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Author
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Topic: DID GOD EVER TRULY REQUIRE BLOOD SACRIFICES?
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becauseHElives
Advanced Member
Member # 87
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posted
If we look at the whole teaching of the Bible we find that almost everything involving a covenant between God and mankind is sanctified by an offering involving the shedding of blood. Adam and Eve put on fig leaves to cover their nakedness, but clothes them in animal skins, involving the shedding of the blood of the animal. Genesis 3.7, 21. Cain offers the fruit of the ground and is not accepted, while Abel offers the ‘firstborn of his flock’ and is accepted. Genesis 4.3-4. Noah offered a sacrifice of the clean animals that came out of the ark and this is ‘soothing aroma’ to the Lord. Genesis 8.20-22. God made the covenant with Abraham concerning his descendants and the Promised Land, after Abraham had made the sacrifice of animals which God required of him. Genesis 15. After God gave the Torah, Moses read the commandments to the people and sprinkled blood of the sacrificed animals on the people and on the altar. Exodus 24.3-8.
Was this because God was bloodthirsty or some primitive ritual which has now been done away with? Or was God making a serious point which needed to be understood? According to the Bible death came into the world because of sin. Genesis 3.17-24. ‘The soul that sins shall die.’ Ezekiel 18.4. So in order to cover sin and escape from its penalty (death) there needs to be another who dies in our place. Under the covenant with Moses this was the animals who sacrificed their blood (and therefore died) in accordance with the commandments given in the Torah.
The Bible also teaches us that there is a barrier between God and all humanity, Jewish and Gentile, caused by our sin. Under the covenant made with Israel at the time of the giving of the Torah, that barrier separating the Holy One from His sinful people could only be removed by repentance and faith in the sacrifice which God appointed. In Leviticus 17.11 we read:
‘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 your soul.’
We also read of the importance of the blood in connection with the night of the Passover when the people were instructed to sacrifice a lamb and place the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses. Then the Angel of death would pass over them:
‘For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians: and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to enter your house to slay you.’ Exodus 12.23
Could it be that the destroyer has so often entered the house of the Jewish people to slay them, because the blood is no longer on the doorposts? Since the destruction of the Temple, there has been no blood sacrifice and modern Judaism no longer considers it necessary. Yet according to the verse above from Leviticus it is vital. I am not advocating however that Judaism returns to the sacrifice of animals, even if that were possible in the modern world, because the final sacrifice for sin has been made once and for all by Jesus the Messiah, ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ He shed his blood at the time of the Passover, for the forgiveness of the sins of all mankind:
‘But when Messiah appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come… he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.’ Hebrews 9.11-14
Under the old covenant the worshipper found forgiveness through repentance and faith in the blood of the sacrificed animal,recognising that he deserved to die, but God in his mercy accepted this sacrificed animal in his place. The blood of the animal itself only had value in that it typified the blood of the Messiah who was yet to come. Under the New Covenant the same principle applies. We find forgiveness through repentance and faith in the blood of the Messiah shed for our sins:
‘Messiah has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Messiah was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for him he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation.’ Hebrews 9.26-28
Under the new covenant the same principle operates as under the old covenant: that those who come to God must repent from their sins and put their trust in the sacrifice He has appointed. Under the old covenant it was the blood of the sacrificed animal. Under the new covenant it is the much better sacrifice of the blood of Jesus the Messiah. Through accepting this sacrifice we find our way back to a covenant relationship with God.
Just before he was taken away to be crucified Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples. He then took the familiar symbols of matzo bread and wine which spoke of the Exodus from Egypt and reapplied them to himself.
‘Then he said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then he took the cup, and gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took the bread and broke it and gave it to them saying, “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.”’
What he was saying was that there is now a greater exodus on offer, not just bringing people out of physical slavery in Egypt, but bringing us out of slavery to sin and into the Promised Land of a relationship with God. But just as God required the blood on the doorposts of the Israelite houses for the Angel of Death to pass over them and thus deliver them from death to life, so today God requires the blood of the Messiah to be applied to our individual lives in order that we can pass from eternal death and separation from God into eternal life in the Kingdom of God. In a Jewish Passover service the cup taken after supper is the third cup, which is known as the Cup of Redemption.
There is an exact parallel to the Prophets speaking against the offering of insincere sacrifices as found in the verses quoted at the beginning of this chapter in the New Testament. The issue, especially in the passage quoted from Isaiah 1 was not that God did not want sacrifices. It was that the sacrifices offered without repentance and faith and without the deeds of righteousness which should go with a life dedicated to God were meaningless and an offence to God.
In 1 Corinthians 11.27-28 Paul writes: ‘Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself not discerning the Lord’s body.’
