Leviticus 4:27-28, 6:13
27 If any member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, when they realize their guilt 28 and the sin they have committed becomes known, they must bring as their offering for the sin they committed a female goat without defect.
13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.
Reflection: Sacrifices and Preistly work… a full-time job
Written By: Pastor Jesse Caro
One of the big challenges in reading the bible through is the Old Testament. I understand totally why some people would get bogged down in repetitive laws and (later on) genealogies. It is a struggle to find anything “devotional” or practical for us today in this sea of regulations. We will encounter this all the way through Deuteronomy (the second telling of the Law). However, I encourage you to consider that the New Testament teaches us (in Romans and Galatians especially) that the Law was impossible to conquer. Galatians calls the Law a “schoolteacher” showing us our need of God. As I read just a few pages I think, “how did they keep all this straight?” The answer is… they didn’t.
In Leviticus 4 there are sacrifices described and demanded for sins that God’s people would accidentally commit. This is not even counting the mountain of sacrifices required for this sin, or that sin. As I read the Law here, I feel the weight and the impossibility of the task. The Children of Israel could never be sin free. No sooner would they return home from offering a sacrifice and they would have to turn around to sacrifice again. 100,000 plus people would constantly be offering animal sacrifices. As Leviticus says, the fire would never go out. How much blood and how many animals would be slaughtered for sin. An endless, bloody mess, and a full-time job for the priests.
So, when I read these books, I am struck by the gratefulness of knowing that the New Covenant was not one of endless animal sacrifices… but of one ultimate sacrifice for all sin, for all time, for all people. The weight of sin and guilt is now lifted off of us who believe in a way that the Children of Israel never experienced. As you read these pages, and the rest of the Pentateuch, don’t read it as a weight and a burden, but consider the good news that now Jesus has paid it all.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for your ultimate sacrifice for us. Thank you for bearing the weight of sin on Christ, the ultimate sacrifice.
