In Romans 7:23, the Apostle Paul writes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That’s the take-home message of this sermon.
If you have to leave early, or if talking about blood makes you squeamish, or if the Levitical details of the sacrificial system make your eyes glaze over, write this down now. This is the take-home message: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When God delivered the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, formed them into a people chosen to be a blessing to the world, and gave them the law, he also gave them instructions concerning four types of sacrificial offerings.
The most general was the burnt offering, in which the whole animal was burned. Though a burnt offering carried some aspects of atonement for sin, it was mostly an act of worship—an expression of devotion, commitment, and complete surrender to God. The burnt offering was voluntary.
The grain offering was another act of worship and devotion—acknowledging God’s goodness and provision. The grain offering was voluntary.
The fellowship offering was also an act of worship—expressing especially thanksgiving and symbolizing peace, communion, and fellowship among the one offering the sacrifice, the priest mediating the sacrifice, and God, who received the sacrifice. The fellowship offering was voluntary.
The fourth type of sacrifice was the sin offering. (There was also the guilt offering, but it was basically a variation of the sin offering.) Unlike the other three types of sacrifices, the sin offering was more an act of preparation for worship. Unlike the other three types of sacrifices, the sin offering was mandatory. Whenever an individual or the community as a whole became aware of having committed a sin, a sin offering was required.
You know, I never much liked reading Leviticus. In fact, I don’t know too many people who would list Leviticus among their favorite books of the Bible. It used to be that if I thought about Leviticus much at all, I would mutter to myself something like this: “I’m sure God had some reason for including Leviticus in the canon, but I sure don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking about it. What’s with all the focus on blood, anyway? And sacrifices! Why would a gracious, loving God—the God I know from the rest of the Bible, the God I know in Jesus Christ—require sacrifices?”
Leviticus chapters 4 and 5, along with the rest of the Bible, suggest at least two answers to that question.
1. Sin is a deadly serious matter. Genesis makes clear that when sin entered creation, so did death. Sin breaks in between the holy God of creation who gives life, and his creatures who are dependent on him for life, resulting in alienation…and death. Only when a substitute for the sinner gives its life, can the sinner be reconciled to God, and his life in God be restored.
I suppose God, being God, could choose to forgive without the giving of a life as the cost of redemption, but that would be like saying the brokenness caused by sin doesn’t matter to him. That would be like saying that, not only does he love us despite our brokenness (which he does), but he is willing to let us remain in our brokenness (which he isn’t). God loves us more than that. God wants us back—and he wants us back whole, unbroken by the sin that separated us from him in the first place.
God delivered the Hebrews from Egypt to be his chosen people, chosen by him to be a vehicle of his self-revelation to the world. He wanted them to know the seriousness of sin. And he wanted them to have a provisional way to be redeemed from their sin, until the coming of Christ made all other sacrifice unnecessary. The elaborate ritual of the sin offering described in Leviticus 4 and 5 reflected the seriousness of sin and provided a provisional redemption from sin. When individuals placed their hands upon the animal to be sacrificed, the animal symbolically became their substitute, and its blood was shed for their forgiveness.
Sin is a deadly serious matter.
2. With the sin offering, God also did something more—he provided a model, a type, a pre-figuration of Christ’s act upon the cross. When Christ died, he served as both the priest and the sacrifice.
When Jesus gave his disciples the Lord’s Supper, he said to them, “This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus’ blood is enough to cover the sin of every person who comes to God through him. Without the sin offering that came before, it would be difficult for us to grasp this aspect of the depth of meaning of the cross of Christ.
God requires sacrifice precisely because he is gracious and loving.
Let’s take another look at Leviticus 4 and 5. First, instructions are given for the sin offering for a priest. Then for the whole community. Then for a leader of the people. Then for ordinary individuals. Detailed instructions are given for what animal to use in what circumstance. For a priest (as for the whole community), a male bull. For a leader, a male goat. For an individual, a female goat or lamb. Or, if the individual is poor, two doves or two pigeons. Or, if the individual is really poor, a handful of flour.
