So, why was God so particular about the sorts of sacrifices His people offered to Him? I mean, they were going to be burned up anyway, so what possible difference could it have made if they were somehow blemished or injured?

Well, perhaps most obviously, bringing only perfectly formed animals to God was a way of expressing the fact that God deserves the best of everything. And shouldn’t the same thing be true of our modern worship services as well? No, we don’t offer bloody sacrifices anymore, but we do bring our songs, our prayers, our gifts, our praise and our attention to God’s Word. So, surely we should sing the best we can, and bring our best possible gifts to support God’s work in the world. Surely we should strive to focus our attention solely on God during the prayers and the sermon, seeking to bring our hearts and minds closer and closer to Him.

And in order to do that, we have to make careful preparations, don’t we? We have to examine our budgets and make tough financial decisions in order to give the most we can to the work of the Lord. We have to do as much work as we can Monday through Saturday so we can take the whole day off on Sunday, devoting as much of it as possible to worship and praise. And we have to make sure that we are rested and ready for worship, even if that means going to bed earlier on Saturday night.

But there’s another reason that God’s Old Testament people were told to bring only their best to sacrifice to God. Because every part of the Tabernacle pointed in one way or another to the person and work of Christ, every one of the sacrifices offered on the altar was also a type, a symbol, a foreshadowing of Jesus.

So, why did God tell His people to offer only male animals without defect (v. 20)? Because the Christ would be a perfect man, completely devoted to the Father in everything He is and does. For only such a man, One Who had not earned the death penalty by His own rebellion, would be able to stand in the place of His people, making atonement for us.

So, knowing the value of the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us, shouldn’t we give of our very best to Him? What better way could there be to express our thanks and praise?

Leviticus 22:17-25 (NASB)

17 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
18 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or of the aliens in Israel who presents his offering, whether it is any of their votive or any of their freewill offerings, which they present to the LORD for a burnt offering–
19 for you to be accepted– it must be a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats.
20 ‘Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it will not be accepted for you.
21 ‘And when a man offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a special vow, or for a freewill offering, of the herd or of the flock, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it.
22 ‘Those that are blind or fractured or maimed or having a running sore or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the LORD, nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to the LORD.
23 ‘In respect to an ox or a lamb which has an overgrown or stunted member, you may present it for a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted.
24 ‘Also anything with its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not offer to the LORD, or sacrifice in your land,
25 nor shall you accept any such from the hand of a foreigner for offering as the food of your God; for their corruption is in them, they have a defect, they shall not be accepted for you.'”