CLICK
HERE TO RETURN TO LESSONS
THE PURIFICATION OFFERING!
I don't know whether the cartoon series "Crabby
Road" exist today or not. But in 1999 Ms. Crabby with a drink in
one hand and dice in the other said, "I know why casinos have those all-you-can-eat-buffets
-- to ease some of the guilt they feel for robbing you blind." With
a bit of insight, she figured the casino owners had to live with their customers
and so they eased their guilty conscience by providing an all-you-eat-buffet!
Frank & Ernest, in a cartoon that happened
to come out in the same year, and on the same day, as the above noted Crabby
Road cartoon, found themselves standing before God, along with many others, on
Judgment Day. One turned to the other and said, "THE TRICK IS NOT
TO CATCH HIS EYE."
In I Samuel 24:1 - 7b we read:
After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines,
he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-gedi. 2 So Saul
chose three thousand special troops from throughout Israel and went to search
for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats. 3 At the place
where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself.
But as it happened, David and his men were hiding in that very cave!
"Now's your opportunity!" David's men
whispered to him. "Today is the day the LORD was talking about when he said,
'I will certainly put Saul into your power, to do with as you wish.'" Then
David crept forward and cut off a piece of Saul's robe.
But then David's conscience began bothering him
because he had cut Saul's robe. 6 "The LORD knows I shouldn't have
done it," he said to his men. "It is a serious thing to attack the
LORD's anointed one, for the LORD himself has chosen him." 7 So David
sharply rebuked his men and did not let them kill Saul.
Ms. Crabby, Frank and Ernest, and David have at
least one thing in common. They know that sin always results in collateral
damage. Due to sin the casino owners weren't able to live with themselves. In
an attempt to alleviate their guilt they gave something back to their customers. Due
to sin Frank and Ernest weren't able to enjoy being in the presence of God. Instead,
they tried to hide from Him by avoiding eye contact. And if David had listened
to his men, rather than his conscience, his ability to govern Israel would have
been severely damaged due to the simple fact that the communication lines between
himself and God would've been severed.
But the Bible paints a picture of the aftereffects
of sin that goes beyond damaged relationships. It tells us that sin actually
pollutes the place where it is committed. For example, the sins of the
Canaanites polluted the land to such an extent that the land vomited them out. For
in Leviticus 18:24 - 28 we read:
"Do not defile yourselves in any of these
ways, because this is how the people I am expelling from the Promised Land have
defiled themselves. 25 As a result, the entire land has become defiled.
That is why I am punishing the people who live there, and the land will soon
vomit them out. 26 You must strictly obey all of my laws and regulations,
and you must not do any of these detestable things. This applies both to you
who are Israelites by birth and to the foreigners living among you.
"All these detestable activities are practiced
by the people of the land where I am taking you, and the land has become defiled. 28
Do not give the land a reason to vomit you out for defiling it, as it will vomit
out the people who live there now.
Realtors, better than most, understand how this
can happen. A family moves into a brand new home. Most do a reasonably
good job of maintaining the home, but some bring in too many children, too many
dogs, and too many cats - which would be just one cat. On a more serious
note, it is not the children, dogs, and cats that are the real problem. It
is parents who are so addicted to drugs, such as methamphetamines, that the home
becomes polluted by sin; contaminated. So much so that it eventually vomits
the guilty out with the innocent blanketed by vomit.
Much like a home, a classroom may become polluted
by sinful actions that take place within it. For example, I once had a
class of ninth-graders, primarily boys, who had the bad habit of cussing. It
wasn't directed at me, it was simply a linguistic habit that colored their conversations. I
tried everything to put a stop to it. I spoke to the boys individually,
I called their parents, and I gave detention to those who used four-letter words
all too often. But nothing changed their habit of speech for in reality
they saw nothing wrong with it.
Then one morning as I was reading Matthew 15 I
came across the following passage and in an instant the Lord told me how to solve
the problem. Here is the passage, it is found in vv. 16 - 20. It
reads:
Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. 17 "Don't
you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of
the body? 18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart,
and these make a man 'unclean.' 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts,
murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20
These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not
make him 'unclean.'"
When the class came in I told them I was not feeling
well. So if they saw me heading toward the door it was because I was headed
toward the bathroom to vomit. I than began presenting the material for
the day. About 15 minutes into the lesson I covered my mouth and quickly
headed toward the door in the back of the classroom. As I got to Philip's
desk, one of the worst offenders, I bent over and pretended to vomit all over
him.
Having the attention of the class, I then said, "Suppose
I had really vomited all over Philip, how do you think Philip would feel about
it?" The class shared their thoughts and everyone agreed that
Philip would feel absolutely awful and would want to go home to get cleaned up.
To which I replied, "That is exactly how
I feel every time some of you vomit all over me with your four-letter words." From
that moment on foul language was never an issue in that classroom. It
was a lesson for me as much as it was for them, for it showed me that sin is
more than simply a "bad memory." It is that which comes
out of our heart and pollutes the place in which it is committed.
Furthermore, as we've seen this week, the polluted
area is literally in direct proportion to the social or occupational status of
the one involved. If a no-name hockey player had been caught up in the
illegal gambling sweep of this past week the National Hockey League would've
skated through the week on clean ice. But to have Wayne Gretzky's wife
as well as one of the Coyotes' coaches caught up in Operation Slapstick has the
potential of soiling the ice for the entire league.
