A Whole Bleating Flock

“And he shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, with your valuation, as a trespass offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his ignorance in which he erred and did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him." Leviticus 5:18

Oh look, it is the law of Moses with all of its death penalties, but what is this about mercy for ignorance? Apparently ignorance of the law was not an excuse, but with the proper trespass offering it could be forgiven. No apparent about it, mate! It is stated in the law quite plainly. I am so glad that ignorance has an atoning priest and that He made the proper trespass offering for us long ago. While ignorance and atonement may not work in traffic court, it is a relief to know that there is mercy for us in the court that hands out the eternal penalties.

Imagine waiting your turn in the Court of Heaven with a few dozen of your fellows who have also just perished from the earth. You notice something to read on the walls of the hallway outside that dreaded court, and feel a bit of gratitude because your eternal fate is on the line in that courtroom. Like your fellows, you didn't want to hear about Jesus back there on earth because that was one way to become unpopular, perhaps even poor or worse. But you knew that you were basically a good person and while God might condemn someone like that dictator fellow who murdered all those people back in the day, surely He would not have it in for you, right? So you begin reading the law, the law that you will be judged against, and hardly do you start down the list when all these rules and regulations jump out. Sabbath, Passover, corners of the beard? What are these things? What does it mean to covet your neighbor's wife? Fortunately, there is our verse for today: you start looking around for a ram or two 'cuz your need for some trespass offerings has just become obvious.

Most of us can see that our chances of making it into Heaven by obedience to the Law were lost long ago. We came to Jesus for mercy and grace because the Law had knocked us down so often that we knew we had no chance against ol' Mose and his rules. Even if we just summarized it by the two commandments of love that Jesus gave us for the Law and the prophets, we knew that there was that time, and that other time, and the time last week, and no, even that could not save us, and a whole bleating flock of unblemished rams probably would not be enough for atonement under the Law. We may be ignorant of some laws in Leviticus or Deuteronomy, but as Resurrection Day approaches, we are not ignorant of a certain trespass offering who died to save us from our sins!

Thank You, dear Lord, for Your wonderful Son, Jesus Christ the Lord!

Bucky