Atonement

In Leviticus chapter 9, Aaron offers a sin offering, a burnt offering (verse 3), a peace offering and a grain offering (verse 4) to the Lord. The rites had been given to Moses and Aaron and they followed the prescription. The culmination of the service is in verses 23 and 24:

Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.

Chapter 10 begins with the account of Nadab and Abihu (Aaron's sons) offering unauthorized fire before the Lord:

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Moses then said to Aaron, "This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: "'Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.'" Aaron remained silent.

The animals died because of the people's sin (ch 9). God's glory shown and fire consumed the animals. Then Nadab and Abihu die for their sin and fire consumed them (ch 10).

Do you WANT a substitute for your sins?
Or do you want to approach the Lord "as you please" but without a substitute?

God offers the substitute of Jesus Christ.
Why, oh why, would you profane Christ and not cling to him as your hope?

I heard it said that
"Hell is eternity in the presence of God"
"Heaven is eternity in the presence of God with a mediator "(Jesus)

Restitution, plus

Leviticus 6:1-5 says:

The LORD said to Moses: "If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the LORD by deceiving his neighbor about something entrusted to him or left in his care or stolen, or if he cheats him, or if he finds lost property and lies about it, or if he swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that people may do-- when he thus sins and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to him, or the lost property he found, or whatever it was he swore falsely about. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day he presents his guilt offering.

The guilty person must not only return what was stolen, they must pay an additional 20%. That is restitution plus 20%. America's penal system does not have a sense of restitution, yet alone a 20% penalty.

(I wonder if our growth of government, government entitlements, and growth in taxes are a result of this lack of concern for personal property.)

Telling the truth

Years ago, I was in a church's annual business meeting where the chairman said a falsehood. It was probably unintentional. There had been a general meeting several days prior to the annual meeting where the errant statement was made by someone else and I corrected it.

Here, at the annual meeting, no one corrected the chairman. I waited a while and then asked to be recognized - and then corrected him.

Leviticus 5:1 says 'If a person sins because he does not speak up when he hears a public charge to testify regarding something he has seen or learned about, he will be held responsible.'

The burden is on believers to be TRUTH TELLERS.

East of Eden

I've never read the book "East of Eden." Perhaps I'll look it up, now that I see "East of Eden" (and just plain "East") as a recurrent theme in the Bible.

Gen 3:24 - After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Gen 4:16 - So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Abraham was the first person mentioned in the Bible to travel west

Gen 13:11a - So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company

The following two are about the construction and layout of the tabernacle:


Ex 36:27 -They made six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle,
The front of the tabernacle was to the East. The priests walked from east to west to approach the Lord.

Lev 1:16 - He is to remove the crop with its contents and throw it to the east side of the altar, where the ashes are.
The discard was cast out to the east.