RPG Adults
TRESPASS OFFERING – ITS MEANING
MONDAY, APRIL 15
Leviticus 5
1 Peter 2:9-12
“And he shall bring
his trespass offering unto the LORD
for his sin which he hath sinned…”
TRESPASS OFFERING – ITS MEANING
What constitutes a trespass in the eyes of the LORD? Leviticus 5:1-5: “And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether it be a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and if it be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty. Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be that a man shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty. Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing.”
The trespasses include the failure of an eye witness to testify against a sin (v 1), touching an unclean thing, knowingly or unknowingly (v 2), touching the uncleanness of man, knowingly or made known to him after he touched it unknowingly (v 3), and making an oath that he failed to keep (v 4). The LORD wanted His people to be very conscious of their holy status as the people of God to bear a holy witness to a world that is dying in sin. There was no other nation given such a great honour to bear the holy Name of Jesus Christ by the way they lived in the Promised Land. These are daily relationships between fellow Israelites. They constituted as trespasses against God when they were committed against one another in Israel. The care in their holy personal relationship was emphasised by the trespass offering sacrifices.
The local church witness has taken over this great honour to be a holy witness for Christ. These churches are sprinkled all over the world with the global spread of the Gospel. The people in these congregations as a church every Lord’s Day and as individuals living in a sinful world must be reminded of their responsibility to be holy, as God is holy.
MEMORISATION: Leviticus 5:5
PRAYER: Help me, O heavenly Father, to be holy as Thou art holy, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.