Christ in all the scriptures The sin offering Leviticus 4

 Christ in all the scriptures

The Sin offering   Leviticus 4

"...when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin..."Isaiah 53v10

We come now to the fourth aspect of the one offering of Christ.  We cite Hebrews 10v-4 for clarification that no animal sacrifice could take away sin, and so make worshippers perfect (fit to serve the living God).  The sin offering pointed to Christ, and the forbearance of God was active until He came (Romans 3v25-26), and it was in prospect of His coming God was able commune with them.  We understand from this that God will have nothing to do with sin, and therefore nothing to do with sinners in their sin, and they must be removed, if He would dwell among them.  In the worship of God, the question of sin must be removed completely, and this was done in Christ.  It is doubtful if we fully understand what sin is to God, and so we are bound by His definition of it and take on board the biblical meaning.

The Hebrew word chata actually means to miss, to fall short, to go wrong, and this in relation to God.  The Greek word is hamartia which is similar, and is derived from archery, where the object of hitting the bullseye has failed.  This is confirmed in Romans 3v23 "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God".  Thus we have fallen short of the most important aspect of our lives, we were created in the image of God to reflect His character, and we have come short!  We are on this earth to glorify God and we have failed.  This takes many forms but this is what sin is.  It is not only what we have done in defiance of God, but what we have omitted to do, that we should have done!  (Sins of omission as well as sins of commission.)  The Divine law refers to both aspects, "Thou shalt...", "Thou shalt not...".   We are not the people we should be, we have not given God His proper place.  We should be better than what we are, and we will be in Christ (Ephesians 4v24; Colossians 3v10).  Christ died  to save us from ruin, and make us the people we ought to be.  But first we must understand the nature of sin which is obnoxious to God.

Leviticus 4 deals with sins of ignorance, which afflict all sections of the congregation of Israel, and therefore all groups of people.  That is, so imbedded in our nature is this genetic flaw that we are not even aware that we are sinners (failures) in the sight of God.

Leviticus 4v1-2 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them."

There are four groups mentioned in this respect: the priests (v3-12); the whole congregation (v13-21; the rulers (v22-26); any one of the common people (v27-35).  Immediately, we can see that sin afflicts all sections of society, and can spread rapidly, like a disease from one to another.  No one escapes the reality that we are all sinners.  We may not know it, but we all are failures in the matter of sin.  The problem is our familiarity with it, our light-hearted appreciation of something that is abhorrent to God.  Sin challenges the perfections of God and reduces Him to a common level.  Thankfully the sacrifice of Christ has dealt with every aspect, affecting all people, and He is the answer to frailties and imperfections, and this is the teaching of the sin offering.  His death has removed the stain of sins from the hearts of God's redeemed people.  God Himself defines our sin, and He, Himself, delivers us from it.  It is now possible for the highest of God's creation to truly worship Him.

We should note the attitude of God to sin, all sin is "against the commandments of the Lord"-refer chapter 4v2; 4v13; 4v22; 4v27.  Commandments were introduced to define sin, so that we could understand and respect the Creator.  All sin, whether known or not, violates these definitions, and places us in conflict with God.  Deep within us is the strong tendency to stray from God, and so alienate us from Him, and Christ came to reconcile us.  Sin may harm those attached to us, like spouses, children, family, or even the wider community.  However, ultimately all sin is against God.  In Psalm 51, (a record of the fall-out from King David's adultery with Bathsheba), in his confession he said "Against thee, and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight"-v4.  The only answer to human sin is Christ, "...the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin"-1st John 1v7.  The fact that the Spirit of God highlights  the sins of officiating priests and rulers, in the chapter, tells us that no one is immune from this evil, indeed those in positions of privilege and leadership are treated the same as the common people, there is no respecter of persons with God.  In fact Jesus indicated that high privilege actually magnifies the sin of the individual (John 19v11), and James, in his epistle (3v1) indicates that individuals who break the commandments while in a status of honour would receive "greater condemnation".  High calling in life brings upon us greater responsibility.  

It is not only what we do in defiance of the known will of God, that constitutes sin, it is also the ignorance of (or indifference to) the word of the Lord.  There is a telling phrase in chapter 5v17 "...though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity".  Ignorance of the law of God is no excuse, and this surely calls for urgent education of the things of God.  

We shall find that every aspect of sin was covered in the sin offering, and in the next study we shall consider the ritual distinctions which demonstrate the character of sin, and God's abhorrence of it.  For now we focus on the offering of Christ for sins, which declares the depth of His suffering.

Hebrews 1v3 "...when He had by Himself purged our sins (made purification for sins-sin had defiled not only the whole of humanity, but the whole of the created universe).  He did this by Himself, alone bearing the awful burden of sin.

2nd Corinthians 5v21 "For He hath made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

1st Peter 2v24 "Who His own self bare our sins in His body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed".

2nd Peter 3v18 "For Christ also hath once (for all) suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God".

Romans 8v3 "God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us...".

John 1v29 "Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world".

These and many other texts reveal the reality of sin, and what Christ had to do to remove it. The hymnwriter, once again captures the thought to do with sins, "All my sins were laid upon Him, Jesus bore them to the tree; God who knew them, laid them on Him, and believing we are free!"

We shall discover next that the sacrifice of Christ dealt not only past sins, but present sins and therefore all future sins.  It is just that we need to be aware that in approaching God, confessing sins must become part of our lives until we become sinless, as we shall!