This thirteenth installment continues our journey through Leviticus 4, examining how the Sin Offering applies to the community and its leaders. Understanding the mechanics of atonement is vital for maintaining a holy life. In this study, we answer the fundamental question: What is Sin Offering? We look at how God provides a pathway for the entire congregation to be restored when they unintentionally stray from His truth.
Sin offerings are given to God for the atonement of our sins. According to Chapter 4 of Leviticus, there are a few different ways of giving sin offerings. The ways of making sin offerings varied according to the status of the sinners, that is whether they were priests, the synagogue as a whole, church leaders, or an individual.
It is the same today. Sins of anointed priests, namely pastors, are different from those of church members. Sins of church leaders like cell leaders or team leaders are different from that of laymen members. Each case has a little different way of giving the sin offering. We will first learn how to give sin offerings for priests. If you learn it, other sin offerings are easy to learn and understand. So please pay close attention to the explanation and keep it in mind.
In the passage from Leviticus 4:1-2 it says, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them.” The sons of Israel here spiritually mean all God’s children.
‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands,’ this case indicates the time when God’s children unintentionally commit sins forbidden by the commands of God in the 66 books of the Bible.
If we do what God tells us not to do, not cast off what He tells us to cast off, not keep what He tells us to keep, and not do what He tells us to do, that is, if we violate any one of these, it is to violate God’s commands.
1. Sin Offering of a Priest
The next verse 3says, “if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD a bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.”
When priests sin, it influences the people, too. It becomes a big sin when priests know the truth but do not act by the truth. Even if they sin without knowing, it is an embarrassing thing. That is, they should have clearly known the will of God but did not know it. Let me give an illustration. If a minister of God teaches the congregation something wrong and is not of the truth, they receive the wrong message and walk against the will of God. If this piles up, it is like a blind man guiding a blind man and they both will fall into a pit. Then, the whole church makes a barrier of sins against God. The Bible says that God’s children should live a holy life and cast off all forms of evil. But let’s say a pastor is teaching his congregation to live an insincere life, say, for instance that they can open their shop on Sundays after church. Then, the whole congregation will misunderstand the truth and violate the Sabbath.
That is why God says we must not compromise with untruth and we have to pray continually crying out. From Old Testament to New Testament, all prophets and even our Lord prayed in agony and very fervently, so it means they cried out in prayer. When our Lord commanded Lazarus after praying to God, He said it in a loud voice. He didn’t just say softly, ‘Lazarus, come out’. The Bible says that He said in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” When Jesus breathed His last, He didn’t just say, “Father, receive My spirit.” The Bible says He cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
The disciples prayed crying out loudly. Also the blind man cried out loudly saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Despite these examples in scripture, there are some people teach, “Is God deaf? He looks at our heart, so He listens to our silent prayer. Crying out is not necessary. ” By teaching like this, they stand against God.
If pastors teach such things, the congregation will learn to pray silently. It is a blind man leading another blind man. The Bible always tells us to cry out in prayer and I always teach you to cry out, but there are pastors who have not cried out in prayer for a long time. Then, what would happen to them? What would they say at the judgment? They are building up a wall of sin.
Also, the Bible says that they gathered at the sanctuary everyday in early churches. They knew the will of God very clearly at that time, and they gathered in the sanctuary everyday. So you know it is God’s will to gather everyday. But, some teach saying, “Do you think you live in the church? You can come only on Sundays.” Can you understand how much that person is standing against God by what he teaches? But, members of the congregation in this church gather everyday in the Daniel Prayer session or the Dawn Prayer meeting. Also, the Bible says we have to try to gather as we see the end is near.
What will happen if a minister is afraid of negative reaction from the congregation and teaches them, “Jesus our Lord took all our sins. We are saved if we just attend church on Sunday?” Jesus said in Matthew 15:14, “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Finally, both the minister and the congregation will stay away from God.
Let us say the pastor touched God’s money, the offerings. Then, the whole church will have to suffer. If the members who are in charge of the offerings steal some offerings, then the whole church will suffer.
In 1 Samuel chapter 2 to chapter 4, all Israelites fell into difficulties when two sons of Eli, the priest, took some of the offerings given to God for their benefit and committed serious sins. Namely, the two sons of Eli and more than 30,000 Israel soldiers were killed in a battle against the Philistines. Even the Ark of the LORD God was taken by the Gentiles. Thus, when the anointed priests committed sins, the punishment of the sins were so great as to do harm to the people. That’s why they should give valuable things as sin offerings like a young bull without defect.
As an offering, a young bull or a lamb is the most acceptable to God. But a young bull is more valuable between these two. When a young bull is given to God, it must be without defect. The spiritual meaning of the young bull without defect was already explained in the previous chapters, but for a quick refresher, it means that you should not give your offerings to God unwillingly or being forced, but give a perfect living sacrifice spiritually.
Verse 4 says, “He is to present the bull at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the LORD. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it before the LORD.”
