Every child born into this world is of equal value, and in equal need of salvation, says God.
Before we leave Leviticus 12, we’ll stop once more at the great bronze altar. Can you see the parents with their little babe in arms? But all eyes would be on a one-year-old lambkin and a little bird in hand. They were going to die that day: “When the days of her purification are fulfilled, whether for a son or a daughter, she shall bring to the priest a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting” (Lev 12:6). What an eloquent picture! A little life beginning, and life ending, too. How precious is every life to God! He never wants us to forget that. The sin offering of the bird reminds us that the little child has been born in sin, though not yet guilty of willfully sinning. It’s the mother who needs this offering as a reminder: “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Ps 51:5). Why must blood be shed on this otherwise happy occasion? Here’s the reason: “The priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean” (Lev 12:8). In recounting these key events to her growing child some day, she could explain the wonderful provision God had made so we can declare, as David would also write, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Ps 32:1). But the plusses as well as the minuses of life are here. The burnt offering laid out the possibility that this little babe could grow up to live a sweet-aroma life for God. And if the young couple couldn’t afford a lamb? As Paul expresses it, “If there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have” (2 Cor 8:12). God is so gracious. He doesn’t ask for what you don’t have. But what do we have to give Him?