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The Price of Forgiveness The Price of Forgiveness

The Price of Forgiveness

The opening chapters of Genesis tell us that God created the world and everything in it—including the first man and woman—and declared His creation good. But the man and woman, Adam and Eve, were not content with God’s fellowship and provision, and they disobeyed His command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As a result, sin and death now formed a barrier between God and humanity. A perfect, holy God could not allow disobedience and decay into His presence.

But even in Genesis 3, God reveals that one day sin and death will be crushed (Gen. 3:15). Until that final defeat, He would continue to provide a way for humanity to know Him and obtain forgiveness. Our passage today in Leviticus describes some of the offerings required to maintain the relationship between God and the people of Israel.

Interestingly, the offerings described in this chapter are to atone for unintentional transgression against the law of God. The Lord knows that His people are not capable of holiness and obedience on their own, and even with the best of intentions they will not always maintain purity. But when they realized their guilt, God provided a way for them to be forgiven. Their offering would restore the offender into relationship with the holy God.

Sin, whether intentional or not, creates a barrier between us and God. It cannot be overlooked by God, but it can be forgiven. Ultimately, Jesus fulfilled God’s promise in Genesis 3:15, and His life, death, resurrection, and ascension have conquered sin and death (see 1 Cor. 15:55–56). He is the perfect offering, and He makes it possible for us to find forgiveness from all our sin and be in fellowship with God.

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BY Jamie Janosz

Jamie Janosz serves as a content development manager for Moody Bible Institute. She writes monthly devotionals for Today in the Word and has published non-fiction essays with Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics blog. Recently Jamie wrote a book titled When Others Shuddered: Eight Women Who Refused to Give Up (Moody Publishers). Jamie studied theology and writing at Moody Bible Institute, Columbia College, and Illinois State University. She lives on the Atlantic coast of Florida with her husband, Milt, and daughter, Sabrina.

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