Jesus in Leviticus...

So I'm reading Leviticus right now. The last time I read Leviticus, I had a hard time reading it. It seemed so repetitive (which it is) and redundant (which it also is) and honestly, I wondered just how applicable it was to my life. That was two years ago when I didn’t understand how the Old Testament sacrificial system had anything to do with me life.

Today is a different story… haha. Some of you guys are like, “What Nate? What does the Old Testament sacrificial system have to with your life?” Those who are thinking that, stay with me, you’ll see, and no, I’m not going to advocate you stealing the local farmer’s best unblemished steer to slit its throat for Jesus.

So anyways, my view from two years ago has changed, at least through the end of chapter 4. Let me preface with Leviticus 1:4-5a and work from there:

He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering so that it can be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He is to slaughter the bull before the Lord.

First off, we need to know what we mean by the word atonement. Why does someone need atonement?

Atonement - to make atonement for one is to make satisfaction for his offenses.

So the idea of atonement is this – man has offended God with his sin. How does man pay for his sin? Well, man cannot pay for his sin. Man cannot do some good works to make up for the sin he’s committed. There are no scales weighing the good and the bad, because the fact is what’s done is done, and perfect holy God is ever always offended by man’s sin. So something without sin has to take the place of something with sin. The innocent has to die for the guilty, because once someone is guilty, they are always guilty.

And we all know what this is like. There are words we regret saying, things we regret doing, and we try as best we can to make it up to the person(s) we’ve offended, be it friends or family or someone else, but no matter what you do, what was done was still done. You can’t take it back. You were guilty, you are guilty.

And so here we go with atonement. We have sin and God is offended. Hebrews 9:22b reminds us that, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” And so we’ve established why the innocent animal has to die – the innocent must die for the guilty, because once guilty, always guilty.

But why was one required to place their hand on the head of the animal as its throat was slit? Because there needed to be a connection. God wanted people to know their sin was the reason the innocent unblemished animal had to die. God wanted people to realize the offense committed, not because of the size the offense, but because of who the offense is against – Holy Perfect God. God wanted people to realize the significance and weight of their sin, and so they were to lay their hand on the face of the animal while the animal was looking at them, the best of their flock, while the animal had its throat slit.

I recognize to many, this seems barbaric, but recognize this: sin offends God, it sickens God, it is detestable, and God wanted us to understand the weight of our sin.

Embedded deep in Christian theology is the belief the Old Testament foreshadows the coming of Jesus - the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Passover LAMB – and that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. For thousands of years, the Old Testament sacrificial system was how it worked, the innocent animal dying for the guilty man, because once guilty, always guilty.

But Jesus was the final sacrifice. Jesus was the innocent Lamb that was slain. Jesus, the Perfect, died for us, the imperfect, to once and for all pay for the sins of the world. It was our sin that put Him there, our offenses to God, that nailed Jesus on the cross. But because Jesus loved us, He was willing to be the final sacrifice, the Lamb that was slain.

He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor 5:21

Only because of Jesus can we stand righteous before God. Not because of anything we have done, because once we are guilty, we are always guilty. And so reading this passage this morning in Leviticus carried new meaning for me, because in it, I saw the ugliness of my sin in God’s eyes, and I saw Jesus and His always faithful love for me in the eyes of the innocent lamb that someone had to lay his hand on its face as its throat was slit.

Thank You Jesus for being the Lamb that was slain, who takes away the sins of the world!