Coming Near to God

Where Exodus ended. God's glory filled the tabernacle, and even Moses could not go in (Exodus 40:35). God was near, but His people were still outside. God speaks first. “Now the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting” (1:1). The people did not make up their own way to reach God. God told them the way. A gift to come near. The Bible word is offering. An offering was a gift brought to God at His tent: “When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord” (1:2). Holy and close. God is holy. That means He is completely good and set apart from all sin. People sin, and sin keeps them away from Him (Romans 3:23). A God who invites. God did not tell them to stay away. He gave His people a way to come back to Him. Leviticus. The name of the book comes from the Levites, the tribe of the priests. Much of it tells how priests and people could come near to God. What we learn. God wants us close, and He is the one who makes the way.

From Exodus to Leviticus. Exodus closed with a problem: the glory filled the tent and Moses could not enter (Exodus 40:35). Leviticus opens with the answer. The Lord calls “from the tabernacle of meeting” (1:1) and explains how sinful people may come near. The word for offering. The Hebrew qorban (say: kor-BAHN) comes from a verb that means to come near. An offering was the way a worshiper came close to God. God's plan, not ours. The worshiper does not design the offering. God gives every step. People cannot reach God on their own terms. That was the mistake of the golden calf (Exodus 32). Holiness. God is holy, perfectly pure and set apart from sin. The word holy runs all through Leviticus. The great question of the book is how a holy God can live among people who are not holy. Real offerings, true pictures. The offerings really were God's way for Israel. They were also pictures. Hebrews calls the tabernacle the “copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Hebrews 8:5). Every offering pointed ahead to Jesus.

At the end of Exodus, God's glory filled the Holy Tent. Even Moses could not go inside. God is holy, and people sin. Sin keeps people away from God. But God did not leave His people outside. He called Moses and told him what to do. He gave His people a way to come near. The way was an offering. An offering is a gift brought to God. God made the plan, not the people. People could not find their own way to God. That shows how much God loves His people. He wants to be close to them. He still wants to be close to us today.

God is holy. People do wrong things. But God wanted them close. So God made a way.

From the herd or the flock. The offering came “of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock” (1:2). It was the family's own animal, something that cost them. Without blemish. “If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish” (1:3). A blemish is a mark, a sickness or an injury. God was not asking for the weak animal nobody wanted. Freely given. “He shall offer it of his own free will” (1:3). God wanted a willing heart, not just an animal. At God's door. The animal was brought “at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord” (1:3). There was one place to come. Pointing to Jesus. Peter wrote that we were bought back “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). Jesus had no sin at all. Given freely. Jesus was not forced to die. “The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). What we learn. God deserves our best. We give it gladly, not because we have to.

A costly gift (1:2). Livestock was a family's wealth, and a bull was the most costly of all. The offering was never cheap. Much later, King David refused to give God an offering that cost him nothing (2 Samuel 24:24). Without blemish (1:3). The Hebrew tamim (say: tah-MEEM) means whole or complete. The same word is used of Noah, who was “perfect in his generations” (Genesis 6:9). God asked for the whole and healthy, not the damaged. Willing. “Of his own free will” (1:3) shows that God wanted worship from the heart. Forced worship was never the goal. One door. Every offering came to one place, the door of the tabernacle. God gave one way to come near. Jesus later said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The spotless Lamb. The New Testament applies this standard to Christ: “a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). He is the one who “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The offering came from the person's own animals. It could be a bull, a sheep or a goat. These animals were worth a lot to a family. For a burnt offering it had to be a male. It could not be sick or hurt. The Bible says it had to be “without blemish.” That means nothing was wrong with it. People could not give God their leftovers. They gave Him the best they had. The person also gave it because he wanted to. No one forced him. Later, Jesus gave Himself for us because He wanted to. And Jesus was perfect too. He never sinned at all.

The gift had to be perfect. People gave because they wanted to. God gets our best. Jesus was perfect too.