This means that for followers of Jesus to take the bread and the wine in remembrance of the Lord Jesus ‘in an unworthy manner’ is not acceptable to God. In other words just to take the bread and wine as many Christians do without repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Jesus and continuing to live lives which are contrary to his teaching is just as bad as offering the sacrifices without repentance in Isaiah 1. Far from doing good to the person who does this, it actually brings him under the judgment of God.
Therefore the teaching of the Tenach and the New Testament is entirely consistent on this issue. God requires the blood of atonement and repentance and faith to accept human beings. Under the Tenach the blood of atonement was provided by the animal sacrifices. Under the New Testament it is provided by the sacrifice of the Messiah, which is the better and eternal covenant by which God now puts right Jews and Gentiles with himself.
full text here.....
http://www.lightforthelastdays.co.uk/view_page.asp?page_id=295&menu_id=230
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Strive to enter in at the strait gate:for many, I say unto you will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. ( Luke 13:24 )
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timspong
Advanced Member
Member # 5240
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by Eden:
Hi, timspong. You said:
The blood of animals was never meant as the just penalty for sins. It was symbolic of the crucifixion. Jesus' blood paid for sins not the blood of animals.
It is similar to the symbolism of baptism as being symbolic of joining Christ in death.
Eden here:
Tell that to the animals on whose heads the sinners laid their hand, fully acknowledging that the animal was going to die on behalf of the sinner. The Israelites were shepherds and herders and cattle breeders, and loved and valued their animals.
To say that this animal did not die as a penalty for sins and is only symbolic of joining Christ in death, is not true.
The death of the animal on whose head the sinner had laid his hand provided a true cleansing of the conscience.
The sinner, by knowing that something valuable had died for his sins by this animal, the sinner’s conscience was truly cleansed thereby for one year’s worth of sins.
But, as Hebrews points out, the animals would have to continue to die on behalf of the sinners’ consciences year by year.
And to avoid this, Jesus became our “animal” (the Lamb of God) who died for us, but THIS “animal” (lamb of God born supernaturally from Mary) was SO PRECIOUS that it solved the problem of cleansing the conscience FOR OUR LIFETIME.
So since Jesus, no more animals have to die in order for our consciences to be cleansed from a sense of sinfulness because this “animal”, Jesus the Lamb of God, was and still is so great and so precious, that our consciences are cleansed for an entire lifetime.
Human consciences sprinkled clean from a consciousness of sinfulness by the death of the great Lamb of God.
Hebrews 10:22
22 Let us draw near {now} with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 9:14
14 {For} how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Hebrews 10:1-3
1 For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then, would they not have ceased to be offered? Because if {that was the case} the worshippers, once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins every year.
Thus, as pertaining to the conscience, the death of these animals was not only symbolic. A real transaction occurred between the sinners and the animals in which the animals died on our behalf and that caused our consciences to be purged, for one year.
But then the sinners and the animals had to do it all over again the next year, and again the next year, and decade after decade, and century after century.
By God and Jesus had a better plan. God sent Jesus, to willingly be our precious Lamb of God to die once and for all FOR OUR CONSCIENCES to become cleansed and purged again.
But unlike animals, the miraculous birth of Jesus and the great sacrifice and suffering of Jesus on the cross was so great that it can cleanse our consciences FOR OUR ENTIRE LIFETIME.
But the animals of the Old Testament provided a REAL CLEANSING for the consciences of the sinners, except that it only lasted for ONE YEAR.
So, yes, it was also SYMBOLIC of the coming of Jesus as the Lamb of God. Thank God, God had a better plan than yearly animals. But the death of the animals also worked a read purging, but only for one year.
Be blessed, timspong.
Eden
sorry for the slow reply but I just noticed it.
You quote Heb 10:1-3, however, the very next verse makes it perfectly clear:
Heb 10:4
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
Furthermore, animal sacrifice only affected the outward cleanliness of man in a ceremonial sense.
Heb 9:13
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
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Yours in Christ
Timothy Michael Spong
Posts: 146 | From: Lagos, Nigeria | Registered: Nov 2005
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Good NewsforAll
Advanced Member
Member # 6156
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by Aaron:
"Death" is the required payment for sin.
Aaron
Adam allowed sin to come into this world, so drastic measures had to be used to put sin to death, symbolically through the slaying of goats and lambs.
Jesus was our ultimate sacrificial lamb to defeat 'death' forever.
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The Pharisees tell us what not to do. Jesus tells us what to do.
Romans 10:15 As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
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Aaron
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posted
Don't let the word "blood" throw you.
The wages of sin = death.
"Death" is the required payment for sin.
