Leviticus 1:10-13 LSB)
The Required Perfection (v. 10)
We begin with the nature of the offering itself.
"‘But if his offering is from the flock, of the sheep or of the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall bring near a male without blemish.'" (Leviticus 1:10)
The law makes provision for the common man. Not everyone could afford a bull from the herd, so an offering from the flock, a sheep or a goat, was acceptable. God does not demand what we do not have. But what He does demand, in every case, is perfection. The animal must be a "male without blemish." This requirement is absolute and non-negotiable.
This immediately tells us two things. First, God is worthy of our absolute best. To bring a lame, blind, or sickly animal was an insult to the majesty of Yahweh. It was to treat Him as a cosmic beggar, happy for whatever scraps we deign to toss His way. The prophet Malachi excoriates the priests of his day for this very thing: "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). If your governor deserves better, how much more the King of the universe?
But second, and more importantly, this points to the moral and spiritual perfection required of the ultimate sacrifice. This animal is a substitute. It is standing in the place of the sinful worshiper. But a blemished substitute cannot stand for a blemished sinner. That just doubles the problem. The substitute must be perfect. This is a blazing neon sign pointing straight to Christ. Peter tells us we were redeemed, not with perishable things, but "with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot" (1 Peter 1:19). Jesus was the only human being who ever lived who was truly "without blemish." He was sinless, perfect, and undefiled. Therefore, He alone was qualified to be our substitute. Any gospel that downplays the sinlessness of Christ is no gospel at all. It is offering a blemished sacrifice, which God will not accept.
The Place of Slaughter and the Blood (v. 11)
Next, we see the specific actions of the worshiper and the priest.
"And he shall slaughter it on the side of the altar northward before Yahweh, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash its blood around on the altar." (Leviticus 1:11 LSB)
The worshiper himself slits the throat of the animal. This was not a sanitized affair. The man bringing the offering had to feel the life drain out of the creature. He was the one who had sinned, and this was the bloody consequence. Sin is not an abstract concept; it is a capital offense. The wages of sin is death, and this ritual made that truth visceral and unforgettable. The worshiper was, in effect, acknowledging, "This is what I deserve."
The location is specified: "on the side of the altar northward before Yahweh." Why the north side? The north, in Scripture, is often associated with judgment and invasion. Babylon, the instrument of God's wrath, came from the north. But here, on the north side of the altar, the place of judgment, a substitute is slain. This is where wrath is met and absorbed. It is a picture of propitiation. God's own justice is satisfied by the death of the substitute He Himself has provided.
Then the priests take over. They catch the blood in a basin and splash it, or throw it, against the sides of the altar. We must not tiptoe around the blood. The modern church is often squeamish about the blood, but the Bible is not. "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22). The life of the creature is in the blood (Lev. 17:11), and that life is now given over to God on the altar, the place of exchange. The blood on the altar is the evidence of a life laid down, a penalty paid. It is the legal record of atonement. When God sees the blood, He passes over. This is not because God is a bloodthirsty deity, but because He is a just one. Justice requires that sin be punished by death. The blood shows that justice has been served.
The Total Consecration (v. 12-13a)
The animal is then prepared for the fire, representing its complete offering to God.
"He shall then cut it into its pieces with its head and its suet, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood which is on the fire that is on the altar. The entrails, however, and the legs he shall wash with water." (Genesis 1:12-13a LSB)
The animal is dismembered. It is cut into its constituent parts, head, fat, and other pieces. The priest then carefully arranges these pieces on the wood. This is not a chaotic bonfire. This is an orderly, deliberate act of worship. The arrangement of the pieces signifies the worshiper's desire to offer his whole self, every part, to God. The head represents our thoughts. The fat, or suet, represented the best, the richest part. We are to offer our minds, our best energies, our all, to God.
But there is a crucial step. The entrails and the legs must be washed with water. The legs are what touch the dirt of the world. The entrails, the inner parts, represent the hidden motives and desires of the heart. Both are defiled. Both must be cleansed before they can be offered to a holy God. This is a picture of sanctification. We cannot offer our filthy works or our corrupt hearts to God and expect Him to be pleased. We must first be washed. For the Israelite, this was a ceremonial washing with water. For us, it is the spiritual washing that comes through the Word of God. As Paul says, Christ gave Himself for the church, "that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word" (Ephesians 5:26). Our consecration to God is not a one-time event, but a continual process of being washed from the filth of the world and the sin of our hearts.
The Soothing Aroma (v. 13b)
Finally, we have the result of the offering.
"And the priest shall bring all of it near and offer it up in smoke on the altar; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh." (Leviticus 1:13b LSB)
The entire animal is consumed by the fire and ascends to God in smoke. This is the ascension offering. It is a picture of complete devotion. And the result is a "soothing aroma to Yahweh." The Hebrew here is literally an "aroma of rest." This does not mean that God has olfactory senses that are pleased by the smell of roasting meat. It is an anthropomorphism, a figure of speech to describe God's covenantal satisfaction and delight.
When Noah offered his burnt offerings after the flood, the Lord smelled the "soothing aroma" and promised never again to curse the ground in such a way (Gen. 8:21). Here, the aroma brings rest to the relationship between the sinner and God. The demands of justice have been met. The worshiper's consecration has been accepted. There is peace.
This points us directly to the work of Christ. Paul uses this exact language when he says, "And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2). The sacrifice of Christ on the cross was the ultimate soothing aroma to the Father. In that one act, the justice of God was perfectly satisfied, and the love of God was perfectly displayed. In Christ, God the Father is eternally pleased, eternally satisfied. He is at rest. And when we are in Christ, that same pleasure and satisfaction is credited to our account. God is not angry with us. He is not grudgingly tolerating us. In Christ, He looks upon us with delight. He smells a soothing aroma, the aroma of His beloved Son.
Conclusion: Our Living Sacrifice
So what does this mean for us, who live on this side of the cross? The sacrificial system is obsolete. Christ has come. He is the lamb without blemish, slaughtered for us. His blood has been presented on the ultimate altar. His life, wholly consecrated to the Father, is the final, perfect, all-sufficient ascension offering. We do not bring sheep or goats to a physical altar anymore. To do so would be an insult to the finished work of Jesus.
But the principle of the burnt offering remains. Because of what Christ has done for us, we are now called to do something. Paul tells us exactly what it is. "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).
We are to be the burnt offering. We are to lay our entire lives on the altar. Our minds, our energies, our secret thoughts, our public walk, all of it is to be given over to God in total consecration. This is not a dead sacrifice; it is a living one. We die to sin and self, and we live to God. And notice, Paul says this sacrifice is "holy and acceptable to God." How can that be? We are still blemished. Our legs get muddy. Our inner parts are still tainted. It is possible only because we are in Christ. We are washed by His word. We are accepted in the Beloved. Our faltering, imperfect, daily sacrifice of our lives becomes a "soothing aroma" to God because it is offered up in the name of, and through the perfection of, His Son.
Therefore, do not treat the worship of God as a casual thing. Understand the grammar. A holy God demands a perfect substitute. That substitute has been provided in Jesus. And now, in response to that incredible grace, He calls you to lay your whole life on the altar, a living sacrifice, which is the only reasonable, logical, and right response to the God who gave everything for you.