Leviticus 4

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

The Sin Offering

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. The Sin Offering was a mandatory sacrifice whenever sin was committed.

  2. The Sin Offering is a spiritual picture of the sacrifice of Christ – the substitute who was made sin for us.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Let’s go to Jesus “outside the camp.”

QUESTIONS

  1. List the five different offerings the Children of Israel were to bring before the Lord in obedience to the Law of God.

  2. What is the difference between sweet-savor or soothing aroma offerings and non-sweet savor offerings?

  3. Where was blood sprinkled during the Sin Offering?

  4. On what occasion were the elders involved in the sin offering?

  5. What is the spiritual picture of the Sin Offering being burned “outside the camp”? See Hebrews 13:11-12.

ANSWERS

  1. 1) The Burnt Offering 2) The Grain Offering 3) The Peace Offering 4) The Sin Offering 5) The Trespass Offering

  2. In the first three offerings mentioned the sacrifice itself is the focus of attention. It was a soothing aroma before the Lord when it was consumed on the altar. In the Sin and Trespass Offerings, the sin and sinner for which the sacrifice was being made were more the focus. Sin never is a soothing aroma before the Lord.

  3. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled in front of the inner veil of the Tabernacle (verse 6) and also applied to the horns of the incense altar before the veil (verse 7). In some cases it was also applied to the horns of the large bronze altar before the rest of the blood was poured out at the base of the altar. All of this was for purification of the whole sanctuary, which had to be by blood (Leviticus 8:14-15).

  4. In the case of the whole congregation involved in sin, the elders represented the whole congregation when they laid their hands on the sacrifice (verse 15). The laying on of hands on the sacrifice implied identification and a recognition that the sacrifice had died as a substitute for the people.

  5. No kind of human religion or good works could save us. The Lord Jesus had to go to the place of judgment “outside the camp” of religious Judaism as our substitute and suffer the shameful penalty of our sins.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Discuss the sacrifice of Christ as our Sin Offering. What a beautiful truth that He was our substitute who was made sin for us. Refer to 2 Corinthians 5:12, 1 Peter 2:24, and Isaiah 53:4-5.

CHALLENGE

  1. The Lord Jesus is still rejected by this world – including the religious world which will not acknowledge Christ as the only way of salvation. Are you willing to go “outside the camp” to identify with Jesus and bear the reproach that comes with being a committed Christian?

KEY VERSES

  • “If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering.” Leviticus 4:1-3

  • “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Leviticus, Old Testament, TalksRon ReidLEVITICUS 4