INTRODUCTION In the first part of this topic, each member should: Understand the importance of blood and its role in atoning for sin...
INTRODUCTION
In the first part of this topic, each member should:
- Understand the importance of blood and its role in atoning for sin.
- Be enlightened about some of the different offerings given for atonement in the Old Testament and their significance.
This subject is very important, as it is
a fundamental element of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, having a
clear understanding of it would help us build a solid Christian
foundation without which we would experience instability, or probably
live as non-Christians.
What is Blood?
We’ll begin our study by clarifying some
very basic things; the first being: What is blood? To understand the
blood of Jesus, this needs to be clarified, because we need to determine
whether in referring to the blood of Jesus, the Bible is speaking in
generic terminology, or if it’s referring to something specific. Is it
dealing figuratively, or is it being specific of a particular substance?
Scientifically, blood is defined as the
fluid consisting of plasma, blood cells and platelets that is circulated
by the heart through a vertebrate’s vascular system, carrying oxygen
and nutrients to, and waste materials away from all body tissues.
Functionally, a similar fluid in animals, other than vertebrates, is
also called blood. It means we’re dealing with a substance: the fluid in
our bodies and in animals, often red in colour. This is simple to
understand because it’s something common to every one of us. So, when we
talk about the blood of Jesus, we are talking about this fluid that
goes through the body. Now, how important is the blood and what does the
Bible really say about it?
We would begin from the book of Genesis:
Genesis 9:1 – 4: “And
God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of
you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the
air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the
sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth
shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all
things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”
At that time, God had taken action
against the world and destroyed it; all of mankind was destroyed except
Noah and his family; and the Lord blessed them after they came out of
the Ark. This blessing was very similar to the blessings and instruction
He gave Adam at the beginning. He gave them every moving thing as meat,
and every green herb; however, He said in verse 4, that they couldn’t
eat ‘flesh with the life thereof, which is blood. God gave us a very
definite understanding there, that as far as He was concerned, the blood
is the life of the flesh.
This understanding in verse 4 above, was unveiled before the law of Moses was introduced.
Blood: The Atonement For Sin:
Now under the law, in Leviticus 17:11, the Bible 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
maketh an atonement for the soul.
This is remarkable! In Genesis, He made
it clear that the blood is the life of the flesh. Now, coming to the
law, He brings in the subject of atonement, saying, the life of the
flesh is in the blood, and I’ve given it to you upon the altar to make
atonement for your souls.
Atonement means appeasement;
propitiation; to satisfy the claims of justice. This refers to
compensation for wrongdoing. He was telling them that if they did wrong,
they had no way of satisfying the claims of justice, or the divine
claims, so, He gave them blood as the atonement for their souls – the
blood of the animal upon the altar. This meant with the blood of an
animal, God could overlook what they had done and look at the blood as
their representative. But this was going to be a definite animal chosen
by God, and it was to be carried out in His prescribed manner. Moreover,
there were only to offer sacrifices in altars designated by the Lord.
The First Sacrifice For Sin:
The first sin in the world was committed
by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Bible records that after
they sinned, they hid themselves and tried to flee from God, but God
called out, ‘Adam where art thou’. His response to God, was that He was
hiding, because he was naked. But God said, ‘who told you that you were
naked? Have you done what I told you not to do?’ Of course he had done
something wrong, and he and his wife covered themselves with leaves (Genesis 3:8-11).
However, God did something: He called them and killed an animal,
spilled the blood of that animal, and used the skin of the animal to
cover their nakedness, instead of the leaves they had used. Observe that
He killed an animal, spilled the blood of that animal and made
atonement for them(Genesis 3:21; Hebrews 9:22).
As we progress on this study, always
remember what God did right there in Genesis, from the very beginning.
The first time man sinned, God killed an animal, sacrificed the blood of
that animal and covered their nakedness with the skin of that animal.
A Spiritual Law:
Let’s look again at Leviticus 17:11: “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
maketh an atonement for the soul.”
This shows us a spiritual law, meaning
there is no other way to make atonement for the soul except with blood.
This is God’s divine order; His divine principle and law, that’s why He
instructed them not to eat the blood of an animal, which they killed.
You know, man may get all the elements
together and try to create artificial blood, but it will never give
life. God hid the life in the blood; that’s where God put the law of the
human/animal life. The blood of the human body has the life of that
body.
Over in the New Testament, Hebrews 9:22 agrees perfectly with what we read above: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission”
Sin cannot be wiped away without the
shedding of blood; it’s a spiritual law. So relate this with what we
read in the latter part of Leviticus 17:11 – the blood makes
atonement for the soul. He didn’t just say for your soul, but for the
soul, letting us know this is a spiritual law.
