“Then he shall offer the second for a burnt offering according to the rule. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.” – Leviticus 5:10
The overwhelming message of the book of Leviticus is that forgiveness of sin comes at a terrible price. God is pure, perfect, holy, and righteous. He is all good and in Him is no shadow of darkness, evil, or sin. Thus when we sin – and we all do – we create a separation between us and Him bigger than the Grand Canyon!
The only way to remove that sin and close that separation is for something innocent to die. It sounds horrible to our modern sensibilities, but that’s because we don’t appreciate how horrible our sin is, whether we think it’s a “big” sin or a “little” sin. Sin is sin and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) – either for ourselves or for something innocent that atones for our sin.
The ancient system of sacrifice with all its blood and gore was intended to teach us that single lesson. That system could never truly save anyone in itself because after the sacrifice people just sinned again. The system existed to point us to an infinitely greater sacrifice that could cover all our sin, past, present, and future.
That sacrifice was made by the eternal, holy, righteous, perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ. He lived the life free of sin that we can’t and He died as an atoning sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. By His death and resurrection, all who put their faith in Him receive forgiveness and new birth into eternal life.
“He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24
#FOLLOWJESUS
NOTE: While Pastor Brian is on sabbatical, we offer this devotional which was originally published on February 28, 2020.