“If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.”
~ Leviticus 4:3
Hi James and Ellen,
What is sin? Ask your dad and/or ma to tell you what sin is. Sin is an act of disobedience. Do you know what it means to be disobedient? Being disobedient is willfully engaging in wrongdoing. What happens to you when you are disobedient to your dad and/or ma? When your dad and your Aunt Lynn were kids like you, your grandmaa or grandpaa would spank your dad or your Aunt Lynn when they were disobedient. Have you ever been disobedient? Every guy, gal or kid who has lived and is living on planet Earth – except for Jesus, has been disobedient at one time or another. God gave His specially chosen guys and gals laws as a way to point out to His specially chosen guys and gals the ways that they had been and were being disobedient to Him. Do you know who wrote down in a book God’s laws? Moses recorded God’s laws in a book which he called Leviticus. The book became one of the books in the Bible. Leviticus means pertaining to the Levites. Do you know who the Levites were? Do you remember how many tribal clans made up God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids? God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids was made up of twelve tribal clans. Each tribal clan began with one of Jacob’s sons or one of Joseph’s two sons. Your grandpaa knows it is hard to learn everything that the Bible teaches. Your grandpaa knows that he is never going to learn everything that is in the Bible. Your grandpaa would like you to learn as much as you can about what is in the Bible. Knowing what is in the Bible will help you to tell your kid friends what the Bible teaches. It is good to know why God let the guys and gals who He specially chose for Himself before He created planet Earth disobey Him. God is continuously teaching the guys, gals and kids who He specially chose and elected for Himself before He created planet Earth. Do you know what it is that God is constantly teaching the guys, gals and kids who He especially elected for Himself? God is continually teaching the guys, gals and kids who He especially elected for Himself His mercy and His grace. God will pour out His mercy – like water, and give His grace – like a gift, on and to every guy, gal and kid who makes a decision of faith to accept Jesus Christ as his and her Lord and Savior.
Does your grandpaa confuse you when he writes things about the Bible? When your ma or dad reads you the Bible, do you understand what the Bible is saying to you? God wants you to read the Bible or have the Bible read to you and then He wants you to think about what you have read or what you have heard read in the Bible. God the Holy Spirit will help every guy, gal and kid to understand God’s will who listens to God speaking to him from the Bible. When you read the laws which Moses recorded in the book that he called Leviticus, God the Holy Spirit will help you understand the laws. Many guys and gals think that reading Leviticus is really boring but . . . Leviticus helps the guys, gals and kids who God specially elected for Himself before He created planet Earth to understand why He sent His Son – Jesus, to die for your sins. God wanted His specially chosen guys and gals to be sinless. God knows though that every guy, gal and kid sins so . . . Leviticus 4 talks about what God’s specially chosen guys and gals were to do when they sinned unintentionally. Do you know what it means to sin unintentionally? There were times when one of God’s specially chosen guys or gals would sin without knowing that they had sinned. God did not want any guy or gal to touch or to be near a guy, gal or kid who had died. Sometimes a guy or gal could not help it but to touch or to be near a guy, gal or kid who had died. One of God’s laws was about what a guy or gal was to do if he or she had touched or been near a guy, gal or kid who had died. God required that that guy or gal had to be purified. If a priest sinned unintentionally, the priest had to sacrifice a bull to God to be purified. If the Israelite people group community – which were God’s specially chosen guys and gals, sinned unintentionally, they had to sacrifice a bull to God to be purified. If an Israelite people group leader sinned unintentionally, the guy had to sacrifice a goat to God to be purified. If an Israelite people group guy or gal sinned unintentionally, the guy or gal had to sacrifice a goat to God to be purified. If an Israelite people group guy or gal who sinned unintentionally who was very poor, the guy or gal could bring a dove or pigeon or even some fine flour to use as a sacrifice to God in order to be purified. How would you like to have to make a sacrifice to God so that you could have a sin that you have committed unintentionally expunged by God from your life?
God sent His Son Jesus to planet Earth to be sacrificed for you to cover the sins which you will intentionally and unintentionally commit. When God’s specially chosen guys and gals made a sacrifice for a sin that they had unintentionally committed, they were letting a sacrifice – like a bull or goat or lamb or dove or . . . be a substitute to cover the sin that they had committed. God chose the Levite tribal clan priests to make the sacrifices. When Jesus died on a cross, Jesus’ death was a onetime sacrifice for all intentional and unintentionally sins that are committed by guys, gals and kids who God especially elected for Himself before He created planet Earth. You do not have to worry today about unintentional sins like God’s specially chosen guys and gals had to 3500 years ago. Your dad and ma are still responsible to help you not to sin. Verse 3 says “‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.” It is easy to think that it is just your problem if you have been disobedient but . . . a sin will affect guys, gals and kids who care about you. Your grandmaa and grandpaa wish that you would not sin but … you will sin so confess each sin to God.
Leviticus 4 (112)