Leviticus 6

“The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron and his sons: This is the law of the sin offering. The sin offering is most holy and must be slaughtered before the Lord at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. The priest who offers it as a sin offering is to eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.” Leviticus 6:24-26 (HCSB)

“Substitutionary atonement” is when God allows His wrath to be displayed on some equitable third party…as our substitute.

While God is loving, patient, and longsuffering, He is also just. He will by no means clear the guilty.

“Now go lead these people to the place I told you about; see, my angel will go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will hold them accountable for their sin.” Exodus 32:34 (HCSB)

But God loves His children, and He remembers they are only human, so He allowed for Israel’s sin to be atoned for a season by slaughtering specific animals. The whole process was intended to communicate the gravity of sin and solicit the response of repentance.

After slaughtering the animal, its flesh underwent the flames of the altar. This signified the judgment of God. It is intriguing how the flesh that once personified sin became useful, even to the point of consuming it as food. It showed how God’s intent has always been to redeem the flesh as something valuable.

The blood of animals was unable to provide long-term atonement because it could never be equitable or valuable enough for such a great atonement. After all, animals have no imputable righteousness.  

Today, our atoning substitute is Jesus. He made permanent atonement for the World by the shedding of His blood; the virtue/value of His sacrifice, in that it pleased God, was made known by the power of His resurrection. Salvation is available for all who would accept it: exclusively through Jesus, yet offered liberally to anyone who would receive it.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. He presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Messiah Jesus.”  Romans 3:23-26 (HCSB)