Chapter 4
Growing up, I had some pretty wacky ideas about God.
When I lived in Texas, most of my spiritual exposure came from Jehovah’s Witness teachings. Later, in Los Angeles, my view of God was shaped more by television than anything else. The most “God” I got was watching The Greatest Story Ever Told or The Ten Commandments when they aired once a year.
Needless to say, my understanding of God was built on a mix of ignorance and misinformation.
But honestly, I don’t think I was all that different from a lot of people—back then or even now. Many of us let pop culture, personal opinions, or social trends shape what we believe about God, heaven, and the afterlife. Even our ideas about right and wrong get reshaped by what we see and hear in the world. There are endless opinions out there—but when it comes down to it, there’s only one truth.
That brings us to Leviticus chapter 4, which is a really interesting passage. It outlines four types of people in two broad groups. Spiritually, we can see this as a picture of the division between those who believe in Jesus and those who don’t—or, as I like to think of them, “pre-Christians.”
This chapter deals with the sin offering for unintentional sin—in other words, when someone sins without realizing at the time that what they were doing was wrong.
Who can’t relate to that?
When I was younger, I sinned in ignorance all the time. That’s part of what made me so “dumb” back then—I hadn’t yet learned what was wrong and what wasn’t.
Some of my sins were the result of factual ignorance—I simply didn’t have the information I needed.
Some came from moral ignorance—I had never been taught what was right, and I assumed that if everyone else did it, it must be okay.
Others were rooted in willful (or vincible) ignorance—when I could have known better but chose not to find out.
Then there’s social or invincible ignorance—the kind of not-knowing that only experience can reveal, like customs or values you’d never even encountered before.
What I love about this chapter is how it shows that no matter where you are in your walk with God—whether you believe in Jesus or not—we all carry some level of ignorance. And the chapter starts from the top down: first the priest (the highest spiritual role), then the spiritual community, and only then the rest of the world, including unredeemed leaders and individuals.
There’s a clear message here for believers: always start with yourself.
As David prayed in Psalm 139:23–24:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! See if there’s any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
The good news? We don’t have to sacrifice animals to be made right when we realize we’ve sinned in ignorance. Jesus already made the sacrifice. All we need to do is acknowledge our sin, give our hearts to Him, and then take what remains—our pride, our flesh, our ego—and throw it on the ash heap.
Jesus makes it simple.
Just open your heart and ask God to show you where ignorance still lives in you. He’ll be glad to help—He wants to. And in my own life, I’ve found that the root of most of my ignorance is often baked into pride.
The Sin (of Ignorance) Offering
1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally [or in ignorance] and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands—
3 ” ‘If the anointed priest sins, [starting with the spiritual leader. Not just the pastors, elders or deacons, because every Believer in Christ is a priest, even if it is only in your home. (Men! I am looking at you very strongly on this one. But this also includes all parents, and single-family household.)] 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. 4 He is to present the bull at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the LORD. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it there before the LORD. 5 Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and carry it into the tent of meeting. 6 He is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before the LORD, in front of the curtain of the sanctuary. 7 The priest shall then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense that is before the LORD in the tent of meeting. The rest of the bull’s blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 8 He shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering–all the fat that is connected to the internal organs, 9 both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which he will remove with the kidneys– 10 just as the fat is removed from the ox sacrificed as a fellowship offering. Then the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. 11 But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, as well as the head and legs, the internal organs and the intestines– 12 that is, all the rest of the bull–he must take outside the camp to a place ceremonially clean, where the ashes are thrown, and burn it there in a wood fire on the ash heap.
13 ” ‘If the whole Israelite community [Still speaking on the spiritual shadow. This can relate directly to a church. But not just the “organized” church. “Where two or more gather in my name” (Matthew 18:20) any size gathering, formal or informal of Believers.] sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, even though the community is unaware of the matter, when they realize their guilt 14 and the sin they committed becomes known, the assembly must bring a young bull as a sin offering and present it before the tent of meeting. 15 The elders of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the LORD, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the LORD. 16 Then the anointed priest is to take some of the bull’s blood into the tent of meeting. 17 He shall dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it before the LORD seven times in front of the curtain. 18 He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before the LORD in the tent of meeting. The rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19 He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar, 20 and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven. 21 Then he shall take the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. This is the sin offering for the community.
22 ” ‘When a leader [An individual non-Believer with influence. Where many of us where prior to inviting Jesus into our life.] sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the commands of the LORD his God, when he realizes his guilt 23 and the sin he has committed becomes known, he must bring as his offering a male goat without defect. 24 He is to lay his hand on the goat’s head and slaughter it at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the LORD. It is a sin offering. 25 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 26 He shall burn all the fat on the altar as he burned the fat of the fellowship offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the leader’s sin, and he will be forgiven.
27 ” ‘If any member of the community [Everyone, regardless of our influence. Thus, we have the demonstration of the words, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) No one is left out from guilt.] sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands, when they realize their guilt 28 and the sin they have committed becomes known, they must bring as their offering for the sin they committed a female goat without defect. 29 They are to lay their hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. 30 Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 31 They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.
32 ” ‘If someone brings a lamb as their sin offering, they are to bring a female without defect. 33 They are to lay their hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. 34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 35 They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.
