Chosen People 

Part Three: animal sacrifices March 15, 2026 

Last Sunday, we learned that God formed Israel to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests, that would share their knowledge of God and His salvation with the Gentile nations.  The Israelites were to be God’s missionaries, leading the Gentile nations back to the One, True God (Exodus 19:1-6).  Today, we are going to look at how God designed Israel’s sacrificial system to point people to Jesus, the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world (John 1:29).  

• The basis for Israel’s sacrificial system is found in Genesis Chapter Three. 

God told Adam, the father of humanity, that he could eat of every tree in the garden but the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God warned Adam that he would die if he ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:15-17).  But Adam ignored God's warning, and his disobedience brought sin and death into the world (Romans 5:12).  The first to die because of Adam’s sin were some innocent animals.  

“And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.”  (Genesis 3:21, NLT)  

This killing of innocent animals to cover humanity’s sin laid the foundation for Israel’s later sacrificial system.  First, God sacrificed animals for Adam and Eve.  Then God-fearing individuals sacrificed animals to God (Genesis 4:1-7; 9:20-21; 22:13; 31:54).  Then, a God-fearing nation sacrificed animals to God (Exodus 12).   

• God established Israel’s formal sacrificial system at Mount Sinai (Lev. 1-7).  

After He gave Israel the Law and annual festivals (Exodus 20; 23:14-19), the Lord instructed His chosen people to build Him a holy sanctuary (Exodus 25-31; 35-40).  When the Tabernacle was finished, God told Israel what, how, and when to offer sacrifices to Him. 

-----Read Leviticus 1:1-9 from the NLT----- 

The Lord called to Moses from the Tabernacle and said to him, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.  When you present an animal as an offering to the Lord, you may take it from your herd of cattle or your flock of sheep and goats.  If the animal you present as a burnt offering is from the herd, it must be a male with no defects.  Bring it to the entrance of the Tabernacle so you may be accepted by the Lord.  Lay your hand on the animal’s head, and the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with Him.  Then slaughter the young bull in the Lord’s presence, and Aaron’s sons, the priests, will present the animal’s blood by splattering it against all sides of the altar that stands at the entrance to the Tabernacle. Then skin the animal and cut it into pieces.  The sons of Aaron the priest will build a wood fire on the altar.  They will arrange the pieces of the offering, including the head and fat, on the wood burning on the altar.  But the internal organs and the legs must first be washed with water. Then the priest will burn the entire sacrifice on the altar as a burnt offering.  It is a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”  (Leviticus 1:1–9, NLT)  

What were the rules for offering an animal sacrifice? 

1.  Animal sacrifices could only be made at the Tabernacle by priests. 

2.  Animals offered as a sacrifice had to be healthy.  

3.  The person offering the animal sacrifice had to lay his hands on the animal’s head before it was slain.  

By laying his hands on the animal and watching its blood (life) drain from its body, the worshiper was saying without words, “This innocent animal is dying in my place.”   

What did Israel’s sacrificial system teach people? 

1.  Death is the cost for sin.   

“For the wages of sin is death…”  (Romans 6:23, NLT)  

2.  Blood must be shed to atone for sin.  

“For the life of the body is in its blood.  I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord.  It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”  (Leviticus 17:11, NLT)  

“In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood.  For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22, NLT)  

3.  Animal blood cannot take away humanity’s sin.   

Animal sacrifices did not completely remove people’s sins.  Every time a person offered another animal sacrifice to the Lord, they were reminded that they were still a sinner who needed redemption.   

“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves.  The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship.  If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.  But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year.  For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:1–4, NLT)  

• The earthly tabernacle, its priests, and the animal sacrifices foreshadowed when the sinless Son of God would die for humanity’s sins. 

“So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come.  He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.  With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”  (Hebrews 9:11–12, NLT)  

“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.  We have left God’s paths to follow our own.  Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.  He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word.  He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.  And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.  Unjustly condemned, he was led away.  No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream.  But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people.  He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone.  But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.  But it was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.  Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants.  He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD’s good plan will prosper in his hands.  When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied.  And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.”  (Isaiah 53:6–11, NLT) 

Jesus offered the final sacrifice to God when he died on the cross.  Christ entered the true Holy of Holies not with the blood of animals, but with his own blood.  As the perfect Lamb of God, Jesus died for the sins of the world (John 1:29-51; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).