Tag Archive | atonement for sins

Leviticus 16 – The perfect atonement

May11

Good evening y’all. Happy Monday 🙂

Today we are studying Leviticus 16. Reading through the chapter gave me a deeper appreciation for Jesus and the price He came to pay in order for us to have a relationship with the Father.

Be blessed 🙂

I found a few similarities between what God asked of them in today’s chapter and what Jesus did for us.

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1) They had to use blood of animals to atone for their sins. The priest first, for himself, and then for the rest of the congregation –  Jesus didn’t have to atone for His own sins as He is the perfect High Priest. His blood brought us a new covenant without limitations 🙂
“He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. 27 Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all when he offered himself as the sacrifice for the people’s sins” (Heb 7: 26 -27 NLT)

2) The priests couldn’t go into the tent where God dwelt whenever they wanted. They didn’t have easy/free access to God. Jesus’ death on the cross has made it possible for us to have access to God whenever we want.

“And so, dear brothers, now we may walk right into the very Holy of Holies, where God is, because of the blood of Jesus. This is the fresh, new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us by tearing the curtain—his human body—to let us into the holy presence of God” (Heb 10: 19 -20 TLB)

3) The sacrifice had to be at a set time every year but Jesus paid it once and for all and removed the need for yearly atonement.

“The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship” (Heb 10: 1 NLT)
“But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. (Heb 10:12 NLT)

Hebrews chapter 9 gives us a good summary of this chapter.

“7 But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle[d] and the system it represented were still in use.
9 This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. 10 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.
11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. 15 That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. 25 And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. 26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.” (Heb 9: 7 -15, 24 – 26 NLT)

Prayer:
Dear Lord, we thank You for today. We thank You for loving us enough to send Your only Son to die for us. Thank You for the blood He shed so we can now come boldly before Your throne. Help us to daily live for You and in obedience to Your word.Thank You Lord. In Jesus’ Name we’ve prayed. Amen.

***With God all things are possible***

Leviticus 1 – Burnt offerings

Apr20

Good evening y’all. Welcome back from our spring break.

Today we start our journey into the book of Leviticus 🙂

In today’s chapter, we are introduced to the concept of burnt offerings. Actually all the chapters for this week are about different types of offerings.

Holy Spirit we ask for Your help, for without You we can do nothing. Open our hearts to receive from You today and flood our hearts with Your truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. Be blessed 🙂

God gave Moses instructions on what an acceptable burnt offering is. I asked myself, what was the need for the burnt offering? I realized the reason God was asking for the burnt offering in the first place was because of their sins. This was a sacrifice that would make them acceptable before God. We need to understand that our God is a Holy God. He cannot dwell where there is sin or iniquity.

I observed the following:

1) God gave them specific instructions on what, how and when to present a burnt offering that would be acceptable in His sight. As I was reading the instructions, it suddenly occurred to me that we cannot serve God on our terms. It has to be on God’s terms. He calls the shots and we have to live by his terms if we want to truly enjoy His blessings. We would find that His terms are not burdensome or hard to meet; actually He supplies all we need to meet His terms. That’s how wonderful God is.

2) The person offering the burnt offering has to to place his hands on the head of the animal, that way their sins are transferred unto the animal. The animal takes their place. instead of them dying: it dies in their stead.
“The person bringing it is to lay his hand upon its head, and it then becomes his substitute: the death of the animal will be accepted by God instead of the death of the man who brings it, as the penalty for his sins”.( Lev 1: 4 TLB)

3) The person bringing the burnt offering has to bring it of his own free will. the person must realise their sinful state and need for atonement.
“If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord”.(Lev 1: 3 NKJV)

4) The animal has to be male and without blemish or physical defect.

5) The blood is to be sprinkled around the altar 

So how does all of this apply to us today?

In likewise manner, Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away our sins. “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1: 29 MSG). In the same way the animals had to be slaughtered, so Jesus was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was killed and his blood shed for us and atoned for our sins. At that point on calvary, He took all our sins upon him. What you and I should have had to pay for, was all transferred unto Him. I can only imagine how heavy aburden that must have been. The weight of all our sin was on His shoulders. He died and offered his life as a sacrifice unto God so that we can be acceptable to God. Jesus Christ is the ultimate sacrifice.

“And He [[a]that same Jesus Himself] is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for [the sins of] the whole world”. (1 John 2: 2 AMP)

“For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He declares sinners to be right in His sight when they believe in Jesus”. (Romans 3: 25 – 26 NLT)

I found an extract from bible.org that sheds more light on the purpose of burnt offering and how it applies to us today

“One of the unique contributions of the whole burnt offering is that it illustrates sacrifice in its purest form. A very valuable animal is given up wholly to God. Neither the offerer nor the priest gains much from the offering, other than the benefit of being found acceptable to God, which, in the final analysis, is the ultimate benefit.

This kind of sacrifice is seldom practiced, and even when it is we may wonder at the wisdom of such waste. The widow who gave her last two mites might be criticized today for her lack of prudence in failing to plan and prepare for the future. The woman who poured out her expensive perfume, anointing the feet of the Lord, was accused of wastefulness. And so we tend to give our worn out old things to God, while we keep what is new and best for ourselves. We know little of giving our best to God, with no hope of anything beyond His approval.

But this kind of sacrifice is what God calls for from those who would be true disciples. Disciples are those who give up all to follow Christ. They are to count the cost of discipleship, and then to gladly pay it. When we give ourselves to God, as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2), we are to do so totally, without reserve, so as to be pleasing to Him. May God enable us to practice this kind of sacrifice in our own lives”. (The Law of Burnt Offerings (Leviticus 1:1-17), Bob Deffinbaugh, https://bible.org/seriespage/2-law-burnt-offerings-leviticus-11-17)

I leave us to ponder and mull on Romans 12: 1- 2

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you”. (MSG)

***With God all things are possible***