FORGIVEN!

"In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt." (Leviticus 6:7 HCSB)

Forgiven! How precious is that word to a man who owes a debt he cannot pay!

Forgiven! How wondrous is that sound to a man who is condemned to die for his crimes!

Forgiven! How gracious is the term to a man who has been unfaithful and is estranged from someone he loves!

Forgiveness is a costly thing. It requires the action of the one offended. All the guilty can do is to confess their failure and humbly beg for mercy. Everything rests on the offended party to grant it.

But, this is what God has done for us!

We owe a debt of sin, yet are bankrupt of righteousness. It is impossible to pay. But, someone has to pay. God alone can--and did pay! Jesus paid the debt in full on Calvary. He did that, and more--He deposited His inexhaustible righteousness in our account, to draw on.

We are condemned to die for crimes against heaven. This death will be more than physical, for our sins extend beyond the mortal realm, into the spiritual dimension, as well--so the sentence of the second death in the lake of fire is pronounced. Someone has to pay for these crimes. God alone can--and did pay! Jesus died in our place, enduring our hell that we might enter His heaven. He did that, and more--He implanted His eternal life in our soul, to live on after this one ends.

We are separated from our Lover, for we have went whoring with the world. He has every right to divorce us. We cannot undo what we have done. God alone can make reconciliation--and He did! Jesus stretched out His hands on the cross and with one took the holy hand of God and with the other the soiled hand of sinners and brought them together. He did that, and more--He put His love in us, to transform us into His image--a love that is infinite.

God wants us to always remember these truths. He has written them from the opening pages of Genesis--where He seeks the sinners, sheds the blood and covers them--to the last pages in Revelation--where the forgiven sinners stand as saints in glory and sing of the Lamb of God who paid the price of their admission--and do so as the endless ages roll on.

God taught His people in their spiritual infancy by means of object lessons. Leviticus is filled with them. If we view it as only ancient history it may be just a monotonous recounting of archaic ritual to plow through and check off in our daily Bible reading.

God forbid!

These are verses written in letters of crimson! It is the story of Jesus and His love! In every lamb slaughtered, in every dove offered, in the consuming fire and shed blood, there is found the promise of peace, the pledge of forgiveness, the provision of hope!

All those sacrifices pointed to a Savior that was needed. Israel could only wait and in faith look ahead to that Lamb.

We can look back at a Savior that was provided. We can now worship and in faith rest on the sacrifice He fully accomplished.

Read these sacrifices through the lens of Calvary, and once more remember the price He paid and be amazed. Come to the altar--no longer to bring a blood sacrifice, but to bow in gratitude for blood already shed.

Forgiven!