Different sin–same offering

I don’t know who came up with the idea of a “white lie”, as if whitewashing something gives it an air of purity.  Let me tell you about white—I’m from the old-school nursing profession that wore white everything.  White uniform, white cap, white hose (yes, hose), white shoes.  You know what WHITE does?  It accentuates every little spot, highlights any little stain or imperfection.  I suppose it looks clean; it just doesn’t always stay clean for very long.

Really, there is nothing purely innocent about a “white” lie.  It may quite likely show situational dirt at some point.  And yes, I’m guilty as, you know,…sin.  However, the hidden deception of grading our “sins” is actually more insidious and viral than simply being caught.  It is more in the false perception that I’m “not as bad as…” or conversely, that I’m “worse than…”  Then there’s always the corollary, “I could never…”  (NEWS FLASH!  If you have the human genome, then yes, you could.)

So I find this little information from the book of Numbers, buried and seldom read, quite encouraging:

As the recently freed Hebrew nation is getting ready to continue their trip to the Promised Land, a leader from each of the twelve Israelite clans now brings a “dedication” offering to the recently completed tabernacle.  This is interesting, because they had just taken a census of the people, and regardless of the size of each clan, the prescribed (and very expensive) offering was the same.  Each tribal offering included:

• A silver platter and silver basin (of prescribed weights) both filled with choice flour and olive oil
• A gold container filled with incense,
• A 21-piece set of certain livestock, (see Numbers 7:13-17)

As mentioned, the dedication offering for each tribe was identical regardless of the “size” of that particular community. 

I see this a just another clue embedded within God’s Word about the coming of the promised Messiah: Regardless of how “bad” or how “many” our sins may be, the offering is always the same—the sacrifice of Jesus.  Dear reader, you don’t need any more (or any less!) of His blood than I do. Jesus paid it all.

He is also the reason for THIS season.