Holiness is a two way street.

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Deuteronomy 14:2

This emphasis comes at the short reminder of dietary law restrictions to the Jews in Deuteronomy 14. And in it I realize that God intended holiness to be a relationship, and not just a condition. They were to sanctify themselves by obeying a holy God. And the Law was meant to show that Israel was a unique and holy people, chosen by God and set apart to Him.

It is easy for me to look at these more restrictive and peculiar parts of the Pentateuch and throw out accusations of arbitrariness. But there is purpose behind even the strangest restriction or command. The purpose was to reflect the holiness of God in the lives of His people. It was to draw them into relationship with Him. That certainly was not arbitrary.

That principle holds true in Christ Jesus. I am part of a holy people, the Church, who are the Body of Christ and are destined to be the Bride of Christ. And we are loved, made holy, as we worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness! Holiness is as much about relationship with God as it is about a theological or personal condition. It is a sacred and unique personal relationship. God calls us to Himself, saves us in His Son, declares us holy and helps us live that way through the guidance of His clear Word and personal presence of His Holy Spirit guiding us. He helps us live in holiness with Him, for Him, and to Him because He loves us.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

sin, death, and ritual impurity

If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean.

Numbers 19:20

 

God gave ancient Israel certain practices regarding ritual impurity in His worship that do not correlate well to the New Testament experience of life in Christ. This chapter is one of those kinds of things. At issue is not whether the ashes of a dead bovine mixed with water essentially convey holiness. The point is obedience to God’s command on the subject. Certain life experiences rendered a person “unclean” regarding contact with God in worship or contact with His people in the assembly.

 

The “water for impurity” made from the ashes of the red heifer was used daily no doubt. One of the main situations described in this passage involved ritual impurity when coming in contact with a dead body. And people lived and died in the desert camp daily. So on any given day there were hundreds of people who had become ceremonially unclean. The practices in Numbers 19 brought them back to a ritual purity that allowed full participation in worship again after confronting the death process personally.

 

We tend to read hygiene into this sort of thing. That was not the issue. I think the reason ritual impurity existed at the presence of death was to remind Israel that the curse on sin is death. There is a consequence. Paul called death the wages of sin for good reason. Death separates us from God because sin separates us from Him. Participating in a ritual that restored purity emphasized this over and over again in Israel.

 

Technorati Tags: Christianity,Religion,Sanctification,Discipleship

Even dedicated people will do wrong…

Then the priest shall present them before the LORD and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.

Numbers 6:16

 

What is interesting about this verse is that it describes the condition of ending a Nazirite vow. This was a special vow that a person could take to dedicate themselves uniquely to the Lord. They set themselves apart by not cutting their hair, refraining from wine and all products made of grapes (hard to do in a Mediterranean culture), and avoiding any potential contact with dead bodies of people or animals. It was a unique vow meant to help the person who took the vow concentrate on their relationship with the Lord. And the hairstyle made it visible to everyone else in the person’s life. The most notorious Nazirite in the Old Testament was Samson. But Paul in the the Book of Acts appears to have taken this kind of vow at one point.

 

What is interesting was that at the end of the time period of the vow (set by the person taking the vow) in addition to a haircut by the priest, the person also offered a sin offering along with additional offerings. Even though the vow was meant to concentrate on sanctification, the sacrifice of the vow was not enough to remove the guilt of the sin. They still did wrong things. The sin offering was meant to deal with that issue. The Nazirite vow then did not make them sinless, or even “more holy” than someone else, even though they were concentrating on God with an unusual fervor. God still had to atone for sin despite the efforts of the Nazirite.

 

Here is where I am going with this. God knew we have a tendency to trust in our efforts, and the Law, though it was good, by nature fed this in us. And the Nazirite rules were even more restrictive. It would be easy to think that keeping the rules made me holy. God made sure that was not the external emphasis for the Nazirites by insisting that sin offerings be part of the vow. The same principle holds true today. When we come to faith in Christ, we are saved by His work, not our own. And He keeps us holy, even as we are called to obey. I still must confess my sins. I still must seek forgiveness from God and those I may sin against. This will always be the case until I reside with God in heaven.

