Leviticus 4:1

The Bible says in Leviticus 4:1-3, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,[2] Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:[3] If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.” Notice that this offering is called “a sin offering.” We are all sinners. This included in the Old Testament people and priests, and in the New Testament it includes people and pastors. There are no priests in the New Testament. Jesus is the last priest. But in regards to our sins, Jesus is also the last sacrifice. The reason that believers have access to God is that Jesus is our sacrifice. The holiness and justice of God demands punishment. Jesus took that punishment upon Himself for our sakes.

The rest of what was done with the sin offering is described in Leviticus 4:5-12, “And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:[6] And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary.[7] And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation: and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.[8] And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,[9] And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away,[10] As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering.[11] And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung,[12] Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.” Notice that verse 6 says that the blood shall be sprinkled “before the vail of the sanctuary.” In the tabernacle and in the temple that was built later under King Solomon, there was the innermost sanctuary which symbolized the closest presence of God. In the Old Testament a structure(the tabernacle and later the temple) symbolized the presence of God. In the New Testament there is no such symbolism by means of a structure built with hands. A church building is simply a gathering place. The Holy Spirit dwells within each believer. In the Old Testament the veil blocked the entrance to the sanctuary in order to symbolize a limited access to the presence of God. Remember one of the events regarding the veil when Jesus was crucified. It says in Mark 15:38, “And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” Once Jesus gave Himself in sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, we have open and free access into His presence. That is why we are told in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Do not be timid, or guilty, or shy, or fearful, or unbelieving. Come boldly into the presence of God. The New Covenant is much better than the Old Covenant.

Notice verse 11: “And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung.” After the animal was cut into all these pieces, every bit of the animal was taken outside of the city and every last bit of the animal was burnt. Nothing was left over. That is because this was a sin offering. “The wages of sin is death.” Nothing could be kept from the sin offering. This was a very bloody religion that God established under the law. That is because God wanted there to be a constant prophesy of what His Son would endure in the death on the cross.

The Bible says in Leviticus 4:13-21, “And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;[14] When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.[15] And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD.[16] And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock's blood to the tabernacle of the congregation:[17] And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the vail.[18] And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.[19] And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar.[20] And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.[21] And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation.” Sometimes we sin even though we do not know that we are sinning. That is why in this passage the law created a sacrifice for “sin through ignorance.” We are such great sinners, that probably no one realizes how much they do sin. God is so holy and we are so sinful compared to Him. If you are aware that you have sinned, surely you should confess that sin. But undoubtedly we all have sins that we are not even aware of. But Jesus died for all of our sins: those that we are aware of and those that we are not aware of. What a great salvation we have. What a great Savior we have who died for all of our sins. Notice that verse 20 says, “And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering.” This offering is treated just like the sin offering. Both types of sins are forgiven just as completely.

The Bible says in Leviticus 4:22-26, “When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty;[23] Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:[24] And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD: it is a sin offering.[25] And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering.[26] And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.” This sacrifice is addressed specifically to the leaders of a country: the “rulers.” They are being mentioned directly in order to point out that there are no elite in God’s eyes. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone needs to turn to Jesus and find the forgiveness of sins. That is the concept of equality. We are all equal for many reasons, and one of those reasons is that we are all sinners and need forgiveness. Christians are told to pray for their leaders. There are no exceptions. Every leader needs prayer just like every person needs prayer. Every person needs Christ and that means that every leader needs Christ.

Above we saw that a sacrifice was required of the leaders of the country. In the following verses we see that the exact same sacrifice is required of the common man. God is emphasizing that He views all human beings the same way. God loves all equally. Through the sacrifice of Christ, God has provided the means of salvation to every single person, whether they are privileged and powerful and rich, or whether they are poor and unknown to the world. All are known to God. The Bible says in Leviticus 4:27-35, “And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty;[28] Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.[29] And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.[30] And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar.[31] And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.[32] And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish.[33] And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering[34] And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar:[35] And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.”

As we look at these offerings one after another, and we realize that they apply to all the citizens of the nation of Israel over the one thousand four hundred years until Christ came, we are talking about a massive amount of killing and a massive amount of blood. The idea for this killing and this blood came from God. There would have been millions and millions of these sacrifices. With each killing and with each pouring out of blood, undoubtedly God was thinking of the bloody sacrifice that His Son Jesus would be for all of us: the innocent Lamb of God. No wonder John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.” It says in Hebrews 9:18-22, “Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.[19] For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,[20] Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.[21] Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.[22] And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” One thing is the same about the old covenant (testament) of the law and the new covenant (testament) of grace: they both required the blood of the innocent. In the case of the new covenant Jesus was the innocent one whose blood was shed for you. Turn to Jesus in prayer and gain the benefit of Jesus’ blood for you.

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