Leviticus 4:13 says, And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty; There are a lot of qualifiers in this statement, but it basically speaks of the entire nation of Israel inadvertently sinning against God by breaking His law stating that they were still guilty. As soon as they realized this, instead of trying to hide it or justify it, they needed to repent and ask God's forgiveness. Matthew Henry says it is possible for the church to sin by misinterpreting the laws of God, but if it does, then as soon as the members of the church realize this, they must repent and ask God's forgiveness. Verse fourteen adds, When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation. As stated, when the congregation became aware of this sin, even though it may have been inadvertent, they had to take responsibility for it. We cannot simply excuse sin by claiming that we were unaware that we were sinning at the time it occurred, but if we as a group of God's people realize that we have been in error on any issue, we must turn to God and ask His forgiveness. Then, they were to bring a sacrifice for their sins, but we today have the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all our sins for all-time, so we simply have to acknowledge our sin and take responsibility for it and ask His forgiveness. Verse fifteen continues, And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD. The congregation was to bring a young bullock to the tabernacle, and the elders were to lay their hands on the head of the bullock and kill it. The elders would represent the whole congregation of Israel, and today, certain preachers are seen as representing the whole congregation, though as followers of Christ we are all individually responsible for our relationship with God. Verse sixteen states, And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation: Then verse seventeen adds, And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the vail. After the leaders, who represented the people, killed the bullock, the priest who was appointed, was to bring the blood and sprinkle it on the altar seven times before the veil. We as followers of Christ are already forgiven when we accept the sacrifice of Christ for our sins, but when we sin we must still come to Him in repentance once again. We cannot just claim that since our sins are forgiven that we no longer have to repent and ask forgiveness for our sins, even if they are inadvertent. Verse eighteen continues, And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Some of the blood was to be placed on the horns of the altar and some at the bottom of the altar before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. I believe this would represent a complete cleansing of the tabernacle, just as we are completely cleansed by the blood of Jesus today when we put our faith in Him. Verse nineteen says, And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar. Verse twenty adds, And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. The priest was to treat the bullock as a sin offering and by doing so, it would bring atonement to the people of Israel. Again, this was not for an individual's sin, but for the sin of the congregation, or nation. As a congregation of believers today, if we realize that we have been wrong in our actions or attitudes concerning any particular issue, we must confess our sins and be restored by our faith in Christ, Whose blood cleanses all unrighteousness if we only ask Him to forgive us. Verse twenty-one continues, And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation. The bullock was to be taken outside the camp and burned. We must remove sin from the congregation today and at least figuratively speaking take it outside the camp of the congregation and burn it. Verse twenty-two states, When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty; Moses now dealt with the inadvertent sins of a leader instead of the whole congregation. We need to pray that if our leaders sin today that it is inadvertent and not knowingly. Verse twenty-three adds, Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish: When the leader became aware of his sins, he was to bring a young goat without blemish to be sacrificed for his sins. Verse twenty-four continues, And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD: it is a sin offering. The leader was to place his hands on the head or the goat and kill it in the place of sacrifice before the LORD, because it was a sin sacrifice. A leader today, especially in the church, must likewise repent and lay their sin at the altar of Christ when if they realize that they are guilty of an inadvertent sin, Verse twenty-five says, And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering. Once more, the priest was responsible for the actual spreading of the blood, just a Jesus is the One Who spreads His blood for everyone who comes to Him in faith today. Jesus is our High Priest, and the only one who can bring us forgiveness. Verse twenty-six adds, And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. Once the priest had made the sacrifice for a peace offering, he would have made atonement of the sin and the leader would be forgiven. We cannot just dismiss sin, even those that may be inadvertent, but must bring them to the cross and ask God's forgiveness to be restored to a right relationship with Him. We do not lose our salvation, but we do lose our witness and closeness to God if we allow sin to go unrepented.
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