Continuing a plan to get through the entire Bible in a year, follow as I journal through the reading. I have chosen a straightforward approach that begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. This will not be an in-depth study or a comprehensive commentary. There are plenty of sources for such material. This is stage one Bible reading, taking the text at face value and sharing impressions.
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Today’s reading comes from the book of Leviticus, chapters 1 through 4, listing God’s requirements for various sacrificial offerings. Some impressions from the text:
- The people of Israel were to bring offerings from among their herds and flocks “to make atonement” for their sin. The offerings were to be “a male without blemish.” This foreshadowed the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, a sinless offering which atoned for all mankind.
- Grain offerings were to be unleavened, a quality which likewise pointed to the purity and blamelessness of Christ.
- Aaron and his sons, who served as priests, were fed with a portion of the grain offering. God thus tended to the needs of his ministers, something which still occurs in similar form today as occupational ministers are paid out of the offerings to the church.
- The sin offering proves instructive, provided as it is when someone “sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done.” It once again demonstrates that the Law was not provided with any expectation it would be kept. God knew Israel would violate his commandments, just as he knows we will prove disobedient today. The sin offering provided a gracious means of atonement, as the offering of Christ on the cross later provided for all.
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Return soon as we continue our year-long journey through the text of the Bible.
Catch up on the previous entries:
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