Skip to main content

At One-Ment - Leviticus 16

Once a year, the high priest entered the Holiest place on earth and offered sacrifice for the people's sins. This particular day came with many rules and regulations to avoid offending God. Here are a few that God gave to Aaron.
Come at the set time each year
Bring a
Bull - sin offering
Ram - burnt offering
Take a bath
Put on
Tunic
Underwear
Sash
Turbin
Take from the people
Two male goats - sin offering 
Ram - burnt offering

Offer the bull for your (Aaron's) own sins.
Present the two goats at the entrance of the meeting tent

Throw dice for the two goats to see which one will be sacrificed and which one will be sent into the desert as the scapegoat. You will slaughter the bull for your family's sins.

You will take a censer of burning coals from the altar and some finely ground incense. You'll put that on the inner altar to make enough smoke to hide the Ark of the Covenant, and then you can go into the Holiest place. 

And that is just the first thirteen verses of this unique chapter. Minutiae? Crazy stuff? If someone asked us to do all of this these days, we'd tell that someone to go jump in the lake. It's strange and weird. So what does it all have to do with anything?

If you look objectively at Leviticus these days, you will be baffled by the blood and gore. Yet, since this is the third book of the Bible, we must not blow it off as a mere Lorem Ipsum text. It is important. But why?

One author says, "The Book of Leviticus, like others in the Old Testament, offers ... lessons for today's people of faith. One example is the enduring truth in Leviticus 11:44: 'For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.' "In many ways, the Book of Leviticus schools people of faith about God's holiness. It also clarifies God's expectations for his people. For example, the necessity of ritualistic sacrifice and atonement preceded Jesus' sacrifice in the New Testament."

A Holy God, plus sinful man, leads to a need for approximation. Holiness is the goal, and it is also impossible to attain. Leviticus shows us just how impossible with all of its rules, regulations, and bloody sacrifices. Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Daughter and dog...

About six months ago we discovered that Ann was pregnant and were very excited for she and Jackson. We will have babies on this side and that of the Atlantic. We weren't prepared for that news and we we were even less prepared for the news that our little dog is pregnant. To date we have spent more on the dog than on Annie (don't tell her... Ann that is). Ann has yet to discover whether her baby is a boy or girl. Both ultrasound images were inconclusive. Though I did some further investigation of my own and was startled with what I found. to me it looks as if the baby is definitely a boy and has some resemblance from both sides of the family. Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.
3 comments
Read more

Urgent Prayer (part 2)

Does God ever give you a gut punch? He did that just a few days ago when I watched a missionary story from the other side of the world. It was short but poignant, and it punched me in the belly button and brought a few tears too. One thing that shook me was the final statement that the missionary made. He was questioning himself and said, I wonder if what I have done will make a difference. This question comes to a missionary's mind now and again as they ponder how vast God's world is and how tiny one’s work is. As I thought, and identified, with his sentiment, the Lord brought a verse to mind that I had used recently in a youth talk. It was this one in John 12:24, “ Very truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ” When, in Matthew, the sower sowed his seed, it was the Word of God. Here in John, Jesus indicates that the seed is the life of the servant. Jesus talked of his comi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Living Up to Expectations

walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called (Ephesians 4.1) I’m sorry but I cannot imagine being primped to be a duke, prince or king! I have always thought of Prince Charles as a big wuss in waiting. His whole life has been spent preparing to be “the next king of England.” This poor guy has gone above and beyond the call of duty in being groomed for a position that Elizabeth II, his mom, doesn’t seem to want to give up. Elizabeth’s mother, the Honourable Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, lived for 101 years for Pete’s sake! Does Charley have a chance? Doubt it. Why this talk about princely preening? Well my friend it is because we as God’s children are in a similar process. In Ephesians 4.1 Paul goes into some interesting details. He tells us the following. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, The word vocation trips us up. I went through my career at GM working my best so that I would plea...
Post a Comment
Read more