OFFERING A SWEET AROMA TO GOD
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
LEVITICUS 1: 3-17
Key Verse
“If your offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord”.
Leviticus 1: 3
INTRODUCTION
We all have some things that we like to do. We try to do them as often as we can because we get pleasure from doing them and we get pleasure knowing that what we do is acceptable to others and will bring them pleasure. Our actions would be as bringing a sweet and pleasant smell to others.
God likes certain things and He told Moses and the children of Israel what they should do to please Him. These instructions from God were very important for God had brought the nation out of bondage or slavery in Egypt and He had made a covenant to be their God and always save, protect, guide, and bring them to a good place to live where life would be prosperous. In this covenant or agreement which the people of the nation accepted, the people committed themselves to obey God and do what He told them would be good for them.
Because they were human beings they would continue to do sins that displease God and God had to set up a system so that He would not be always angry with them. This system was the system of offering sacrifices to God and to worship Him at the tabernacle that had been constructed.
The people were told they had to bring a animal with no spot of blemish to the tabernacle, take its life as a substitute for their sin. In exchange they recognized that they had sinned and deserved to die. By offering the life of the animal to God in sacrifice they were exchanging one life for their life. They were giving up something valuable and precious to them and offering this to God.
If they could not afford to offer a bull from their flock in sacrifice, they could offer a goat or sheep. If they could not afford to offer that, God would accept the sacrifice of a bird like a turtledove or a young pigeon.
We know that Mary and Joseph offered that last noted kind of sacrifice when they went to the Temple in Jerusalem to circumcise the baby Jesus when He was 8 days old. They were poor and so they offered to God what they had. God accepted that sacrifice and their worship.
We know God has arranged things so that all of us can worship Him and make sacrifices to please Him no matter what your financial situation.
We know therefore that we should please God and do the things that would cover or atone for our sins, so that He would save us and show us mercy. God is faithful to us and we should be faithful to Him. Whatever He asks us to do we should do for that will benefit us, confirm that we are saved, and have eternal life, for we are in the family of God. We know we will have eternal life and be with Him forever.