Hebrews 9.22
“Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
We are studying the reality that the law was a schoolmaster that provided a foreshadowing of Christ and his kingdom. The three pillars of the law are the temple, the sacrifices, and the priesthood. All three elements of the law were “shadows of the good things to come.”
Last week we considered Pillar #1: the temple. Today we consider Pillar #2: the sacrifices.
In the Old Testament, God graciously put a system into place that would give his people the ability to have their sins atoned for. In his love and mercy, he allowed an animal to take the place of the guilty sinner. Instead of the blood of the sinner being shed for his sin, which is what the sinner deserves, the blood of the animal was shed.
Leviticus 16:30 says, “for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.” The life of the animal atoned for, or covered, the sins of the sinner. This is described in detail in Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”
Blood is the only thing that can pay the price for sin. Good works and good intentions cannot pay the price for sin. No amount of money can pay the price. Only blood can. Blood is what God had determined to make atonement for the sinner, because blood represented life.
The NT book of Hebrews confirms this important truth: “For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Hebrews 9:19-22)
Paul’s message in Galatians 3:24 is that the law was a tutor that taught us about how God takes care of the sin problem. The law taught us about blood atonement through sacrifice and a representative death. This had the purpose of teaching and preparing Israel (and Gentiles) for the specific time in history when God would send his Son into the world as the ultimate sacrifice for sin.
When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he made a profound proclamation: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1.29)
John the Baptist, who was the last of the Old Testament prophets, recognized that Jesus was the final sacrifice toward which all the sacrifices of the law pointed. The sacrifices of the law were the shadow; Jesus was the substance. Jesus was God’s sacrifice to atone for and pay the price for the sins of the world. Jesus’ purpose in coming to this earth was to bear our sins and die as our sacrifice.
He bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we may be healed (1 Peter 2:24). He shed his blood so we can be forgiven of sin (see Matthew 26:28). Instead of the blood of an animal, it is the blood of Jesus Christ and the perfect sacrifice of his life that atones for our sin in fulfillment of the Law.
Again, the book of Hebrews provides more detail. It tells us that Jesus entered into the actual Holy of Holies in heaven (of which the holy place in the earthly temple was but a copy/shadow), and he did so by means of his blood. “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:11-12)
It is the blood of Jesus, the lamb of God, that saves us. The animal sacrifices in the OT were symbolic foreshadows that covered sin until Christ came to eliminate sin. The book of Hebrews elucidates:
“Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrews 9:23-26)
What an amazing picture! Jesus, the lamb of God, sacrificed himself for us so that our sin might be “put away” and we might be reconciled to God. Thus Paul’s message to the Galatians:
Jesus has fulfilled the law. He is the final sacrifice. Don’t be fooled by the Judaizers; there is no reason for animal sacrifice anymore. Trust in Jesus, the lamb of God and the great High Priest.
