A day of Atonement

Leviticus 16:21-22 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

                As I said yesterday, I have been reading through the book of Leviticus over the past couple of days.  I am amazed at how detailed God was with how the Israelites were to perform their sacrifices and go through their cleansing.  God leaves nothing to be speculated about. 

                In chapter 16 Moses describes the Day of Atonement.  This day happens once a year when the High Priest goes into the Holy of Holies and presents the sacrifice to God.  It is a time when all of Israel confesses their sins and when the sins are put on the one goat and he is sent far away.  As I read this verse, I was reminded of the verse in Psalm 103:12 that says: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”  This Day of Atonement was set apart so that the Israelites would cast all of their sins at God’s feet and He would get rid of them forever.

                As believers we don’t have a Day of Atonement.  Instead we have the ability every day to approach the throne of grace and repent.  I wonder how many of us do not take advantage of the time to truly talk to God and really repent.  As you go to the Lord in your quiet time, remember that you go unclean, but that through the blood of Christ you have been made pure in God’s eyes.  He has truly sent those sins away “as far as the east is from the west.”

The Sacrifice for Love

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been reading through the books of the law in the Old Testament.  It is amazing to me to see how meticulous God was in telling the Jews exactly what they could and could not do.  There were specifically things that they could eat and other things that they couldn’t eat.  When we look at what the Jews were told they couldn’t eat and couldn’t touch, many of these items were filled with disease and if not taken care of properly, would cause them to become sick.  

One of the interesting components of the law, is all the sacrifices that had to be conducted.  In Leviticus chapter 9 Moses takes the Israelites through the first real sacrifices in the Tabernacle.  This was where the first blood was spilled symbolically in the Tabernacle for the sins of the nation.  As I was reading this I noticed the correlation between the blood of the perfect lamb that was spilled in the Old Testament and the Blood of the LAMB, Christ Jesus, in the New Testament.  It is very hard to understand why a God would send his son to die for mankind unless we understand the penalty for sin. 

                Sin is the breaking of God’s commandments.  Mankind is inherently sinful.  When man sins just once, then he is doomed to death and eternal separation from God.  God didn’t and still doesn’t want to be separated from man.  Thus he demonstrated his love for us.  In the Old Testament, he gave an example of what must be done for man when they sinned.  Blood had to be spilled.   That blood of the lamb wasn’t what saved them from ultimate death.  It was a foretelling of what was to come.  Christ came so that he could be the LAMB and his blood would be spilled for all mankind.  If man just would repent and believe, then they will be saved.  How many people do you know who are separated from the love of God?  How about you?  Is sin blocking you from His love?  If you will confess with your mouth that you are a sinner and in need of a Savior and proclaim that Jesus is Lord, then you will be saved.  Won’t you do that today?