The Peace Offering—Part I

This series of posts will focus on Leviticus 3, which sets forth the requirements of the peace offering in the law of Moses. However, this post, specifically, will not immediately dive into that chapter.

And for full disclosure, I don’t even know if I will address everything found in Leviticus 3 in this series. One funny thing that the Lord has had me do in preparing to write-up this series is to arrange an appointment to observe an animal being butchered, which won’t happen until later this week, and who knows what I will learn from that experience or what the Lord will have me share as a consequence. But I feel comfortable writing up a few things in the meantime, reserving the right (as always) to change my opinions about things as the Lord leads me to new and better ideas. I feel like my thoughts on this topic are pretty solid, but the Lord has also changed enough things up in my life at various times for to me to know that “you never know.” :)

So let’s start with a few questions. First question:

Why are there so many, and so many different types of, sacrifices in the law of Moses?

This has been a very important question of mine while studying the law of Moses, and it was always very dissatisfying to me when people would answer it by saying that all of the sacrifices were a type and shadow of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. I could easily believe that about the Passover sacrifice, and I later learned about how the other Spring feasts mirror specific events of the life and mission of Jesus Christ. However, because the many other sacrifices do not mirror his life or his mission as well (to me, anyway), I had to conclude that there was something more to them. Were I to believe as others did, I felt it also necessary to believe in a God who was either inefficient in his teaching, at best, or bloodthirsty, at worst. I could believe neither, especially in light of both my experiences with him and the Lord’s own self-proclaimed feelings about the observances prescribed in the law. Let’s turn to Isaiah 1:

10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 1)

The Lord doesn’t delight in bloodshed, and he isn’t an inefficient teacher. He is not even duplicitous in giving the law of Moses and then calling the observances in it “vain oblations,” “abomination,” and “iniquity.”

Why was the Lord “full” of sacrifices? After commanding the people to perform sacrifices, why would the Lord then accuse them of having their hands “full of blood?”

The answer is simple: the people did not understand the Lord’s purposes in giving them the law.

The particulars of Christ’s mission and atoning sacrifice are satisfactorily foreshadowed in the Passover and other Spring feasts. The Fall feasts foreshadow other events that I won’t address at this time (though, I have addressed them, somewhat, in other posts). The remaining observances symbolize other aspects of the gospel with which we are less familiar, owing (like the Israelites) to our misunderstandings of reality and the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purity.

It is not incorrect to say that, to the degree we have those misunderstandings, we are enemies to God because we are not able to fully comprehend and, therefore, engage in his work, which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man—not the least of which is your own (see Moses 1:39; Mosiah 3:19; and Mosiah 16:5, 27-35).

Verse 16, above, is a call to repentance, and repentance is how we reconcile ourselves to God. It is how we align ourselves to him and his purposes. It is how we cease being an enemy to God—a peace treaty, of sorts…

…which brings us to Leviticus 3.

Leviticus, chapter 3, is all about repentance. The sacrifices prescribed in that chapter are called “peace offerings” because they serve as analogs to the correct principle and performance of repentance, which initiates a state of peace between God and a repentant sinner-turned-saint. 

Symbolism in the Sacrifices of the Law of Moses—A Nice Companion Video

Just this past week, I was telling someone how, in the past, the Lord has prompted me to put up preliminary blogposts that introduce a main topic that I think he wants me to write about in a subsequent blogpost, only to teach me more in the process of writing, to the point where what I learn is very different from what I originally thought I would write. There have even been times when I have been prompted to say nothing about my original thoughts. And then last night, I told the same person how my last post kind of followed that pattern and that I could totally see the same thing happening again in writing about the sacrifices in the law of Moses, even though I hoped it wouldn’t because I feel so strongly about the importance of what I was going to share and about how it could help people in their understanding of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well, guess what. :)

I still plan on writing up many (if not, all) of my thoughts, but it might take a bit to integrate new thoughts I am having. And they may or may not be in the next blogpost. We will see.

In the meantime, a new video dropped last night on Rob Smith’s UpwardThought YouTube channel that I thought would make a great “extra credit” video to my last blogpost. Understanding the sacrifices found in the law of Moses really requires us to have a better idea of what the experience of participating in those ordinances was really like for the people who lived at that time, and Rob does a great job of communicating aspects of that.

And as an addendum to my last post, I should also say that another thing that keeps us from understanding the sacrifices of the law of Moses is an incorrect understanding of reality and the gospel of Jesus Christ. There shouldn’t be any surprise there, really. If the law of Moses was intended to be a schoolmaster, how can one accurately see the value in any aspect of it when you have inaccurate ideas regarding both reality and the process that governs and facilitates all improvement within that reality such that you are unable to see the intended analogous relationships between all of those things clearly?

And, with that, I’ll just close with a recommendation, once again, to checkout the rest of Rob’s UpwardThought YouTube channel, his blog, and his books (which can be found in different formats on his blog and on Amazon). The instruction gained from many of the materials he produces will help individuals gain a more accurate understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ and will, consequently, help them more clearly see the symbolism in many aspects of the law of Moses—not just the sacrifices. 

Symbolism in the Sacrifices of the Law of Moses

I had planned for my next post to be a dive into a certain type of sacrifice in the law of Moses, but I think that there are a few things that should be said about the sacrifices in the law of Moses, in general, first.

Many modern Christians incorrectly value what we find in the law of Moses, and there are many reasons why that is the case. Some things are so misunderstood that any value that was meant to be found in them is completely misplaced, and it is easy to have those misunderstandings. We are far removed from the time and circumstances of the ancient Hebrews, and so our lack of familiarity with things that would have been part of a Hebrew’s life, and culture, and, consequently, understanding is an automatic stumbling block. In addition, and with respect to the sacrifices in particular, there are modern sensibilities regarding death that color our opinions about them and their relevance to us.

Death, by itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. Death has its place in God’s plan. That is an important thing to learn and accept if one is to move forward in their understanding of these things.

So, why did God command various animal sacrifices? Well, that depends on which specific sacrifice you’re talking about.

Some of the biggest assumptions that modern Christians make about the sacrifices are: (1) that the sacrifices are only to teach us about the law of sacrifice, in general, and its application in other areas of our lives; (2) that all of them were types and shadows of Christ’s atoning sacrifice; and (3) as a consequence of #2, they were mainly to express gratitude to God for his goodness and mercy in the lives of the human family or as recognition of such in supplicating for further demonstrations of his goodness and mercy. To the degree that any of these assumptions may be true, they are also not the main reasons why God commanded them.

God doesn’t do anything without a reason or purpose. Even the smallest details of what he gives us can have massive implications.

Here are some questions worth asking:

Why are there so many types of sacrifices? What significance is there in burnt offerings? In meal offerings? In peace offerings? In sin offerings? In trespass offerings? Why are there so many different types of acceptable items to use? Are they essentially all the same or is there symbolic significance in each thing? What are the requirements of each sacrifice and why are they what they are? Why are the performances of certain sacrifices the way they are? Why are they different? Are those differences important? Why or why not? Where are the sacrifices conducted? Who participates in each sacrifice and what are the roles of each participant?

That’s just a list for starters.

We should realize that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been the same from the days of Adam and Eve. It drives me nuts when people say that a “new” covenant was offered at the time of Christ’s mortal ministry and in his death and resurrection, as if it had never been offered before that. God always uses ordinances to teach people about aspects of the everlasting gospel, and it was no different in Old Testament times.

I’m not going to go through all of the different types of sacrifices and expound upon them on my blog. I don’t believe it’s my place to do that. At least, not yet. But I have felt strongly to say a few things about one, specifically, so that will be the focus of my next blogpost.