Leviticus 4:3 is a little noticed, curious text of scripture. There we find this requirement: "If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed."
Thus, God held all of Israel guilty for the sins of their priests!
This is another example of the imputation of guilt upon persons who did not themselves personally violate God's commandments.
Adam's sin is the primary example of this, which drives false Christians and heretics insane to hear of. But Adam was the representative of the whole human race, and when he sinned, in him we all sinned, and therefore we all died.
In the case of the sinning priest, a heightened animal blood sacrifice was required, in which the blood was taken into the tabernacle and sprinkled on the vail, and daubed on the horns of the altar of incense that stood before that vail.
But we recall that Caiaphas the high priest had our Lord Jesus put to death at the hands of the Roman tyrants. His was the greatest of sins possible, the killing of the Lord of Glory!
This explains why Peter rebuked all the Jews of Israel at Pentecost: they had taken and by wicked hands had crucified Messiah!
The listeners immediately grasped the dire nature of their sin in this matter, especially after Peter proved from Scripture that Jesus is the promised Messiah Who rose from the dead just like David had foretold.
Therefore Peter warned the people to repent and trust in Jesus, and save themselves from their nation and its sin against Messiah. Many did so that day.
There is an absolute necessity that our high priest be completely without sin.
SERMON ACTIVITY
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John Pittman Hey was born in 1961 in Jackson, Mississippi, to Godly parents who from the beginning raised him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. With child-like faith he came to Christ on his fourth birthday at his mother's knee. He received his education at church...
