Leviticus 6

All of Israel's sin was against God, but some sins were also against one another. Sincere repentance concerning a sin against another person needed to be accompanied by all possible restitution. If a man deceived his neighbor through some theft, it was necessary to pay his neighbor back, and the Lord required that the offender add a fifth to what he had taken and return all of it to the injured party.

Robbery and deceit brought injury to others, even if the underlying actions might have been in some sense unintentional. A deceiver might have deceived himself even more than the man from whom he had stolen. But once he came to his senses, appropriate compensation was due to his neighbor.

This offense also necessitated that things be made right with God. The man who was in the wrong needed to bring a ram without blemish out of the flock for a guilt offering. The good news of forgiveness through the shedding of the blood of a substitute was part of the Word of the Law: “He shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty.” The Lord cared about reconciliation among men and their restored relationship with Almighty God even in the era that would prepare Israel for God's grand finale, the resurrection community of the faithful. Surely the Lord's kingdom should always give testimony of His healing power on both a horizontal and vertical plane. Christ did this for Israel, and not only for the Jews, but now even the hostility between Jew and Gentile has been repaired through His cross.

In all of the Lord's offerings, the priest played a most important role. The priest was a mediator between the one bringing the offering and God who would receive the offering from the hands of an acceptable representative.

In the earlier descriptions of each offering certain details of priestly activity were not mentioned. Now was the time to clarify some specific steps that a proper mediator had to perform.

For instance, the burnt offering was to remain on the altar long after the worshiper went home. It would burn there all night until the morning, and the priest was to keep that holy fire burning. It could not go out. He was the one who would have to know what to do with the ashes that were left over from that offering. The worshiper had returned to his normal life, but not the priest. Even the details of his hidden garments were made subject to the Lord's instructions for those who would touch the holy things of God's offerings. After a change of clothing, the ashes would be taken outside of the camp to a clean place.

He had to know what to do with the grain offering. He would burn the Lord's memorial portion including the frankincense and some of the oil on the bronze altar. But he was to eat the remainder as part of his connection with the offering, the people who offered it, and the Lord who received the offering and the people. He could only eat this without leaven and only in a holy place. How much would these priests have to eat? How could they consume all that was necessary? This was “a thing most holy” to God. Whatever touched these grain offerings became holy, so the priests that ate them became holy. All this ceremonial holiness was not only a privilege, but also a weighty burden.

The sons of Aaron would come and go, but the law of the priesthood would continue, until the system found its completeness in one offering of a life that would end all offerings. Before He offered up Himself, Jesus would say these words: “This is my body. This is my blood, the blood of the New Covenant.” Until that time, new priests would be anointed and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour would be used in the regular grain offering, half in the morning and half in the evening, and many other regulations would be observed. This was what the Lord decreed, and the priests needed to obey Him.

The priest would know what to do with the holy sin offering. They knew where the sin offering was to be killed “before the Lord.” This was something that the priest who offered it was to eat. It was to be eaten in the court of the tent of meeting. And it made everything it touched holy. There were rules about the blood of the sin offering splashing on a garment. The blood was holy. The garment had to be washed in a holy place. The vessel in which the offering was boiled had to be disposed of or scoured in a particular way. The priests needed to know and follow all of these laws. They were to eat the appropriate portions of the sin offering, except in the case of offerings where the blood was taken inside the tabernacle. Those offerings had to be burned up with fire.

Jesus did not descend from Aaron. Yet these provisions of the priesthood remind us that our Lord had a special role in a new kind of priesthood. He was the appointed Mediator between the Lord's people and our holy God. His blood made us clean. His hands brought resurrection healing to weary worshipers in this fading world. He opened a way for us into a new creation. His priesthood is forever.

He alone knew how to do His priestly duties without sin. He has made things right between us and God. In doing so He has made a way for there to be eternal peace among all those who belong to Him.