The man shall kill the young bull before The Lord… – Leviticus 1:5, Amplified Bible

Sometimes it’s hard to grasp the gravity of our sin because we don’t have to stare the consequences of our sin in the face. In order to make atonement for sin, an Old Testament believer had to bring an animal, preferably a bull, to the priests. He had to lay his hands on the head of the animal, symbolically tranferring his guilt to the sacrifice. Then the man had to kill the animal with his own hands. After that, the priests performed the rest of the sacrificial duties.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of having to take an animal that has done nothing wrong whatsoever, look it in the eye, and then kill it with my own two hands in payment for my sin makes me shudder. That animal would have done nothing to deserve death, yet it would have died in my place as an atonement for my sin. Christ did the same for us, paying the penalty for sin once and for all, restoring you and me to an everlasting fellowship with God the Father. Yet all too often, the busyness of life prevents us from daily grasping the gravity of what we did to Christ. Just like in the Old Testament sacrifice, we the sinners collectively took turns nailing our Savior to the cross, each one of our sins – even the little ones – resulting in another hammer blow to the nails.

Oh, yes, God has graciously forgiven us our sins, but have we come to grips with the fact that our sins made Christ suffer? Have we understood the reality that we killed our Lord? Can we see in our mind’s eye that it is our hands, not the Roman soldier’s, wielding the hammer? Once we understand and internalize the responsibility we bear for Christ’s crucifixion, even the “little sins” we so often breeze over take on a horrible weight.

Thankfully, our story doesn’t end with grievous guilt. It ends with gracious redemption. I am so glad that God so loved you and me that He gave His only begotten Son for us! Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!