When a person realizes his guilt
Fri, 28 April, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.
5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the people of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the LORD, and that person realizes his guilt, 7 he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. 8 But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the LORD for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him. 9 And every contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. 10 Each one shall keep his holy donations: whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.”
How are we made right with God? As we’ve gone through the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), we’ve seen the importance of confession, restitution, and sacrifice for the expiation of sin. This passage today deals with the first two of these.
What do we learn from this?
When you realize your sin, you must confess it. You must acknowledge that what you have done is an offense against God. It is important that you agree with God about your conduct. Sin is an abomination to God. He hates it, and until we recognize this and agree with God about it, we are still living in our sin. In our passage today, God commands that we confess our sins when we realize our guilt before God.
Restitution is also important. If I have harmed someone, I need to make it right. If I have wrongly taken something from them, or improperly profited at their expense, I must restore what is rightfully theirs. This shows our true repentance. What good does it do to confess my sin while continuing to enjoy the fruit of my sin? If I really am sorry for what I have done, I must, to the best of my ability, undo the sin I have committed.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Do we, by confessing our sin and making restitution, pay for our sin? Do we make everything right with God? In other words, do we earn forgiveness by doing this?
No. We can never earn forgiveness for our sins. Sin must be punished, and no amount of confession and restitution can change that fact. This is where the sacrifice comes in. There must be a substitute that bears the guilt of the sin and takes the punishment due because of the sin. Jesus Christ is our sacrifice. He is the one who bears the sins of His people, earning the salvation we could never earn for ourselves. The sins that we have committed can be forgiven only because their guilt has been taken away by the work of Jesus Christ.
