The Need for a Substitute

Leviticus Chapter 4. The sin offering had three very important principles for atonement. First and foremost, there needed to be a substitution. Second, there needed to be perfection - an animal that was “without blemish.” (verse 3) A defective sacrifice would not be an adequate substitute for a defective people, only a perfect substitute would suffice. After the animal was selected and approved, the priest laid his hands upon the head of the animal. Here, the guilt and sin of the person or the community was transferred upon the animal. Third, there had to be death - the substitute had to die. The animal carried out the punishment of death as the substitute for all who had broken the covenant with Heavenly Father.

The blood of the sacrifice was a main feature of the sin offering. The priest sprinkled blood on the altar a total of seven times. The number seven is symbolic of completeness. The blood completely absolved the sins of the people. Once the blood was drained from the animal all the fatty tissues were collected and burned on the altar. The remaining parts of the animal were taken outside the camp and burned. This represented the destruction and removal of everything sinful. As a result of the sin offering, the Israelite people were assured of forgiveness and the covenant relationship with God was restored.

The sin offering focused on the serious curse of sin, namely death. It made evident in the daily lives of God's people the need for a perfect atoning substitute to pay this price. Click here to go to the parallel New Testament article addressing the Sin Offering to witness how Jesus Christ became that perfect atoning substitute.