 

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Leviticus: the last word

These are the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.

Leviticus 27:34

I find this reminder a fitting way to end the book of Leviticus. I notice several things about the nature of Leviticus in this short seventeen word summary of the book. The first is the nature of the book. It consists of commands. The people of Israel did not negotiate these laws (unlike what gets done in the sausage-making legislative process in Washington). God simply spoke them and they became the legal code of the nation.

Secondly, we see human leadership as God’s spokesman. That was Moses’ job. He was a prophet. He simply delivered the message that God gave to Israel. And the role of Moses and of the priests is a major part of what was meant to keep Israel obedient to these laws and thus in proper relationship with God.

I must also mention the source of stable government for Israel under the Law. God was the source of it. God commanded Moses for the people of Israel. They did not have to wade through warped human reasoning to come up with the structure for their society. God provided it through His revelation. Theocracy in its biblical form is a remarkably streamlined and efficient form of leadership.

Fourthly, the relationship that God had was with a unique group of people: Israel. The nation had been chosen to bless the world, and God fully expected for the world to come to worship Him through Israel’s leadership. Provisions exist in Leviticus for this process. A holy God had chosen a holy nation to reach the world.

The final noteworthy comment has to do with the place that symbolized the law: Sinai. God had chosen to reveal Himself and His laws for the nation in an event on a mountain. This made a strategic historic point in the nation to look back on, much like any nation might look back at its founding. In this case, Israel saw Sinai as its birthplace as a nation under God.

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Two motivations for holiness.

"So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the LORD. And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD."

Leviticus 22:31-33

God appeals ultimately to His person as a grounds for Israel living holy lives as His unique people. The reason we should worship and obey God is because He is the LORD. Period. Holiness is grounded in the person of God. But there are two unique things that God had done for Israel that are given as reminders for observing the law out of relationship with God.

The first motivation is the very holiness of God. He should not be treated any other way because He is holy. We cannot “profane his holy name” and except that any subsequent “worship” we offer in pure ritual will mean anything to Him. He is holy, and He sanctifies us to His service and worship. He expects holy living in us as a result. A holy God cannot produce unholy worshippers. That is completely out of the question.

The second motivation is that which comes from God’s grace. God appeals to His gracious dealings with Israel. He did the sanctifying. He did the delivering during the Exodus. The reason that Passover was the big event in Jewish history was because God was gracious. And it is that event that is brought to their attention in this call to holiness. If I really understand that kind of grace that God gives me, I am moved to worship and obedience. Grace to an undeserving sinner brings joy and peace and motivation for all of life.

Lord,

Thank You for this reminder of Your holiness and grace. I need it now. Help me to keep it before me in the decisions of my day. Help me not to lose sight of how wonderful You are in Jesus. I recognize all that you have done for me in Your mercy, love, and grace.

Amen

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a holy priesthood

You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy.

Leviticus 21:8

Aaron, his sons, and the generations of Levites that would serve the Lord in sacrificial service were uniquely called and set apart by God to God’s service. All of Leviticus 21 contains specific instruction for the life details of sanctification that were called upon by those in God’s service in this way. The list is long. The reason is stated in this one verse: “for I, the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy”.

I extrapolate a simple principle to think through this morning: God deserves to be served for Who He is. And because the defining characteristic of God is His holiness, and that is what He desires to achieve in us, it would follow that those who serve Him must concentrate on recognizing His holiness. They should be the first to be set apart to Him. They should be willing to be His completely. Holiness is not so much about haircuts or clothing styles as it is about the character of God coming through the person of the servant set apart to Him.

God sanctifies me (and really all Christians) to His service. He has set His seal upon us in the form of His Holy Spirit Who resides within us. He has equipped up with gifts and a calling to share the gospel with our lives. We are called a “peculiar” people, and in a sense we are all to live out the holy calling as Christ’s ambassadors. Could there be any more important task?

