The Sin Offering

The Sacrificial System – How To Draw Near To God

The Sin Offering - Lev. 4 – 5:13

This morning we are in Lev. 4 and we will be considering the fourth of the offerings, the sin offering. Up to this point we have looked at three voluntary offerings – the burnt, the grain, and the peace offering. These offerings were all motivated by gratitude and love for God. Anyone could bring them at any time he wanted to and as the smoke went up to heaven, God said it was a soothing aroma in His nostrils. It pleases Him when His children acknowledge His goodness to them. Starting this morning, we are going to be looking at a different category of offerings, offerings dealing with sin.

Let‟s take a minute and work on our memory project. I hope you appreciate the timeless nature of what God is saying in this passage. For you and me today, we don‟t literally worry about what the historical Canaanites did, nor do we worry about what the 5th Century B.C. Egyptians did or didn‟t do. What we do have in common with the Children of Israel is that we are surrounded by a culture that is actively opposed to God. We are light surrounded by darkness. We are pilgrims and strangers who are “in the world, but not of the world.” We are ambassadors who have been sent to a foreign country by our King, and while we are here in this strange land, we have to be careful of how much we assimilate from the area we live in. That little statement, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” does not hold true for the follower of Christ! So as we work on the memory project, keep in mind that it holds a very relevant message for us.

“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, „Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, „I am the LORD your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God. So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD.‟” Lev. 18:1-5

The first thing that caught my attention about the sin offering is that there are a lot of verses dedicated to it. Up to this point, God has taken about 17 verses to describe each of the previous offerings, but when it comes to this sin offering, we see nearly 50 verses given over to instructions. That is nearly times as much as the previous ones! What does this mean for us? That this was an offering that was in much demand. In fact, one of the striking features of this chapter four and first half of chapter five is that God took the time to outline four categories of people who would need the offering.

He starts with a sinning priest in verse 3 – “if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then, he moves on to a congregational wide sin in verse 13 – “Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error, then he moves to the next category, that of a sinning leader in verse 22 – “When a leader sins and unintentionally does any one of all the things which the LORD God has commanded not to be done,” and finally, in verse 27 he deals with everybody else in the nation, the common people. “Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty.” The point is that there is no one who doesn‟t need to know how to deal with sin. It is universal in its scope.

Something you probably caught in these last two categories of people was the word “unintentional” in verses 22 and 27, “when a leader sins unintentionally,” and “if one of the common people sin unintentionally.” The word is used in verse one as well, “if a person sins unintentionally.” What is this “unintentional” kind of sin that the sin offering was designed to cover?

The word translated as “unintentional” has the idea of “inadvertent” or “accidental.” It was used in the OT to describe manslaughter as opposed to murder. If you had an accident on your farm and unfortunately, someone was killed, you were guilty before the law, but it was completely different from premeditated murder when you lie in wait for the person. Probably the best way to describe “unintentional” sin it is to contrast it with another kind of sin, defiant sin. We see a good illustration of this in Num. 15:27-36.

27 'Also if one person sins unintentionally, then he shall offer a one year old female goat for a sin offering. 28 'And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who goes astray when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him that he may be forgiven.
29 'You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them. 30 'But the person who does anything defiantly [The word means to be high, upraised, or uplifted. It is the fist raised in defiance], whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. 31 'Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be on him.'" 32 Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation; 34 and they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him. 35 Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." 36 So all the congregation brought him outside the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Over the years I have always thought of this passage as being somewhat excessive. It made me uncomfortable, it seemed brutal, harsh, and even uncivilized. But when I read it again this week considering the difference between “unintentional” sins and “defiant” sin, I saw it in a new light. God was illustrating the different types of sin in this story. This guy wasn‟t out simply picking up some sticks on Saturday afternoon to make a fire, he was blatantly defying God. It was the raised fist in God‟s face, it was the defiant posture of “you can‟t tell me what to do.” That is why it was so strongly dealt with.

How many of you have ever seen a young child blatantly defy his parents? It seems like most of my children tested the boundaries in this way, and we dealt with it very strongly. In fact, I dealt with it so strongly one time that I prayed that the child wouldn‟t get sick in the next day or so and have to go to the Doctor, because the Doctor would have seen a black and blue butt! Defiant, raised fist rebellion, cannot be tolerated. It was dealt with decisively in God‟s nation of Israel, Paul gives explicit instructions about how to handle it in the church, and as parents, we need to take it just as seriously as God and Paul did.

