Why Did God Require Blood Sacrifices?
The Symbolic Meaning Behind Temple Offerings in Ancient Israel
Apr 14, 2009
Reading through Exodus and other books of the Old Testament can be a shocking experience. One of the shocking realities of God’s relationship with His people involved the sacrifice of countless animals throughout the year. The contemplation of all that spilled blood can be sobering and disturbing. Why was it necessary?
The Price of Atonement
The Bible says that, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3: 23) But Christians believe that Jesus gave His life to pay the price for everyone’s sin.
The Bible states, in Matthew 26:28, that just before His crucifixion, Jesus shared a cup of wine (representing His lifeblood) with His disciples and said, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”
Sacrificial Service a Lesson to Ancient Israel
The sacrificing of animals was given to the Israelites as a lesson about the cost that God would pay in the person of His Son Jesus to redeem humanity to Himself. God told Moses that blood represented life. The blood of the sacrificed, innocent animals represented the cost of redemption in the blood of God’s own Son.
Hebrews 9:22 states, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” Through symbols, the Israelites learned that salvation of the human race would cost the life of Christ.
God Is Not Capricious - He Does Not Change
According to 1 John 3:4, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” God did not change His eternal law in order to rescue the human race. “For I am the Lord, I change not,” the Bible states, in Malachi 3:6.
But God provided a propitiation (an answer to its claims) in the person of His Son. Jesus became sin and received what every guilty sinner deserves so that the sinner might receive what the Son deserves.
Acknowledgment of Personal Guilt for Sin Necessary For the Worshiper
The sinner was to take the life of the innocent animal himself. This horrible, bloody act impressed upon the worshiper’s mind the awfulness of sin and the cost (the death of an innocent victim — ultimately, Christ) of his restoration to a right relationship with God.
According to Leviticus 1:2-5, God’s instructions to Moses when He instituted the sanctuary services was, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord…he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord.”
The act of sacrifice was not an appeasement of an angry God. Rather, it was symbolic of the sinner’s repentance and acceptance of the ultimate sacrifice, the death of God’s Son. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” the Bible states in Hebrews 10:4
Christ - The Sinless Sin-Bearer
Sin separated human beings from God in the Garden of Eden and continues to separate them from their Creator. Without Christ’s death to atone for humanity’s sins, eternal death (the ultimate result of a complete separation from God and His sustaining power) would be the fate of every person who has ever lived. Hebrews 9:28 states, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.”
Christ - The Only Answer to the Sin Problem
For these reasons, Christians believe that only God’s Son, Jesus Christ, can save a sinner and give him or her eternal life. According to Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
