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20 January 2023
The call to friendship

Prepare

‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me’ (Galatians 2:20a). What encourages you most: that you are dead to self, or that you are alive in Christ? Turn your thoughts into prayer.

Bible passage

Leviticus 1:1–17

The burnt offering

1 The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.

‘“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. You are to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. You are to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar. You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

10 ‘“If the offering is a burnt offering from the flock, from either the sheep or the goats, you are to offer a male without defect. 11 You are to slaughter it at the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash its blood against the sides of the altar. 12 You are to cut it into pieces, and the priest shall arrange them, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar. 13 You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to bring all of them and burn them on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

14 ‘“If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you are to offer a dove or a young pigeon. 15 The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. 16 He is to remove the crop and the feathers and throw them down east of the altar where the ashes are. 17 He shall tear it open by the wings, not dividing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is burning on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

New International Version - UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Explore

The all-powerful Creator God calls out to his people and invites them to approach him (vs 1,2) – awesome! The appropriate form of approach is sacrifice, and rules are given for what is acceptable and how to perform the rituals. The cost is high: only the best will do (1:3,10; see also 2:1,4). Only perfect sacrifices count when approaching a holy God!

The offer of blood (vs 5,11,15) may puzzle and even repel us, but its significance is found in Leviticus 17:11. The blood is the life of the animal, offered on behalf of the worshipper. The wholehearted yielding of one’s whole life to God is the very essence of biblical sacrifice.

But if only perfect, totally yielded people can approach God, then what hope for us? 

As Christians, our approach to God is made possible by the final and ultimate sacrifice – that of Jesus, who ‘loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us’ and in him we too become ‘a pleasing aroma to God’ (1:9,13,17; Ephesians 5:2, NLT).

Author: David Lawrence

Respond

‘The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’ (Galatians 2:20b). Think of your day’s schedule and ask for faith for the ‘life you now live’.
 

Deeper Bible study

‘Take my life and let it be / consecrated, Lord, to thee / … Take myself, and I will be / ever, only, all for thee.’1

The reason why people were to bring burnt offerings to the priest is specified: ‘to make atonement for you’ (v 4). It could be a bull from the herd of the well-to-do, a lamb or a goat from the flock of the averagely endowed, or a dove or pigeon which even the poorest could afford. Thus atonement was available and accessible to all, irrespective of social position or possessions. 

The burnt offering is the first of five sacrifices described in Leviticus. There are four facts worth noting about the rituals involved. First, there is the laying-on of hands (v 4). This practice conferred spiritual responsibility and/or blessing on the person involved.2 Here in Leviticus, responsibility for sin is placed on the sacrificial animals, perhaps anticipating how it was finally to be placed on the crucified Saviour on our behalf. Second, and rather strangely, the internal organs and the legs are to be washed clean before being burned (v 9). This, together with the fact that only spotless animals could be brought for sacrifice, highlights the fact that our holy God demands purity from his people. Third, blood had a special place in the ritual (vs 5,11,15), for ‘the life of the flesh is in the blood’.3 Finally, although the priests, and sometimes the people who brought the offerings, can eat of other sacrifices,4 this one is dedicated to God in its entirety and so it is completely consumed by fire.   

In Yoruba traditional African religion, there is a saying that ‘When you’ve led a goat to the shrine you let go of the leash’. When we offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, how complete is the offering? Do we hold on to the leash in some parts of our lives? 

‘The problem with living sacrifices is that they try to crawl off the altar.’5 How does this apply to you in the light of Romans 12:1?

1 Frances Ridley Havergal, 1836–79  2 Eg Num 8:10,11; Luke 4:40; Acts 13:3  3 Lev 17:11, AV  

4 Lev 5:13; Deut 15:19,20  5 Anon

Author: Emmanuel Oladipo

Bible in a year

Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 41,42; Matthew 15

Pray for Scripture Union

Please give thanks for all the volunteer leaders who give up so much of their time throughout the year to run our events and pray that this weekend will be a great time of refreshment and inspiration for them all.

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