2 February | EVERYONE

WHAT WAS THE MEANING OF SIN OFFERINGS?

“And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin offering at the place of the burnt offering. Then the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar.” Leviticus 4: 29,30

Dark night, like a ruthless night pregnant with darkness, so is the guilt that overwhelms the poor sinner. In Israel, however, when they recognized they had turned away from God, sinners would bring an animal to the altar, place their hands on it, and symbolically transfer their sins onto the innocent animal. Then the sinner himself, and not the priest, slaughtered the animal. This was dreadful because many people are horrified to see blood; some feel unwell and others even faint. But in that time, the sinner had to slaughter the animal. Each sinner deserved to die, for they had sinned. However, they transferred their guilt to the victim and the death of the innocent animal was considered their death.

Was there sin? If so, someone had to die because the wage of sin is death. Did they not want to die? Then they had to slit the throat of that little animal. Did they not have the courage to do it? Then they would have to die.

Today, we no longer have sacrifices of innocent animals because the Lamb of God, Jesus, was sacrificed on the cross. However, every time we ask God for forgiveness, it is as if we say, "I sinned, Lord. I feel that I deserve to die for it. I thank you very much for giving your life to save me and that by recognizing your merits I can know, and feel, that I am forgiven."

Sin is terrible, and that is why the remedy was so harsh. God's love is sublime because where sin abounded, grace abounded even more. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus bore the sins of humanity and paid the penalty that the sinner felt he deserved because his sin demanded it: death.

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How many times do you think the Son of God had to die, killed by us, so that we might finally understand His infinite love? May your word today and always be "thank you" for such a sacrifice and for the abundant life it provides us.