Leviticus 3:16: Here Come the Sacrifices

16 The priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD's.



Its interesting to see the progression of the 3:16's so far. First in Genisis, there was that initial sin that caused the generational reprecussions. Then in Exodus, peple mess up and land in Egypt, but God never lets go of them and rescues them as they turn back to him, even though he dosen't have to. But that's not the last of sin, and the funny thing is people keep forgetting the past. They don't realize that weight God pulls for them and how different God wants his people to be.

So in Leviticus he lays down rules. Rules that remind people of their sin nature and in the long run demonstrate the continual inadequacy of humans to manage their own actions and live up to Gods standard. Some of the instructions make lots of sense for the time and some are downright crazy (we used to keep a list of the most humorous... perhaps another post)

I guess in the big scheme of things, these rules show us that we can only be good enough for God if he provides a way for us rather then us trying to sacrifice our way out of sin. The point is (and later 3:16's emphasize this) that Jesus was that final sacrifice and made ritual sacrifices unneeded.