WORSHIP OF THE REDEEMED ISRAEL

Friends, I welcome you again in the Name of the LORD Jesus Christ. Last time we discussed worshipping God according to His pattern. Today we want to look at the Worship of the Redeemed Israel.

text: Leviticus 1:1-17

PRAYER:

Father, we want to thank You again for the opportunity we have to come to You and to listen to Your Word. And we are praying that You speak to us again, and that You speak to us in the power of Your Spirit, in Jesus’ Name. Amen!

Exodus is the account of God’s redemption of Israel from the Egyptian bondage through sacrificial blood of the Passover Lamb. This redemption is the type of the redemption we have in Jesus Christ, the antitype of the Passover Lamb. By the sacrifice of Christ our Passover Lamb, according to 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, those who believe in Christ are redeemed from the bondage of sin.

John 8:34-36

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. ³⁶Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed

The Israelites were set free indeed from Egypt. But when Pharaoh sought to re-enslave them, he failed woefully, because they have been set free indeed. And in the process he and his family perished. Having been set free, God showed Israel how to worship and serve Him in holiness and righteousness. In holiness and righteousness – take note. No wonder He tells Israel in,

Leviticus 19:2

²You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

Leviticus is the book that focuses on the worship and service of Israel the redeemed people of God. God demands worship and service from those He has redeemed, and they would offer that to Him in holiness and righteousness. The devil who always craves worship, no matter how wretched it might be, was too ambitious when he demanded worship from Jesus Christ in exchange for all the kingdoms of the world. To this, Jesus replied, in

Matthew 4:10

¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.

From what Jesus said, it appears that worship precedes service. It is possible to serve God without worshiping Him, especially when we know that true worship is in spirit and in truth. But no one worships God without serving Him. In Leviticus we find God’s stipulation for Israel’s worship. There is an aspect of this worship I want to examine briefly, and that is the burnt sacrifice atonement.

Leviticus 1

¹Now the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, ²“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock. ³‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord. ⁴Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. ⁹…And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord

Four interesting and instructive facts emerge from this sacrificial system of worship:

1. It is an offering completely dedicated to God, completely consumed by fire. A holocaust, according to Septuagint, Septuagint the Greek translation of the Old Testament. There it calls it a holocaust, which has assumed a different meaning today, more serious though. The worshiper took nothing from his offering. It was all God’s.
2. Because of the nature of the offering it addresses the problems of man’s sinful nature or depravity. This offering was not for any particular sin. There were other sacrifices that dealt with those. The burnt offering dealt with the root of all sins.

The second interesting and instructing fact that emerges from this sacrifice: it portrays God as a God of inclusion, as a God of propulsion. God makes provision for everyone to worship Him in this way, without any economic hindrance. We find this in the provision that permitted the worshipper to come with either a bull, in verses 3 – 5; a sheep or goat, in verse 10; or turtledoves or young pigeons, in verse 14. Thus, no one was excluded because he could not afford a sacrificial animal.

In the New Testament, the changeless God leaves the door open to all also. Whosoever will may come. It is even better than in the Old Testament, for Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb for all. No other lamb, no other sacrificial animal, is required.

• The sacrifice must be without blemish, verses 3 and 10. This speaks of the Holiness of God who desires and demands purity. Allied to this are the meticulous and particular instructions as to how the sacrifice was to be offered. We don’t come to God in or own way or in our own ways. It must be God’s own Way.

1. The worshiper had to identify with the sacrificial animal symbolically, by placing his hands on the head of the animal. We read: and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. The worshiper was saying in effect, this animal is dying in my place.

For us, Jesus died in our place, and we must identify with him for His sacrifice to be of benefit for us. As we place our faith in His sacrifice we symbolically identify with Him, in His death, burial, resurrection, through the ordinance of baptism, symbolically. And no mode of baptism captures this better than baptism by emersion.

Permit me then to conclude with

Romans 6:3-6

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,  knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

Friend, your burnt offering has been provided for by God, in the person of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice takes care of your sin, the sin nature and the sins, the products of your sin nature.

You have no excuse. Receive Him now, and He will set you free.

PRAYER:

Father, we thank You again, for this time we have spent. Into Your hand I commit my friends, and ask that You meet the needs in their lives. Set Your people free. Meet the needs in their lives, to the glory and praise of Your Name, in Jesus Name. Amen!