The purpose of the sacrificial system, however, continues to apply to the New Testament saint. The author of Hebrews teaches, “But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb 13:16). Offering a burnt offering was a sacrificial act; it cost the worshipper something. In the same way, the New Testament believer should live a life of sacrifice, giving not only of one’s abundance, but even in one’s poverty to those less fortunate than oneself.

“Take now your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering” (Gen 22:2). Chilling words. Abraham, however, does not ask questions. He doesn’t need a clarification; he makes no excuses, causes no delays. He understands the significance of the command.
So he rises early in the morning and saddles his donkey—to make the most sacrificial of burnt offerings.
In this act, Abraham becomes an example for Old Covenant believers to follow.
Understanding the history, practice, and significance of the burnt offering will also help New Testament believers understand the sacrifice of Abraham and apply his example to their own Christian walks.
The history of the burnt offering.
Without any explanation or instruction we know about, people after Eden included sacrificial offerings in their worship. The first Old Testament story after Adam and Eve’s expulsion tells the story of Cain and Abel’s offerings to the Lord. A few chapters later, Noah departs from the ark, builds an altar, and offers his own sacrifices: the first recorded burnt offerings (Gen 8:20).
This is a practice which, by this time in the Old Testament story, seems already well established. Abel’s offering, while not a burnt offering, establishes the proper prioritization for an offering and reflects the proper heart of worship (Gen 4:4). The “choice parts” of the animal are offered to God by fire (Lev 3:16).1 The worshipper can consume some of the animal, but the best cuts are devoted to the Lord by fire.2
The burnt offering was a completely consumed offering, one that left nothing but ashes. It is sometimes called the “holocaust sacrifice” because everything goes up in smoke (holo, “whole”; caust, “burnt”).
In Genesis, Abraham travels through Canaan building altars and presumably sacrificing upon them (Gen 12:7–8; 13:18), following the customs of those who had gone before him.
The practice of the burnt offering.
The book of Leviticus describes the process of completing a burnt offering. It details the worshipper’s responsibilities (Lev 1:3–17) and the priest’s responsibilities (Lev 6:8–13). The worshipper freely brings an unblemished male animal to the tabernacle. He presses his hand on the animal’s head and prays a prayer of confession (cf. Lev 16:21).3 He then kills the animal and captures the blood in a vessel, which the priest then sprinkles around the altar. The worshipper then skins the animal and cuts it into pieces. Then the priest takes the pieces of the animal and places them on the wood, where it is burned completely.
The peace offering, by contrast, burns only the fatty parts of the animal (the best parts), leaving the other sections for the priest and worshipper to eat (Lev 7:11–38).
The burnt offering is a very diverse offering, and some of the details differ depending on the animal sacrificed or the specific kind of sacrifice—sin offering (Lev 4:1–12) or daily sacrifice (Num 28:3–8). But the general idea of the burnt offering remains the same throughout the Old Testament: the entire sacrifice was consumed.
The Significance of the Burnt Offering
The burnt offering was one of the most frequent and significant offerings a worshipper could offer in Old Testament times.4 But because the ancient world was already very familiar with this offering, modern readers are left to discern its purpose and significance from only scant biblical data.
This much we can discern, however; the burnt offering had multiple purposes:5
1. The worshipper sought the favor of the Lord.
Whether it was to atone for sin (Lev 1:3–4) or gain a blessing (1 Kgs 3:4–15), the worshipper sacrificed something valuable to the Lord.
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Let us consider the joyful privileges and serious responsibilities of covenant church membership that necessitates us sharing life together, submitting to one another, obeying leaders, worshipping corporately, stimulating one another to good works, and growing in the grace of God through the ordinary means of grace. Church membership is not an option to be considered. It’s a priority that is commanded for the life of the Christian.

Do you place a priority upon the gathering, worship, and fellowship of the local church? If not, it could be an indicator that something is not right spiritually. A lack of commitment to your local church could be indicative of pride, laziness, slothfulness, and a refusal to submit to proper biblical discipleship and accountability. Since Jesus laid down his life for the church, we know what God thinks about the church. Therefore, we should put priority upon the regular gathering and relational community of the local church.
Identifying the Problems
During the rise of the COVID-19 controversy, the regular gathering was compromised due to overreach from the government and fear of church members. To put it bluntly, many Christians have caved to the fear of disease, sickness, and death which has caused them to sacrifice their commitment to the local church in pursuit of safety. In essence, their pursuit of safety has actually led them into great danger spiritually. An obsession with wellness will result in spiritual decline if a person is led to believe that physical wellness necessitates the willful neglect of the local church. This is a serious problem that must be addressed.
In some cases, it’s not the fear of sickness that prevents the proper commitment to the local church, it’s actually pride. Some professing Christians believe they are strong enough, spiritual enough, or live as a special case where the local church is not necessary. They go about life by prioritizing business, family, vacations, recreation, politics, and other life commitments with little focus upon the local church. This is a tragic mistake that will have lasting consequences.
In both cases of fear and pride, the professing Christian develops an elevated opinion of his or her spiritual condition that results in the neglect of the local church and the ordinary means of grace. This will result in a spiritual decline that will not end well.
Rather than honoring God, the person gripped by fear of sickness neglects the clear commands to gather with the local church thereby elevating their commitment to pursuing good physical health above the pursuit of spiritual health. The person deceived by pride lacks self-awareness on a spiritual level resulting in a greater commitment to other areas of life while neglecting the corporate assembly of the local church and the worship of the saints.
Why Should We Prioritize the Local Church?
We are called to prioritize the local church. There is no biblical category for a faithful Christian who neglects or remains disconnected from the local church. In fact, the Scriptures point to the reality that such persons have swerved from the faith and are not to be received as Christians. Consider the words of John the Apostle in 1 John.
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He is ready to help us when we are feeling too small or when we are feeling too big. But let’s also recognize this: The help He offers is not to get us out of either situation. It’s not necessarily to fix our troubling circumstances, nor is it to elevate us out of our current situation. It is rather the form us into the image of Jesus using both circumstances.

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46-48).
It’s a simple prayer. One of the simplest in the whole Bible, and yet we shouldn’t make the mistake of equating its simplicity with its fervency. A lifetime of pain and hardship is crammed into these few words. There are no flowery phrases and beautiful appeals here – only urgency. Desperation. Need.
And don’t we know what that feels like? Surely we do – to be in the midst of a situation when all the words have run out; when emotions are stretched to their limit; when we find ourselves acutely aware of our need; and when the only prayer we can squeak is something like what Bartimaeus kept disruptively repeating here:
“Help me.”
While the circumstances that prompt desperate prayers like that are varied, they all have a couple of characteristics in common, namely:

We realize that we cannot do or be or feel what a situation demands on our own, and…
We need someone outside of ourselves to come to our aid.

In other words, prayers like these are born when we see, in combination, the situation confronting us and our own weakness in the midst of it. Again, the circumstances that bring about these realizations are many and varied, but perhaps we could group those circumstances into two main categories. The first one won’t surprise you, but perhaps the second one will:
1. Category 1: When the circumstances are too big.
This is the unsurprising category. Sometimes the circumstances in front of us are just too big.
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