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Atonement: Fast or Not? #2

Fred Coulter - December 8, 1990

Let’s continue in the series that we’re doing, to fast or not fast on Atonement. And that becomes very important, because we have to get into in great detail, in the Old Testament, to understand exactly what was going on. And so let’s just review a couple of things here.

First of all it is claimed by those who don’t believe in fasting on Atonement, in spite of the commandment of God by the way, that all the sins under the Old Covenant were only physical sins. That they weren’t spiritual sins. Well, the Ten Commandments define a spiritual law, and that’s what everything is based upon, isn’t it? Now if you break one of those commandments it is a spiritual sin. As we covered last time, under the Old Covenant they were not given the Spirit of God for salvation. We saw that very clearly in Hebrews 9 and 10, and how it is true that the blood of bulls and goats does not forgive sin. And you have to add there, because it’s talking about the tabernacle in heaven above. The blood of bulls and goats did not forgive sin in heaven above. Now let’s just review one scripture back here in Hebrews 9 and 10, so we know and understand completely what we are talking about.

Hebrews 9, and this is one scripture that was not read, failure to be read, in presenting a side of the story. See, because anyone can have a thought. Anyone can have a doctrine. When you get down to it, let’s ask the question: what does it really matter what a person thinks if it’s contrary to what God says? What does it really matter anyway? It doesn’t matter at all, ok?

Now, it’s talking about Christ, Hebrews 9:11, we’ll just review just a little bit here. “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:…” (Heb. 9:11-13).

So therefore it is claimed that all sins were purely physical sins. Now we’re going to see that is not true. Should more properly be categorized, if we have on the board here, you have physical sin, you have moral sin, you have mortal sin, and you have spiritual sin. And mortal sins and spiritual sins are almost exactly the same. Mortal sin, as we will see, under the Old Covenant required the death penalty. They broke the moral law. And if they committed it to a severe degree then it was mortal. They died. Now if there was a lesser infraction, as we saw, it was a moral sin requiring a sacrifice. And it also said that under the Old Covenant they were not forgiven their sins, which we will have to say and add to that, in heaven above, because we’re going to see - yes they were forgiven their sins if they were less than mortal sins. Mortal sin required the death of the offender. Now that we’ve stated that let’s go on and put it all together here.

And in this “purifying of the flesh”, in this purifying them for the worship at the temple, it’s all it was for. For the worship at the temple. They had to be purified physically. That doesn’t mean that the sins were just physical, as we will see again.

Verse 14, “…How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Because when you receive the Spirit of God when you have the sacrifice of Christ to you, you have a change in your nature. And it is to purge your conscience from dead works. “And for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament,…” (vs. 14-15). So, all the sins under the Old Covenant required what? The death of Jesus Christ. So they were spiritual sins. They were moral sins, which had to be forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Now, “…for the redemption of the transgression that were under the first testament,…” And as we covered last time, the death of Jesus Christ did what? It forgave the sins under the Old Covenant. The death of Jesus Christ also, with Him dying once for all, also opened and paved the way for the forgiveness of sin for all of those who accept Jesus Christ in God’s plan at the time that then God calls them. They weren’t called to salvation under the Old Covenant.

Now, when we come to chapter 10 we find one of the reasons for the sacrifices that were given. And also it was true that those sacrifices did not forgive them in heaven above, but it did forgive them on the earth, at the temple. Hebrews 10:1, “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.” Because it didn’t change their nature. “For then would they not have cease to be offered [that is, if then it did have the forgiveness of God in heaven above completely]? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (Heb 10:1-4). That is true, in heaven above. It did take away the sins on the earth for the earthly worship at the tabernacle. We will see that. So when you say that all the sins were only physical sins, we’re going to see there were physical sins, there moral sins, there were mortal sins. And that’s how they should be classified under the Old Covenant.

In the New Testament we will see that all sin is elevated to a higher level beginning with, not just the act that takes place outside the body, but with the thought which begins in the mind. The same laws, but a higher level of application. And since it’s a higher level of application, then we need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Then it was the lower level of application, but it was the same laws, it was the same sin.

Now let’s look at some of those so we can understand it. Now what I’m going to do is go to Numbers 15, which will give us an overview of some of the things that I covered last week. I want you to go through and read all of Exodus 21, 22, and 23. And that will tell you of the degrees of sin that God looks to. Those that were mortal sins, requiring the death of the individual, then that life was taken.

Now, let’s come to Numbers 15 because this gives a very good summary of everything that we find in Exodus 21, 22, and 23. Let’s pick it up here in verse 16. The first part coming down to verse 16 is a general summary of all of the sacrifices. The other places where it is in great detail. We’ll cover some of those in Leviticus a little later.

Verse 16, “One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you, then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave offering unto the LORD. Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an heave offering: as ye do the heave offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye heave it. Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering in your generations. And if ye have erred,…” I want to focus in on this word “err”. When you read the King James it says, “and if anyone sinned in ignorance”, it really means “sin in error”. And we’ll cover that in more detail. “…And not observed all these commandments, which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses, even all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations; then it shall be, if aught be committed by [error, or] ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering” (Nu. 15:16-24). We’re going to see there’s one kid of the goats for a sin offering in everything that took place, as far as the festivals are concerned.

Now notice verse 25. “And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel,…” We’re going to see that atonement was accomplished many times in different ways not counting the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement, as we’re going to see, was a special day. Atonement could be made at any time, as we will see. And notice, “…it shall be forgiven them;…” Did they have forgiveness under the Old Covenant? Answer, yes they had forgiveness under the Old Covenant. Was it that God in heaven above forgave them? No, He only forgave them to the temple. But it was still forgiveness. And it means…and the Hebrew there means “forgiveness”, or in ignorance. Now we’re going to see an ignorance which means it was not in malice. In other words it was a moral sin, not a mortal sin. “…And they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance: and it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing allthe people were in ignorance” (vs. 25-26).

“And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement…” Notice the word again. Same word that you find in Leviticus 16 for the Day of Atonement. Exactly the same word - kippur - to be an atonement. “…For the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. But the soul that doeth aught presumptuously,…” And it says there in the King James “aught”. That means, “anything”. “Presumptuously”, that means (if you have a marginal reference) it is with a high hand, or planned and determined. Planned and determined. That’s what it is. This is very much like the unpardonable sin in the New Testament. If with knowledge and forethought you plan and premeditatedly, and carry out with no qualms of conscience, with no repentance, with no thought about what you’re doing against God - then you commit the unpardonable sin in the New Testament, right?

The Old Testament, you had deliberate sins, presumptuous sins, which then it says, “…whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken His commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him” (vs. 30-31), which is the way of saying that he shall die.

And then they have the one who was found picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. They said, “What shall we do?”, and it was decided that, what? He would be executed and stoned to death. But it was a presumptuous sin, not just while he was out there. He was probably out there every Sabbath, out there working. So they stoned him. So that is a mortal sin unto death. High-handed, presumptuous, planned, determined, with malice and forethought. Do we have something similar to that in the laws of the land today? Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Does it require the death penalty? Yes, it does. The problem is getting the officials to carry out the death penalty.

Now, let’s see some things concerning atonement, as we covered somewhat last time, but I’ll just mention this scripture and I’ll want you to look there because this becomes very bogged down otherwise. There is atonement that can be made with money. Money of the atonement - Exodus 30:16. There’s the atonement, as we saw last time with Moses intervening with prayer to make atonement for the sin of the people when they had the golden calf - Exodus 32:30. Then we have in Numbers 16 (since we have it right here), Numbers 16:44, and it talks about what happened with the rebellion among the priests. And those who wanted to be priests, which were not of the tribe of Levi.

Let’s pick it up here in verse 44, and there were all these people dying within the congregation because of what they had done. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment.” God here was going to get rid of them again. All the children of Israel. “And they [that is, Moses and Aaron] fell upon their faces. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them:…” (Nu. 16:44-46). Not any sacrifice, just the incense.

The reason I’m covering this is to show that the claim that the Day of Atonement was only to take away the physical sins of physical uncleanness is erroneous. The Day of Atonement is much deeper, involves much more, but I’m also showing that atonement is not just saved for the Day of Atonement, but atonement can be done at any time - whether by sacrifice, whether by prayer, whether by paying, or in this case whether by incense. And then we find in Numbers 25, or whether by spear, because you remember what Phinehas the son of Eleazar did. The prince and the daughter of the Midianites were committing adultery, and he followed them with his spear, ran in their tent and did them in, and made atonement for God.

Now let’s go to Leviticus 4. No, let’s cover one other thing before we get there. Let’s go to 2 Samuel 21. And I think we may have an answer as to why we have the prolonged drought here in California. It’s because of the sins going on and on. Alright, 2 Samuel 21:1, and this may help us understand why some of the problems that we have are going on. “Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year;…” Now in California we’ve had drought year after year. We’re into the fifth year, and we’ve had virtually hardly a drop of water. And I think we will find the same thing. There’s a lot of innocent blood been shed and the officials are not doing anything about it. There are all these gang wars, record murders in Los Angeles, Oakland, East Palo Alto. And I imagine every major city they have these gang wars going on. “…And David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.”

So to make a long story short, David called the Gibeonites and said, “Well, what are we going to do to take care of this matter?” Verse 3, “Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?” Ok, atonement, if you can put it in the vernacular, means “to make it right”. So what happened? Selected out certain of the sons of Saul and hung them. Atonement was made by hanging human beings. So the main point I want to get is that atonement means to make it right, to reconcile. And it means to be at-one with God in the final analysis. So there’s more than one way to make it right even under the Old Covenant.

Now let’s go to the book of Leviticus. Let’s look and see where atonement was made where there was no sin involved. Leviticus 1. Not many people have thought of it that way, but what is it when you have atonement when there is no sin involved? What does that mean then? Let’s begin in verse 1. Now it will almost literally put you totally to sleep if you try and read every word though all the sacrifices because so much of it is repetitious, ok? So I’m just going to hit key verses as we’re going along.

Leviticus 1:1, “And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.” That means no gazelles, no giraffes, no buffalo, ok? It’s going to be of the cattle, the herd, and the flock. That’s it. “And if his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him” (Lev. 1:1-4). To be at-one with God on a good non-sinning basis. No sin involved. Just because you want to be at-one with God. And of course that would be a pretty expensive offering, you know. If you don’t believe me run down and find out how much it would cost to get a whole bullock without blemish. You know, one of those real nice ones at the fair that you see every once in a while. Hey, those can go for $100,000 apiece, can’t they?

Now, if you didn’t have the means for a bullock then it gives all the instructions what to do. Then it would be verse 10. “And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.” I want you to understand that it’s a male without blemish because later on we’re going to see there were cases when it had to be a female without blemish. And there was a difference for that.

Now let’s go to chapter 4. Chapter 4 because chapter 1 and 2 are all of the sacrifices not concerning sin. This is that God has blessed you, you feel wonderful, you want to thank God for what you’ve done. You give a burnt offering, you give a thank offering, you give a peace offering. No sin involved. But what happens if you sin? Then we have some other commandments which were given and other sacrifices, which were imposed. For the sake of this tape I’ll just read out of the King James, but if you want to have a clearer understanding of it get a Hebrew Interlinear and you will see that where it is the sin of ignorance, it is if anyone sinned in error. And that has more to do with the nature of human beings. Why do we sin today? Because we have human nature. Why did they sin back then? Because they had human nature.

Now we with God’s Spirit, are then convicted in conscience so that we can repent, and God will forgive the sin, wipe it away in heaven above. Here they didn’t have that access to God. So when they sinned… Let’s pick it up here in Leviticus 4:1. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through [error] ignorance…” Ignorance meaning “not premeditated”. Or if it were not premeditated, and complete ignorance of any knowledge of the law. Where {there} those in Israel who had no knowledge of the law? Sure there were. Sure there were. “…

Against any [notice, any] of the commandments of the LORD…” This is a broad, general statement. It’s not just the physical sin that he touched a dead body. We’ll see later there’s another sacrifice for that. It’s not just a physical sin because of a menstrus period. And why is that a physical sin? Has the woman done anything? No. It is that the toxins within her body then are being flushed out. So therefore these can come from that. So therefore there are prohibitions. That is a physical sin. It’s the same thing if you have a sickness or a disease in a house. We’ll see that a little later. And there are sometimes when you’ve got to purge a house. There are some houses that are so laden with disease and uncleanness that they had to be burned down. We’ll see that. But this is talking about sin “…against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not be done, and shall do against any of them:…” (Lev. 4:1-2). Broad, general statement. That means if he took the name of God in vain. That means if he inadvertently bowed down to an idol, or did something that he shouldn’t do that way but was not worthy of death. This is any sin not worthy of death, of any commandment that God has given. So this then, you want to put down there, as moral sin. And that is the differentiation from physical sin of a physical bodily process, or a dead animal, or a dead person. So this is anything. This is broad.

“…If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: if the priest that is anointed…” So here is the priest that sins. “…Do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering” (vs. 2-3). It’s not unusual for the priest to sin. So therefore it’s rather expensive for him to sin. He had to bring young bullock. Then it gives all the instructions, and so forth, and it tells what the priest would do with the blood before the altar, and so forth. All that is very repetitious.

Now let’s come down to verse 10. “As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering. And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place,…” (vs. 10-12). Why? Because, why take the whole bullock and go out there and burn the whole thing? Because it’s a sin of human nature, which is in every fiber of our being. That’s why. So the whole thing was burnt.

Now let’s come along a little farther here. Verse 13, “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; 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. 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. And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock’s blood to the tabernacle of the congregation:…” And then he shall dip the blood seven times, and so forth. Let’s come on down a little bit further. What he would do with all of it. Now, “And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he did the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation” (vs. 13-16, 21).

Now, “When a ruler hath sinned,…” and so forth, and his sins be known, then he shall take “…a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:…” It is a sin offering. Now let’s come down to verse 26. “And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings [that’s the instructions of the priest]: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.” (vs. 22-23, 26). This is an offering made on any time that he discovered his sin. So there we have two points. Any sacrifice that is given for the forgiveness of sin makes an atonement, regardless whether it is the Day of Atonement or not. And they did have forgiveness. Not in heaven above for salvation, but on the earth to be in good standing with God at the temple so that God’s blessing could continue to come upon Israel.

Now let’s go on. “And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and [he] be guilty; or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish,…” because that would cost less. You see, God did not lay the same burden of expense upon the ordinary people. “…For his sin which he hath sinned. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering” (vs. 27-29). So what he would actually do, he would put one hand on the head of the goat, and he would take a knife, slay the blood and the priest would catch it. Ok, then that blood was offered on the altar. So he would know that what? The wages of sin is death. And death was that which cut people off from God.

Now, then it gave all the instructions of what to do with blood and the fat and all that sort of thing. And we come down to the very last sentence of verse 31, and it says, “…and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.” There was forgiveness under the Old Covenant to the temple. [Audience comment] Yes, the question is the reason is that it was only to the temple, not in heaven above, was because Christ had not been killed yet. That is true. Absolutely true. These were looking forward to the sacrifice of Christ. All the aspects of the sacrifice of Christ. And it was not forgiven in heaven because God had not given the Holy Spirit to them, nor did God give them the means to have their nature changed with the Holy Spirit. So it was just forgiven on the earth, that’s correct. But God just sort of stored all of these up and officially forgave all of them in heaven above when Jesus was crucified, ok? Just sort of stored them all up. And then forgave them all, because we read that in Hebrews 9:15, right? That He died for the transgressions which were under the first testament. So all of these, they were forgiven to the temple.

It would be much like you have a situation: your kids do something wrong… [whining - boo-hoo] “I’m sorry.” “I forgive you.” Everything is right. You’ve done the same thing verbally. You’ve forgiven them. They’ve repented. You tell them it’s right. Does that have anything to do with salvation for them at the present time? No. But do they know that they’re forgiven? Yes. Do they understand that? Yes. Do they feel better because of it? Yes. Do you feel better because of it? Yes. So that’s the level that it was on with them. They were forgiven. The priest said, “You’re forgiven your sin.” They could go home and feel they are forgiven. Without a doubt. Ok.

Now, chapter 5 is a different offering. Though it is a sin offering, it is a specific offering for a specific act. It is called a trespass offering. Leviticus 5:1. We’re talking about specific acts of specific things. “And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.” We have much the same thing today. What is this ad that they have? They have much the same thing today, that if you see a crime happen you identify the individual and then you come to court and you testify. There are three words to it and I can only remember two. Identify and testify. Because it is a crime, if you see a crime going on then you become party to the crime if you do nothing to report it or if you do nothing about it.

“…If he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. Or if a soul touch any unclean thing,…” So you see the first sin offering was not for a physical sin. The first offering was in any other commandment that would be a moral sin. Now we’re dealing with physical sin - a specific physical act. “Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty. Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be that a man shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty. Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing:…” Specific crime. Very similar to what we have today. If you get a speeding ticket, you make an atonement by paying the fine, right? You admit that you did it. You take care of it. Same thing here. It says, “…and he shall bring his trespass offering [that’s for a specific debt] unto the LORD for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering [it’s still a sin offering, but it is a trespass offering]; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin” (vs. 2-6).

Now notice, let’s go back and read what it says on the other one. Let’s to back to chapter 4:31. “…And the priest shall make an atonement for him,… The exact same wording, right? Taking care of it. “…And it shall be forgiven him.” Ok, the priest shall make an atonement [for him] concerning his sin. The wording is just a little different. He is not being atoned for as a person for his whole nature, he’s being atoned for as a person for that specific act.

Now there are times when you go to God and you just say, “Oh, God. I’m a wretched vile human individual. Please forgive me.” Maybe it’s just because, you know, your thoughts and losing your temper and things like this. But then when you really sin a sin, then you confess that specific sin to God, right? Ok. That’s what we’re dealing with here. The difference between a sin offering, which is for human nature in general, and a trespass offering, which is a specific sin, for a specific thing.

Now, let’s go on. Verse 7, “And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons unto the LORD; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. And he shall bring them unto the priest,…” And then it shows what the priest would do. And it says, last part of verse 10, “…And the priest shall make an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall be forgiven him.” (vs. 7-8, 10). Specific act. And it’s so important with the specific act that if they couldn’t afford the two birds then they would bring a meal offering, or a cereal offering, which unfortunately in the King James is called a meat offering. And that becomes very confusing when you’re trying to read it, because a meat offering - you think of a flesh offering. But when it speaks of a meat offering in the King James, just change the “t” to an “l” and call it a meal offering and you’ll have it right.

So it says what they would do if he can’t bring the two turtledoves or two pigeons, “…then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering;…” There it is, a meal offering, or flour offering. “…Neither shall he put any frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering.” But a meal offering that’s a peace offering you put frankincense in it, you see. So what it’s saying, you’re just like so much flour. There’s nothing good in you. There is no frankincense for a sweet savor. You just bring that. “Then shall he bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it, even a memorial thereof, and burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: it is a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and it shall be forgiven him: and the remnant shall be the priest’s, as a [meal] meat offering” (vs. 11-13). So again there is atonement, there is forgiveness. There is atonement, there is forgiveness.

There are categories of sin. There is, as we’ve found out in the Old Testament and New Testament, there are two categories of sin. A sin which is a sin unto death. A sin which is not a sin unto death. Any sin that was a sin unto death, you take the person’s life. Any sin that’s not a sin unto death, then there was forgiveness through the offering system.

…could be if everyone who touched a dead body, or every woman who had a menstrual period would come up once a month and offer an offering. There was another method of taking care of it so that all of these things would be accumulated then up to the Day of Atonement. And the Day of Atonement then covered everything. Do you think that everyone that sinned offered a sacrifice? What if you lived in Dan, way north. You couldn’t get to the temple but once a year. What do you do then? Well that’s why they had all the ritual ceremony for the cleansing of people that would come in to observe the festivals. How was it handled otherwise? There were two ways it was handled.

Number one: you would pray toward the temple at the morning and the evening sacrifice. And that could be then imputed to the individual temporarily until they could get to the temple to offer a sacrifice, however long that may be. And we will see that’s why the Day of Atonement was handled in such a way.

Ok, we’ll see that in just a minute, but before we cover that let’s go to the book of Numbers. Numbers 35 - a very important part here, ok. Just to make a point, and then we’ll go back to Leviticus 7 because we want to cover something else here. This has to do with the laws of murder. Now, yes let’s pick it up here in verse 29. Read all of chapter 35 by the way. It would become so laborious to read the whole thing if I did it now, so if you want to do it go ahead and turn off the tape and just read it so you can come down here. This was about manslaughter and murder, and so forth, and the cities of refuge.

“So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to [be put to death] die.” Sounds a little like some things that are supposed to be active in the laws of America today, right? You can’t put anyone to death by just the one witness. You have to have two. “Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer,…” What does that mean - no satisfaction? That means that he cannot pay a fine and get away with it. That means that he cannot offer an offering at the temple and get away with it. It says, “…Ye shall take no satisfaction of the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death. And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest” (Nu. 35:29-32). Once a person fled there of manslaughter, or whatever accidental death, then he had to stay there until the death of the high priest.

Now notice verse 33. “So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land:…” And I think we can understand why there are so many problems with the weather today. Because the blood of all the murders going on is defiling the land and it isn’t being taken care of by the death penalty, ok. “…And the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.” Very clear. A sin unto death required a death of the individual, and God would not allow any other satisfaction.

Ok, let’s come back to Leviticus 6. We went through Leviticus 5 about the trespass offering. Now let’s come to Leviticus 6. It talks about trespass offering here again. There were several categories of trespass offerings for different things. Leviticus 6:1, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour; or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, an sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein: then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering” (Lev. 6:1-5). So now with the second trespass offering it’s a little more serious, isn’t it? There’s deliberation behind what he did. There has to be remuneration giving back with a 20% penalty.

So then it says, “And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein” (vs. 6-7). So here’s a whole category of trespass offerings.

Now let’s come to chapter 7. Here is another trespass offering. And this has to do between you and God. “Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering: it is most holy. In the place where they kill,…” and so forth, and it says everything that was to be done there. Let me find my place. Chapter 7 is not the place I wanted. It has to do with how the priests were to divvy out everything that was there, and their aspect of it. Let’s see if I can find the place. The last part of chapter 5. This is one category I missed out on when we were going through it.

Ok, this trespass offering is between you and God. Leviticus 5:14, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the LORD; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering: and he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing,…” What are the holy things between the individual and God? What are the holy things? Those are the tithes. Those were the firstfruits. All of those things. And it says, “…and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him” (Lev. 5:14-16).

Now that becomes very important to understand that there are different degrees, and there were sins that just involved not taking care of the things that God had said you should take care of in the way that it should be taken care of, which then covers tithing, firstfruits. Covers the law concerning the cattle or the flocks, or whatever it may be. And there had to be an atonement for that. So the sum of all of this is to this point: that under the Old Covenant there were sacrifices to be offered to make an atonement. The first category was an atonement which was a voluntary burnt offering because you are at-one with God, having nothing to do with sin. All of the others had to do with varying degrees of sin. Moral sin, which were breaking of the Ten Commandments lesser than the death penalty required. And physical sins such as touching a dead body, unclean animal, childbirth, etc. Now you can read the detailed account of these as you go through after you come to Leviticus 10. Then we find about clean and unclean meats in Leviticus 11, and so forth. So all of these are in varying degrees. That does not make all sins under the Old Covenant only physical sins of physical uncleanness. We will see a little later that we had to have a situation where that God was concerned about the heart. We’ll cover that in just a minute here.

Now let’s go to 1 Kings 8, and this becomes important. What is the key thing on forgiveness? What is the key thing concerning forgiveness? There has to be repentance, ok. There had to be repentance. Oh, before we get there, I was going to cover the other thing. That is, the ashes of the red heifer. Let’s cover that right now. The ashes of the red heifer was the other way which uncleanness was taken care of. And you just go through and read, there are certain things where that a person would be unclean until evening, and they would bathe and be unclean until evening, then they would be clean. They didn’t have to offer an offering at that particular time. Let’s cover the ashes of a red heifer.

Ok, let’s cover this with the red heifer and what was to be done there. Numbers 19. “And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke: and ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:…” So this was not even slain at the temple. It’s outside, outside the temple, ok. “…And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:…” That is, up toward it. “…And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn. And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer” (Nu. 19:1-6). There were certain things that these symbolized in it, which we won’t get bogged down into at this time.

Now, “Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even. And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even. And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin” (vs. 7-9). Now what they would do then is this: they would send some of this down to the different synagogues, and what they would do, they would take the ashes (that would be at the temple and at the synagogue), and they would mix it in water and then sprinkle on the person, on the third and on the seventh day of their uncleanness. Then they would be clean. That’s the other way that God handled the purification of uncleanness until they could get up and make a sacrifice. So you can go through and read all about that. It becomes very laborious, and these are parts of the Bible that we don’t read very often because we want to get all the spiritual meat, and all the spiritual things and be inspired. This, I will have to say, because it is of the Old Covenant and it is very regimented, becomes very uninspiring to read and study and go through, but since the question was brought up we need to cover it thoroughly so we can understand exactly what’s going on.

Now, let’s go to 1 Kings 8 and let’s see then where there were sins. And we will see what these sins were, that there had to be repentance. And this is the prayer of Solomon when he dedicated the temple. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 22. This becomes a very long chapter. We’re going to cover a good part of it. But it becomes very important.

“And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: and he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like Thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, Who keepest covenant and mercy with Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their heart:…” (I Kings. 8:22-23). Now he talks about how He kept all the promises with his father David, verses 24-25.

And let’s come down here to verse 28. “Yet have Thou respect unto the prayer of Thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to [listen] hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which Thy servant prayeth before Thee today: that Thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which Thou hast said, My name shall be there: that Thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which Thy servant shall make toward this place. And hearken Thou to the supplication of Thy servant, and of Thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling place: and when Thou hearest, forgive” (vs. 28-30). Now that’s quite a statement, isn’t it? It’s not that a sacrifice would be offered every single time everyone did some little thing. It would be when they would pray toward Jerusalem that God would hear and forgive.

Notice, “If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before Thine altar in this house: then hear Thou in heaven, and do, and judge Thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. When Thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against Thee, and shall turn again to Thee, and confess Thy name, and pray, and make supplication unto Thee in this house [or, toward this house]: then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which Thou gavest unto their fathers. When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against Thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess Thy name, and turn from their sin, when Thou afflictest them: then hear Thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy servants, and of Thy people Israel, that Thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon Thy land, which Thou hast given to Thy people for an inheritance” (vs. 31-36).

And, “If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller [or that is any kind of crawling, creeping thing]; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all Thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart,…” (vs. 37-38). So it’s a very broad prayer, isn’t it? The reason I’m going through this is to show that God looked to the heart and for the forgiveness to the people if they would pray toward the temple, ok? And in every case it was that God would forgive. So there was forgiveness under the Old Covenant to the temple, but they would have to repent first.

Now, since this is a very detailed tape, I’m going to go ahead and end it here so we won’t get all bogged down in so many different things coming and going with this, because this gets very detailed and tedious, and it’s hard to have any attention span with it at all. So we’ll finish it next time, and we’ll answer the question about fasting. It’s a long way around to get there but you have to understand this before we do get there so we will know exactly what we are covering when we get to it.

Let’s cover just a couple of other things concerning forgiveness and not imputing sin before we sign off. Let’s go to Psalm 32:1. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered [that is, atoned, kippured]. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psa. 32:1-2). So it talks about, that is a blessed state to be in.

Psalm 86:5. And of course not only was that at that point there, but that was also a prophecy. A prophecy for us today. We find that in Romans 7. It talks about repentance. It talks about forgiveness. Verse 1, “Bow down Thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant that trusteth in Thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto Thee daily. Rejoice the soul of Thy servant: for unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee” (Psa. 86:1-5). It ties right in with 1 Kings 8 where they would call upon God and ask forgiveness. He would forgive them.

Now let’s go to Psalm 51. And this is the prayer of repentance that David gave after his sin with Bathsheba. And of course, of course then, that was a moral sin, wasn’t it? Yes, it was. It was really a sin which should have required David’s life, correct? But yet he was able to repent of it, right? Right. Psalm 51:1, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” Now notice, “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,…” (Psa. 51:1-2). When people sinned and touched something unclean, what did they have to do? Bathe, right? Here he’s saying “wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin”, because all sin makes you unclean. Whether it’s spiritually or physically, it makes you unclean.

Notice what kind of uncleanness that this was that he had. We could say in the vernacular, this was uncleanness of a brain. Have you ever heard something like dirty jokes? You could just as well say unclean jokes, right? Have you ever heard such a thing as a dirty mind? That’s what it’s talking about here, see. “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned,…” Now why would he say against God only had he sinned? Did he not sin against Bathsheba, and Bathsheba against him? Yes. Did he not sin against Uriah the Hittite, Bathsheba’s husband by killing him? Yes. But who made the laws that said what sin is? God did. That’s why he says “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” All the aspects of the vile human nature came crushing in on David, and he understood that sin came from within. “…And in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop,…” That’s referring to the ashes of a red heifer, because they would take and dip hyssop in the water and the ashes and sprinkle the unclean. “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (vs. 2-7). Ok, was this not a prayer of atonement for his sin? Yes. Absolutely.

Then he comes right down here and says, verse 10, “Create in me a [what?] clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,…” (vs. 10-14). What does that mean? When you committed murder, did he premeditate this and plan it? Sure did. That is bloodguiltiness and should have required his life, because as we read, when you kill a man the only thing that will cleanse the land from that murder is the blood of the one who was the murderer. Otherwise there would be bloodguiltiness in the land.

“Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness. O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. For Thou desirest not sacrifice;…” See, sacrifice was not the end in itself. “…Else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise” (vs. 14-17). So God required repentance first before any sacrifice was acceptable to God. That’s why when they laid their hands on the head of the animal, which was for the sacrifice, they confessed their sins. Now this will help us understand, when we come to the Day of Atonement, even more.

Now let’s finish the last two verses and then we’ll go ahead and end here. “Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion: build Thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar” (vs. 18-19). So it gets back to the whole same thing - God wants a clean heart. And we’re going to see that the Day of Atonement, next time, fits right in there so very much with that. And why then, we should fast on the Day of Atonement, even today. So we’ll end it right here.

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