Aaron
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lonlesol
Advanced Member
Member # 4511
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posted
quote:
the great sacrifice and suffering of Jesus on the cross was so great that it can cleanse our consciences FOR OUR ENTIRE LIFETIME.
But the animals of the Old Testament provided a REAL CLEANSING for the consciences of the sinners, except that it only lasted for ONE YEAR.
I suppose some people must think that Jesus was only an animal or not worthy enough because a lot continue on sinning and don't seem to care whether they hurt others or not...so it seems to me that some people have no conscience at all!...(I am not refering to anyone here)...I know a few people that call themselves Christians but won't read and won't believe what is written in the Bible or go to Church...saying and showing their love for others is not in their priorities and don't seem to mind asking for a divorce and brake their family!... ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Posts: 478 | From: Quebec | Registered: Mar 2005
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Eden
unregistered
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posted
Hi, timspong. You said:
The blood of animals was never meant as the just penalty for sins. It was symbolic of the crucifixion. Jesus' blood paid for sins not the blood of animals.
It is similar to the symbolism of baptism as being symbolic of joining Christ in death.
Eden here:
Tell that to the animals on whose heads the sinners laid their hand, fully acknowledging that the animal was going to die on behalf of the sinner. The Israelites were shepherds and herders and cattle breeders, and loved and valued their animals.
To say that this animal did not die as a penalty for sins and is only symbolic of joining Christ in death, is not true.
The death of the animal on whose head the sinner had laid his hand provided a true cleansing of the conscience.
The sinner, by knowing that something valuable had died for his sins by this animal, the sinner’s conscience was truly cleansed thereby for one year’s worth of sins.
But, as Hebrews points out, the animals would have to continue to die on behalf of the sinners’ consciences year by year.
And to avoid this, Jesus became our “animal” (the Lamb of God) who died for us, but THIS “animal” (lamb of God born supernaturally from Mary) was SO PRECIOUS that it solved the problem of cleansing the conscience FOR OUR LIFETIME.
So since Jesus, no more animals have to die in order for our consciences to be cleansed from a sense of sinfulness because this “animal”, Jesus the Lamb of God, was and still is so great and so precious, that our consciences are cleansed for an entire lifetime.
Human consciences sprinkled clean from a consciousness of sinfulness by the death of the great Lamb of God.
Hebrews 10:22
22 Let us draw near {now} with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 9:14
14 {For} how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Hebrews 10:1-3
1 For the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then, would they not have ceased to be offered? Because if {that was the case} the worshippers, once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins every year.
Thus, as pertaining to the conscience, the death of these animals was not only symbolic. A real transaction occurred between the sinners and the animals in which the animals died on our behalf and that caused our consciences to be purged, for one year.
But then the sinners and the animals had to do it all over again the next year, and again the next year, and decade after decade, and century after century.
By God and Jesus had a better plan. God sent Jesus, to willingly be our precious Lamb of God to die once and for all FOR OUR CONSCIENCES to become cleansed and purged again.
But unlike animals, the miraculous birth of Jesus and the great sacrifice and suffering of Jesus on the cross was so great that it can cleanse our consciences FOR OUR ENTIRE LIFETIME.
But the animals of the Old Testament provided a REAL CLEANSING for the consciences of the sinners, except that it only lasted for ONE YEAR.
So, yes, it was also SYMBOLIC of the coming of Jesus as the Lamb of God. Thank God, God had a better plan than yearly animals. But the death of the animals also worked a read purging, but only for one year.
Be blessed, timspong.
Eden
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BigHead
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posted
I don't know
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Hi, I'm Big head
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WildB
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Member # 2917
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posted
"killing human or animal victims?"
This statement is not Biblical.
For a man is made in the image of God.
Human's have soul's animals do not.
Get your mind to know this difference first then you will know why Jesus did what only He could.
Welcome to our camp fire.
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That is all.....
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timspong
Advanced Member
Member # 5240
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posted
The blood of animals was never meant as the just penalty for sins. It was symbolic of the crucifixion. Jesus' blood paid for sins not the blood of animals.
It is similar to the sybolism of baptism as being symbolic of joining Christ in death.
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Yours in Christ
Timothy Michael Spong
Posts: 146 | From: Lagos, Nigeria | Registered: Nov 2005
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Eden
unregistered
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posted
Hi, A. Ben-Shema. You said:
The requirement of blood sacrifices, as mentioned in the OT, seems totally Satanic to me. What can be gained by killing human or animal victims? Do you think this requirement (including the so-called "sacrificial" death of Jesus) was ordained by God or Satan?
Eden here:
Animal sacrifices had to do with the human conscience. To clean the human conscience, the human conscience had to know that “something valuable had died in its place”, and this was the only way to free up the conscience of the human being, to know that “something valuable had died in place of all those sins”, so that the annual penalty for the conscience’s sins are paid for, and therefore the conscience becomes freed again for a year.
