Christ in all the scriptures
The sin offering part 2 Leviticus 4
"Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures..." 1st Cor. 15v1
The principles are the same, but the sin offering applies more to the confession of sins of redeemed people, rather than to their initial conversion. The reality is that believers still can commit sin, and that the sins committed by them is no less abhorrent to God, and must be put away. We will not be sinless until glorified. The sacrifice if Christ has dealt with this also, as it says in 1st John 1v7, "...the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth (continues to cleanse) us from all sin". This is in the context of confession of sins as we approach God, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". Confession means "to speak the same thing" as God about our sin, that is to agree with His thoughts about our sin, and to seek forgiveness and cleansing. This is the sin offering, the aspect of the work of Christ that removes sin from us, whether past, present or future. There is a wonderful study in the writings of Dr, Lewis Sperry Chafer, co-founder of Dallas Theological Seminary which says there are 33 individual sins exposed by scripture, and these have been answered by 33 blessings of grace theologically imputed to all believers at the point of conversion, and which are available experimentally in the ongoing challenge of the Christian life.
We note in the four cameos in chapter four, concerning the priest, the congregation, the rulers and the common people, that the answer to sin in every case is to bring the sin offering before the Lord-refer 4v3 "...let him bring for his sin...a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering"; 4v14 "the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin..."; 4v22-23 "When a ruler has sinned...he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish"; 4v27-28 "And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance...or if the sin which he has sinned come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned. There are slight differences in the offerings depending on the status of the sinner, but they all speak of the one sacrifice of Christ. As John put it, Jesus Christ the righteous...He is the propitiation for our sins...1st John 2v1-2. In service to God, sin in our lives must be put away.
Note the ritual: Bring!...lay hands upon!...kill! Confession...identification...substitution. We do not approach God on our own, we come in the name of Christ our sacrifice; we lay our hands upon the offering, all or trust, all our dependence is firmly on Him, nothing of ourselves involved. The sacrifice must die, itself a proclamation that our sins deserve eternal death, but Jesus took our place. All this we first learned at the point of our conversion, and it applies all the way through life. Not only did He die to save us, but He lives to intercede for us. Why intercede? because our sins, even in our converted state, are an offence to God. This is the greatest truth on earth, that my sins are gone, and, when in the pressures of life they raise their ugly head, He intercedes and pleads His righteousness before God. None of us will ever know the extent of the protection we have in Christ, who pleads our cause at the throne of God.
There is no provision made for eating the sin offering, in contrast to the peace offering where everyone shared a part. There is nothing savoury or nourishing about the offering for sin. Instead, the whole animal with all its entrails was removed from the camp and burned to ashes remotely. Interestingly, the word for "burnt" is different for that describing the burnt offering on the altar. In the latter the word is Olah meaning slow burning, that which causes smoke to ascend. The word for the sin offering is Saraph (from which the burning seraphim around the throne) and means to burn utterly, to reduce to ashes. The fat and the choice inwards were removed and burnt on the altar of sacrifice; the rest of the entire animal was quickly reduced to ashes outside the camp. This represents God's attitude to sin, He wants it reduced to nothing out of His sight. There is no pleasure for God in the sin offering, there is no profit for us to either rake it over ourselves, or feed on the faults of others. God has removed it forever, in the language of Psalm 103v12,"As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us". Since no starting point in the east is given, the distance is permanent and incalculable. Also from Isaiah 43v25 we read, "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins". In the total burning of the sin offering God declares His purpose to eradicate it forever. No doubt the abandonment of Christ on Golgotha's tree (Psalm 22v1; Mark 15v34; Matthew 27v46) refers to the sin offering, when, as Isaiah (53v6) wrote, "The Lord hath laid on Him (caused to converge upon Him) the iniquity of us all".
In the peace offering the main thought is that of communion; in the sin offering it is cleansing (the offering was burned without the camp in a clean place (4v12) What is prominent in the sin offering of chapter 4 is the blood, what was done with it, where it was sprinkled, and this proclaims the necessity of the blood of Christ to cleanse us from sins. Leviticus 4v5-7, the priest brought the blood to the tabernacle of the congregation; dipped his finger in the blood and sprinkled it seven times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary; put some of it on the horns of the golden altar, then poured out the remainder at the base of the brazen altar. In 4v16-18, for the whole congregation, the same procedure was carried out. In 4v25-27, for the sins of a ruler, the priest put the blood on the horns of the brazen altar, and poured the rest on the base of the altar. In 4v30, the priest repeated the same ritual for the blood as for the ruler. Hebrews 9v18-23, referring to the dedication of the tabernacle, "Moses sprinkled both the book and the people..."; "also the tabernacle and all the vessels"; "...almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood is no remission". What we have in Leviticus 4 is the ongoing ritual of blood cleansing for the sins of the people. It is considered gory to a modern sceptic to emphasize blood cleansing, but without it there is no approach to God. The sceptic must remain outside of the process, both the person and his teaching. The church, the true church, was purchased by, and lives by, the blood of Christ (Acts 20v28).
"The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin" 1st John 1v7
"Propitiation through faith in His blood" Romans 3v25
"...now justified by His blood..." Romans 5v9
"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" 1st Corinthians 10v16
"In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins..." Ephesians 1v7
"...made nigh by the blood of Christ." Ephesians 2v13
"And having made peace through the blood of His cross..." Colossians 1v20
"How much more shall the blood of Christ who, through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9v14
"Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus..." Hebrews 10v19
"Wherefore Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate" Hebrews 13v25
"Redeemed...from your vain (empty) manner of life...with the precious blood of Christ...1st Peter 1v18-19
"Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood..." Revelation 1v5
"...Thou wast slain, and hath redeemed us to God by thy blood..." Revelation 5v9
"...washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb..." Revelation 7v14
"And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb" Rev. 12v11
Who would be a sceptic in light of all this!?
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