When a worshiper brought a burnt sacrifice to the temple, he would \u201cput his hand on the head of the burnt offering\u201d to symbolically identify with the animal being killed. It was a sign of substitution, transferring one’s sin onto the animal that was to be sacrificed in their place. As we read on, we find that there were 4 things necessary for God to accept this kind of offering. 1) The animal had to be perfect. 2) It had to be a male. 3) The offering had to be a free-will offering. 4) The person offering the sacrifice had to place their hand on the animal’s head as an act of obedience and identification. Meeting these 4 criteria allowed the sacrifice to be accepted for covering or atonement.<\/p>\n
We know that the Hebrew word translated “atonement” here is kaphar<\/em>, which means, “to cover over, to atone for the sin of a person by a legal rite.” The concept of being covered is critical to our understanding of just how God’s economy works, concerning sins and forgiveness. Under the old covenant, sins were merely covered over; but under the new covenant (the \u201cbetter way\u201d), sin is not just covered\u2014it is cleansed. John explained it this way in his first letter: \u201cforgive us our sins and cleanse<\/em> us from all unrighteousness\u201d (1 John 1:9, italics added<\/em>). What an astounding promise!<\/p>\n We can now be clean before God Almighty by simply turning (confessing and repenting) to God. Rather than the up-close-and-personal bloody sacrifice that the law required, we can now apply the blood of our Savior to our sins and find ourselves washed and made new by His grace. How can it be so simple and yet so neglected by so many people? As usual the problem is not with God but with our own selfish, self-centered hearts.<\/p>\n “LORD, free us from our pathological drive to control! Give us the wisdom to surrender to You by accepting Your death on our behalf. LORD, we chose life.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leviticus 1 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0And the\u00a0LORD\u00a0called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the\u00a0LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle,\u00a0even\u00a0<\/em>of the herd, and of the flock. 3<\/sup>\u00a0If his offering\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the\u00a0LORD.\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And he shall kill the bullock before the\u00a0LORD: and the priests, Aaron\u2019s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that\u00a0is by\u00a0<\/em>the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire:\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0And the priests, Aaron\u2019s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>on the fire which\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>upon the altar:\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar,\u00a0to be\u00a0<\/em>a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the\u00a0LORD. 10<\/sup>\u00a0And if his offering\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>of the flocks,\u00a0namely\u00a0<\/em>, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the\u00a0LORD: and the priests, Aaron\u2019s sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar.\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>on the fire which\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>upon the altar:\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>all, and burn\u00a0it<\/em>upon the altar: it\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the\u00a0LORD. 14<\/sup>\u00a0And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar:\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes:\u00a0\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof,\u00a0but\u00a0<\/em>shall not divide\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>upon the fire: it\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the\u00a0LORD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When a worshiper brought a burnt sacrifice to the temple, he would \u201cput his hand on the head of the burnt offering\u201d to symbolically identify with the animal being killed. It was a sign of substitution, transferring one’s sin onto the animal that was to be sacrificed in their place. As we read on, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12655"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12655"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15884,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12655\/revisions\/15884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}