10 “You shall also have the bull brought before the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the bull. 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 12 You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.
What a mess!
When you read the detailed accounts of the Old Testament sacrificial system, it’s hard not to be a bit sickened at the bloody scene that accompanied the effort to cover sins. Of course, the bull, lamb, or goat got the worst end of the deal, but everyone involved ended up touched by the grotesque scene.
Surely this underscores the high price of sin. While we easily dismiss our failures with a quick whispered confession and promise to do better, we shouldn’t think our sin is so simple. Nearly two thousand years ago, that bloody mess was the son of God who willingly sacrificed Himself for us. He died that we might live.
Knowing what He has done for us should compel us to take sin more seriously. Jesus was brutalized to pay our penalty. It seems calloused to then carelessly continue sinning, doesn’t it?
– Dr. Mike Clarensau serves as Senior Director of the Healthy Church Network of the Assemblies of God.
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