Prime the Pump: Leviticus

Leviticus 5:14–16 We find throughout the Book of Leviticus the words “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, . . .” (ESV). This is a very important truth because the Book of Leviticus is the source of much of the ceremonial law [the religious law for offering sacrifices and law regarding spiritual uncleanness]. We all should take great comfort that the LORD Himself is revealing His mind and heart to man and that we are not following our own thoughts about “reaching God”! This passage of Scripture includes the words “sins unintentionally” (ESV), which also should be great comfort for us. Who among us can fully comprehend, retain, and fully follow every statute, rule, and commandment of the LORD? Prior to the world-wide judgment of sin by flood, Scripture says, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5 ESV). We read, “The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (Psa. 14:2–3 ESV). The Apostle Paul writes, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7–8 ESV). These Scripture references remind us that natural-born man is incapable of fully comprehending, retaining, and fully following every statute, rule, and commandment of the LORD. No matter how firm a commitment we may make, natural-born man will fail to live without sinning! We should find it a great comfort when we read that the LORD established the method whereby man, when he “sins unintentionally,” can approach the LORD by faith for forgiveness. With these things in mind, look at Leviticus 5:15 (ESV)—“If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the LORD, he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering.” Because of the previous paragraph, I move forward with “When anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally . . . .” since we know within our hearts that every one of us will sin unintentionally, in addition to those “I want what I want” intentional sins. Looking at verse 15 this way, we would read—“When anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the LORD, he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering” (ESV). Verse 16 records an aspect of law that seems to be missing from today: Make Restitution. Look at verse 16 (ESV)—“He shall also make restitution for what he has done amiss in the holy thing and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.” There are several things to note here. First, the man [or woman or child] has sinned unintentionally when he “commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the LORD,” so he makes restitution to the LORD by way of giving his restitution to the priest. Second, how is the restitution calculated? It is the value of the ram without blemish, calculated according to the shekel of the sanctuary, plus “one-fifth.” “One-fifth” is 20%, so his restitution is 120% of the value of the unblemished ram in silver according to the sanctuary shekel. For easy calculation we will say that the value in silver of the ram is 100 shekels according to the sanctuary shekel, the man [or woman or child] who sins unintentionally must bring his unblemished ram to the priest to offer as a guilt offering and give the priest the additional twenty sanctuary shekels worth of silver as his restitution to the LORD. When he does this by faith, according to the commandment of the LORD who desires to forgive sin, he shall be forgiven! That is what Scripture says; that is what the LORD means. This by-faith-process teaches us that sin causes a spiritual separation between God and the sinner that God doesn’t want. God did not “commit a breach of faith”—man did it, so man must make the restitution. Stated another way, sin holds a definite cost to the one who committed the sin. Minimally, one definite cost is the loss of fellowship with the LORD, but this definite cost can be far greater than that! Sin always hurts the sinner, and sin often [in fact, usually] hurts many more people than just the one who commits the sin. The satisfaction for both unintentional and intentional sin is the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on a Roman Cross. Have you surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and received forgiveness for your sin? As long as you still are breathing, it is not too late to surrender to Jesus as Savior.