Inevitably and Unintentionally

Leviticus. I feel I need to give you some insight into why I am writing about Leviticus. I am reading through the Bible in a year. Part of my reading today is Leviticus. I know what your thinking. Grab the coffee before you read Leviticus. I get it, but I have found if you take your time, read slowly, God speaks through every part of His Word. My challenge is slowing down in a frantic world to read slowly.

Leviticus was written about 3,000 years ago, give or take 500 years. Not important for this blog, but, the point is that it was written a long time ago. Moses writes in Leviticus 4 and 5 about sins committed against a holy God and how the people were to correct their wrong doing, make atonement, through sacrificial ceremonies.

The people had very detailed offering ceremonies depending on the situation. Over and over, Moses lays out a situation, then talks through the sacrificial ceremony. God is holy, expected holiness from his people, if not, they were to make atonement for the sins through the shedding of innocent animal blood, the sacrificial ceremonies.

“If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord’s commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them, if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering.” Leviticus 4:2

The word “unintentional” caught my eye this morning. Each situation in Leviticus 4 and 5 describes unintentional actions. Repeatedly, we see the word unintentional. It is as if Moses is telling the people that they are going to go through life and sin will happen unintentionally. Moses was saying it was inevitable. But, when the unintentional, inevitable did happen, God gave them a plan for correcting the wrong doing.

Reading Leviticus, for me at least, it is easy to get lost in the ceremonies and drift into a high school baseball game, thinking about the ground ball I bobbled and how I should have made that play. That is a very true statement. The game was against……..I digress.

Although the offering ceremonies in Leviticus can lose us at times, it is a crystal clear picture of the Bible and the Gospel. The thread, the offering or atonement that we read about in Leviticus is the thread through the entire Bible. The Bible’s message is amazingly consistent.

The idea of unintentional, inevitable wrong doing in each of our lives is as true today as it was 3,000 years ago. It happens. Daily.

Fast forward to the New Testament. Jesus has begun his ministry among the people. In Mark 2, he asks Levi (Matthew) to join his ministry.

And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. Mark 2:14-15

Matthew was a tax collector. That profession was known to be one where the people were deceived, treated wrong, and the collectors made a lot of money. The heart of Jesus shines through in this story. He was found with “the sinners,” the people that the “religious” of that day shunned. Jesus was in the middle of this crowd, loving, laughing, sharing.

As Jesus moved through life, he was always among sinners, some aware of their wrong doing, some unaware or unintentionally doing wrong. The commonality of the people is that they were sinning against a holy God, the same God mentioned in the Old Testament. Only in this picture, they were not going through the sacrificial ceremony for forgiveness or atonement, making themselves right with God. There was no innocent blood shed. Little did they know, the atonement was dining at the table with them. The God man sitting at the table with them would pay the ultimate price for them.

This is the core message of the Bible. I share a few verses, but there are many.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

“for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God” Revelation 5:9

The innocent blood, the sacrifice in Leviticus is a picture of what Jesus did for us. He is our sacrifice for our inevitable, unintentional (or intentional) sins. The Bible is amazingly consistent.

Thank God for Leviticus that points us to Christ.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Impact others. Live generously.

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