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Holiness,Service,Ministry

Relationship with God: motivation to holy living

Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. Keep my statutes and do them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

Leviticus 20:7-8

Holiness is a two-way street. And this passage captures that truth well. God asked Israel to commit to relationship through Him through the covenant of the Law. They were to do so primarily through the motivation of worship. If they truly were God’s people and loved Him, they would do as He said for them to do. They would consecrate themselves and they would be holy because they would want to please God. That is a fine and wonderful reason to be sanctified.

We set-apart ourselves to God only if He first does something for us. A convicted man cannot find the graces of his judge be merit of his charms. Only the judicial decision can ever create anything better for him than his crimes deserve. And the same is true with us. We have sinned against a holy and just God. And only if He makes a move toward us can we move toward Him. That is exactly what the last phrase of this passage told Israel: “I am the LORD who sanctifies you.” They would be helpless in holiness if God had not decreed a righteousness for them out of the relationship with the Law that they would enjoy. They obeyed, but it was God Who made them holy.

Lest I forget this truth, God repeats this truth throughout the Old and New Testaments. The scriptures I could cite would be more than I could list right now. The New Testament makes it clear that I “work out” my salvation, making holy living a personal choice. But I can’t do that unless God first saves and sanctifies me. He makes me holy and clothes me in the very righteousness of His Son. So I am moved to holy living because Jesus is my Savior and I have a relationship with the Father through the Son. I am enabled for this task not because I am so good, but because God has sanctified me and given me truth for holy living in His Word. The Bible continuously shows me the choices that I must make that are pleasing to God. God makes me able to come to Him. But I must still choose to come to Him. God makes me able to live a righteous and godly life, but I must still make the right choices to live that life in Christ. I must allow Jesus to live in me if I am going to live a holy life.

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Culture does not dictate morality.

You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 18:3-5

This is the prologue to what has to be the most personally impacting part of the book of Leviticus. This entire chapter covers the subject of sexual holiness. Much of what passes as common sinful practice in human society is detailed here. The painfully sinful and abhorrent practices are prohibited including incest, multiple partnerships, polygamy, adultery, idol worship that included sexual activity (Molech worship included infanticide for sexual or fertility favors from the god), homosexuality, and bestiality.

The list is dark. The sad thing is that these issues still pervade human culture. Ask any pastor or counselor and we can tell you that even among Christians, the damage is often done in these sexual activities that destroy and hurt people deeply. God can forgive and grace can transform, but these are real issues. The key is to not let the culture dictate morality. In this little prologue, God reminds Israel of the spiritual impact of obedience to Him. They would be tempted to look to their past experience in Egypt to set the moral and sexual standard. That would be a wrong  choice. They would also be tempted to let their future home in Canaan dictate their moral choices. That would be equally wrong. Culture does not set my moral compass. God does. And I find that most fully in the revelation of His statutes. By the Word of God, I can know what is right to do sexually (monogamous marriage for life… sex only in marriage) and I will truly live by their instruction. These days with epidemic sexual disease that may literally be true.

Current culture is becoming more and more desensitized to the very issues raised in Leviticus 18. Every sexual deviancy is now the fodder of comedy routines and sitcom snickers. Our culture has marched relentlessly downward in rejection of God’s Word and God’s will for moral standards. Porn is everywhere, even the punchline of primetime TV. The result is that sexual deviancy is now considered some kind of human right, as long as consenting adults are doing the deviancy, and sometimes even if they just can’t help it.

This chapter ends with a warning (Leviticus 18:30) and a strong admonition to keep the charge that God gives to not practice the sexual activities prohibited here. I find that principle timeless. Sexual purity strengthens our character, our commitments, our relationships, and most importantly, our relationship with God.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Holiness,Sexuality

The cost of sin.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

Leviticus 17:11

Someone or something had to die when sin entered the world. Human beings lost a lot in that transgression. God made it clear to the Israelites that they needed to remember the cost of sin with the regular sacrifice at the altar. And this also affected certain dietary restrictions. To remember the cost of sin meant not eating the blood of any animal ever. It meant practicing a form of slaughter that drained as much blood from the animal as possible. All this was meant to show a regular appreciation for the atonement that took place at the altar. A calloused view of blood meant a disregard for relationship with God.

