Temple Work of Today

The Burnt Offering

The burnt offering in the Old Testament was a voluntary sacrifice on the part of the Israelite people to express their total devotion to Heavenly Father.  The motivation behind this temple work was to express thankfulness to God.  The sacrifice was not necessary, nor was it carried out to earn God’s favor.  It was an expression of faith in knowing that someday God would send the Sacrifice to restore his relationship with all people for all time.  On Calvary, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was without any blemish, paid the highest price possible when he laid down his life for all the mistakes, infractions and poor judgments of the world.

Today we no longer need to present burnt offerings to the Lord. Instead, we are asked to bring ourselves as “living sacrifices”.  We don’t bring something else, like animals, to be used as a substitute, but we bring ourselves.  We don’t bring a dead sacrifice, but a living one that responds to God’s free gift of full forgiveness.

Those who have experienced God’s mercy and grace in Jesus Christ will also have a desire to devote and dedicate themselves entirely to him.  “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifices, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”  Romans 12:1  People who have placed their complete trust in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross will respond with service of good works that are “holy and pleasing” to God.  It is not a motivation to gain favor with God through the carrying out of sacred works.  Instead, it is a motivation from the heart that is responding with gratefulness to what God’s mercy has done for them.  Today’s believer is gratitude-motivated, not temple-motivated.  This was the heart of the Old Testament believer and it still resonates today with those who have placed their complete trust in Jesus Christ.

Click here to go to the parallel Old Testament article addressing Burnt Offerings.