In Leviticus 15 we have the laws given concerning bodily discharges and the bleeding of women. Of course, this is a uncomfortable topic that we try to avoid in any Bible discussion or any other discussion for that matter. For one it's just plain embarrassing. However, the reality is that we ALL, even today, are bleeding from the results of sin. (Because we are sinners, but also because we keep sinning!) Do these daily sins embarrass us? Are we as mortified over the slip of our angry tongue with a loved one, over the little comprises of selfishness, over the self-righteousness we feel in our hearts toward others, over the doubt that limits our faith...are we as mortified over these things as we would be over exposing a physical bloody discharge for others to see? We should be! Do we recognize how stinky our self-righteousness is, and how desperately we need be purified and made clean?
"The children of God should cultivate a keen sensitiveness to sin.... It is one of Satan’s most successful devices to lead men to the commission of little sins, to blind the mind to the danger of little indulgences, little digressions from the plainly stated requirements of God. Many who would shrink with horror from some great transgression are led to look upon sin in little matters as of trifling consequence. But these little sins eat out the life of godliness in the soul.... " That I May Know Him, p. 252
In other words, it is the bleeding issues that are eating out the godliness of our lives. Sin is no laughing matter... I remember reading something a little while back on social media that said, "Is your sin, the one you keep going back to, worth putting Christ back on the cross?" In other words, do we recognize that our sins wound Him afresh, even today? (See Heb. 6:6). We need to be made clean of our bleeding problem.
That's why the Day of Atonement is so significant! In Leviticus 16 we catch a glimpse of what a “Day of Atonement”
experience was all about.
"And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD." Lev. 16:29-30Leviticus 23 expounds upon this day even more:
“And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of
atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your
souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no
work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for
you before the LORD your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be
afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people." Lev.
23:27-29
The Day of Atonement was when the sanctuary was cleansed.
This happened once a year in Old Testament times. As Adventist, we believe from
the Bible that we are living in the actual Heavenly Day of Atonement, before
the final cleansing of the earth—our world. This means, we need to be afflicting
our souls, searching our hearts as never before and making sure every sin has
been confessed. It also means that we need to be living up to the light God has
given us in His Word (John 14:15, 1 John 5:2,3)—not in order to be saved, for
we can never be saved by righteous living—but to prepare us for heaven. It’s
this experience that prepares us to receive the Latter Rain. It is this experience that is preparing us to meet Jesus!
Oh what a solemn time we are living in TODAY! Praise the Lord for His blood that will heal us of our bleeding problems, and of our sin!
Tomorrow's Reading: Lev. 17-18 and Acts. 10
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