sacrifices without blemish
Exodus 12 The Passover v 5. 13 14- You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. . .The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and syou shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
Exodus 20:24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. IN every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.
Leviticus 1:3-17 God demanded an unblemished sacrifice of animal to all his different sacrifices–sin offering, wave offering, and so one. But pure, without blemish or scars or marring.
Leviticus 4-5 Sin Offerings which ones are acceptable
Leviticus 16 Day of Atonement
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the life that makes atonement.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the commands of the LORD and his decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.”
Deuteronomy 16:2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the LORD your God, from the flock or the heard, at the place that the LORD will choose, to make his name dwell there.
Deuteronomy 17:1 “You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.”
Psalm 4:5 Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD.
Psalm 51:16-17 “You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer it: you do not delight in burnt offerings. The one true sacrifice God requires is a broken spirit; you will not reject a broken and contrite heart.”
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
Proverbs 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with evil intent.
Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
Matthew 9:13 “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
As they Israelis were fleeing Egypt, living in the wilderness, God set up His Laws for them to respect and follow. The cost of their sins varied–but always required death, usually to a lamb, a goat kid, a year old ox, or if someone was quite poor, the offering of a dove. God wanted the Israelis to offer pure, unblemished animals–no limping, no blindness, no blemishes. Mouths should show no crooked jaws which would have made feeding difficult, the animal needed to be alert, able to hear well, gain weight once weaned from its mother, no skin blemishes–perfect lamb or kid. These were just yearlings, innocent and if any had paid attention, they probably would have had an opportunity to see them frolic, play with another lamb or kid. It seems all babies like to play and engage with others.
So people internalize the cuteness, appreciate the levity, and so suffer disappointment and loss when they have to see the life of an animal taken for THEIR sinful ways. Yet, as much as they witnessed these sacrifices, it did not change the sinning nature we all have. It may have given pause the next time one could sin or turn away, but it was not full out lasting. And as much as we can remember what we have read about what Jesus suffered for us, we too continue sinning. As Paul repeatedly says in Romans, I do not want to be disobedient, but my selfishness is strong and at times feels like a ring through the nose, and it is being pulled this way–the way I do NOT want to go–but frequently go anyway. We are not HELPLESS in resisting our sinful nature, but it is a continual battle. We battle our desires and Satan’s lies and urgings to sin and entice, against what we know God and the Holy Spirit are seeking us to do. Resisting sin and selfishness builds character and confidence we are truly following Christ as closely as we can. We will not be perfect, but with the help of the Spirit, we can become stronger and sin less.
Selfish desire versus what we know is sinful–drinking too much, spending too much, over-eating and wasting funds when we have a well stocked kitchen and pantry. Impatience, unwarranted anger, frustrations, rash words spewing from our mouths that certainly are not glorifying to God, our Creator who made us to be in “our” likeness. We may covet and yearn for something that someone else has, may want and crave a skill, gift, talent, or relationship one has. That is how Eve was enticed to sin in the first place. She saw the fruit, the serpent told her it was so good, and God would not kill her to eat and enjoy (God must be not fully sharing all He had. . .) So she took a bite, and immediately, recognizing she had disobeyed God’s command, offered some to Adam. (In all truth whenever I was caught in a big disobedience–usually my brother and I were together since we ran with the same friends–I would pull him under the bus of punishment also. I was a brat. And he never pushed me under the bus. He just took his punishment. And that made me feel worse, as I knew I was sinful, weak, and if in trouble, wanted company.). SHAME ON ME.
But God had commanded the sacrifice of animals to affect the heart of the people. It was a vivid sight to see a beautiful and flawless creature being killed for sins you had committed. After centuries of disobedience, sending out prophets to tell the people they were sinning and they would be overcome by other nations, not free to come and go as they willed, not free to work their land, bring in harvests, and honor the Sabbaths and religious holidays and so forth. They did not fully believe, but certainly did not repent in any kind of a permanent manner–maybe for a few days, but not lasting.
It is the same for us today, although we know the bible and what Jesus, sinless, holy, and pure suffered so that He could take our punishment and we would not have to tormented in hell for eternity. And He then gave us the Holy Spirit to reside within us, to be a persistent reminder of how we should live, how to forgive, how to be obedient and grow to become more Christ-like. Yes, we often still do turn our backs on the urgings of the Spirit to NOT do this or that, to follow the path of not sinning, to not have to repent later because we DID sin. Now we have guilt, the sin, the feeling of weakness, and the disappointment that we have let Jesus and the Holy Spirit down. WE have disobeyed, we have sinned–despite the prompting, reminding of that Spirit to turn and not to sin. We are selfish.
Given free choice at creation, more times than not, I think we choose disobedience and selfishness. We have all the tools–Jesus and His death, resurrection, teachings, and life examples, the Holy Spirit living within us, so constantly pointing out sins and mistakes and urging us to turn from them, and the Bible which has spoken words to educate us so we will be more amenable to obedience. Yet, with our desire for our choice, we frequently still choose to sin.
God, I am so thankful you provided a means to have us forgiven by the death of your Son, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And yet, I still sin. I am so weak, so selfish, so much like Paul in the struggle to do what is right, what I know is right, and yet I still do wrong. I apologize and each day will continue to strive to do better. I am so very thankful You are continually there for ‘me and mybellaviews.’
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