The Ultimate Sacrifice
You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you. You are to slaughter the young bull before the LORD, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. You are to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest are to put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar. You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to burn all of it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. Leviticus 1:4-9
Have you ever thought about the work life of one of the priests? Making the animal sacrifices would qualify for spot on Mike Rowe’s Dirtiest Jobs. Some sacrifices involved the person offering the sacrifice, while others involved only the priests and the animals. Either the priest and or the person offering the sacrifice will lay their hand on the head of the animal to be slaughtered. An ox or a bull is a large animal. The animal is not an obedient pet, it may likely be bellowing and struggling against the actions to come. Now put your hand on its head and cut its throat. Blood is spurting around. If that animal is thrashing at all, the blood is also splattered about. Once the animal is dead you have to skin the animal and cut it up. Have you ever worked dressed an animal? Worked in a slaughter house or even a butcher shop? Yet, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin. Thanks be to God that Jesus died once for all, that the blood he shed cleanses us from all sin. No more animal sacrifices with all the bloody, stinky mess that goes with it. Jesus made a way for us to God through His sacrifice.