You are probably familiar with two key passages in the Book of Romans:
- For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
- For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
While humans may take sin lightly and even joke about it, the sacrificial system and the crucifixion of God’s only Son reveal the serious nature of sin.
As one scholar noted, “If the crucifixion is God’s remedy for our sin, then sin must be taken seriously.”
Unintentional Sins
Even unintentional sins or sins of omission needed forgiveness through sacrifice.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, saying: When anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done and does any one of them:
“If it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull of the herd as a purification offering to the Lord” (Leviticus 4:1-3).
“Unintentional” occurs 19 times in the Old Testament. It is not deliberate and often people are unaware that they have committed it.
The lack of knowledge or intention of an unintentional sin corresponds to the absence of the demand for sorrow or repentance to accompany the sacrifice.
Most Disruptive First
The list of people whose sin is most disruptive to God’s continued presence and blessing among Israel begins with the priest. It continues through the hierarchy of leaders until it reaches the common men and women of the nation.
Below is a summary of Leviticus 4:4-12, where the requirements for the priest are enumerated. A similar list is provided for the congregation, leaders, and common Israelites in the remainder of the chapter.
- A bull is brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting.
- The person offering the sacrifice lays their hand on the bull’s head, and the bull is slaughtered.
- The anointed priest takes some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting.
- The priest sprinkles some blood seven times before the Lord in front of the sanctuary curtain.
- Some blood is put on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense.
- The remaining blood is poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offering.
- All the fat covering the entrails, around the entrails, the two kidneys, and the liver lobe are removed from the bull.
- These fat portions are burned on the altar of burnt offering.
- The rest of the bull (skin, flesh, head, legs, entrails, and dung) is carried to a clean place outside the camp, to the ash heap.
- The remaining parts of the bull are burned on a wood fire at the ash heap.
If you are ever on a quiz show, here are two items that may help you win.
(1) The richest portion of the sacrifice was given to God, not because they were interested in the cholesterol levels of the participants. Rather, they were considered the best part of the animal and only God should have the best.
(2) Archeolosts discovered a large mound in the area of the Jerusalem temple, where the rest of the animal sacrifices were burned. So many animals were sacrificed that it was close to the size of a football stadium.
Jesus, Our Sacrifice
Hebrews outlines how Jesus far exceeded the high priest’s sacrifice. Note, that the Day of Atonement was God’s gift to forgive sins of commission or intentional sins.
Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the holy place year after year with blood that is not his own, for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world.
But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.
And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Hebrews 9:25-28).
We can profoundly thank Jesus for His gift that though our sins deserved death, He took our place, giving us the best life possible right now and heaven for our future.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 