Notice two things: First, the monetary value of the offering is proportional to the power and/or wealth of the one making the offering. Second, nothing is said anywhere about different sins requiring different sacrifices; the monetary value of the offering is totally unrelated to the “magnitude” of the sin. (Guilt offerings were a specialized form of the sin offering that required restitution to the victim proportional to the damage caused, along with an animal sacrifice to the Lord. Even here the sacrifice to the Lord was independent of the “magnitude” of the sin.)
This aspect of Leviticus 4 and 5, along with the whole witness of Scripture, suggests several things.
First, it isn’t the size of the sin that matters. All sin separates us from God. All sin leads to death. All sin requires the giving of life in order to restore life. “Little” sins do not escape unnoticed. “Big” sins do not cast us beyond the reach of redemption. The price is the same for every sin.
Second, no one is left out.
No one was too inconsequential to be provided a way to atone for sin, return to relationship with God, and have his life restored. The most unimportant member of the community had a place at the altar. The more influential members of the community had greater responsibility and greater authority, requiring a more expensive offering, but they were not granted greater access according to God’s instructions.
No one was too poor to be able to fulfill the requirements of this provisional atonement. The price was just enough to be costly to the one offering. How much blood was poured at his altar was not the important thing to God. The important thing to God was that the sacrifice be a mark of true repentance and obedience.
The God of all creation needs nothing that we can give him. But a sacrifice that costs us little means little to him. For a man who is destitute, giving a handful of flour may leave him hungry for a day—his obedience is costly and demands an honest confession of brokenness. That is the sacrifice that God desires. A handful of flour from such a man means more to God than the blood of ten goats offered in indifference or pride out of the abundance of a rich man. Still, a rich man was required to give only one goat—as long it marked true repentance and obedience.
Third, if the price is the same for every sin, and the price must be costly to the one offering the sacrifice, ask yourself this question: when the one offering the sacrifice is the God of all creation himself, what sacrifice is sufficient? There is nothing in creation that God needs. The only thing he can possibly give that is truly costly to him is himself. And so, when, in the fullness of time, God offered the sacrifice to end all sacrifices, he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity. He could do no less.
Sin is deadly serious. God is indeed gracious and loving!
Jesus Christ—the sacrifice to end all sacrifices, when he offered himself.
Unlike the bull, the goat, or the pigeon, Jesus Christ took on the role of sacrificial offering willingly as an act of obedience and love. When a man laid his hand upon the animal given as a sin offering, he symbolized the transferring of his sin to the animal—but it could only be a symbol, provisional and incomplete. The animal symbolically carried only the present sin of the offerer; new sin required a new animal. When Jesus went willingly to the cross, he bore the sin of the world—past, present, and future—on his shoulders, enduring and complete.
Jesus was the perfect sacrifice—was, because the sacrifice has been made, it need never be made again.
Jesus is also the perfect priest—is, because he sits at the right hand of God, always interceding for those who come to God through him.
Jesus is the perfect priest because he himself is sinless—holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners. Every earthly priest must first provide atonement for his own sins before he can mediate for another, and this he must do again and again since he continues to sin. Jesus stands as the perfect mediator for sinners, since he is perfectly righteous before God and needs no atonement for himself.
Jesus is the also perfect priest because his priesthood is permanent. Every earthly priest eventually dies and must be replaced by a successor. Having faced death on the cross and been raised to new life, Jesus lives forever. He takes no breaks and he needs no successor.
Chapters 9 and 10 of Hebrews describe more about this permanent priesthood. Every earthly priest stood in mediation for the people either at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting or in the Most Holy Place of the Temple. He approached the presence of God via the Tabernacle of God here on earth. Jesus, on the other hand, stands in mediation for his people in heaven, before the very throne of God, and he never leaves to enter again, but remains forever and ever.
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Isn’t that a wonderful, encouraging, hope-inspiring, absolutely amazing promise? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, intercedes forever and continually for his people…for me…for you.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus Christ—perfect sacrifice, perfect priest—intercedes forever and continually…for you.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
