I’ve enjoyed watching the Tom Hanks movie, “The Terminal,” several times. He’s an eastern European whose country has been engrossed in a civil war. His visa and passport have been invalidated. He’s stuck in the terminal for about a year, according to the story. I hear it’s based on true events, but I’m not sure about that. One of the best scenes involves his daily reporting to the security desk to fill out an application for admission into the United States. The female security guard looks at his form and stamps it “Unacceptable.” She is astounded that he shows up day after day, even when she tells him that he will remain “unacceptable.” He points to the two stamps. The red one says “unacceptable,” and the green one says “acceptable.” He argues that every day he has a fifty-fifty chance of being accepted.
Leviticus gives us instructions regarding the sacrificial offerings the Israelites had to make to atone for their sin. Without the shedding of blood, there could be no forgiveness of sin. The sacrificial animal had to be brought to the priest, and the presenter would identify with the beast by laying his hands on its head, and that would make atonement for his sins. Leviticus 1:4 says, “He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” In the book of Hebrews, we read that one of the purposes for the incarnation was to become the perfect offering that will make all those who believe in Him “acceptable” to God. Hebrews 2:9 says, “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
Pentecost explains, “Jesus Christ became incarnate that He ‘might taste death for everyone.’ The penalty for man’s disobedience to God was spiritual death; that is, the separation of the soul from God. And before one who is dead can be restored to life, to fellowship with God, the penalty for his disobedience must be paid. Jesus Christ came to offer a payment to God on behalf of the sin of the human race. He came to offer Himself as the sinner’s substitute in death. And to be man’s substitute, He must be identified with man. Thus the Incarnation was necessary that Jesus might offer Himself an acceptable sacrifice to God on man’s behalf, as humankind’s substitute. Jesus Christ came into the world specifically that He might die.”[1] According to Leviticus, one could not offer a sacrifice that was not perfect in any way. Any marks, scars, broken bones, or any other deformity meant that the sacrifice would be stamped “unacceptable.” Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, was wrapped in swaddling clothes at his birth to ensure there was no damage to him. He lived the perfect life and was the only living being never to have sinned. One blogger observes, “A permanent sacrifice for sin is needed to deal permanently with our sin problem. The Levitical sacrifices could not deal permanently with our sins; however, the once-for-all perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross dealt with our sins permanently. There will never be a need for another sacrifice for sin. The blood of Jesus Christ wipes the record clean forever.”[2] With a clean record, we are now “acceptable” to God through faith in Christ, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
[1] Pentecost, J. Dwight, and Ken Durham. 2000. Faith That Endures : A Practical Commentary on the Book of Hebrews. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.
[2] http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/heb10v1-18jesusonlytruesacrificesin.html