February 23: More Offerings

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2012

More Offerings

Today’s reading continues the descriptions of the offerings required of the Israelites.  Importantly, we read that God had instituted a “guilt (or trespass) offering,” by which the guilty party might atone for the sins he had committed:  either of omission (passive failure or indifference to uphold the law) or commission (active rebellion).  In each of the three offerings described, we view the concept of restitution or restoring rightness through the offering.  In the case of omission or fraud or theft, the perpetrator must “make restitution in full, add a fifth of value to that and give it all” to either the priest or the damaged party.  In the Law, we see consistently the costliness of sin and the duty to repair what the perpetrator had broken.  These offerings serve as an antidote to our prideful tendency to diminish the severity of our transgressions or the need for holiness.

 

As we delve deeper into the Law over the coming week-plus, I would like to highlight three key takeaways from the Law, particularly as it relates to the entire Scriptural narrative.  Taken in isolation, the Law may appear relegated to the Old Testament and separated from the New Testament’s teachings about God’s mercy poured out through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Yet, the Law and indeed the entire testimony of the Bible point to Jesus Christ.

 

The Law points to the holy, yet merciful character of God.  We cannot escape the reality that God had designed clear and specific standards of obedience for His children, guiding them to holiness themselves.  While the Law does include practical considerations regarding the handling of food and hygiene, its core concentrates on the moral and ethical character of the individual and the nation.  With His concern for details, God indicates that the how – and not just the what – matters; God cares about both the means and the end.  The human impossibility of fulfilling the Law also highlights the unsearchable and wholly other nature of God and His worthiness to receive praise, honor, and glory.  In Hebrews 12:14, we read about the imperative for Christ-followers to testify to God’s character through their obedience:  “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

 

Yet, the Law definitively reveals our desperate need for a Savior.  In Romans 3:20, Paul explains that “therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”  The indelible law written on our consciences prompts anxiety in us when we stray from holiness.  We may seek to justify ourselves from our inherent and well-known guilt.  With any reflection, we recognize the truth that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

 

The chaos in our world – from the molecular to societal level – underscores that there is grave brokenness.  Indeed, all creation calls out for grace and redemption:  “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.”  (Romans 8:20–22)

 

The Law demands perfect fulfillment so that each person might return to right standing before the Lord.  Hebrews 9:22 summarizes the Law’s dictates on offerings:  “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”  The insufficiency of these frequent offerings foretells a complete and perfect Offering in the “Lamb of God,” the Answer for 800 Old Testament prophecies.  He would take a substitutionary place for us:  “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)  In response, we simply trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross, recognizing that, like Abraham, God will credit our faith as righteousness in a “cosmic swap,” to borrow Pastor Scott’s phrase.  God then prepares us in this life for the complete restoration of the intended fellowship between God and man and among men portrayed in Genesis 2.

 

QUESTIONS

1. What cost have you seen as a result of your sin?  Others?
2. How may you praise God for His Son and His sacrifice on our behalf today?

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