Episode 820: Get your PhD in Offerings for Christ

God does not want us to think only of Christ's death, but also of His perfect life, because as you know Christs life did not consist of all blood shedding and as a matter of fact not until the very last two days.
So those offerings obviously do not refer to Calvary, but to Jesus' perfect life. That shows that God wants us to think much about His life too. Many Catholics think only of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. But what we learn from Leviticus is that He made many sacrifices in His life too. He offered His life day by day to His Father, pouring out His own will and His soul-life to death.
Two of theses five offerings were mandatory (compulsory)-the sin offering and the guilt offering. The other three offerings were voluntary-the burnt offering-which is a picture of our offering ourselves totally to God. The burnt offering had to be first cut into pieces to ensure that there was no defect in any part of it-and then it was offered. People could offer a bullock or a sheep or a goat or even a dove or pigeon, according to their financial ability. But each offering had to be without any blemish or defect.
The burnt offering is a picture of the way Jesus presented His body, throughout His earthly life, to His Father-and then finally on the cross as well.
All through His earthly life, He kept His body perfectly pure in every temptation before he presented it to His Father as a sacrifice on the cross. God would not have accepted Jesus' offering up of Himself on the cross if there was a single spot in His earthly life during the previous 33 1/2 years. This was why when He was hungry, He did not turn the stones into bread. That would have been a sin, because the Father had not told Him to do it. His life was one of total dependence and total obedience. Jesus never did anything without the Fathers' prompting, even if it appeared to be a harmless thing like turning stones into bread to satisfy one's hunger! That is the standard of obedience to which God calls us. That is why Jesus' life was so triumphant, and that was why the Father was so delighted with Him.