Different Types Of Offerings:
There were different kinds of special offerings, which God called for in the Old Testament. The five major ones were:
- The Burnt Offering
- The Grain Offering
- The Peace Offering
- The Sin Offering
- The Trespass Offering
These were very important offerings, and
you’d find them explained in the book of Leviticus. Now, because we are
dealing with the blood of Jesus, we would be looking into the offerings
that had to do with blood, and their significance.
The Law of the Burnt Offering:
Leviticus 1: 1 – 4: “And
the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of
the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say
unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall
bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.
If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male
without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. And he shall put
his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted
for him to make atonement for him” – This is the law of the burnt offering.
The burnt offering referred to here was a
personal free will offering. Notice the Scripture above says, ‘…he
shall offer it of his own voluntary will, at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation…’ If a man wanted to give an offering, he was to
take of the herd or of the flock, and offer it of his own voluntary
will. He was required to put his hand on the burnt offering, and it was
accepted to make atonement for him. Notice here that it had nothing to
do with whether or not the man had done something wrong.
Noah also offered a burnt offering even
before God gave instruction about the blood in Genesis, and it wasn’t
because he had done something wrong.
Genesis 8:19 – 21: “Every beast,
every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the
earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. And Noah builded an
altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean
fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a
sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the
ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is
evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing
living, as I have done.”
He got a blessing there, because he did
what pleased God. This would not be the first time a man would offer a
burnt offering. The Bible tells us Abel evidently offered a burnt
offering unto the Lord.
The burnt offering typically represented
what we call an acceptance offering. It was an offering of dedication
and acceptance, which meant on the man’s side, when he offered a burnt
offering, he was dedicating himself; and the Lord’s instruction was that
the whole offering should be burnt, so everything on the altar would be
accepted. From the man’s perspective, it was an offering of dedication,
and from God’s perspective, He accepted the man.
Notice Leviticus 1 Verse 4 above says, “…and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. The
man hadn’t done anything wrong, yet the Bible says the burnt offering
shall be accepted to make atonement for him. Meaning even in their
relationship with God, they needed to have atonement/an appeasement, to
come before God and be accepted of Him. They didn’t have to look around
to know if they had done anything wrong, as far as God was concerned,
they were unclean in themselves. God was so holy; He required a burnt
offering.
The Sin and Trespass Offerings:
The sin and trespass offerings also
required the shedding of blood. If you sinned knowingly and willfully,
you were expected to give the sin offering. But, there were certain sins
categorized under trespasses, and these were sins committed
unknowingly.
These offerings – the sin and the
trespass offerings were given as atonement for personal sins and guilt.
In each case, an animal or a bird was killed, and that became the
atonement for their specific sins. They always had to go before the
priest with this animal, and the priest who was designated would take
the necessary action; he’ll kill and offer the animal in the prescribed
manner, and then burn whatever part God said should be burned in the
prescribed manner. And this continued every time a man sinned. If you
study the whole of Leviticus 4 and 5 you’d see this covered all kinds of
sins. You either had to offer the sin offering or you offered the
trespass offering, depending on what category the sin belonged. But this
provided covering or atonement for the time being.
National Offerings:
In addition to the offerings made for
personal sins, guilt, trespasses and dedication, was the national
offering. This is a very significant aspect, where God charged Israel as
a nation with sin. They were not the only nation that did wrong; other
nations and people sinned too, but the beauty about Israel’s situation
was that God provided a means to come out of their predicament through
the Abrahamic covenant, which they had with Him. But the rest of the
world didn’t have a way out; they lived in complete condemnation, that’s
why the Bible says they were strangers to the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12).
But these chosen people of God, the Israelites, were given a particular
way to come out of their trouble, when they sinned against God.
As a people, every year, they had to
offer a special sacrifice by which God was appeased over them and their
sins, so that they could walk before Him, and enjoy all of His blessings
for the next one year. However, at the end of one year, it was brought
to mind; their sins were remembered again. Why? Because the Bible says
it was not possible for the blood of an animal to completely take away
sin. For this reason, it had to be done again and again. Remember, the
Bible shows us that sin is actually a nature. When Adam sinned against
God, he took on himself the nature of Satan; the very nature of sin. The
Bible tells us that disobedience brought sin (Romans 5:18). When
he disobeyed, he sinned against God and that sin brought spiritual
death, which is separation from God. And so, in order to cover his sin
for the time being, God killed an animal, but that couldn’t cover his
nature. Man was still a miserable offender and sinned again and again;
therefore God allowed these sacrifices to go on and on.
