This fifth installment of the Lectures on Leviticus explores God’s heart regarding our varying circumstances. While the standard for holiness never changes, God in His mercy provides a way for everyone—rich or poor, young or old—to offer a “soothing aroma.” We examine the offering of the flock (lambs and goats) and the specific spiritual significance of the “North side” of the altar.
2. The Burnt Offering of a Lamb or Goat (Leviticus 1:10-13)
“But if his offering is from the flock, of the sheep or of the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer it a male without defect.” (Leviticus1:10)
“But if his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering from the turtledoves or from young pigeons.” (Leviticus 1:14)
Actually, a young bull without defect is the best for burnt offering, but some people could not afford it. Even today, people have different economic status. Some people can spend thousands of dollars on a single suit, dress, or decorative item. But for other people, it is more than their monthly income. Still for others, they have to worry about just barely making ends meet from day to day.
The Israelites in the Old Testament days had different economic situations too. Some people could give many young bulls while some others could never afford just one young bull. Still, even if they were poor, they had to give burnt offerings. They had to give the sacrifice of blood to be forgiven of their sins and gain life. In fact, they had to give a bull, but in His mercy and compassion God allowed the people to give according to their situations. To those who could not give a bull, God allowed them to give a lamb or a goat. For those who could not even afford a lamb or goat, God allowed them to give a pigeon as a burnt offering.
I already explained why a bull and a lamb are appropriate for sacrifice. Though it is not as appropriate an offering as the bull or the lamb, a goat also served as an appropriate animal to give as a sacrifice. It is also an herbivore, and meek compared to other animals. It also gives milk, skin, and meat to the people.
A pigeon, which God allowed for the poorest people, is very meek and clever and easy to tame, so it is also an appropriate offering to God. Viewing audiences, God accepts the burnt offering given to Him according to each one’s situation. So, today He accepts worship service of each one according to his ability and situation. For example, the understanding of the message is different according to each one’s intelligence, education, and age. A person with high intelligence and good education is more likely to understand and remember the message better than a person who is illiterate and not as intelligent. However, God does not say, “You do not worship Me properly, for you did not understand the message very well.” If a less intelligent person worships God with a true heart, God is pleased and accepts his worship, saying, “Your offering is pleasing to me.”
Also, age makes a difference in worship service. Some elderly people do not understand or remember the message well because of old age. Although they long to worship God and bear the message in mind, they often immediately forget the message because at their age, their skills at remembering are poor. Nevertheless, God knows everything, so, He accepts the worship of those who try to seek Him with compassion and joy.
One thing you should remember is that everyone is able to understand and remember the Word of God through the work of the Holy Spirit no matter how old or lacking in mental capacity for comprehending the person may be. That’s because the power and strength come on those who worship in spirit and truth. Thus, you should not say, “I am not able. My efforts do not seem to be effective.” But you should ask God for His strength, giving all your heart.
The most important thing in the sight of God is not what we give. There are various offerings, and it is important how much each offering is given with all your heart and the true faith with which it is given.
Jesus said that a widow who gave two coins gave God even more than other rich people there. That was because they gave the offerings from their abundance but she gave all that she had with faith and love for God. Similarly, if there is a person who can barely afford to give a pigeon, and if he gives God a goat with faith when his heart is moved by Holy Spirit, this can please God more than a young bull given by a rich man.
God looks at the heart of those who give wholeheartedly as said in 2 Corinthians 8:12, “For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.” But, if a person who is rich enough to give a young bull gives a lamb or a pigeon with a stingy heart, he cannot please God.
The kind of offerings can be different according to each one’s financial situation, but each one has to give God his offerings with holy and blameless heart. So, you should give a male goat or lamb without defect like in the case of a young bull. The spiritual meaning of “a male without defect” was already explained in the lecture on burnt offering of a bull.
It is something obvious that we should not give defective gifts to an important person. In the same way, we must give God the offerings without defect.
Spiritually, to give offerings without defect means that you must worship God with a blameless heart in joy and gratitude.
As “a male” indicates that we must worship God with the firm and unchanging heart, how to give a burnt offering with a lamb or a goat is similar to how to give a burnt offering with a bull. So, I will briefly explain the important points since many of things involved are being repeated.
1) Slaughter it at the north side of the altar
Leviticus 1: 11 says, “He shall slay it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar.”
You should slaughter an animal given as the offering and sprinkle and apply its blood on all sides, and I explained about this in the offering of the bull. By the way, when you slaughter the lamb or goat, you do it at the north side of the altar.
Why does God command us to slaughter it at the north side of the altar?
The north side spiritually carries the meaning of coldness, darkness, chillness and sharpness. The Bible says that the disaster on Israel and pain brought will come from the north side.
For example, in Jeremiah 1:14 says, the LORD God said, “Out of the north the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.” Jeremiah 4:6 says, “Lift up a standard toward Zion! Seek refuge, do not stand still, For I am bringing evil from the north, And great destruction.”
And Ezekiel 38:6 says, “Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops many peoples with you.” This is all concerned with World War III that will happen at the end time of the world. It says the cause of the war will be from the people coming from the far north.
