I don't know about many of but until recently I never spent much of my personal devotional time in the Old Testament, save outside of Psalms or Ecclesiastes. I certainly hardly ever cracked open Leviticus or even the post-Exodus parts of Exodus. The Pentateuch, however, I think is the foundations of our doctrine of God and man. Without an adequate understanding of the Law we will never really understand Christ as its fulfillment. Recently, Teresa and I have been studying the Book of Romans and it has amazed me how much better I understand Paul because I understand ancient Judaism. I would even go as far as to argue that without studying the Pentateuch you will never really begin to understand the Epistles, or for that part, the New Testament. Beginning today I'd like to start some reflections on the Old Testament, perhaps with an occasional side-bar here or there to spice it up. Today, the sacrificial system and what it teaches us about God and about man.
The sacrificial system provided a way of approaching God for the people of Israel. As the entirety of Scripture attests to God sought from Creation to have a relationship with man. Despite the broken communion in the Fall, Genesis 3 testifies to the great lengths God would go to in order to restore that bond. Having delivered Israel from the bonds of slavery in Egypt, God designs the sacrificial system, beginning in Exodus 28, to atone for the sins of Israel and restore the broken relationship between God and Man. While the system in its parts and procedures made the pathway available, the system in its entirety illustrates the perfect holiness of God juxtaposed with the sinfulness of Man. This great distance stands at the heart of the system and underlies each component.
The Tabernacle instructs on who God is and His holiness. The fine materials that each Israelite were to contribute illustrates the precious, valuable worth of God and the quality He required and deserved from the people (Ex. 25: 2-8). Furthermore, the intricate detail in the construction and precise measurements of its dimensions demonstrate the fullness of attention God deserves of His people (Ex. 25-27). Each element served not only as an offering to God who deserved in His perfection of the finest things but also as a manifestation and reminder of His holiness. The structure and lay out of the Tabernacle demonstrates as well the separation between such a holy and perfect God and Man. The veils and curtains of the Tabernacle provided a physical manifestation of that divide barring the Israelites from entering into God’s presence (Ex. 26:33).
The procession of the Tabernacle further illustrated God’s righteousness and the sinfulness of Man. The necessity for the Israelites to make confession and sacrifice demonstrated their corrupt nature while the mediation of the priests and mercy given by God points to His holiness. Furthermore the need for the nation of Israel to construct a Tabernacle at all shows both God’s righteous desire to dwell amongst His people and the need for a consecrated place for Him to do so. Because of their sinfulness the Israelites’ camp was insufficient for God in and of itself. The Tabernacle thus serves as a physical manifestation of the divide between a holy God and sinful people.
The priestly institution of the sacrificial system illustrates the distance between God and Man in that a mediator is required between the two. From among the people of Israel special men were to be appointed and consecrated in order to make sacrifice and atonement on behalf of the people (Ex. 28:1). The consecration of the priests speaks to both the holiness of God as well as the sinfulness of man. His provision of priests as well as His blessing and anointing of those priests illustrate not only His holiness but His power to consecrate and His desire to draw His people back unto Him (Ex. 29:1-7). That a select, special group had to go through such consecration and anointing in order to be able to mediate for the Israelites, however, points directly back to the sinful and corrupt nature of the people of Israel.
The actual sacrifices of the system epitomize the divide between God and Man, each highlighting in their own way the juxtaposition between God’s holiness and Man’s sinfulness. As a whole the sacrifice was a prayer acted out before God and Man. The offering allowed man to reflect on his own sinfulness and prepare his heart for the sacrifice to God. For God the sacrifice prompted Him to demonstrate His holy demands as well as His mercy and loving nature. The entire system, outlined in Leviticus 1-7, thus served as the stage by which this juxtaposition was acted out and overcome.
The burnt offering made atonement for the sins of the Israelites (Lev. 1:4) representing Man’s total commitment to God. This sacrifice illustrates the fundamental divide in nature between God and man and the righteous requirements God makes of man. The grain offering was made a memorial to God, acknowledging His provision and faithfulness (Lev. 2:2). This offering represented the total commitment of the offerers’ possessions to God. The peace offering was a meal shared between God and Man as mediated by the priest to represent communion and fellowship with God (Lev. 3:16). Acknowledging the perfection and provision of God in the previous two sacrifices, the meal offering demonstrates God’s mercy over sinful Man in allowing Him to temporarily commune with Him. The sin offering sought forgiveness for the particular sins of Israel. Whereas the burnt offering addressed the inherent evil within Man, the sin offering of Leviticus 4 demonstrated the daily ways in which man separated himself from God through sin. Finally the guilt offering made restitution for sin appeasing the judgment and penalty incurred by the Israelites for their perpetual, willful rebellion against God (Lev. 5:16).
The sacrificial system as a whole in the books of Exodus and Leviticus not only make this demonstration in the immediate provisions it dictates but also anticipates the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Christ both fulfills the sacrificial system and epitomizes the divide between the complete holiness of God and the sinfulness of Man. Christ is a forever priest, consecrated and holy before the Father (Heb. 7:24-26). He makes intercession for the people before God presenting His perfect and sinless body as a sacrifice rather than an animal. Just as God appointed the Levite line to serve as His priests, so, too, does God appoint His Son for service and intercessor. The Hebrews-author characterizes Christ’s fulfillment and perfection of the sacrificial system writing, “we have such a high priest, who ha taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man,” (Heb. 8:1-2). His ministry directly attests to the forever holiness of the LORD ever reminding man of his need for intercession in order to approach the righteous throne of God. Rather than entering annually into the holy place of the Tabernacle to make atonement, Christ enters as the High Priest, “into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us,” (Heb. 9:24). The death, sacrifice, and priestly ministry of Jesus Christ points solely to the holiness of God and sinful man’s need for atonement.
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