This prohibition was important enough that it was the one thing about the Old Testament Law that the early church felt compelled to remind Gentiles. All people should respect that blood is offered in atonement of sin (Acts 15:20). That regular reminder in the Jewish diet was really a form of regular worship. It acknowledged that sinners needed a sacrifice.

I see the wisdom in that reminder, and it is one reason why the New Testament church should at least regularly observe the Lord’s Table. It is in the symbols of the bread and the wine that we remember the cost of our sin, the sacrifice of our Savior, and the blood that was shed for the remission of sin. My sin is a costly mess. It literally cost God the ultimate sacrifice. Regularly remembering that is healthy for my soul.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Holiness,Sacrifice,Blood

Atonement Day

“And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins." And Moses did as the LORD commanded him.

Leviticus 16:34

The regulations for the Day of Atonement were strict and demanding. You can quickly see that the priests worked hard, and the high priest was tasked with huge responsibility to make sure that God’s requirements for this vital yearly sacrifice were kept fully. At issue was the spiritual health and forgiveness of the entire nation. Obedience to this was crucial for God’s blessing and for spiritual progress to develop. God could continue His relationship with the struggling nation if they would offer the sacrifices for atonement of all their sins for that year.

But the levitical system was limited. A sacrifice for this event was made every year. In addition to that untold sacrifices for sin and guilt offerings were made day after day throughout the year. The altar was a bloody place that was constantly busy with the work of repentance, confession, sacrifice, and commitment.

This one day of the year all that halted for one special set of sacrifices that was meant to atone for all the sins of all the people. It was a day to celebrate fellowship with God through His willingness to forgive. As such, it became the high point of the Jewish Year, the start of a new year for the nation with God. Our atonement gives us a fresh start as well, only the affect is for a lifetime and not just the next twelve months. For that I am truly thankful.

Lord Jesus,

I thank You for being the final, complete, last sacrifice for sin. I can do nothing or offer nothing beyond what You have done. I trust in Your forgiveness and I experience it. Of all the things that I have right now for which to be thankful, this is the most significant.

Amen

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ewwwww!

"Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst."

Leviticus 15:31

This is not a chapter that I think will ever find its way into a Sunday morning scripture reading. It is not good sermon fodder either. The content of the chapter is more fitting for a health class than anything else. It has to do with bodily discharges for both men and women. That was already too much information. But this chapter goes into detail.

There are details about the types of discharge that lead to making one ceremonially impure and details about the types of offerings made for cleansing the condition. Why did God care about this? Because He wanted His people to take seriously their relationship with Him at all levels. Nothing was trivial when it came to approaching Him in worship. Hence these regulations were meant to pull their thoughts toward God.

The point was that worshiping God was a holy business. And these bodily regulations kept the focus squarely on God and the worship of Him in reverent holiness. This kept them from defiling the place where His presence would dwell among them. If I remove my tendency to see the “gross-out” factor in this chapter, and view the requirement as a call to holy thinking, I see the point. God is to be reverently worshiped. That is the point of this unusual chapter.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Holiness,Purity

Twice cleaned

And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

Leviticus 14:20

The Law provided detailed help for the priests in determining the impact of the spread of a wide range of infectious conditions. There were a variety of skin diseases thrown into the leprosy category. There were also mold conditions within a dwelling that would render it unlivable and unclean. The priests were trained in the proper diagnosis of these conditions. And they did not offer any healing. They did offer a response if God should chose to heal the individual.

In the case of the leper, he was supposed to show himself to the priest who would then begin the process of determining if the leprosy had indeed stopped its progress. Jesus referred lepers that He had completely healed to this procedure. It restored a condition of ceremonial cleanness to the leper so that participation in the life of worship and the society of God’s people could continue. Jesus advocated this practice when He completely healed lepers (Matthew 8:4). It was the way in which the society knew beyond any doubt that God had worked.

