The first three chapters of Leviticus consist of offerings that are voluntary. They are not required, but are recommended. In Chapter 4, however, we get into the purification offering, and it is not only required, but it is of immense importance when thinking about forgiveness.
The sacrifice in view here is the chatt¢’¢h sacrifice. This is usually called the “sin offering” because chatt¢’¢h is a Hebrew word for sin, and in passages such as Leviticus 4 the chatt¢’¢h sacrifice is required when people violate divine commandments. But often it is also paired with a burnt offering and used for purification from severe physical ritual impurity. In addition, the Piel verb of the same root of the Hebrew word can mean “un-sin” in the bigger sense of purify. So this sacrifice may best be understood as a purification offering, covering both purification from sins and from physical ritual impurities.
I mention physical ritual impurity, because they believed that certain physical issues, blindness for instance, were actually a result of sin. As it says in John 9:1-2, “As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. ‘Rabbi,’ his disciples asked him, ‘why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?'”
The offering in chapter 4 focuses on sins that the priests, leaders, and people do not realize they have committed. We call these kinds of sins inadvertent sins. When the sin was committed, a sacrifice had to be made so that God’s forgiveness could be extended. This was done by a ritual sacrifice.
This ritual carried out by the priest as part of this sacrifice is unique to other animal sacrifices. In other animal sacrifices, the priest tossed the blood on the side of the outer altar. But in the purification offering, the priest put the blood on the horns of the altar – the projection of its highest points – and on the inside of the sacred tent. So the blood was extended upward, and outward, vertical and horizontal…like a cross. This is a beautiful picture.
The goal of the offering was the forgiveness of sin, it involved a two step process. First, is the process of expiation, where the sin is removed from the one who offers the sacrifice. The removal of sin, then, becomes the prerequisite for divine forgiveness which is step two. The one offering the sacrifice will not be forgiven by the priest. He or she will be forgiven by God. Our sin is sin against God, though it can be directed against others. So forgiveness fully extended comes from God.
The forgiveness offered by both God and those offended is a deliberate choice. It is a transaction between two parties and is not fully expressed until both parties act. Though one party can offer forgiveness, the transaction is not complete until the offender repents and accepts the benefit of the forgiveness extended.
Although God continually made (and makes) forgiveness available, a sinner was only said to be forgiven (in Leviticus) when they accepted that and responded by offering a sacrifice. In the New Testament, forgiveness becomes real when the forgiveness offered by God through Christ on the Cross is appropriated, made part of our life.
But we must note something here. Because forgiveness is a divine prerogative and not something that was accomplished through the priest, the ritual alone was not sufficient for forgiveness to be accomplished. God alone decides who to forgive and as a result, he is free to reject a hypocritical sacrifice, or a meaningless “I’m sorry.” It has to be accompanied by a sincere heart and a desire to obey.
Remember God’s statement through Samuel?
But Samuel replied,
“What is more pleasing to the Lord:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. (I Samuel 15:22, NLT)
Forgiveness is costly for both God and us. It is also not automatic. When we forgive, we have to give up something. When God forgave, he had to give up something. Therefore, while we need to have a forgiving spirit it is not something to be handed out like a candy at a parade.
Consider the forgiveness of Joseph in Genesis. When Joseph met his brothers, he did not immediately forgive them. He actually tested them to find out whether they were the same people who stripped him, threw him in a pit, sat down to eat, and sold him into slavery. Because they passed the tests he put together, showing that they had repented and changed, Joseph forgave them. When he forgave, he absorbed a cost so great his brothers could have paid it with their lives (see Ex. 21:16 and Deuteronomy 24:7). The brothers, in fact knew this, which is why they went speechless with terror when Joseph revealed himself. Their skeleton had walked out of the closet, robed in majesty and with absolute power over life and death over them.
We need to express forgiveness but understand the cost of that forgiveness to ourselves because it does hurt. Philip Yancey says, “Behind every act of forgiveness lies a wound of betrayal, and the pain of being betrayed does not easily fade away.” We have to consciously and painfully give up what we have against the other person. It requires a deliberate decision on our part.
God does expect us to forgive one another for the ways in which we hurt each other. But in a higher sense, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7) God has never delegated to any human being the right to forgive in the way Jesus did. While it is true that Jesus said to his disciples, “whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in haven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19; 18:18), this means that he authorizes the church community to make decisions that agree with what has already been decided in heaven. We see that in the statement of Jesus when he said, “If you forgive the sins of any, [their sins] have been forgiven them; if you retain the [sins] of any, they have been retained” (John 20:23, NAS95). A specific example of retaining sins was Peter’s condemnation of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), which showed insight into God’s judgment against them.
Forgiveness is hard. In fact, apart from God, it is not possible in its fullest sense. We have to give up the pain of betrayal, of hurt, of death. We also must realize that while forgiveness can be extended, the effects of the sin may still impact our relationships and our life. But it is a necessary part of our response to the pain and brokenness found in the world. It is a characteristic of God, and those who are being formed into his image bear not only that characteristic but that responsibility.
How have you expressed forgiveness to those who have hurt you? Who do you need to forgive?
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