2. Why Study the Sacrifices?
• If we profess that Christ fulfilled the sacrifices,
we should know what they are.
• Sacrifices are a form of worship that God
ordained.
• Understanding the sacrifices will also help us
understand the book of Hebrews, which deals
with sacrifices heavily.
• To better understand our God, His Word, and
the sacrifice of the Son.
3. Questions
• Before we continue, are their any specific
questions we would like to find the answer to
in our studies?
• We should write them down at this time and
keep them in mind as we go.
4. Background
The sacrifices are listed beginning in Leviticus 1.
Before we dive into them, let’s talk about the
context.
• After the 10 Plagues, Israel leaves Egypt
• Israel crosses the Red Sea on dry ground while
the Egyptians are drowned.
• Manna & Quail from Heaven
• Moses goes up to Mt. Sinai and receives the
Torah, including 10 Commandments
5. Background (cont.)
• The golden calf incident, the broken tablets
and the re-make
• The building of the tabernacle, the Ark, and all
the temple furnishings.
• The cloud of the Lord covers the Tabernacle.
(Exod. 40:34-38)
• When the cloud covers the Tabernacle, no one
can enter, not even Moses.
6. Background (cont.)
• Dedication of the Tabernacle, Gifts from the
leader of each tribe
• The end of the book of Exodus leaves us
wondering, how can Israel approach God? Not
even Moses can go into the Tabernacle when
the cloud of glory envelopes it.
7. God and man
Despite our desire to communicate with
and know God, our “humanness” also
keeps us apart from Him.
8. God and man
God Man
• Holy (Lev. 11:45) • Common
• Eternal Life (Exod. 15:18) • Mortal (Gen. 6:3)
• Pure (Psalm 12:6) • Unclean
• Infinite • Finite (Gen. 6:3)
• Consuming Fire (Deut. 4:24) • Dust (Gen. 2:7)
Even if we wanted to, we cannot enter the
Presence of God on our own.
9. korban
This is the Hebrew word
translated as ―sacrifice‖ in English.
The English words “sacrifice” and “offering” do not accurately express the
concept for the korban.
The word “sacrifice” implies that the person bringing it must deprive
himself of something he cares about.
The word “offering” implies a payment, fee, or tax.
10. korban
The root of the word korbanis karav.
Karavis translated as:
―to approach, to come near‖
A korbanshould be understood as:
“something brought near.”
11. korban
Something brought near
The first few verses of Leviticus imply that man, himself, cannot come
near God in His dwelling place, the Tabernacle. Thus, man brings a
korban as a vehicle that allows man to draw near to God in the holy
place.
The person who brings a korban, does so in order to come near to God.
To draw near to God is to have fellowship with the manifest presence of
God on earth.
12. korban
Can also be translated as ―a gift.‖
Wait a minute! Does God need gifts?
Of course not!
He doesn’t need our gifts, just like He
doesn’t need our prayers or our songs of
praise, but all 3 are things God has
enabled us to offer to him so we can
enjoy a relationship with Him.
13. korban vs. sacrifice
We are usually taught that the
Israelites brought sacrifices to the
temple to pay the penalty for their
sins. This type of reasoning turns
the sacrifice into a scapegoat.
When a person sinned and
deserved death, he could make a
sacrifice instead, killing a cow or
sheep in his place.
14. korban vs. sacrifice
This concept of scapegoat makes
it seem like God was angry with
the sinner and demanded
punishment. Once the animal had
died, God was appeased and no
longer felt angry—at least
something had died!
Is this really who our God is?
No!
15. Sacrifices & Paying for Sins
Christians often think that in the
OT, people brought sacrifices to
pay for their sins.
Most of the sacrifices had nothing
to do with paying for sins as we
will see in the text.
16. The 5 Types of Sacrifices
•Burnt Offering
•Grain Offering
•Peace Offering
•Sin Offering
•Guilt Offering
17. Burnt Offering
•Leviticus 1:1-17 & 6:8-13
•―korbanolah”. Olahmeans “that
which rises.”
•Can be a young bull, sheep, goat,
turtledoves or pigeons
18. Burnt Offering
•Bull/Sheep/Goat: Young, male,
unblemished
•Laying of hands on bull’s head
•Slaughter bull in front of the Tent
•Splash blood around all 4 sides of altar (by
the priests)
•Skin the bull & cut into pieces
•Priesthood tends fire and wood on the altar
•Priests arranges head, fat, and pieces on the
altar.
•Entrails and legs of animal to be washed.
•Priests cause everything to go up in smoke
as a burnt offering.
19. Burnt Offering
•Turtledoves/Pigeons: Young
•Priest brings it to altar, snaps head,
place head on altar
•Blood is drained on side of altar
•Food pouch and feathers from neck
are discarded on ash pile east of
altar
•Priest pulls wings open, without
tearing it in half.
•Priest places bird on altar, cause it
to go up in smoke.
20. Burnt Offering
•What can we learn from the burnt
offering?
