And you shall present an offering made by fire as a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish. Numbers 28:19
Cream of the Crop
If the scriptures are true (and they are), if “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein,” (Psalm 24:1) and if, “every beast of the forest is (His), And the cattle on a thousand hills,” (Psalm 50:10), and if indeed, “The silver is (His), and the gold is (His),” (Haggai 2:8) why then does God require we bring and sacrifice the best of the best to Him?
There’s a reason
I touched on this subject a while back and I could not get the notion out of my head — love is the reason God wants these things, or to be more accurate, it’s His love for us. Let’s take a step back and gaze at the picture God has painted that we might better understand.
Consider the Sacrifice
When we view the Old Testament, regardless of the type of sacrifice being presented, God required that it be perfect and without blemish. Perfect? Maybe He doesn’t realize just how hard a request that is. I submit to you that He does know, and that it is precisely the reason He asks for it.
Imagine God said, “I want you to sacrifice to Me a perfect horse without blemish.” So you set about doing what must be done to produce the perfect steed. Finally, after much toil and effort, a fine young colt is produced and it’s offered it to God. God then says to you…
Now, look behind you.”
What do you see?
You’ll likely see the fruit of your God-inspired labor and effort to please Him — a stable full of thoroughbreds! In 
our obedience to produce one unblemished thing to give to God, He has entrusted to us the abundance (the leftovers if you will) which is the byproduct of hard work. If God had asked for anything less than perfection, our blessing from Him would have been proportionately less. God wants our best effort. He wants us to appreciate worth and the value within the sacrifice.
So we can get the glory?
No, so God gets the glory, lest we think it’s something we accomplished!
His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ Matthew 25:23
Are you abundantly blessed? Then you likely have obediently positioned yourself to continually please Him; giving back to Him the best He has given you. The blessed individual understands, at least in part, that love breeds love. He is also keenly aware that he does not deserve any of it.
A Picture of Jesus
It’s also vitally important that we don’t lose sight of this truth: the perfect sacrifice, without spot or blemish, is a picture of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God has been painting this picture all along that we might know.
Our reality is that we have never been able to offer anything perfect that could appease God and atone for our sin. God demanded perfection and only He could provide it for Himself in Jesus. As we give Christ Jesus our all, the Father once again says to us, “Now, look behind you.”
And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” Genesis 22:8
- What do these say of God?
- What do they say about us?
- What’s our recourse?
These articles may or may not relate to this blog:
- Why did God Require Animals to be Sacrificed? (keltonburgpreacher.wordpress.com)
- The Resume of Jesus Christ (ministerlp.wordpress.com)
- Numbers 28.24 – Seven days of burnt offerings (sevensinthebible.com)
- Day 9 – What Makes God Smile (werejumpin.wordpress.com)
- Jesus, The Source of Healing (gracemeasured.wordpress.com)
- How to Walk in the Peace of God: Part 6 (theeyesoffaith.wordpress.com)
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He Dwells -- The B'log in My Eye 