Of course not every expression of the north in the Bible has bad connotation, but simply is one of direction. But when it has spiritual meaning, it means sharpness, darkness, chillness, or coldness. The ‘north side’ of the altar in today’s passage has spiritual meaning. An animal that is to be slaughtered is slaughtered on behalf of sinners who have to die as the result of their sins. The curse of death that sinners are destined to receive is transferred to the animal. The Holy God is not pleased with sins, and sinners are cut off and away from God.
That’s why Jesus was forsaken by God for a while when He was crucified taking the punishment of sinners. Mark 15:34 says, “At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’”
Our Lord, when He was on this earth, never called God, ‘God’. He always called God, ‘Father’, even before those who were threatening Him. But only at one place here, just before He breathed His last, He called God, ‘God.’ He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus always called God “my Father” during His whole public life, but did not dare to call God “Father” at that moment when He was crucified and taking the sins of all men. Because He became like a sinner at that moment, He could not call out to God saying, ‘My Father’ but He had to call Him just “God.”
The Bible also says this about sinners, “The wicked will be thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of the teeth.” Sinners have to pay for the last bit of their sins in the dark and dreadful place. So, God appointed the north side of the altar as the place to slaughter the sacrifice and to take the punishment of sinners. Matthew 27:33 says that our Lord Jesus was crucified at the Place of the Skull, Golgotha. Even the name of the place of His crucifixion reminds us of Jesus’ death at a dark, terrifying, and horrible place for sinners.
Jesus forgave our sins by being crucified, so we do not have to go to the dark and horrible hell. But rather, we can enter the bright and glorious heaven and enjoy eternal happiness.
I explained the spiritual meaning of sprinkling the blood of an animal given as an offering on all the sides of the altar in the lecture on burnt offering of a young bull. Briefly, you must sprinkle its blood on all the sides of the altar in order to be forgiven of all sins that you commit in all directions. It is to be forgiven of all the words, deeds and thoughts that are against the truth. I emphasized that after you are forgiven of all your sins, then you should go the way of God without committing sins again and walk in the truth.
2) He is to cut it into pieces…
Verses 12 and 13 continues, “’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 offer all of it, and offer it up in smoke on the altar; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD.”
I explained the spiritual meaning of cutting the slaughtered animal into pieces, burning the head and the fat of the animal, putting the wood over the fire, and washing the internal organs and the legs and so on.
Cutting an animal into pieces indicates that there must be procedures in all worship services and you should follow them, only then are you giving a perfect burnt offering to God. So, it is a perfect burnt offering only when you come and prepare yourself before the service begins by the silent prayer and attend until the end of benediction or the Lord’s Prayer.
In quick review, in the worship service of today the burning the head of the animal spiritually means that we should worship God with concentration on the message, by casting off untruthful thoughts and without having idle thoughts. Burning the fat of the animal means that we should worship God in spirit and in truth with all our soul and with all our mind to be pleasing to God. Putting the wood over the flames of the fire indicates that we should understand the word and keep it in mind by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As the internal organs having dirty things and the legs become stained with unclean things that need washing, when we go into dirty places and in unclean directions we pick up dirty things and are stained with uncleanliness that requires washing. Washing the internal organs and the legs with water symbolizes that we should wash all kinds of sins and dirt with the Word of God.
People commit all kinds of sins with their bodies like cheating, cursing, or beating others. Even though they do not commit sins in action, they commit sins of hatred, envy, jealousy, or arrogance in their hearts. Worldly people do not think they commit sins, yet their hearts are stained with all kinds of sins. But God regards sins in our heart same as sins we commit in action. You should throw away all kinds of sins from your heart and from your action relying on God’s word. You have no time to think, “I will throw it away just a little later” because you live in the age of the end time of the world. If you realize something as sin and evil by the word of God or by the work of the Holy Spirit, you should cast them away immediately. Only then will you be able to ride on the flow of spirit and not fail to join the parade toward New Jerusalem.
I reviewed only the important points of the burnt offering of a lamb or a goat because it is similar to the offering of a bull. Those who were not rich enough to give the offering with a lamb or a goat gave a bird as an offering. A burnt offering of a bird will be explained in the next chapter.
People of the Old Testament had to give a burnt offering whether it was a bull, a lamb, a goat or a pigeon. That is to say, they had to give a burnt offering to be forgiven and to be saved, and to gain eternal life whether they were poor or rich. But how is it today? Jesus was crucified about 2,000 years ago to become the burnt offering Himself. Hebrews 7:27 says, “Who [Jesus] does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.” In order to be forgiven of our sins and go before God, we have to bring an animal as an offering before God, slaughter it and give it according to the procedures. But Jesus took all the complicated procedures of the burnt offering in giving His body as a full and perfect offering once and for all time. He became an atoning sacrifice for all human beings whether rich or poor. He was crucified for all men, the wise and the foolish, the healthy and the disabled, the slave and the freeman, and the honored as well as the wretched and miserable.
Therefore, we can receive the same blessings as with giving burnt offerings when we believe in the Lord and keep the Sabbath holy by coming to the sanctuary of God, worshiping Him in spirit, and having fellowship with brothers and sisters in faith.