A hand on the head. “Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him” (1:4). On his behalf. That means for him, in his place. The animal stood in for the person. Atonement. Atonement is a key Bible word. It means God dealing with sin so a person can be at one with Him again. The ICB says the offering “will remove the person’s sin so he will belong to God.” A life for a life. The animal was killed, and its blood was sprinkled on the altar (1:5). Leviticus says, “it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (17:11). All of it. The burnt offering was burned completely on the altar (1:9). Nothing was kept back. It showed giving everything to God. A sweet aroma. The offering was “a sweet aroma to the Lord” (1:9). God was pleased. Jesus our offering. Paul wrote that Christ “has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Ephesians 5:2). What we learn. Sin is serious, but God gives someone to take our place. Jesus took our place.

The hand (1:4). The Hebrew verb samak (say: sah-MAHK) means to lean or press. The worshiper pressed his hand on the animal's head. He was joining himself to the animal, as if to say, this one stands in my place. God says it was “accepted on his behalf.” Atonement. The verb kipper (say: kip-PAIR) carries the idea of covering or wiping clean. Its result is that the worshiper is accepted and can come near. Blood and life. The blood was sprinkled “all around on the altar” (1:5). Leviticus later explains why: “the life of the flesh is in the blood… for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (17:11). Sin earns death (Romans 6:23). The offering shows a life given instead. The whole burnt offering. Its name, olah (say: oh-LAH), means that which goes up. Everything rose as smoke to God. It pictured giving everything to Him. A pleasing aroma. God is not hungry for smoke. The phrase means He accepted the worshiper. Paul uses the same picture for Christ's death (Ephesians 5:2), and for believers' lives in Romans 12:1, where he urges us to be “a living sacrifice.”

The person put his hand on the animal's head. It was like saying, this animal is taking my place. God accepted the animal for that person. Then the animal died. Its blood was put on the altar. That shows how serious sin is to God. Sin brings death. But God let an animal die instead of the person. Then the priests burned the whole animal. Smoke went up from the altar. The Bible says it was a sweet smell to the Lord. God was pleased with the offering. The person could come near to God again. Jesus would one day take our place.

The man put his hand on the animal. God took the animal in his place. Jesus took our place on the cross.

A different offering. Chapter 4 describes the sin offering. It was for a person who “sins unintentionally” (4:27). That means doing wrong without meaning to. Ordinary people. This offering was for “anyone of the common people” (4:27), not only for priests or leaders. God made a way for everyone. When they found out. “If his sin which he has committed comes to his knowledge” (4:28), he brought a female goat without blemish. He did not hide his sin. The same hand. “He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering” (4:29). Again, the animal stood in his place. The horns of the altar. The priest put blood on the horns, the four raised corners of the altar (4:30). Forgiven. “So the priest shall make atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him” (4:31). God promised forgiveness. Still true. John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). What we learn. We all do wrong, sometimes without knowing it. When we see our sin, we bring it to God, and He forgives.

Sins of weakness (4:27). The Hebrew bishgagah (say: bish-gah-GAH) means by straying or by mistake. It covers sins done in weakness or without realizing it. Even sins we do not notice need God's mercy. Everyone included. Leviticus 4 gives a sin offering for the anointed priest (4:3), the whole community (4:13), a ruler (4:22) and a common person (4:27). The animal changed with a person's position. The need did not. Everyone sins. Honesty (4:28). The offering began when the sin came “to his knowledge.” He had to admit it. Confession is part of coming back to God (1 John 1:9). The horns and the fat (4:30-31). The horns were the raised corners of the altar. The fat, thought of as the richest part, was burned for God. A promise. God gave His word with certainty: “it shall be forgiven him” (4:31). The forgiveness rested on God's promise. Yet Hebrews says these offerings “can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10:11). So God forgave His people looking ahead to the sacrifice of Jesus that was still to come (Romans 3:25-26).

Chapter 4 tells about a different offering. It was for wrong things done by mistake. An ordinary person might break one of God's rules. Maybe he did not even know it at first. When he found out, he did not hide it. He brought a female goat to the tent. He put his hand on its head. The priest put some blood on the corners of the altar. Then he burned the fat on the altar. The Bible says the person was forgiven. God did not forget about ordinary people. He made a way for everyone. God still forgives people who come to Him. We can tell Him about our sin too.

Sometimes we do wrong and don't even know it. God still made a way. The person was forgiven. God loves to forgive.

Coming Near to God

🎉 All Matched!