I already explained the spiritual meaning of laying hands in burnt offering and peace offering. It means transfer of sins to the animal. Sinners have to die, but they could be forgiven of their sins by transferring their sins onto the animals given as offerings by laying hands on them. I think you understand these things if you have already read the earlier chapters about burnt offerings and peace offerings.
Verses 5 and 6 say, “Then the anointed priest is to take some of the blood of the bull and bring it to the tent of meeting, and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary.” The blood of animals symbolizes their life.
Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.” The wages of sin must be paid with life. The life of sinners was redeemed with the blood, the life of a young bull.
Priests took the blood of a bull into the Holy Place inside the Tent of Meeting, dipped their fingers in it, and sprinkled its blood against the curtain of the Holy Place. The Curtain of the Holy place is a thick cloth separating it from the Most Holy Place, the Holy of Holies. In the Sanctuary there are the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place where only priests are allowed to enter.
In the temple the Most Holy Place is the place of God’s presence and only the high priests were allowed to enter it once a year to give a sacrifice. Burnt offerings are given on the burning altar in the yard of the sanctuary, not in the Holy Place. However, as for sin offerings for priests, priests took the blood of animals to the Holy Place.
What does it mean by dipping fingers in the blood?
It indicates repenting outwardly. You should not only repent of your sins with words but also actually throw away your sins and bear the fruits of repentance by deeds. Sprinkling its blood seven times indicates throwing away your sins completely. If you sprinkle the blood seven times, you have thrown away every kind of sins and you will overcome the world, stay away from sins, and be forgiven of all your sins.
Verse 7 follows saying, “The priest shall then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the Tent of Meeting. The rest of the bull’s blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.” The altar of fragrant incense is for making fragrant incense before God. Just as the fragrant incense is pleasing to God, the blood of a young bull is put on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense to be atoning sacrifice acceptable to God.
A horn in the Bible symbolizes ‘King’ and ‘King’s dignity and power.’ So ‘horn’ here refers to the LORD God who is the King. Revelation 5:6 reads, “And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.” The phrase “He had seven horns” indicates that the power and authority of God belong to the Lamb. Putting the blood of a young bull on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense is the mark that the offering is acceptable to God.
Then, how can our repentance be acceptable to God like the putting the blood of a young bull on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense?
We can offer the prayer of repentance to God acceptably when we come to the holy sanctuary of God and pray for repentance in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. As explained above, they cast away all kinds of sins by dipping their fingers into the blood of offerings and sprinkling it seven times. Then, we should come to the holy sanctuary and confess before God what we repented. By sprinkling the blood, namely by making our mind turn from sins and not commit the sin again, we do our duty for our forgiveness. But after we do our duty, we should seal our repentance as acceptable to God.
Let me take an example for better understanding. Suppose that a pastor taught the congregation something wrong against the truth or committed sins himself. To be forgiven of his sins, he should dip his fingers into the blood, sprinkle it seven times and put the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense. That is to say, he should not only turn away from sins in actions but also pray for repentance from the bottom of his heart. In addition, he should change into a pastor who knows and teaches properly and does the will of God. In this case, he should not repent of his sins just by himself only with his words and thoughts. He should pray for repentance before the power and authority of God the Everlasting King to make his repentance acceptable to God like putting the blood of offerings on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense.
You should pray for forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ kneeling down in the sanctuary of God the Father according to the spirit of repentance pouring down to you through the work of the Holy Spirit. Of course it does not mean that you should wait until Sunday service without repenting of your sins that you commit on weekdays.
Obviously, you should repent of your sins the moment you realize them whether it be your home or workplace. Coming to the sanctuary and repenting your sins is about the Sabbath. In the Old Testament days, only the anointed priests could communicate with God when they gave the sacrifices to God in the holy place.
But today, the Holy Spirit dwells in each one’s heart who accepts Jesus Christ and each one is able to have direct fellowship with God and pray to Him. So, you can repent before God by yourself.
All these things are made perfect by keeping the Sabbath holy. You can gain the assurance of God’s answer to your prayer and His forgiveness of what you repented by attending the Sunday worship service and acknowledging what belongs to God.
If you do not keep the Sabbath, you have no evidence that you are a child of God. So, your prayer cannot be answered and your repentance cannot be accepted to God.
Let me explain once again. Let us say you committed a sin on Wednesday. So, you will obviously repent of it on that day itself at home. You will repent and make up your mind once again not to sin again. If you have to repent with tears, you will do so. But, it is not the end. When you come to church on Sunday, you once again repent of those sins with your lips to seal it completely.
You seal your repentance by keeping the Sabbath. So, you should come earlier than the service, maybe 10 minutes earlier, to pray silently and repent of your wrongdoings. Then, you are prepared and can attend the service without being in a hurry just to be on time.
Repenting at home is not the end. When you come ten minutes prior to the service, look back on your past week, and seal what you have repented at home by confessing it once again on the Sabbath, it prepares you for offering your worship.
