Verse for the Day, 21 November 2014.

Leviticus 4:27-29, “If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt,  (28)  or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed.  (29)  And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering… (35)… And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.”

We seldom consider how rampant sin is in our lives and in the lives of those around us. It is so deeply ingrained within our nature and is so much a part of daily life that we can find ourselves committing sin unintentionally, with no idea or knowledge that we are sinning. For example if a work colleague tells us that they have done a particular task, but they are lying, we are none the wiser. When we are then asked by a superior if that task has been done and we reply positively based on what we have been told, then we too are guilty of lying, even though we are not aware of it. Another example is that we may develop a prejudice against another person based on information that we have been told, however that information is false and fabricated. In these cases are we then responsible for this sin, are we accountable for it?

Many think that it would be grossly unfair if we were held accountable for it. Yet the reality is that sin is sin, whether it be intentional or not, and it cannot simply be ignored or overlooked. Such is God’s holiness that all sin must be dealt with. Our guilt in regard to these unintentional sins may not be as great as those who commit that same sin intentionally, but the fact remains that sin is sin and guilt is guilt, repentance is still required.

To help the people of Israel understand that sin is so deeply ingrained and can be committed unintentionally, we find in Leviticus 4 the institution of the sin offering. An offering that was to be made when it was discovered that one had been guilty of unintentional sin, or an offering that was to be made for sins they had committed, but of which they are not aware. The institution of this sacrifice teaches a number of important truths. Firstly, it teaches us that God sees all and knows all, nothing escapes His sight or His knowledge. Secondly, God’s holiness is absolute, there is no room for give or take and there is no tolerance of sin whether it is deliberate or unintentional and unknown to the individual. Thirdly, to be accepted in God’s presence, our holiness also needs to be absolute, there cannot be even the faintest trace of sin. Fourthly, sin is deeply ingrained in us and in the lives of all those around us, we sin daily, and others sin against us daily. We need to be aware that in the course of the day we can be caught up in the sins of others, without even realising it.

On the basis of these truths, if God had not made a way of dealing with these sins, then salvation, fellowship and relationship with God would be impossible. Therefore this sacrifice of unintentional sin may at first come across as being unfair, however, it is a means of mercy and grace. God in His desire to see us freed from sin has instituted a means to deal with sin, all sin, known and unknown.

Ultimately this sacrifice points us to Christ, for it is only Christ that can change our hearts to deal with the sin within, and it is only Christ who can make us absolutely holy by clothing us with His holiness. Christ deals with all our sin, the sins that haunt us and cause us to feel greatly ashamed, and this sins that we don’t even know about. If we take time to contemplate this we will once again be reminded of the immensity of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness and salvation extended to us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, on a practical note, this chapter reminds us of the importance of praying for forgiveness for unknown and unintentional sin. We should have the same prayer as that of David in Psalm 19:12-14, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.  (13)  Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.  (14)  Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” And, Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  (24)  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” On a daily basis we should ask for God to search our hearts and reveal to us any and all sin, known or unknown, intentional or unintentional, and then seek after His forgiveness of that sin. We should pray for His protection against such sin, and for discernment to recognise sin and the sin of others so that we might avoid it. As believers in Christ, we have been made holy through the work of Christ, but the challenge is for us to walk in that holiness.

Most merciful God we thank You for the depth of grace and forgiveness that You extend to us. We rejoice in the fact that You have dealt with and forgiven all of our sin, even the sin we do not know about. Thank You that because of Christ, we are now counted as holy and are therefore acceptable in Your sight. We pray that through the aid of Your Spirit we might be able to walk in this holiness whilst keeping a close watch on our lives, ensuring that we seek after righteousness and avoid temptation and sin. Search our hearts today, expose our sin, known and unknown and lead us to repentance. Amen.

Verse for the Day, 19 November 2014.

Leviticus 3:1-2, “If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD.  (2)  And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar.”

The sacrifices and offerings served as constant reminders of God’s holiness, our sinfulness, the separation between us and God, the need for our sin to be dealt with and the coming reality of God’s eternal condemnation against us. Because God is holy and we are sinful, we cannot have peace with God, peace with God is based upon righteousness, acceptability and holiness, all of which we lack. Therefore if we desire to worship God in an acceptable manner, we must first make peace with Him. This was the point and purpose of the peace offering, to bring peace between God and man. This offering seems to accompany a burnt offering, thus the person would seek first to make atonement for their sin, seek the forgiveness of God and then would offer up the peace offering, making peace with God. The peace offering was to be placed on top of the burnt offering which was already on the altar.

