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Leviticus 4 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
While the peace offering in Leviticus 3 was optional, the sin offering was mandatory. The sin offering, or, purification offering, had many layers which will span Leviticus 4 and 5. The reason for the sin offering was to atone for the sins (unintentional or intentional) of God’s people and to restore a right relationship with God. His presence would continue if the sin sacrifice was executed properly. Of course, as we’ve written before, Jesus has become the final atonement for sin and the ultimate sacrifice for us under the New Covenant.
But, there is something deeper here that has a lot of application for the modern Christian. Let’s look again at what God says about unintentional sins…
If it is the whole community of Israel that sins and becomes guilty of breaking one of the LORD’s commands without intending to, 14 then as soon as the sin becomes known, the community shall bring a young bull as a sin offering. They shall bring it to the Tent of the LORD’s presence;
Leviticus 4:13-14 GNB
“As soon as the sin becomes known.” How would this happen? How could someone not know they were sinning and then suddenly a lightbulb goes off and they realize that they had? During the time of Leviticus, if it were within the power of the individual to know all sin, then there wouldn’t have been unintentional sin in the first place. The fact that it existed and that God acknowledged it meant that, in some cases, it was initially beyond human comprehension. In others words, there needed to be divine intervention.
Throughout the OT, that moral compass came in many forms. Prophets would speak out against sin and be the voice of God that called the people back to repentance. We see this even with King David and Nathan as David seemingly did not recognize the implications of his choice to murder and commit adultery.
Fast-forward to the NT. Under Christ, we now have the Holy Spirit who is commissioned to convict the world of their sin. This is another reason why it was better for Jesus to leave the apostles and send the Spirit. Conviction comes down from God to dwell within us.
“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
John 16:8-11 NASB
We can trust that the Holy Spirit is active and working to bring conviction to us and the world around us. And this conviction centers around the sin that either keeps us in chains or leads us to freedom. It is the sin of unbelief. For those who are believers, we have been set free from intentional and unintentional sins which now allows for us to choose holy lives and actually know God.
Jesus changes everything. In the context of Leviticus, imagine if the people brought their sacrifice to the altar and the priest said, “There is One who has already paid for your sins. He is the Son of God, the slain Lamb of Judah.” Can you imagine the response in that context? The people would celebrate their new freedom knowing that they have been empowered to never choose sin again. Like the woman caught in adultery, they could “go and sin no more.”
This is the power of Jesus.