Making ‘RESTITUTION’ through ‘RECONCILIATION’ is CRUCIAL!
February
1 Bible Reading: Leviticus Chapters 4-6
Making ‘RESTITUTION’ through ‘RECONCILIATION’ is CRUCIAL!
Then the Lord spoke to
Moses, saying: "If a person commits a trespass, and sins unintentionally
in regard to the holy things of the Lord, then he shall bring to the Lord as
his trespass offering a ram without blemish from the flocks, with your valuation
in shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, as a trespass
offering. And he shall make restitution
for the harm that he has done in regard to the holy thing, and shall add one-fifth to it and give it
to the priest. So the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the
trespass offering, and it shall be
forgiven him." (Lev 5:14-16)
As we read
through the different offerings required by God from the children of Israel in
the book of Leviticus, we can understand that God had specific solutions for specific
problems. Each of the five offerings
(burnt offering, grain offering, peace
offering, sin offering and trespass
offering) was meant for specific
purposes. However, God added another
element to the offerings that the children of Israel had to make in order to
receive forgiveness from Him (Lev 5:14-6:7). This element was the requirement to
make restitution for the harm that was
committed by the person. Only after
that would the priest make atonement with the trespass offering, and God would
forgive the guilty person (5:16b).
If the harm
was committed with regard to “the holy
things of the Lord” (5:14), then the person had to make restitution by
adding one-fifth of his offering to make up for the harm done by him/her
(5:16). In the similar manner, if the
harm was committed against another individual through swindling, stealing
or robbery (forced extortion) then the guilty person had to restore the full value of what he/she
had stolen (6:4) and add one-fifth more
to it and give it to the offended person (6:5). Only after that, the person could bring the trespass offering to the
priest, who would make atonement and God would forgive the guilty person
(6:7).
There is an
interesting example of this ‘principle of
restitution’ in the New Testament, when Zacchaeus, who was a rich chief tax
collector, realized how he had cheated and swindled people through extortion of
taxes beyond what was due. He then made the following unusual declaration to Jesus: "Look,
Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from
anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." (Luke 19:8) This was
way beyond the requirements of the law. However, Jesus was pleased with the
good intention of Zacchaeus and announced that salvation had come to his house
(Luke 19:9), or in other words, that Zacchaeus had received a ‘real’ salvation experience.
Let us
understand that making restitution is
crucial for our spiritual growth and maintaining a clear relationship with God
and people. God requires from us a higher
standard when it comes to making restitution. When we come to God’s
presence bringing our gift offering for Him, which is the fruit of our lips as our sacrifice of praise to God as per
Hebrews 13:15, we should have a clear
conscience before God and others. If we remember that any brother/sister
has anything against us, we should first
go and be reconciled with our brother/sister before even opening our mouths
to praise and worship God. This was what Jesus had specifically mentioned in
His Beatitudes for us to obey every day of our lives.
Do you have a clear conscience before
God and people today? If not, please make restitution
through reconciliation before you do anything else for God, for only that
will truly please Him.