If sin pollutes the land, and it does, it especially
defiles the house where God lives. In Israel's case this
meant it defiled the Tabernacle. As Gordon Wenham puts it in his book on
Leviticus, "The seriousness of pollution depended on the seriousness of
the sin, which in turn related to the status of the sinner. If a private
citizen sinned, his (or her) action polluted the sanctuary only to a limited
extent. Therefore the blood of the purification offering was only smeared
on the horns of the altar of burnt sacrifice. If, however, the whole nation
sinned or the holiest member of the nation, the high priest, sinned, this was
more serious. The blood had to be taken inside the tabernacle and sprinkled
on the veil and the altar of incense. Finally over the period of a year
the sins of the nation could accumulate to such an extent that they polluted
even the holy of holies, where God dwelt. If he was to continue to dwell
among his people, this too had to be cleansed in the annual day of atonement
ceremony (see Leviticus 16)."1
Purification! This is the issue addressed
by the rituals in the fourth chapter of Leviticus. However, it is easy
to miss seeing the purpose of the ritual since most translations refer to this
offering as a "sin offering." It's difficult to be critical of
this choice of words for the Hebrew word commonly means "sin." But
in making this choice the primary function of the sacrifice is concealed from
the eyes of the casual reader. Yes, the sacrifice atones for sin, as does
the burnt offering and peace offering, but it also purifies the place of worship
so that God continues to reside among his people. In short, it purifies
the sinner as well as his place of worship.
Beginning in v. 3 of Leviticus 4 we read:
"If the high priest sins, bringing guilt
upon the entire community, he must bring to the LORD a young bull with no physical
defects. 4 He must present the bull to the LORD at the entrance of the
Tabernacle, lay his hand on the bull's head, and slaughter it there in the LORD's
presence. 5 The priest on duty will then take some of the animal's blood
into the Tabernacle, 6 dip his finger into the blood, and sprinkle it seven
times before the LORD in front of the inner curtain of the Most Holy Place. 7
The priest will put some of the blood on the horns of the incense altar that
stands in the LORD's presence in the Tabernacle. The rest of the bull's blood
must be poured out at the base of the altar of burnt offerings at the entrance
of the Tabernacle. 8 The priest must remove all the fat around the bull's
internal organs, 9 the two kidneys with the fat around them near the loins,
and the lobe of the liver. 10 Then he must burn them on the altar of burnt
offerings, just as is done with the bull or cow sacrificed as a peace offering. 11
But the rest of the bull-its hide, meat, head, legs, internal organs, and dung- 12
must be carried away to a ceremonially clean place outside the camp, the place
where the ashes are thrown. He will burn it all on a wood fire in the ash heap.
"If the entire Israelite community does something
forbidden by the LORD and the matter escapes the community's notice, all the
people will be guilty. 14 When they discover their sin, the leaders of
the community must bring a young bull for a sin offering and present it at the
entrance of the Tabernacle. 15 The leaders must then lay their hands on
the bull's head . . . (Skipping down to v. 22)
"If one of Israel's leaders does something
forbidden by the LORD his God, he will be guilty even if he sinned unintentionally. 23
When he becomes aware of his sin, he must bring as his offering a male goat with
no physical defects. 24 He is to lay his hand on the goat's head and slaughter
it before the LORD at the place where burnt offerings are slaughtered. This will
be his sin offering. 25 Then the priest will dip his finger into the blood
of the sin offering, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offerings, . .
. (Skipping down to v. 27)
"If any of the citizens of Israel do something
forbidden by the LORD, they will be guilty even if they sinned unintentionally. 28
When they become aware of their sin, they must bring as their offering a female
goat . . . (Skipping down to v. 32)
"If any of the people bring a sheep as their
sin offering, it must be a female with no physical defects. 33 They are
to lay a hand . . . (Skipping down to 5:7)
"If any of them cannot afford to bring a
sheep, they must bring to the LORD two young turtledoves or two young pigeons
as the penalty for their sin. One of the birds will be a sin offering, and the
other will be a burnt offering. (Skipping down of v. 11)
"If any of the people cannot afford to bring
young turtledoves or pigeons, they must bring two quarts of choice flour for
their sin offering. Since it is a sin offering, they must not mix it with olive
oil . . .
Note! If the priest was offering the purification
offering, on his own behalf, the blood was sprinkled seven times on the veil
of the sanctuary. Then, a little blood was smeared on the horns of
the incense altar that stood in front of the veil. But if rulers or one
of the common people offered such a sacrifice the blood was not taken inside
but was smeared on the horns of the large altar that stood in the open court.2
These verses clearly express the notion that sin,
even unintentional sin, defiles men and contaminates God's sanctuary. Now
it is not God who is endangered by the pollution of sin, it is man. For
if God should choose to vacate the premises the only one who would suffer from
his absence is man. But for God to stay, his dwelling place had to be kept
pure from sin. The way in which it was decontaminated was through the shedding
and smearing of blood.
On this side of the cross it is the believer who
has been purified by the shed blood of Christ. We maintain our purity through
obedience to God's Word. When we do sin, intentionally or unintentionally,
cleansing as in the Old Testament comes through the shedding of blood that
has already been taken into the Most Holy Place.3
1 Gordon Wenham, The Book of Leviticus, Wm B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 255 Jefferson Ave. S. E., Grand Rapids, MI 49503, 1979,
p. 96.
2 As with the burnt offering there was a sliding scale in
regards to what was offered as a sacrifice. The high priest and the congregation
had to offer more valuable animals than the ordinary man. The chapter
also shows that the sins of Israel's leaders was considered more serious than that
of ordinary people. For the New Testament equivalent see Luke 12:48 and
James 3:1.
3 See Hebrews 9:11 - 14 and I John 1:8 - 10.
CLICK
HERE TO RETURN TO LESSONS