Leviticus 4 and the sin offering was not for sins like this! The sin offering covered things like what we see in chapter 5. “Now if a person sins, after he hears a public adjuration to testify, when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt [not coming forward to testify at a trial]. 2 'Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or a carcass of unclean swarming things, though it is hidden from him, and he is unclean, then he will be guilty. 3 'Or if he touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort his uncleanness may be with which he becomes unclean, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty [accidental defilement]. 4 'Or if a person swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty in one of these [thoughtless vow]. 5 'So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned.” Each of these three sins constitute a real breach of the law, and the sinner stands guilty. But they are not on par with premeditated, defiant rebellion.

Several interesting things to note about this offering. First of all, there is a scale of expense depending on your role in the nation. If you were a priest, it cost you a bull; if you were a leader, it cost you a male goat; and if you were a common person, it cost you a female goat or a lamb. If you were a poor common person, you could even bring grain instead of an animal. What is going on here? The principle being invoked is expressed most clearly in James 3:1. “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.” The way Jesus put it in Luke 12 was, “From everyone who has been given much, shall much be required, and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will require all the more.”
Which is worse, for me to cheat on my income taxes, or for you to cheat on your income taxes? It is worse when I do. Why? Because spiritual leaders are held to a higher standard than the rest of the congregation, and the model for that is established all the way back in Lev. 4. And just to make sure we understand the principle, look at verse 3. What are the consequences of the priest sinning. “If the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people . . .” When the priest sinned, the guilt was imputed to the people!

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones was asked one time, “What is your congregation‟s greatest need?” I would imagine that the person asking was expecting an answer along the lines of “they need a vibrant relationship with Jesus,” or, “they need to be involved in daily prayer and Bible study,” or “they need to be integrated into a small group accountability setting,” or something of that nature. Instead, what he said was, “What my people need more than anything else is to have a holy pastor.” Think about that. He understood the concept being established in Lev. 4:3.

The Apostle Paul did too. When he was giving advice to a young pastor by the name of Timothy, he told him in 1 Tim. 4:16, “Pay close attention to yourself, and to your teaching.” The chronology of that statement is critical! What was Timothy‟s primary area of concern to be? His people or himself? Himself! Sounds selfish, doesn‟t it? It sounds selfish until you appreciate the critical nature of spiritual leadership. It you have ever wondered how to pray for your pastor, this is a good place to start.

The second thing to note about this sacrifice is the way the blood was used. In the previous bloody offerings, the blood was poured or sprinkled around the altar where the animal was going to be burned. In this offering, there was a more elaborate ritual. After the blood was caught in a basin, the priest would take it into the Tabernacle itself. The tabernacle was divided into two areas called the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Separating these two areas was a heavy curtain called the veil. Behind the veil, in the Holy of Holies, was the Ark of the Covenant. This place was so sacred that that the High Priest could only go in there once a year, and it was so holy because that is where the presence of the Lord resided. Standing in front of this curtain that separated him from the actual presence of God, he would sprinkle the blood seven times, before the Lord. Then, while still in the Holy Place, he would go to the altar where they burned incense and smear some blood on each of the four corners of the altar. Then he would leave the Tabernacle, and go back to the altar where they would burn the offerings and pour out all that remained at the base of the altar. You can see how this is much more involved than the other offerings. What is going on here?

Generally speaking, this is where we start to see the connection between sin and blood. It was a sin offering, and the first thing that was done with the blood is that it was taken right up to where the presence of God was residing and sprinkled seven times. The emphasis is on visibility and proximity to God. Then, the blood was smeared on the four corners of the altar of incense. The significance of this altar is that it represented the prayers of God‟s people. In the same way that the cloud of smoke would ascend toward heaven, you get a visualization of prayer ascending to God. But along with the incense was the blood that had been applied. And finally, the priest would exit the tabernacle, make his way to the brazen altar and pour out the remainder of the blood.

Sin requires the shedding of blood. In the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned, God killed an animal and used the skins to make clothing for them. There was bloodshed, and that was when the model was established. It is elaborated on in this sacrifice, and it culminated in the death of Jesus. Had Jesus been suffocated, or strangled, or electrocuted, or injected with poison, His death would not have accomplished the forgiveness of our sins.

Remember that as you are holding the little cup of grape juice when we celebrate the Lord‟s Supper. That is what the cup reminds us of. The way Peter puts it is that we “were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”