With the suffering and pain of Jesus dying on the cross as the Lamb of God dying for us, that is, for cleaning our conscience, because of HIS value, our conscience REMAINS CLEAN for our whole lives, other than the sins that we commit on a daily basis, for which we say that we are sorry to the LORD Yahweh and the Lord Jesus.
Other than that, we are made “every whit clean” by the great suffering of our Lord Jesus the Messiah the Son of God because it was SUCH A GREAT SACRIFICE.
And not for our consciences only, but also for our joy and our peace. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
Hebrews 10
1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Hebrews 9:14
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Hebrews 10:22
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
To repeat your Topic text:
A. Ben-Shema said:
The requirement of blood sacrifices, as mentioned in the OT, seems totally Satanic to me. What can be gained by killing human or animal victims? Do you think this requirement (including the so-called "sacrificial" death of Jesus) was ordained by God or Satan?
Eden here: Ordained by God for our blessing, lest we continue to have to walk about with defiled consciences.
Yes, we are fully aware that animals suffered and died on our behalf, and yes, we are fully aware that the great Jesus the Lamb of God suffered and died on our behalf.
It is a gift from God, that we might live with joy and peace and reconciliation again on earth. For Jesus IS God, and no man could have done for us what HE did, as concerns the conscience.
Be blessed, A. Ben-Shema
Eden
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KnowHim
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Member # 1
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God required animal sacrifices so that mankind could receive forgiveness for their sins (Leviticus 4:35; 5:10). I could end there, but let me explain the significance of animal sacrifices as found in the Old Testament. To begin, animal sacrifice is an important motif found throughout Scripture. When Adam and Eve sinned, animals were killed by God to provide clothing for them (Genesis 3:21). Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to the Lord. Cain's was unacceptable because he brought fruit, while Abel's was acceptable because it was the "firstlings of his flock" (Genesis 4:4-5). After the flood receded, Noah sacrificed animals to God. This sacrifice from Noah was an aroma that was soothing to the Lord (Genesis 8:20-21). God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham obeyed God, but just as Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac, God intervened and provided a ram to die in the place of Isaac (Genesis 22:10-13).
The sacrificial system reaches its climax with the nation of Israel. God commanded the nation to perform numerous different sacrifices. According to Leviticus 1:1-4, a certain procedure was to be followed. First, the animal had to be spotless. Next, the person offering the sacrifice had to identify with the animal. Then the person offering the animal had to inflict death upon it. When done in faith, this sacrifice procured forgiveness of sins. Another sacrifice called the day of atonement, described in Leviticus 16, demonstrates forgiveness and the removal of sin. The high priest was to take two male goats for a sin offering. One of the goats was sacrificed as a sin offering for the people of Israel (Leviticus 16:15), while the other goat was released into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:20-22). The sin offering provided forgiveness, while the other goat provided the removal of sin.
The sacrifice motif does not stop with the nation of Israel. Animal sacrifices have ended because Jesus Christ was the ultimate sacrifice. John the Baptist recognized this when he saw Jesus for the first time, "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). You may be asking yourself, why animals? What did they do wrong? That is the point, in that since the animals did no wrong, they died in place of the one performing the sacrifice. Jesus Christ also knew no wrong but willingly gave himself to die for the sins of mankind (1 Timothy 2:6). Many people call this idea of dying in place of someone else substitution. Jesus Christ took our sin upon himself and died in our place. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He (i.e., God) made him (i.e., Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him." Through faith in what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, the individual can receive forgiveness.
In summation, the animal sacrifices were commanded by God so that the individual could experience forgiveness of his sins. The animal served as a substitute--that is, the animal died in place of the sinner. Animal sacrifices have stopped with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the ultimate sacrificial substitute and the only mediator between God and mankind (1 Timothy 2:5).
http://www.gotquestions.org
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TEXASGRANDMA
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God. I believe that God wanted man to realize from the very begining that it took blood to redeem a person from sin. While the blood of the animal does not clean one from sin, it served as a subsitute until Jesus died on the cross. Man had to know that it took a death to redeem a person from sin. Sin is so terrible that it takes a sacrifice to be cleaned from it.
The Bible makes it clear that eating meat is okay, also.
The devil inspired many pagan relgions to require the people to sacrifice their own children to "gods".
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Luk 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
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A. Ben-Shema
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The requirement of blood sacrifices, as mentioned in the OT, seems totally Satanic to me. What can be gained by killing human or animal victims? Do you think this requirement (including the so-called "sacrificial" death of Jesus) was ordained by God or Satan?
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