The Sacrifices
Read Leviticus 4:3, 13, 22, 27. What do these verses tell us about sin, and about who needs atonement for their sin? See Rom. 3:23, 5:12.
There are a number of lessons we can learn from these sin offerings.
First, the type of animal brought as a sin offering depended on the financial condition of the individual (Lev. 5:7–12), which showed that the Lord was sensitive to the financial situation of the people. For us, the point shouldn’t be missed: Salvation through Christ is for all people, regardless of their status in the world.
Second, the sacrificial victim was expected to be unblemished, healthy, and without physical defects (Lev. 4:3). The sinner was defective and morally blemished, but the sacrificial victim that represented the Lamb of God wasn’t.
Read 1 Peter 1:18, 19. What important aspect of Jesus was prefigured in those unblemished sacrifices, and why is that aspect so important to us and the plan of salvation? Rom. 5:19, 2 Cor. 5:21, Heb. 4:15.
Another important point to remember: The sin offering atones for both unintentional and intentional sin (Lev. 5:1–5) and ritual impurity (Lev. 12:6, 7). What’s the moral lesson for us? It’s that there was no sin that God could not forgive if the sinner repented from it. Moral and ritual impurity was symbolically removed from repentant sinners through the sacrificial blood. But in fact only the blood of Christ could cleanse from sin. The great news for us, prefigured in these sacrifices, is that no matter our past, no matter how badly we have fallen, we can through Jesus find restitution, healing, forgiveness, and cleansing.
| It’s easy, at times, to doubt your salvation. Maybe at times it’s even good to question your standing before God. After all, there will be those who thought they were saved who, in the end, won’t be (Matt. 7:22, 23). How can you find the assurance you need while, at the same time, not be presumptuous? |
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