Exodus 29:38-46 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
God’s Zoo Summer Worship Series Sunday, June 27, 2021 “Year-Old Lambs”
It was a bloody business. That is an accurate description of the Tabernacle worship and the Temple worship that later followed for God’s Old Testament people. It was a bloody business. What we might think of as church attendance for that time period probably looked and even smelled more like a butcher’s shop. The worship at the Tabernacle and at the Temple was full of blood and of death. You see, our God’s Zoo Sunday about year-old lambs may sound cute and cuddly. It might sound like a visit to the petting zoo. It’s not that kind of visit. This is a darker and sadder visit. This is one that drives home the point that every zoo animal, not to mention every animal in general, will die at some point. And we can call it the circle of life or the natural order of things, but it is much more than that. It is a stark reminder of our sin and sinfulness, that the world all around us has been corrupted and damaged. Just last week we heard how God in one gigantic flood destroyed all animal life except for those who had been safely aboard the ark with Noah and his family. That didn’t make everything better. That didn’t fix the world. The cycle continued after that, the cycle of life and death. No, when we go to see the year-old lambs, we find them parading first to the Tabernacle and later to the Temple. And they come in an endless line because every morning one is sacrificed, and every evening one is sacrificed, and that is repeated day after day after day. The same animals that could be raised as pets or for their wool or for food products are taken to the Lord’s altar and burned up completely. They are offered up along with a grain offering and olive oil and a drink offering of wine. And this was the direction God gave the Israelites along with how they were to build the Tabernacle and to have Aaron and his descendants serve as their priests. Yes, this was a bloody business. This is what Aaron and his sons the priests were entering into. They would offer sacrifices, bloody sacrifices. They and the people they served would be constantly and consistently reminded that sin had serious consequences, that sin had deadly consequences. But they and the people they served would also be reminded that God was dealing with sin, that God had provided this place of worship and sacrifice, a place where he would not be hidden from his people, at least not completely. There he would be in their midst. There he would receive their sacrifices. There he would smell the pleasing aroma that was brought to him. You and I don’t always stare the deadly consequences of sin right in the face. Sometimes we do. Sometimes we see the pain and the suffering, the disease and destruction that come upon people in a sinful world. Sometimes we suffer these things. Sometimes our close friends or family members do. But we don’t come every day and offer a bloody sacrifice. Perhaps at times the deadly consequences of sin should be more apparent, should be heavier our hearts, more set before our eyes. Maybe we need to consider the news accounts of murders and shootings and the incredible numbers of aborted babies, and think about these things not just as some evil that other people do but as the results, the deadly results, of the evil you and I continue to do. Sin has deadly consequences, but God deals with sin. God lived with his people at the Tabernacle and at the Temple. And their offerings given consistently, regularly, daily, were a response to God’s love and mercy. The people of God’s nation were devoted to the God who had rescued them and the God who was rescuing them and the God who promised that he would send them the ultimate rescue. That ultimate rescue was not in any one-year-old lamb. That ultimate rescue was not in an altar of burnt offering. The blood of the sheep and the goats and the other animals that were offered on God’s altar, and there were so many more than just the daily morning and evening sacrifices we read about here, that blood was not enough to truly and completely and fully deal with sin. That is why the sacrifices required so much repetition. Every morning. Day after day after day. Every evening. Night
after night after night. Plus every other offering and sacrifice that was laid on the altar. It was a bloody business and it was a busy business. Sin is not only a deadly issue in our lives, it is a constant issue. Just think of the terror there would be for us if every single sin we ever committed needed its own sacrifice. Imagine how uncertain and helpless and concerned we would be if we needed to recognize every single sin and react and respond to it. And I am not suggesting that was what the Old Testament people were expected to do, either. But their constant daily sacrifices sent a powerful message. Back you go again to the altar, sinner. Another animal from your flock is being offered up. Another action is being taken on account of your sin. That’s what it means when we confess that we are sinners. It means that we sin day by day, hour by hour. It means that sin’s grip on us is fierce. It means that it is inescapable, even when we may not be aware of it. God wants us to be aware of it because he wants us to turn to him. He wants us to recognize the depth of our sin to better appreciate the depth of his love. And the depth of his love is displayed in this: every one of those lambs and every sacrifice to grace that altar, every aspect of the Israelite’s system of sacrifices and priests pointed ahead to something bigger and better. God taught his people that sin caused death. He taught his people that an innocent victim could be offered in the place of others. He taught them that the sacrifices of animals had to be repeated over and over. But all of that pointed ahead to one sacrifice that would never need repeating. And we are here today because we have learned about that sacrifice. We are here to focus on that sacrifice. We are here to rejoice in that sacrifice. An innocent victim came who was not a lamb but a human being to take the place of other human beings. And at the same time, he is and was God himself so that his sacrifice could be worth more than any mere human life could, as precious as all human life is. And so when he saw this one, John the Baptist could say about Jesus, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). And every Israelite knew exactly how lambs would take away sin. They would be sacrificed. And so was the Lamb of God. Having lived perfectly in the place of sinners, sinlessly in the place of all evildoers, Jesus was both the lamb for sacrifice and the priest who offered the sacrifice. He willingly, out of love for you and for me and for the world, went not to an altar of burnt offering but to the cross. And there he suffered the punishment for all sin and for all sinners so that once and for all a sacrifice was complete. He said as much when he announced, “It is finished” (John 19:30). That is also why another John, the Apostle John, saw Jesus in a vision as a “Lamb [that] seemed to have been slain” (Revelation 5:6). The Lamb of God was indeed slain, but came to life again. He rose from the dead—another marked difference between him and those many sacrifices. He was alive again and is alive now to rule in the interest of all those he has called to be his followers. And every creature in heaven and on earth praises his holy name for his sacrifice. Let us praise the Lord. Let us praise the Lamb who was slain for us. Let us bring him our offerings. Let us look to him for all that we need, most notably for the forgiveness of our sins and for the everlasting life that comes as a result. Let us be reminded by one-year-old lambs of Jesus the Lamb of God. It may not always seem that way or look that way, but what we do here is a bloody business, too. We are no longer coming to meet with God by the blood of lambs or goats or any other animal. We come into God’s presence because we have been washed clean in the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. We come regularly to revisit that sacrifice, to see the suffering and agony and death that our sins have caused and to see that God deals with sin and has dealt with our sin. It’s a bloody business because God uses his law to crucify our stubborn and sinful hearts. But it is also an amazing and wonderful truth that he washes us clean from every sin in the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.
The Text: Exodus 29:38–46 (EHV) 38Now
this is what you shall offer on the altar regularly, every day: two lambs a year old. 39The first lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. 40With the first lamb offer two quarts of fine flour mixed with a quart of beaten olive oil, and a quart of wine for a drink offering. 41The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and you shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 42It shall be presented as a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before the Lord. There I will meet with you to speak to you. 43There I will meet with the people of Israel, and the place will be made holy by my glory. 44I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest’s office. 45I will dwell among the people of Israel and I will be their God. 46They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.