Blood sacrifices were needed
to atone or cover the sins of men.
God showed this requirement
by killing animals for their skins to cover the results of Adam and Eve's
sin.
In Leviticus 17:11 God says
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you
upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that
makes an atonement for the soul"
In this we see that by the
shedding of the blood of an innocent animal a life was given in exchange for the deaths brought about by their sin. We
know sin brought about Adam and Eve's deaths because the very day they ate of the
forbidden fruit they were separated from God and removed from the garden and
the tree of life. And some 900 years later they died physically (it obviously
takes a long time for a perfect body to deteriorate to the point of physical
death).
Men became responsible for
offering up a blood sacrifice to cover (atone) their sins, and as is seen in
Genesis chap. 4 it did not take long before faith and sacrifice were seen in
the stark reality of Adam's family.
Cain offered the fruits of
his labour, he was a tiller of the land, and he brought a fruit/vegetable offering
and it was rejected. He showed his
rejection of God's way and in arrogant pride offered up his deeds, his
preferred method. He did what a lot of
people do today... tell God how they will worship him.
Able on the other hand
displayed his faith by offering up one of his flock as a blood sacrifice in
accordance with God's way, and was accepted.
(Cain could very easily have asked a lamb of his brother)
Noah took 7 of each of the
clean animals and sacrificed that odd number when the Ark landed and they were
safely on dry land.
Levitical Priesthood:
The precedence of blood
sacrifice was well and truly set and became the central theme of the Jewish
Levitical system of worship.
In this system given in
God's instruction to Moses, a priesthood and Temple was established in which on
specific feast days a High Priest would offer a blood sacrifice for himself
before offering up blood sacrifices for the sins of the people. The Temple in Jerusalem became the only place
such sacrifices could be made, which exclusiveness accentuates the holiness of
the Levitical system; a Holy Temple in the Holy City. Other religions may not like this but it is
God's decree...
This was to happen year
after year because of the continuing sinfulness of the people, and in this
constant, unvarying necessity there were
a number of major problems.
1. The difficulty of going to Jerusalem to offer
your sacrifice
2. The High Priest, also a sinful man, constantly
needing to make atonement for himself, and
3. The High Priest had a habit of dying.
4. The system was only effective
in time and if continued. There could be
no breaks, no 'time outs'. Every year
these sacrifices must be made or sins were not atoned for (covered).
These difficulties were
overcome when Jesus offered himself up as a blood sacrifice for all mankind
including the Jewish people.
He was sinless and had no
need to offer a sacrifice for himself... and although he shed his blood as a
sacrifice for us all (he was made sin for us) and died, he was raised from the
dead in a glorified body leaving our sins in his grave (the fulfilment of the
scapegoat sacrifice). He is now in
heaven at the right hand of God, a glorified High Priest, ever living, ever
able to intercede on our behalf.
He was perfect in his
humanity, and his sacrifice fulfilled all the blood sacrifices offered in faith
in the past. Believers in past ages were
covered by their faith offerings. Today we
live by faith, in remembrance and thanksgiving for that same fulfilling
sacrifice.
Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and you will be saved.
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