I am not saying if you repented with tears and nose running at home, you should do the same in the sanctuary. If you already repented, you can just seal it in the sanctuary. You say to God, “Father please forgive me of the sin I committed on Wednesday. I believe you have forgiven me since I have repented of it. Please give me strength and power to not to commit the same sin again and let me live in the truth now.” When you repent of it again this way and keep the Sabbath properly, your repentance is sealed. So you are clear before God now.
When you realize your sin, you repent of it, and then when you come to God’s sanctuary on Sunday and you officially state your repentance once again, then your repentance is perfectly accepted. Please understand I am not saying you should repent with your tears and running nose at the sanctuary again.
In the process of making the Sin Offering in Old Testament times, after putting the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense, the rest of the blood was poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. The altar of burnt offering was made to burn animals given as offerings and there was a fire burning continuously over it. Pouring out the blood at the base of the altar of burnt offerings is the action of completely giving the life, the blood of sacrifice, to God. Spiritually it today means that we should repent of our sins with devoted hearts. To be forgiven of our sins before God, we should repent of our sins with all our heart and all our sincerity.
Leviticus 4:8-10 says, “He shall remove from it all the fat of the bull of the sin offering: the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat which is on the entrails, [9] and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys (just as it is removed from the ox of the sacrifice of peace offerings), and the priest is to offer them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering.”
A priest takes the fat of the animal given as a sin offering in the same way he takes that of peace offering in chapter 3 of Leviticus. All parts of internal organs including kidneys are necessary for life. A priest takes the fat from all important internal parts and burns them with the kidneys. The fat refers to the life or energy of the animal, and ‘burning the fat over the burning altar’ indicates our repentance is accepted by God when we repent with all our life, heart, mind, and sincerity. In regard to the spiritual meaning of fat, I explained in the lecture of the Peace Offering that you should give your offerings to God with all your heart and sincerity and pray wholeheartedly. The sin offering is similar to the peace offering, and if you learn how to give the sin offering of priests, you will easily understand how to give sin offerings of church leaders or members. Today’s passage seems to be long, but many verses are easy to understand even through brief explanation. Please refer to the previous chapters about the spiritual meaning of taking the fat of an animal given as offering.
Verses 11 and 12 say, “But the hide of the bull and all its flesh with its head and its legs and its entrails and its refuse, that is, all the rest of the bull, he is to bring out to a clean place outside the camp where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.” An animal given as burnt offering is cut into pieces and all parts of the animal are burnt over the fire of burning altar in the holy place. But, in the case of an animal given as sin offering, all other parts except the fat and kidneys are burned in a wood fire on the ash heap, not over the fire of the burning altar. The people of Israel set up their tents round the Tent of Meeting while they were walking through the wildernesses, and the ash heap was outside the camp.
All parts of an animal given as burnt offering are to be burned over the wood fire of the altar, but why are the parts of an animal given as sin offering to be burned in a wood fire on the ash heap? Burnt offering refers to our spiritual service. It is a sacrifice to be acceptable to God and a spiritual sacrifice to have communication with God. So, it is burned on the altar in the sanctuary.
However, an animal of a sin offering is not to be burned in the sanctuary because it was to cleanse of unclean sins. All the rest of the bull must be taken outside the camp to a place ceremonially clean, where the ashes are thrown, and burned in a wood fire on the ash heap. That’s why God says we must not even talk about worldly things in the church. He tells us to speak, hear, and see only in the truth.
In the same way, when we repent, we must keep away from sins by casting them away. We must burn our pride, arrogance, worldly habits, and works of the flesh with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Sins were transferred to a young bull given as sin offering when burned with the fire. So today, after we repent, we should come to God as a living sacrifice acceptable to God, namely an offering like a young bull. Then, what does it mean that we must come to God like a young bull?
I have already explained why God is pleased with a young bull as an offering. First, a bull carries loads of men. Next, it gives only good things to men but does no harm to them. Third, it gives men its meat as food. Finally, it plows the field for men. Today, we plow with machines, but bulls used to plow. These characteristics of a bull are similar to those of the Savior Jesus Christ who died on the cross to redeem us from sins. Therefore, today, after we repent of our sins and all the parts of our offering ‘burnt’, then we should come to God like a young bull given as sin offering as Jesus did as an atoning sacrifice. As pastors and servants, we should serve the flock on behalf of the Lord, help them put down their sins, and provide them with truth and goodness.
As pastors, priests and ministers we should teach the flocks the word of God and lead them to plow the field of their heart with our tears and patient prayer. In other words, we should serve many souls and help them change their heart into good heart and become sanctified children of God. When we do so, God will accept our repentance, saying, “You repented your sins truly,” and then God will lead us to the way of blessings.
Are there any of you who are thinking, “I’m not a priest or pastor, but just a little church leader or just a regular member of the congregation, so this about the sin offering of a priest has little to do with me, does it?” You should not think like that.
1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” If you accept the Lord Jesus, you must be perfect like priests and become a true child of God though you are not a pastor. Regardless of your position or title, you should live a holy life without committing sins, and if you commit sins, repent thoroughly and turn from those sins.