Messianic Pictures in the Temple Sacrificial System
Abel didn’t bring just any sacrifice, only the first and finest would do. The “first” being a presentation of his firstfruits, or what we might refer to today as a tithe. The “finest,” represents a precedent in Torah where only a spotless animal, without flaw—like our Messiah—will do.
As the Hebrew illustrates, cheleb intimates the finest and first, but it equally means “fat.” In the commandments, the fat of the sacrifices was always reserved for the altar, a pleasing aroma which ascended to God.10 If you’ve ever barbecued on the grill, you now how aromatic that can be—even drawing the salivating attention of your neighbors!
The most important lesson for us about Abel’s sacrifice is that Abel was expressing sacrificial love. He was willing to give his first and finest to the Almighty. His sacrifice was accepted not because of its components or ritual, not on the basis of works, but because of the condition of Abel’s heart. It is in this regard that the Old Testament reminds us, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”11
Now we move on to Noah, who “found grace in the eyes of the LORD.”12 Even before the commandments of which animals are acceptable for sacrifice or to eat, before the legal identification of clean and unclean, we have Noah and the ark.
“… of every clean animal take unto you seven pairs.”13
After the flood waters subsided and all living creatures left the ark, Noah took of the clean, innocent animals, built an altar and made sacrifices. With what we know now about the nature of the Temple sacrifices, one of the functions of the hatat sacrifice is that it renders what had been unclean, the earth, and makes it ceremonially clean. Certainly this is what God accomplished through the flood.
Perhaps more importantly, and of particular relevance to us, and precedent for the patriarch Abraham, is that because there were seven pair of clean animals on board the ark, offering the sacrifice not only didn’t seal the fate of the creature, condemning it to extinction, but just as God did with Abraham, God Himself provided the sacrifice.
“And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:’” 14
In this same way, through Jesus, God provided for us not because of our worth or our good deeds, but like Noah, because we “found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Even as far back as the flood, the Author of life was preparing both the way, and the sacrifice.
From Noah, we move forward to the time of Abraham and Genesis chapter fifteen. Here we discover the very order of the animals of the latter Levitical sacrifice.
“And he [God] said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”15
As we have already studied, these are the animals, in their rank and position for the ritual and Temple that was still centuries away. It was in this Genesis fifteen account that God entered an unconditional covenant with Abraham through an all encompassing sacrifice, with Abraham being the beneficiary of the promises being made by God. All Abraham had to do was exercise faith in God. “For we say, ‘faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness’” (Romans 4:9, Genesis 15:6).
Here, in the covenant making, are all of the sacrificial animals we find in Leviticus. Was this an accident, a coincidence, or a plan of the Omnipotent One? Our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is changeless and very predictable, and the threads of His grace are woven into the tapestry of Scripture, from these pictures in Genesis, all the way through Revelation, for all to see—and believe!
In the order given in Genesis 15, and the animals in Leviticus, we find relevance for the mighty ruler, the priests, the commoner, and yes, even the poor. In this covenant with Abraham, we have the picture being intended for all class of Jewish people. All men (and women) were symbolically and prophetically accounted for and provided for. This precedent was built upon in the Levitical sacrificial system, still a part of the original covenant, renewed, if you will, in the Temple service.
How much more so, then, is this thread of grace magnified through the substitutionary atonement of Jesus the Anointed One. Messiah is rightfully identified as each of the sacrifices, having become the guilt offering, as according to prophecy, for all people both great and small, rich and poor, Jew and non-Jew. As Paul said, “… if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29).
What a wonderful picture of the redemption hoped for by the Old Testament saints, and there for us to realize—and find redemption—through faith in the death and resurrection of our Messiah, Jesus!
And just as with Adam and Eve, with Abel, with Noah, and with Abraham, God was the Provider. No less is true today. We have the word of the apostle John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”16
In a similar way, God provided the sacrifice, and the order of all time, so that we too might enter into an unconditional covenant with the God of all creation, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through the perfect sacrifice, Jesus the Messiah.
Closure
Early on in this look at the sacrificial system, the question was posed, “why?” “Why have sacrifices at all?”
Category: Biblical Studies, Pneuma Review, Spring 1999
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