Meet Your Substitute

By: Rev. Arnel Tan


“Lay your hand on its head so the LORD will accept it as your substitute thus making atonement for you” Leviticus 1:4 NLT


In the book of Leviticus of the old testament to offer a burnt offering to the Lord you will find yourself not in a majestic cathedral so inviting to rest and worship, but rather you will be in a slaughterhouse bloody and messy so inviting to weep and repent! Here the people of Israel squarely deal with their sins and seek forgiveness. No one would enter the place where the burnt offering is offered as an innocent person, every one comes in with their unblemished animal sacrifice guilty sinners seeking mercy.

It is also here that the one who offers is not only dropping an animal sacrifice, he or she participates in the ritual by laying hand on the head of the sacrifice and slaughtering it before it is given to the sons of Aaron for cleaning and offering by fire. These rituals are meaningless to many but to the people of Israel it is an outward expression of repentance and faith to the coming of the Messiah. The animal is not just and offering, it has also become a substitute in that absorbs all the sins committed by the individual. Though many go through this as a religious ritual it is never meant to be just a ritual. Active faith is involved, repentance before God is exercise as the individual lays his hands on the animal.

Those symbols and rituals point to the person of Jesus Christ who is the blameless Lamb of God who takes the sin of the world. Meaning it was Christ not the animal sacrifice who is our true substitute, who took all the blame for all the sins and sins of the world. So when a sinner finally believes in Him his faith is accepted by the Father. Forgiveness in the eyes of God is not cheap, God hates sin and the soul that sin must die. The perfect standard of God was fully satisfied by the perfect sacrifice of Christ the lamb of God. Anyone who puts faith in Christ now will be counted for righteousness, forgiveness will be awarded, grace will abound for Christ your substitute and mine perfectly please the Father. Hallelujah what a Savior!

Have you met your substitute? The next time you think of God’s view of forgiveness remember Someone died for it before it can be extended to us. Though the sacrifices of the Old Testament are now done, and the altars of our churches today are not bloody and messy, it leaves a trail that lead sinners and saints back to Calvary where we find forgiveness of our sins and freedom in our hearts. Therefore each time we gather for worship we continue to offer the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to Him who died for us and rose again, and whose return we await. Meet your substitute and let the meeting turn to bowing and praying.