So a leper was twice cleaned when God healed him. He was cleansed of the ravages of a disease, and He was purified for worship of the Lord. This required God’s work, his cooperation, and the work of the priest. But in the end, his physical and his spiritual life were no longer those of a misfit or outcast. The physical disease was symbolic of a greater spiritual problem. Both of those issues were met by the Law. And the result was that the holiness of God was magnified. No physician could take credit for the healing when ultimately the priest would determine the man’s readiness to be united to God through the worship at His altar. God got the glory through the physical healing and the spiritual restoration. Sadly, until Jesus, we do not see many Old Testament accounts of this happening. There is the story of Moses’ sister Miriam being struck with leprosy and eventually being healed (Numbers 12:15). There is the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5). It took Jesus to truly make lepers whole.

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Unclean

The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean.' He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Leviticus 13:45-46

Outside the camp

I am unclean…

rotting corpse of dead sin

still clinging to me.

What I am

is in need of cleansing;

Who You are is the One Who dares to touch me.

I am unclean

and You are the Holy One;

if I am to be clean

then I have to accept Your healing touch…

for You will make me clean again.

And then… I can go home.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Holiness,Purity,Sanctification

the standard for holiness.

For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Leviticus 11:45

As a gentile, most of what I read in Leviticus 11 reads strangely to me. All the laws about what is clean or unclean to eat must have been overwhelming at first when Moses began explaining them to the people of Israel. The detail is excruciating. But the standard is not arbitrary. It ain’t all about about types of fish or tasty animals! The reason that Israel was asked to follow dietary laws was rooted in the character and holiness of God. By doing so, they were worshiping God. They were committing to being uniquely holy because God is uniquely holy.

When God is the standard for holiness, anything He asks of us to be like Him is not arbitrary. It finds a clear focus in Him. The goal of the dietary law was not health or nutrition. It was relationship with God. Everything in the law was meant to draw the people into a deeper relationship with Yahweh. The call is to “be holy, for I am holy”.

The New Testament picks up on the standard behind the levitical code. It calls Christians to that same clear standard. So the principle behind the law compels me to build my relationship with the Lord in a proper way. There are clear appeals to the wording in this verse in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:14-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:7). If God is the standard, than what He calls us to do is important. The New Testament makes it clear that the call to holiness is not external obedience only, but internal change. Peter calls us to follow new passions, and Paul explains that holiness shows itself in the avoidance of immorality. But the internal and the external components of the call to live to God’s standard of holiness are important to understand. They constitute a compelling and challenging call.

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Dramatic Judgment

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.

Leviticus 10:1-2

This could not be any more dramatic. This episode occurs right after God has accepted the consecrated work of Aaron and his sons as priests.This incident was a painful variation from normal pattern of obedience that had been Israel’s story up to this point. At the end of chapter nine fire comes out from God to consume the sacrifice (showing His approval). The very next set of verses in chapter ten show fire coming out from God to consume the priests! I think God was not happy!

Why? What had Nadab and Abihu done that warranted such extreme and immediate judgment? There are three possible explanations for their actions which are simply called “unauthorized”. They were offering incense before the Lord. They may have used coals that were not from the prescribed source. They may have offered the incense at the wrong time of day. It is clear that this was not unintentional, but a deliberate violation, which has led some scholars to suggest that the command in Leviticus 10:9 that the priests avoid wine or strong drink points to the fact that they came before the Lord in a drunken state, making a mockery of their priestly duties. Again, all three show a deliberate disregard for the holiness of God, and dramatic judgment is the result.

God will be taken seriously. That is the point of the text. And if He is not, human beings who disregard Him will have to deal with the consequences. To obey Him brings blessing and awesome power at display among His people. To disobey Him brings judgment and awesome power is displayed then as well. Either way God gets glorified. He is glorified in both reward for obedience, and judgment for sin.

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Consecration

And he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him.

