Leviticus 4 and 5 outline the sacrificial system, specifically addressing sin offerings and guilt offerings, which served as a means for the Israelites to atone for unintentional sins and specific transgressions. These chapters lay the foundation for understanding the human condition of sinfulness and the necessity of atonement. The rituals described in these passages, with their emphasis on blood, substitution, and reconciliation, foreshadow Christ’s redemptive sacrifice on the cross.

Leviticus 4 details the sin offering, prescribed for unintentional sins committed by various groups within Israel, which are the priests, the whole community, rulers, and common people. The process involved presenting an unblemished animal, confessing the sin, and slaughtering the animal, with its blood sprinkled or poured out before the Lord and its fat burned on the altar. The blood was central as it was through the shedding of blood that atonement was made.

Leviticus 5 extends this framework to include guilt offerings, which addressed specific sins, such as unintentional violations of holy things, breaking oaths, or defiling oneself. These offerings often required restitution alongside the sacrifice, emphasizing both the need for forgiveness and the restoration of the relationship with God and others.

Both chapters emphasize the seriousness of sin, even when unintentional, and the necessity of a substitutionary sacrifice to restore communion with a holy God.

The unblemished animals required for the sin offering point to Jesus Christ (discussed in the previous blog post). The blood of the sacrifices, central to atonement in Leviticus, finds its fulfillment in Christ’s blood shed on the cross. Hebrews 9:12-14 asserts that, Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

The guilt offerings in Leviticus 5 addressed relational breaches, both with God and others, requiring the offender to make amends. Christ’s atonement reconciles humanity to God, as Romans 5:10-11 states, For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. The restitution aspect of the guilt offering foreshadows Christ’s work of making all things new, restoring the brokenness caused by sin.

Furthermore, the high priest’s role in Leviticus 4, offering sacrifices for the people’s sins, prefigures Christ as the ultimate High Priest who offers Himself as the sacrifice. Unlike the Levitical priests, who needed to atone for their own sins, Christ, being sinless, offered Himself once for all. Hebrews 7:26-27 has this to say: For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 

Leviticus 4:20-21 states, And he shall do with the bull as he did with the bull as a sin offering; thus he shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. Then he shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is a sin offering for the assembly. This substitutionary act points to Christ, who was wounded for our transgressions …. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him (Isaiah 53:5). 2 Corinthians 5:21 reinforces this: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Christ took humanity’s sin upon Himself, serving as the ultimate substitute. And Hebrews 13:12 further states that Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

Sin requires satisfaction through a worthy payment. The Levitical sacrifices temporarily satisfied God’s justice, but their imperfection necessitated repetition. Christ’s perfect sacrifice, however, fully satisfies divine justice, as He is both fully God and fully man, capable of bridging the gap between humanity and God. Hebrews 2:17 says this about Jesus Christ: Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Thus, fulfilling the temporary atonement of Leviticus with an eternal one.

Jesus Christ’s death is portrayed as a ransom (Mark 10:45) that liberates humanity from the power of sin and death, as seen in Colossians 1:13-14: He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus Christ fulfills and surpasses the Levitical system, offering a once-for-all sacrifice that permanently removes the penalty and power of sin.

Let us:

• thank God for the precious blood of Jesus Christ that secures eternal redemption.
• confess our sins and thank God that through Christ’s atonement, we are fully forgiven. 
• pray for restoration in broken relationships.