Atonement

Leviticus is one of those books I'm never that fond of reading. I often selfishly see it as something I need to get through, knowing full well that I'll get nothing out of it. Well, at least the first half about all the laws. They just all seem so dated and unnecessary.

But, it's still God's Word, which means there is truth to be found, so this week I chugged along and ended up discovering something amazing.

The gospel can be found in Leviticus! And it's not by a major or minor prophet predicting Jesus' coming, or telling others about it, it's just one of those amazing parallels that shows us just how long ago God planned to save us from ourselves.

There was the old covenant, but God knew there would be a new covenant. He knew He would send His son to die for our sins. He knew that no amount of animal sacrifices could atone for the evil we do, only the sacrifice of Jesus could truly carry our sins away.

In Moses' time, part of the day included bringing two male goats before God as a sin offering.

"And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azalel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azalel." Leviticus 16:9-10

Like our day of atonement, Jesus was presented to God as a sin offering, he was sacrificed so we could be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over, that our sins (past, present, and future) would be sent away into the wilderness.

"And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness." Leviticus 16:27

The difference of course is that in Moses' time, the day of atonement was an annual gig. Our sins could never fully be paid for. Jesus' sacrifice sends our sins into the wilderness forever. No other sacrifice is needed.

God laid his hands over his Son and over it confessed all of our iniquities, all our transgressions, all our sins, and he put them on the head of His Son. Jesus bore our iniquities and was killed on the cross as a sacrifice for us, to atone for our sins and send them free into the wilderness. He died to make us free (Romans 6:7, 8:2). Free from sin, free from ourselves, free to dance and free to run.

Ironically, us being free came at an enormous cost. What amazing grace.