Grains of Sand

Google Images How appropriate that we should come to Leviticus 16 during Easter week. This chapter describes how the sacrifices for atonement were to be made. To atone for something is defined as: make amends for, make reparation for, make restitution for, make up for, compensate for, pay for, recompense for, expiate, redress, make good, offset; do penance for. In the Old Testament an animal sacrifice was required to make atonement for sin. In the New Testament we learn that Christ paid the price that God’s justice demanded because of our sin against Him (1 Peter 3:18). Leviticus 16 describes what went on inside the Tent of Meeting and around the altar where only the High Priest went and what happened outside of the Tent of Meeting as a visible expression to the people of the payment made to remove the guilt of their rebellion against God. Here we are introduced to the scapegoat. The story is told of a prince whose father didn’t think it was appropriate for royalty to be punished f...

“ But the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life ” —Leviticus 17:11, NIV. Written by Robert Lowry and published in 1876, what follows is one of the Gospel songs, once so often sung in our churches and evangelistic campaigns, that expresses the meaning of this verse in Leviticus. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Chorus: Oh! precious is the flow That makes me white as snow; No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see, Nothing but the blood of Jesus; For my cleansing this my plea, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can for sin atone Nothing but the blood of Jesus; Naught of good that I have done, Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace, Nothing but the blood of Jesus; This is all my righteousness Nothing b...

Numbers 25-27 Phinehas did a hard thing. He chose to do what was right in order to defend God’s honour. Israel had sinned by worshipping pagan gods promoted by women the Israelites had been told to avoid. God was angry and the punishment took the lives of 24,000 people until Phinehas stepped in, made a decisive move, and the angel of death removed his hand from God’s people. “ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites’ ” —Numbers 25:10-13. My curiosity bump is working overtime as I read this passage. The Lord told Moses to punish the leaders of those who had committed the sin (25:4). Moses t...