But as with all the various offerings and sacrifices, they were only ever temporary. Therefore the peace offering could not bring lasting, abiding peace with God. In fact it could not bring real peace because sin had not been effectively and permanently dealt with. While the worshipper may have earnestly sought after the peace of God, as long as the sin remained within them, peace with God was not possible. This offering was symbolic, rather than effective. Thus it is plain for us to see how this offering clearly points us to Jesus Christ. Look at these words of Paul in, Ephesians 2:13-18, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  (14)  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility  (15)  by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,  (16)  and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.  (17)  And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.  (18)  For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

Jesus is the great peacemaker, for he offers up, sacrifices His life, not only to atone for and deal effectively and permanently with sin, he also offers up His life so as to bring peace and reconciliation between God and man. Jesus is the ultimate peace offering, and this passage in Leviticus 3 points clearly to this fact.

As believers in Christ, we seldom think about the peace that Christ has brought us through His death and resurrection. We fail to meditate on this reality that we now have peace with God, and shall continue to know and have this peace for all of eternity. This peace is not merely the absence of war, it is far deeper. It is an all-encompassing peace, a peace that goes beyond all human understanding. It is a divine peace, a permanent peace, a peace that is not dependent upon us, or our circumstances. It is God’s peace, peace as defined, understood and given by God. It is a soul-satisfying peace that remains even when all is in turmoil around us. It is a peace that daily reminds us that we have a personal relationship with God, that we are the people of God’s eternal favour. It is a peace that cannot change or even be taken away for it is based upon and held secure by God’s unchanging eternal character. It is a peace the world cannot understand, but desperately wants. It is peace that is a gift, an undeserved gift, given by God. It is the deepest, longest, most soul-satisfying, eternal, divine peace. It is a peace that guards our soul and can cause fears and doubts to fly away for it reminds us that we are being held in the hand of the omnipotent God, who is our Father, who shall never forsake us, and shall lead us safely into our eternal home. It is peace, perfect peace.

Father of peace, we thank and adore You today for the great peace that Christ has brought between You and us. To think that we have been reconciled to You, brought back into a right relationship with You in which we will know Your blessing and favour, is a reality too wonderful for us to fully understand and appreciate. We pray that You would help us to meditate more upon the peace that Christ has brought us. We also ask that You would help us to rest in this peace when we are surrounded by trial, distress and difficulty. Thank You that Christ is our peace. Amen.

Verse for the Day, 17 November 2014.

Leviticus 2:1-10, “When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it  (2)  and bring it to Aaron's sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.  (3)  But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the LORD's food offerings.  (4)  "When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers smeared with oil.  (5)  And if your offering is a grain offering baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mixed with oil.  (6)  You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering.  (7)  And if your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.  (8)  And you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the LORD, and when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar.  (9)  And the priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.  (10)  But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the LORD's food offerings.”

The various offerings that the Lord command the people of Israel to make, were all designed to be sacrificial. Sacrificial in the sense that they were costly, a lamb, goat, calf, or bull were precious and valuable livestock. In the case of this chapter, the offering up of grain, was to offer up that which so many depended upon as their daily source of food. We fail to fully appreciate this as we live in a time where there is an abundance, great variety and availability of food. But for the people of Israel, and certainly for the Exodus generation, something as simple as grain was very precious, it was essential to their daily survival. Thus to take some of this precious grain and offer it up to the Lord, to see some of it burnt on the altar and the remainder left with the priest would have been a sacrificial offering.

What then was the purpose and design of this grain offering? Its purpose and design was two-fold. Firstly, it was an offering of thanksgiving and worship to God. It was to acknowledge that all they had was given to them from the hand of God. Though they may have sowed the seed, God is the one who gave the growth and increase. Thus they would offer up a grain offering as a demonstration of their thankfulness towards God for His faithful provision, and to worship Him for His greatness, power and love. Secondly, the purpose and design of this offering was to teach the people to trust in God for their daily needs. Offering up a grain offering required trust in God, for you were taking something which your family needed and depended upon and giving it completely to God. You would leave with the grain and return from the tabernacle or temple, empty handed. Therefore for the vast majority of Israelites it was an exercise of faith and trust in God to provide for them and their families.

We can discern the wisdom behind this offering, because we all need to be reminded on a constant basis, that all things come from God and that we are to live in faith, trust and dependence upon God. This keeps us from taking what we have for granted, or becoming complacent and ungrateful. Although we may no longer bring grain offerings to God, we seek to offer up to God that which He has given us, out of the salary we receive on a monthly basis. We are wrong to think of our salary as being that which is due to us and is ours to do with as we please. It is given to us by God, and all of it, down to the last penny is to be used for God and in a manner that glorifies and honours God. All that we have and enjoy comes to us from God’s good hand, we need to keep ourselves mindful of this and to be thankful every single day for the bread we eat. We demonstrate this thankfulness and dependence in the manner and to the extent to which we are willing to give to God, and how we then use the remainder of what we have.

Generous Father, we thank You for Your daily grace and provision for all our needs. We thank You most of all for the provision of Christ, who has brought us a great salvation. We pray that we might show our love, thankfulness and dependence upon You, through our willingness to give back to You out of the abundance that You have given us. We also pray that You might give us wisdom, guiding us by Your Holy Spirit, so that we might use our money and resources in a manner that truly honours and exalts You. Amen.