This is Spoken Gospel. We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture. In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel. Let’s jump in. Here we learn
about the Sin Offering. But the offering is not
just made because of sin. It is made to do
something to sin. So, a helpful way to think about this
sacrifice is as a “de-sin” offering, if you will, because it removes both the
penalty and the pollution caused by sin. That penalty is death. And that death is symbolically
transferred onto the animal by the guilty party laying
hands on it before it is killed. Now, that transfer of guilt is underlined by
these words repeated throughout this passage: “He will be forgiven." Sin’s pollution is also
dealt with in this offering. Sin not only defiles the person who
commits it but the place where it is committed. So, when someone sins, the blood from the
sin offering is placed on the altar outside the tent. The blood purifies the altar,
so that their sacrifices might, once again, be
acceptable before God. But what happens
when a priest sins? Or the whole nation
of Israel for that matter? That’s when the
purification has to go deeper. The blood is taken into the entrance of
the Holy of Holies where God’s presence is. The higher the status of the sinner,
the deeper the blood of purification must go. Not only is one person’s offering threatened,
but Israel’s entire proximity to God’s presence. Therefore, the tabernacle as
a whole must be “de-sinned.” When Jesus died for us on the cross,
he made a way for us to be de-sinned. He is the final sin offering. By believing in Jesus, we
symbolically put our hand on his head like those in Leviticus
did with the animal. We put our faith in the fact
that Jesus’ death dealt with the penalty our sins
deserved, and we are forgiven. His blood also cleanses the
temple of our bodies, so that God, in his Spirit, may
come dwell in us. Jesus’ blood not only makes a way for God
to dwell with us, but for us to dwell with God. As we saw in Leviticus, the higher the
status of the person making the sin offering, the deeper into the tabernacle
the blood would have to go. So, when Jesus, who has the highest status
imaginable, made the sacrifice of his own blood, it wasn’t taken into the depths of an earthly
tent, but into the very presence of God. Through his sacrifice, we have
full access to God’s presence. What Leviticus and all its sacrifices
do partially, Jesus does completely. I pray that the Holy Spirit would
give you eyes to see the God who has made a way to forgive us of
our sins and that you would see Jesus as the one whose blood makes a
way for us to enter God’s very presence.
