Why Animals Sacrifices in the Old Testament?

Humans believe that we are the center of the universe, thus the selfie, the arguments, the fights, and the wars. We think our way, thoughts, ideas, etc. are what is best. If only everyone would agree with us.

When God had Moses write Leviticus, the sacrificial animals are mentioned frequently. Some feel this is because the Judaism of those days was based on the pagan religions around them, but why would God have Moses write Leviticus to remove mankind away from paganism when the ideas themselves come from paganism?

The sacrificial animals are a reminder that forgiveness of sins, getting right with God, and pleasing God cannot be done by ourselves. No human can atone for their unrighteous deeds. We may think our way is best. Cain thought this when he offered the best of his garden. Leviticus reminds us that our way, for once, is not the right way. Sin must be punished. We have been humiliated that we cannot do this for ourselves. Good works do not pay for past sins. This is part of the intention of God—to show us what we cannot do.

The true sacrifice, of course, was Messiah Jesus. He is the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. We cannot atone for our own sins.

1. "For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." (Hebrews 10:4, EMTV).
   
2. "But Christ came as a High Priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered once for all into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those having been defiled, sanctifies for the purity of the flesh, by how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works in order that we might serve the living God? And on account of this He is the Mediator of the new covenant, so that, since a death has occurred for redemption of the transgressions at the time of the first covenant, that those having been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:11-15, EMTV)
   
3. For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the image itself of the things, can never with the same sacrifices, which they offer continually every year, make those approaching perfect. Otherwise they would not have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in them there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:1-4, EMTV)
   
4. Which was a symbol pointing to baptism, which now saves you. It is not the washing off of bodily dirt, but the promise made to God from a good conscience. It saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (1 Peter 3:21, GNB92)
   

Resource referenced to in this article: "This the Law of the Burnt Offering" from the 27 Mar 15 Temple Institute Newsletter. The Temple Institute.