For 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.I am finishing up Leviticus this week and have been reminded how seriously God takes sin.
Leviticus 17:11 (emphasis mine)
Regulations upon regulations.
Strict orders to follow.
Do it this way, not that way; at this time, not that time.
Be careful.
Be holy.
Sin is a problem, and God wanted it dealt with fully and sufficiently. There was a way to atone for sin, and He spelled it out clearly. Whew! Did He ever spell it out. Very dry reading sometimes!
As I read I was reminded how thankful I am for Jesus' sacrifice - for His blood which made atonement for my life. And yours.
I kept repeating that phrase to myself, It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.
It is the blood.
It is His blood.
It is the blood of Jesus that has given me Life.
I do not need to take rams or sheep or doves to a priest to sacrifice for sin offerings and guilt offerings and peace offerings and fellowship offerings. I do not need to make sure I do it thus and so, according to the regulations and laws, lest I cause the offering to become unholy.
Jesus has made the ultimate sacrifice. He has done it once and for all. Atonement has been made.
Period.
And I am so thankful!
May the JOY of knowing that Jesus has made atonement for your life fill you up today!!!
See you back here Monday.
7 comments:
I am fully convinced that we do NOT take sin seriously enough. I think that one day when we get to heaven and fully realize what our sin did to Jesus, we will know the full measure of the seriousness of sin.
Sin, any sin, all sin, is a huge affront to a holy God. Perhaps we also don't take God's holiness seriously enough!
Have a great weekend.
Leah
I agree with Leah.
I know for myself, I have become complacent with some sin. Yes, I know this is wrong and I am not proud of it.
Thanks for the reminder Karen.
smooches,
Larie
If you look in my bible along the sides every now and then on pages with all the lists of rules...I have Thank You Jesus! I feel the very same way. It is good to grasp how holy our God is and to grasp what Jeuss has done for us!
I am so VERY thankful that God chose to have me live AFTER the atonement that Jesus made! What an incredible gift of grace!
There is joy in that, thank you!
I wish preachers would talk more about sin. It's easy in this culture to justify stuff (like bad temper, etc)
But thank goodness we don't have all those rules!!! Whew.
Which reminds me: I once heard a preacher say that everyone thinks living holy was harder in the old testament, but he thinks it's harder now.
Because then the people were judged by what they did (or said). But Jesus set a new, harder precedent when he told the people that they'd heard the law not to commit adultery, but if they even looked a woman in lust, that's adultery. So now it's not just what we do, it's what we think. And there's also that verse about hating your brother, how it's murder. Whew. Tough stuff.
:-) Not that I'm legalistic or anything, just thought I'd throw that out there. LOL I realize we're given a grace and forgiveness that the Israelites couldn't get, no matter how many times they sacrificed.
I love your comments Karen. You are doing a great service for young mothers.
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