•Complete offering – nothing is left
over to eat or take home or to give
to priest.
•Represent the person who is
completely surrendered to God.
•Like Romans 12:1 ―offer yourselves
as a sacrifice, living and set apart
for God‖
21. Burnt Offering &
Laying of Hands
•When do we see the “laying of hands” in
the Bible?
•Numbers 8:10 Israel laid hands on the
Levites
•Numbers 27:18 Moses laid hands on Joshua
•2 Kings 13:15-17 Elisha laid hands on the
King
•Mark 10:13-16 Jesus laid hands on the kids
•Acts 6:5-6 New apostles chosen, ordained
•On what other occasions do we see the
“laying of hands?”
•Healing for a sick person
•Ordaining ministers
22. Burnt Offering &
Laying of Hands
•What is the purpose of the “laying
of hands?”
•Transferring of identity
•Levites invested with the identity of
Israel
•Joshua invested with identity of
Moses as leader
•Animal (korban) invested with the
identity of person bringing the korban.
23. Burnt Offering &
Atonement
•Leviticus 1:4 says, ―Then 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.‖
•One might assume that the
sacrifice was meant as an
atonement for sin, but this is not
accurate.
24. Burnt Offering &
Atonement
•The term for atonement here is
kaphar, and certainly can imply
forgiveness of sin and removal of
guilt, but the word means more than
that.
•Kapharis used in Genesis when
God instructs Noah to ―cover‖
(kaphar) the ark inside and out with
pitch.
•Kapharmay also be used in the
form as a ―ransom‖ for one’s life.
•Both definitions apply to the
25. Burnt Offering &
Atonement
•Everything in the tabernacle had to be
covered (i.e. Ark was wood, covered with
gold on the inside and the outside) in
order to survive the Presence of God.
•Same is true of the worshipper who
wanted to draw near to God’s Presence
in His holy place. Fragile, mortal flesh
cannot survive God’s Presence.
•Levitcal atonement should be
understood as a covering, a protective
shelter from the manifest Presence of
God, who occupied the
tabernacle/temple.
26. Sacrifices & Salvation
•In the sacrificial system,
―atonement‖ does not mean ―attain
salvation.‖
•Hebrews 10:4 makes it clear that
sacrifices were not intended to
remove sins.
•Hebrews 9:9-10 explains that the
sacrifices could not cleanse the
conscience because they were only
intended to relate to matters of the
flesh, not the spirit.
27. Sacrifices & Salvation
•Many Christians make the mistake
of looking at the sacrificial system
through the eyes of ―Old vs. New
Covenant‖, ―OT vs. NT‖, ―pre-
Calvary vs. post-Calvary.‖
•If animal sacrifices actually gave
people forgiveness of sins and
salvation, then Jesus did not need to
die at all, and His death only makes
it easier for the animals and more
convenient for us.
28. Sacrifices & Salvation
•Temple sacrifices = cleansing of
flesh
•Faith & Repentance = cleansing
of the spirit
•Jesus tells us that we should do
the spiritual cleansing prior to the
flesh in Matt. 5:23-26. Rabbis
agree with this, that without
repentance, no sacrifice will bring
atonement for sins.
29. Doesn’t God hate sacrifices?
•Isaiah 1:11-13 & Jeremiah 6:20 & Malachi 1:10 seem
to support the idea that God hates sacrifices.
•This seems contradictory. Why would God say He
hates sacrifices when He’s the one who commanded
Israel to bring them?
•A more careful reading of the prophets shows them
not speaking against the sacrificial system, but rather
the worshippers. The prophets rebuked the
worshippers for violating the commandments, while
continuing to go through the motions of the sacrificial
system.
•Their hearts were far from God, but they continued
keeping the religious rituals anyway.
•This is a good lesson for us – we must be careful not
to develop a sense of right-standing with God through
ritual observances. Outward rituals should reflect our
inner person.
•Repentance makes us right with God, not sacrifices.
30. Messiah and the korban
•Human sin and mortality separates us from
God.
•Like Moses, we are unable to approach
Holy God.
•In the Eternal Temple (heavenly), Christ is
our korban, the unblemished, perfect,
sinless one that brings us near and covers
us in the Presence of God.
•No one comes to the Father, but through
Christ. John 14:6
•We are to identify with Christ to the extent,
we consider ourselves to have died and
risen with him. Gal. 2:20
31. Messiah and the korban
•Worshippers are able to
physically draw near to God within
the Temple through the sacrificial
blood of animals, but this never
brought him near to God in the
eternal sense of life and death
(salvation).
•Salvation: Only through the
Heavenly Temple, only with the
korban-Christ.
32. Messiah and the korban
•Hebrews 10:1-2 should be understood
in this light-animal sacrifices do not
save, only Christ saves.
•More than just taking our punishment
for our sins, Christ draws us near to God
through His resurrection.
•If Christ died, without resurrection, it
would be like a korban slaughtered
without going to the altar. Through His
rising, Christ brings us to God.
•Christ is our ―covering‖ as we draw near
to God.
