Read Leviticus 4:1-35
People sin all the time and don’t realize it. Whether we know our sins or not, they are still sins, and we are still guilty. The LORD spoke through Moses about what should happen when someone discovers their sin. This chapter is the “how to” manual for priests and lay people who sin and need to be cleansed.
The process as described has similarities and differences to the instructions given for burnt offerings. I’m a bit confused at which sacrifice is appropriate when? Both sacrifice procedures cover sinfulness. Would the priests make that call?
The priests had quite a job! Just think, they would have to have all these rules engrained in their heads, or constantly be running to the scrolls. Priests worked hard at duties required for the performing sacrificial acts. If it was a busy sin day, no doubt the priests would put in long hours. Because of these texts, I picture priests more like butchers rather than those adorned in robes and sashes.
The priests had a sacred duty as keepers of God’s law. They didn’t need to worry about where a particular tradition came from because all came from God. Their focus would be on following the letter of the law so to be pleasing to God. Where did that kind of devotion go? How many people do you know who focus so much of their life on following God’s will? In years to come after Moses, there will be priests who fall away from tradition and others who cling so tightly to it that they don’t even recognize Jesus.
Jesus came because the world was so lost to sin and far from God. The people were hungry to believe in something and they had forgotten their ancestral traditions. Countless pagan influences peppered the Promised Land with views and beliefs that did not include the one True God.
People meeting Jesus would have been fed even if they didn’t know they were hungry. Having God on earth was amazing, and to know that his mission included sacrificing himself, shedding his blood for us and our sinfulness. Jesus is our way back to God, not the burnt offerings we’ve read about here. This is one tangible way we see Jesus as the fulfillment of the law.
Speaking of sin, years later after Moses had died, the LORD spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying, “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” (Isaiah 43:25) What good news for us. We don’t need to make sin offerings ourselves because Jesus did that once for all. How marvelous is it to know that our sins are forgiven and forgotten! If God can let them go, we can, too!
Let’s pray. Precious Jesus, I thank you for all that you endured for me as you sacrificed your life for mine. I am so grateful to be redeemed. Still my heart so that I can be fully in tune with you and your leading for my life. Forgive me for the times that I anticipate what you want me to do. Cleanse my heart of feelings of dread or sadness so that I can be filled of more of you. Use me to be a friend for others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
