Earlier this year, my wife and I were invited by some of our friends to attend their church service with them. We had been to their church a few times in the past and I’ve watched some of the sermons online as well, but this one in particular has stuck with me even until now.
During the service, we were going through a section in the book of Leviticus, specifically Chapter 1 when talking about the burnt offerings. Now, I personally haven’t read through the book of Leviticus yet, so this was all new to me. But the revelations that were made during this made complete sense.
The first chapter of the book talks about the idea of burnt offerings to God as an atonement for our sins. Meaning, that in order to enter into relationship with God (because we have all fallen into sin), there must be some sort of substitute for us. Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death”, so when we sin, the punishment that we ought to receive is death.
Sound familiar?
We all fall short of the glory of God because of our sinful nature as humans. Our punishment for our sins should be death.
But Jesus took that punishment for us. He was that offering, the atonement for our sins, so that we may enter into relationship with God through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.
Keep in mind: this book was written centuries before Jesus walked on Earth.
When the pastor was going through this section, it was really connecting with me and then one line he said has changed the way I read my Bible every time I open it up:
“Everything in the Bible points to Jesus.”
Once he said this, I started recalling so many stories that I have read and it hit me in the moment how true this is. Now, whenever I read my Bible, this helps give me a much better understanding every time I read it. I begin asking myself “how does this point to Jesus?” and it helps me dig deeper and ask questions and challenge myself a lot more, but it helps me grow more and more each time I do it.
Let me know it this helps you as much as it helps me, and remember that Jesus loves you, every single day.
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