'It is finished' — Jesus and the five offerings of Leviticus
Dillon McCurdy · September 9, 2026 · 10 min read
Through Romans, part 6 · Romans 3:24–26
"They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness... so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus."
Before moving on to Romans 4, it's worth stopping on these three verses and reading them alongside John 19. The death of Jesus was the fulfillment of every Old Testament prophecy and every Old Testament sacrifice. The sacrifices weren't random rituals — they were types, previews, shadows of the thing to come. Jesus is the picture they were all imitating.
Paid in full
When Jesus said "It is finished" (John 19:30), He used a merchant's word — tetelestai. If you bought something on installments, the receipt for the last payment was stamped with it: the debt has been fully paid. Jesus fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17), including all its types and shadows (Hebrews 8:5; 9:9–11; 10:1). The Levitical system was a picture gallery of the coming Savior, and with those three words He was saying that every picture — the tabernacle furniture, the priesthood, the sacrifices — was now complete. He was both the priest officiating and the sacrifice offered.
Leviticus describes five offerings. Here's what each one said about Jesus.
Surrender: Christ is our burnt offering (Leviticus 1)
The burnt offering focused on the perfection of God and expressed adoration, devotion, and complete surrender. It was voluntary, and it made atonement for sin in general (Leviticus 1:4). The animal's death pictures Christ's death, the blood points to the atonement, and the smoke rising pictures the resurrection.
Jesus met every qualification. A male (Leviticus 1:3; Matthew 1:21). Without blemish — in Him was no sin (1 John 3:5), He knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), He did no sin (1 Peter 2:22), He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Offered voluntarily — "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself" (John 10:18). A substitute — the worshiper leaned his hand on the animal's head as if to say, "I take this spotless victim as my substitute; I lean my whole weight on its merit." That's what we do with Jesus (Romans 3:23–26). Killed "before the Lord" — the transaction at the altar wasn't between the offerer and his conscience or the priest; it was between the offerer and God. Christ died "for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:3), and He spoke to the Father three times from the cross. Even the detail that sheep and goats were killed on the north side of the altar (Leviticus 1:11) is interesting, because Golgotha sat north of the city and the temple.
The main point of the burnt offering is that it was wholly consumed. Nothing was given back to the worshiper. Jesus wasn't burned, but He fulfilled this because He was completely consumed in suffering. He didn't give an eye or a limb. He gave His back to the smiters, His cheeks to those who plucked out His beard, His face to the shame and spitting (Isaiah 50:6), His hands and feet to the nails, His side to the spear, His brow to the thorns, His ears to the mockery, and His heart to the forsakenness of His Father. He gave all.
Service: Christ is our grain offering (Leviticus 2)
The grain offering could be fine flour or baked cakes. The priest offered part to God and kept the rest. It represents Jesus as the Bread of Life (John 6:48), who nourishes our souls as we worship Him and take in His Word. He compared Himself to a grain of wheat that had to die to live again in a better form (John 12:24). On the cross He was crushed like fine flour; in the tomb the grain was buried; on resurrection morning He came up in glory.
The conditions matter. It had to include oil — a picture of the Holy Spirit, given to Christ without measure. It required salt — His purity of character. Leaven and honey were forbidden (Leviticus 2:11) — both ferment, and there was no corruption in Him. It was "a pleasing aroma to the Lord," and Paul picks that phrase up: Christ "hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" (Ephesians 5:2).
Sacrifice: Christ is our peace offering (Leviticus 3)
The peace offering focused on God as benefactor and man seeking reconciliation. It was voluntary, sometimes in thanks for a blessing received and sometimes in hope of one desired. Unlike the sin and trespass offerings, which dealt with cleansing, the peace offering was about fellowship — the worshiper actually ate the meat of the sacrifice, often on a joyful occasion.
Jesus made peace between God and man, between Jew and Gentile, and between a man and his own conscience (Romans 5:1). "He is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14). He "made peace through the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1:20). Like the prodigal, we've been welcomed home, seated at the Father's table, and restored as if we'd never sinned.
Substitute: Christ is our sin offering (Leviticus 4)
The sin offering was mandatory. It required confession, and its purpose was forgiveness and cleansing. In the first three offerings, a person came to God as a worshiper; in the last two, he comes as a sinner. The blood of animals could never permanently take sin away (Hebrews 10:1–4) — God forgave on the basis of the sacrifice of Christ still to come.
The sin offering wasn't burned on the altar in the courtyard; it was carried outside the camp. The animal was charged with the sin of the offerer, and its life was taken instead of his. Hebrews 13:11–12 draws the line straight to Jesus: the bodies of those animals were burned outside the camp, "therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that he might sanctify the people by his own blood." The small detail prefigured Him dying outside Jerusalem. The main point is that He bore our guilt. He was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and suffered for our sins (1 Peter 3:18).
Satisfaction: Christ is our trespass offering (Leviticus 5–6)
The trespass offering was also mandatory, and it covered sins — intentional or not — that violated property, God's or a neighbor's. It required restitution: the principal plus a fifth (Leviticus 6:5). So the blood cleansed the conscience and then sent the trespasser back to the one he'd wronged — and the injured party actually came out ahead.
The Bible uses a financial word, "remission," for forgiveness (Acts 2:38). In sin we're in debt to God (Matthew 6:12), and we owe more than we could ever pay (Matthew 18:23–35). In forgiveness, Jesus assumed the debt and paid it. His blood remits the guilt of the past and carries forward a balance of zero.
What they all say together
Every one of these sacrifices pictures what Jesus would do on the cross. He paid for our sin, placed His righteousness on us, and restored our relationship with God. He took our sin; we took His righteousness. "He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). That's what "It is finished" means.
Paid in full
Maybe nobody has ever said those two words over your account. You're still carrying the bill. You keep trying to make restitution on your own — be better, show up more, add the extra fifth on top — and the balance never moves. It won't. You can't pay what you owe. Jesus already did. He took your sin on Himself, He died under it, and three days later He walked out of a borrowed tomb. He's holding out the receipt. Not a payment plan, not a discount. A settled account. Tell Him today that you're trusting Him and Him alone, and the whole thing is remitted.
Believers, you got a balance of zero. So think about who's still on your books. There's somebody you've been quietly collecting from — the apology you're waiting on, the thing you keep bringing back up, the debt you make them pay a little at a time. Cancel it this week. Out loud, to their face if you can get to them. You were forgiven a debt you couldn't even count. Forgive the one you can.