Atonement Under the Law

"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. He shall slay the young bull before the Lord; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer up the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the doorway of the tent of meeting. He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces.'" -Leviticus 1.2-6

We enter the book of Leviticus, the spot where most Bible reading plans come to an end. I think part of the reason for this is that people don't understand why the book of Leviticus is in the Bible. Before we get into the above verses and how they speak to the heart of a man, let's take a minute to examine why Leviticus is a crucial part of the Bible.

Israel had been enslaved in Egypt for more than four centuries. During that time they had the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They knew what God had done for them, and what God had promised to them. But they were slaves, and after more than four hundred years, many things are lost. They didn't know how to worship God or live for God. In Exodus we see that God delivered His people and begins leading them to the Promised Land, and along the way He is teaching them, through Moses, about Himself and about how to live for Him. The book of Leviticus is God teaching His people how to worship Him and live life as He created them to live it.

The first thing that is instructed is about bringing an offering to God for atonement. For a long time I had this idea that you brought an animal to sacrifice, gave it to the priest and watched as he did the dirty work of killing it and preparing it to offer to God. Clearly I didn't pay too much attention to these verses the first time I read Leviticus. We can clearly see that it says the one who brings the animal is the one to kill it, and then to skin it and cut it up for the offering. You sin, you get to kill the animal and prepare it for the offering of atonement.

Atonement was not a spectator sport because sin is serious. And under the Law, atonement for sin meant you had to get your hands bloody. An innocent animal would be killed by your own hands so that you could be cleansed before God. I think if we could be PETA on board with this we might have less sin. If every time you sinned you had to go offer a sacrifice, that you personally had to cut the throat of, how likely would you be to sin?

Men, when we sin, something pure, beautiful, and innocent dies; Romans 6.23a says, "The wages of sin is death". Because "the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6.23b) we no longer have to offer animals for forgiveness, but it was our sin that crucified the Son of God. When we sin we bring death in our own lives, and possibly in the lives of those around us. We may not have visible blood on our hands, but there is blood there. When we sin we bring death to ourselves and to others, maybe not physically, but always spiritually.

Because of the cross, we will never have to cut an animals throat to pay for our sins. But what if we lived life with the mindset of every time we sin we have to put a nail in Jesus' wrist, how often would we refrain from sin?

Atonement under the Law was a constant reminder of the severity of sin, may we always live with this in mind. And with that mindset let us strive to live above sin through the power of the cross and the empty tomb. Sin always causes death, but Jesus always gives new life to those who seek it.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor