“The Guilt Offering”
[Leviticus 5:14-6:7]
March 21, 2010 Second Reformed Church
The Guilt Offering is the fifth and final offering we are looking at this Lenten Season. The Guilt Offering was a special variety of the Burnt Offering dealing with a special class of sins which were committed by an individual, never the congregation. The other difference to be found is that this Guilt Offering specifically regards reparation and satisfaction for trespasses. That is, it dealt with repaying what was lost plus adding to that an amount that would cover the additional loss between the time of the trespass and the time of the reparation.
Moses gives us three types of sins that were covered in the Guilt Offering:
First, if someone sins unintentionally in the holy things of the Lord – that is, if anyone unintentionally takes what is God’s – for example, committing idolatry, not worshiping one day in seven, not turning over the first born of the flock to the priests, using the tithe for oneself – any of these things – done unintentionally and then realized to be sin, would be an opportunity for a Guilt Offering to be made.
An example of an unintentional sin in the holy things of the Lord is seen in the conquest of Jericho: in chapter six of Joshua, God told Joshua that they were to kill all of the men, women, children, (except for Rahab and her family), and all of the animals, when they conquered Jericho. And they were to burn everything in Jericho except for things of bronze, iron, silver, and gold, which were to be placed in the treasury house of the Lord.
One of the soldiers was a man by the name of Achan. And rather than obey God’s command through Joshua, Achan took some of the holy things of the Lord for himself. And when Joshua tried to conquer Ai, Israel was roundly defeated, and God told Joshua it was because of the sin. Joshua asked for a confession, but none came. (If Achan had come forward, he could have offered the Guilt Offering and been forgiven, but he did not.) So, Joshua drew lots to find the culprit, and, finally, Achan’s name was chosen. At that point, Achan said, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath” (Joshua 7:20b-21, ESV). Unfortunately, Achan’s confession was not out of repentance, but out of getting caught, so he and his wife and children were stoned to death and then burned with all of their possessions.
If someone were to come into the sanctuary this morning and just assume that everything was for the taking and walked out with a Bible and a hymnal, that would be an unintentional sin against the holy things of the Lord. And if we were part of Ancient Israel, it would be appropriate, if that person realized his sin, to repent and offer up a Guilt Offering.
Notice what the Guilt Offering consisted of for the unintentional sin in the holy things of the Lord: if someone desired to make a Guilt Offering, one would bring a ram without blemish – not the most expensive of offerings – which would be the bull – but a pretty expensive offering, none-the-less – and it would be sacrificed. Or, if someone could not get ram for some reason – one could give the value of the ram in sanctuary silver. In either case, and additional twenty percent – a double tithe – of the value of the ram was to also be paid in sanctuary silver to the temple.
The second example is if one unintentionally sins against the Lord in breaking the Law regarding things that ought not be done. For example, if someone ate a ham sandwich, not realizing that the pig is a forbidden animal, and then he found out it was a forbidden animal and repented of his sin – in Ancient Israel, of course – then he would offer up the Guilt Offering for his sin.
As we have seen in the Sin Offering, ignorance is no excuse. If a person breaks the Law, he is guilty. Yet, there should be no ignorance: God made provision so ignorance would not happen, Shortly before he died, Moses gave this command, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time of the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law [that would be at least Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy – possibly Genesis as well] before all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of the law, and that their children, who have not known it [that is, children under seven years old – and those new people to the community], may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess” (Deuteronomy 31:10b-13, ESV).
If a person was ignorant of God’s Law, it was due to the failure of the leaders to read, preach, and teach the Law or the parents to read and teach the Law and bring their children to hear it read, preached, and taught in worship.
In the third case, we have a breach of faith against the Lord through deceiving a neighbor. In the case of these sins, we are sinning against the Lord because all sin is ultimately against God, but we are also sinning against a neighbor, so we see that both the Lord and the neighbor are to receive compensation.
The sins covered in this third case include stealing a person’s deposit or security, robbing a neighbor, finding something that belongs to your neighbor that he had lost and then lying about it when your neighbor inquires of you if you have found it, making a false vow – promising to do or not do something and then going back on it, underpaying a neighbor who does work for you, refusing to return something that was loaned to you, and so forth.
In the case of these types of sins, when a person would come to realize that his sin is a sin, he would offer up a Guilt Offering. But in this case, the item – or its value – would be returned to the neighbor plus twenty percent paid in sanctuary silver, and a ram would be given to the priest to offer up on the person’s behalf.
We ought to understand from the Guilt Offering that when we realize we have sinned, we are to repent of our sin, do everything within our power to give back what we took through our sin, and, in a show of true repentance give back more.
We will remember the story of the despised little man, Zacchaeus, who, as a tax collector, cheated the people regularly – it was what tax collectors did – it was expected that the tax collector would charge you more than you deserved and keep that portion for himself.
For whatever reason, when Zacchaeus heard that Jesus was passing through where he was, he wanted to see Him; Zacchaeus had obviously heard of Jesus and wanted to at least see what this Man looked like that he had heard so much about. But he was short, and he couldn’t see above the crowd, so he climbed up into a tree, so he could see Jesus. What he didn’t count on was Jesus seeing him. And Jesus said, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house tonight” (Luke 19:5b, ESV).
The crowd was shocked and annoyed: “What? You’re going to stay with that crook, Jesus? With that urchin – that strong-arm of Roman oppression? Don’t You know how that will look? Don’t You know what people will think of You?”
Zacchaeus was shocked, too, but it was in that moment that God the Holy Spirit chose to change Zacchaeus – to open his eyes to Who Jesus truly is – and Zacchaeus realized that he was a sinner and just because all the other tax collectors cheated did not make it right for him to cheat, so he said, “Behold, Lord, the half of my good I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Luke 19:8b, ESV).That was true repentance – he even went beyond the Law and gave in joy half of what he owned to the poor and restored, not just 120% of what he had taken unjustly – sinfully, but 400%.
“And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this household, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’” (Luke 19:9, ESV).
Now, let’s be a little skeptical: could Zacchaeus have repaid 400% of his theft to everyone he stole from? Perhaps – he had likely become quite rich off of his theft. But could he repay all that he owed to God for his sin? – that being the primary offense covered in the Guilt Offering. No.
We have noted all along as we have looked at these offerings that God prescribed for Ancient Israel, that they only covered the sin – they only made reconciliation – for the moment, which is why they had to be offered again and again and again, day after day after day. The blood of animals could never fully – ultimately – pay the debt that was owed to God.
Paul, in writing to the Christians at Rome, bewailed the fact that his brothers in the flesh – the Jews, thought that they could do enough good works and offer enough sacrifices to become right with God. He wrote, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own, they do not submit to God’s righteousness” (Romans 10:1-3, ESV).
Paul is saying that the Jews realized that they were separated from God, but they had misinterpreted the Law and thought that they could earn their way to righteousness – to becoming right with God – through good works and sacrifices – when the only possible hope for the Jews – and everyone else – is to receive the righteousness that comes from God. The only hope that anyone has as a sinner is to recognize that he is lost and unable to do anything to save himself, so it must be God and God Alone Who makes a man righteous.
Paul wrote, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4, ESV). Jesus brings an end to the Ceremonial Law – to the Offerings – to the Sacrifices – by fulfilling them in offering Himself up as the Perfect Guilt Offering. In the supreme act of obedience, He submitted Himself to God the Father, keeping all of the Law of God perfectly and then, even so, submitted to be put to death at the hands of sinners. As Paul wrote, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him that name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV).
Do you believe that? Do you believe that you are a debtor to God – a sinner who has sinned against God? Do you understand that you can never pay back God what you owe? Do you believe that your Only Hope is through the One Sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of everyone who will believe in Him?
If your answer is “yes,” then Jesus is your Guilt Offering and you are right with God the Father.
And some of you may be thinking, “We’ve heard this all before. I have been a Christian for the past seventy-nine years – so what?”
First, if you have believed savingly in Jesus, I hope you are still amazed. I hope as we have made our way through the beginning of the book of Leviticus and looked at these sacrifices, you have had a new appreciation of your sin and how it separates us from God and how utterly amazing and unthinkable it was that God would come to earth to set us right by keeping His Own Law and allowing us to put Him to death.
Second, I hope that when each of us realizes we have sinned – and all Christians sin – we will sin until we are brought into glory – though that is not an excuse – we are to be working hard to sin less and less – I hope that each one of us repents of our sin and asks God for forgiveness for Jesus’ Sake and in His Name. And, if we have sinned against another person, I hope that we have and will go to that person and make things right – whatever it takes.
And third, I hope that each of us will do all that we can to follow God’s Moral Law out of love and thanksgiving – not because it will save us or put us in a better light with God – but because it is the right and loving thing to do after all that Jesus has done for us.
Amen?
Let us pray:
Almighty God and Father, forgive us for our sin. Help us to recognize when we have sinned in our ignorance or presumption and cause us to repent of it and make amends quickly. Help us to seek to do good for You and our neighbor – in love. And let us trust wholly in You, the One and Final Sacrifice – the Only One Who can save us eternally. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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