Leviticus 8:12

You choose to use me

a man who by nature is unholy

set apart now for Your glory

and certainly I am unworthy

 

But You choose to set apart

my life, my hands, my heart

so that I can do my part

to proclaim how great You are

 

Israel saw the oil drip down

from Aaron’s beard to the ground

and understood how profound

divine consecration turned a life around

 

No oil drips from my head

Your Spirit saturates my soul instead

and as I yield to what You have said

You seal and sanctify what You have led

 

Undeniably this is always a mystery

in a heavenly, daily, real life calling to be holy

set apart to live the gospel story

of redemption, salvation, and Your glory

 

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Consecration,Holiness,Ministry

The doctrine of the atonement is Most Holy.

This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy.

Leviticus 7:1

This is one of thirteen times in the book of Leviticus where the phrase “most holy” has described a practice for the priests and the nation. God wants to get the point across that certain attitudes must accompany the worship the nation offers to Him. When it came to the sacrificial system, the guilt offering was of highest priority. It was this offering that was meant to recognize and atone for guilt before a holy God.

Holiness is serious business. It is not something we should take lightly. It really is not a thing to joke about. We are dealing with the reason that death entered into the world. Humanity chose to sin, and with sin came death. That pretty much settles the question of “why” an awareness of the “most holy” nature of the guilt offering was needed. This was the most important need in any person’s life: to be made right before God.

It was this awareness of the extreme holiness of the guilt offering that became a point of comparison in the New Testament book of Hebrews. There the work of Jesus is contrasted with the work of the priests. And it is in chapter six of Hebrews that we are reminded of the ramifications and judgment of not taking the work of Jesus seriously. It is because what Jesus did is “most holy” that we cannot treat it with contempt (Hebrews 6:6). It is impossible to have contempt for the atonement on the cross and be a Christian. That is why we need to pray for the souls of those who would deny Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice or want to make the basis of our justification anything other than the cross of Christ. Even if they call themselves theologians. To declare what is “most holy” as evil, barbaric, or divine child abuse, is to have contempt for what is “most holy”.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Atonement,Holiness

forgiven

And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.
Leviticus 4:35b

You cannot escape the fact that holiness is a major theme of the book of Leviticus. The entire sacrificial system was set up by God to create a means of fellowship and a way for sin to be dealt with in Israel. God is holy. We are not. Something has to happen to provide a means to relationship with Him. Chapters 4 and the first half of chapter 5 describe the details for what is called the “sin offering”. The conditions for this sacrifice had to do with the nature of the sin. It was “unintentional” – a natural outworking of human fallen depravity. Sometimes we just sin because we are sinners. It is what we do. We are naturally skilled at it. But that sin puts us at odds with a holy God.

The second condition for offering the sin offering was that the individual becomes aware of his or her guilt in the unintentional sin. Either the offended party makes them aware, or they eventually see the disastrous results of personal depravity for what they are. The guilt checks them from really moving forward with God. They need forgiveness.

Another interesting observation was that societal status changed the requirements for this sin offering. At the top of the list was the unintentional sin of a high priest. There the sacrificial animal was an expensive bull. But there were different requirements for the nation as a whole, or for individuals who had sinned unintentionally. Lesser expenses were involved by the type of livestock offered. There were also different requirements based on the type of unintentional sin. The point was that God was not harsh and unrelenting, but understanding in the way He dealt with people who by nature sin so much they don’t always know they did it. God’s grace covers the “oops” factor.

For me, as I read this, the important thing that keeps coming out in every detailed episode of the type of sin and accompanying sacrifice was that GOD FORGAVE THE REPENTANT HEART. These simple five words are profound: “…and he shall be forgiven”. God will completely forgive. He offers a way back. He reaches out to the one who will return. He knows we are dust. He forgives. He provides a way for relationship with us despite our very natures. That is love that abounds to sinners. And that love is here in the harsh little book of Leviticus. Even as the blood of the sacrificed animal drips from the altar in each episode, the love of God forgives the sinner. How much more do I know this in Christ, Who gave Himself for me so that I might be a forgiven sinner as well? The phrase “…and he shall be forgiven” applies to my heart as well. It is the promise that truly brings me peace, perspective, and joy. It comforts and strengthens my heart… daily.

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