The reading from days 3 through 6 begin the instructions given by God to Moses for the Israelites to live as His set apart people. All of this effort was so that God’s presence could be among His people. Keep in mind that God takes this time period of approximately one year to mold these newly freed slaves into His people. They need this time to remove from their lifestyle the pagan practices of Egypt and to prepare themselves not to take on the pagan practices of the Canaanites. There is an important principle to learn. We are no different from the Israelites. At the moment of our salvation, we are like slaves freed from captivity; captivity in sin. I don’t want to miss-apply here but we see that even in the life of the apostle Paul, that he took about two years after his conversion, before he set out on his ministry, to allow God to teach him and mold him. We must realize that in our captivity we learned ideas and adopted habits that we must shed and in our relationship with Christ, we still live in this world. We must allow God to mold us, shedding the former things we adopted in our slavery to sin and prepare to live as His set apart people among the lost world.
A recurring theme occurs during the reading for these days. It is that of atonement, “the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the sin he has committed and he will be forgiven.” We see that the sin offering was assigned to “take away the guilt….” We cannot grasp the atonement of Christ in the New Testament, without understanding the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant. The cross of Christ cannot be reduced to forgiveness. Don’t hear me wrong, we are forgiven, but do you realize that we are only forgiven because Christ death was our atonement? The word atonement means “to cover the sin, to make reconciliation.” Just as the sacrificial alter was covered with the blood of a clean animal to make reconciliation between God and the individual, the blood of Christ covers our sin to reconcile us to God. We can only be forgiven because we are covered and reconciled. His blood atones us. We are forgiven and no longer stand guilty as sinners before God. Did you catch that? Your guilt is removed. Leviticus 10:17 says that the sin offering was sacrificed to “take away the guilt” which is also stated in other translations “to bear the iniquity.” Please don’t miss the beauty of these words. They mean, in the literal translation, “to lift oneself up to take the punishment for guilt.” God gave us Christ as the sin offering on our behalf. Read this verse, “For it is most holy and he gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord” in light of the New Covenant, “For He is most holy and He gave Him to you to bear your iniquity to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord.” Jesus is our once and for all sin offering; He gave Himself on my behalf. May we stop trying to earn God’s favor, may we stop living in our guilt and accept Christ’s covering. Before God, I stand reconciled, free from guilt and wholly forgiven.
A recurring theme occurs during the reading for these days. It is that of atonement, “the priest will make atonement on his behalf for the sin he has committed and he will be forgiven.” We see that the sin offering was assigned to “take away the guilt….” We cannot grasp the atonement of Christ in the New Testament, without understanding the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant. The cross of Christ cannot be reduced to forgiveness. Don’t hear me wrong, we are forgiven, but do you realize that we are only forgiven because Christ death was our atonement? The word atonement means “to cover the sin, to make reconciliation.” Just as the sacrificial alter was covered with the blood of a clean animal to make reconciliation between God and the individual, the blood of Christ covers our sin to reconcile us to God. We can only be forgiven because we are covered and reconciled. His blood atones us. We are forgiven and no longer stand guilty as sinners before God. Did you catch that? Your guilt is removed. Leviticus 10:17 says that the sin offering was sacrificed to “take away the guilt” which is also stated in other translations “to bear the iniquity.” Please don’t miss the beauty of these words. They mean, in the literal translation, “to lift oneself up to take the punishment for guilt.” God gave us Christ as the sin offering on our behalf. Read this verse, “For it is most holy and he gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord” in light of the New Covenant, “For He is most holy and He gave Him to you to bear your iniquity to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord.” Jesus is our once and for all sin offering; He gave Himself on my behalf. May we stop trying to earn God’s favor, may we stop living in our guilt and accept Christ’s covering. Before God, I stand reconciled, free from guilt and wholly forgiven.
No comments:
Post a Comment