READ: Leviticus 3-4
BACKGROUND: The Peace Offering was also known as the Fellowship Offering. The offering was an unblemished bull or unblemished female sheep or goat. Its purpose was an expression of gratitude and desire for fellowship with God. The Sin Offering was an unblemished bull or unblemished female goat. Its purpose was to make an atonement for unintentional sins of weakness or carelessness.
THINK: Re-read Leviticus 4:32-25, focusing intently on the imagery as you read.
We might be tempted to believe that Leviticus is a confusing and irrelevant book, but it has some direct implications for our lives. In Leviticus we find specific rules and regulations from Yahweh, given to distinguish his people, the nation of Israel, from every other culture. God commanded the offering of many different types of sacrifices: burnt, grain, fellowship, sin, & Guilt. Each of these served a specific purpose for interaction with God. For example, a sin offering was given for confession, forgiveness, and cleansing.
Why do you think God prescribed offerings to be done in such a unique way? Why do you think that blood was required as a payment for human sin? Why do you think God takes sin so incredibly seriously?
Now think about your own sin, the sins you know about and that incredible number of unintentional or careless sins – for which the Sin Offering in chapter 4 was set up. Think about the weight of that sin in God’s eyes. Now think about the system we go by now – the one where Jesus accomplished everything by the shedding of his blood. Can you even imagine the weight that he bore on the cross?
Adapted from Eugene Peterson in Solo
PRAY: Thank God for the cross. Praise him for providing a way for us to be reconciled to him though, in our sin, we deserved death and separation. Thank him for the shedding of his blood. Thank him, again today, for the cross!
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