A Worthy Sacrifice

This is what the LORD has commanded you to do so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.   Leviticus 9:6

After seven months of longing for the presence of God to return, Moses told the people how it could happen. There must have been a stunned silence as the people listened to the instructions he gave Aaron: “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them” (Leviticus 9:7, NIV).

The priests took an animal and slaughtered it so that the blood of the animal was poured out. The blood was then taken to the altar. “Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle, and when they came back out, they blessed the people again, and the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole community” (Leviticus 9:23).

God was back! That could only mean that what had been wrong had finally been put right. Then the Lord gave evidence of his presence: “Fire blazed forth from the LORD’s presence and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When the people saw this, they shouted with joy and fell face down on the ground” (Leviticus 9:24).

Can you imagine the impact of this? A woman sits in her tent, talking about the day: “I’ve never seen anything quite like that! Who would have imagined that shedding the blood of an animal would bring back the presence of God?” Her husband agrees: “We’ve learned something today. Where there is sin, we need a sacrifice. It’s the sacrifice and the shedding of blood that makes atonement with God.”

The Old Testament sacrificial system always pointed forward so that we would be able to understand why the Son of God had to come into the world. The sacrifices help us to see that in his death on that cross, Jesus Christ did in reality what the sacrifice of animals did only in symbol. Christ made atonement for our sins, and he brings back the presence of God for all who trust in his sacrifice.

For further reading, see Leviticus 9