Before Moses and his people left Egypt, Moses petitioned Pharaoh that their livestock leaves with them so the Jewish people would be able to make sacrifices to God.
Sacrifices were not a new thing to the Jewish people. This is seen when God tested Abraham and told him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham, who believed God when He said that he, Abraham, would be the father of many nations, knew that God would provide another sacrifice somehow. He could have Isaac rise from the dead, open Sarah's womb to have another son, or provide another sacrifice. How could he be a father of many nations without a legal heir?
When Abraham took Isaac to the top of the mountain to sacrifice, God indeed provided another sacrifice. While Isaac was on the wood and ready for Abraham to sacrifice and kill him, the angel of the Lord stopped Abraham from the final act. Indeed, God had provided another way out and there was a pure lamb in the thicket that Abraham then sacrificed.
Due to his trust in God, God said to Abraham, "...I will surely bless you and make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:1-16)
Noah provided sacrifices to the Lord when they again were on dry land after the flood (Genesis 8:19-21). But what was the purpose of these sacrifices? Sacrifices were to remove the stain of wrongdoings, to make atonement for wrongs done, as well as to celebrate and worship the creator of heaven and earth with a thankful heart. This was done by the shedding of blood with the animal sacrifice for the forgetting and forgiveness of man's sin/s.
We don't shed animal's blood anymore for atonement for our sins and we don't have to. Someone did that for us, once and for all. There was a blood sacrifice that covers all, all the time. No repeat necessary!
God sent Jesus, His Son, into the world in order that He would die on the cross, shed His blood, and be raised from the dead, conquering the power of sin and death. He was the perfect lamb, slaughtered for us.
You might be thinking...wait a minute...where did this all come from and why? It started in the
beginning, after God created the world and all that was in it. Adam and Eve walked with God, in the Garden of Eden, and communed with Him in harmony. God created them for eternity to love and have fellowship with them, and them with Him in holiness, purity, and honesty. And then…. Adam & Eve lied and disobeyed God. God said to Adam to not eat the fruit from the tree of life. Eve was tempted by Satan’s representative to eat the fruit from the tree of life, and she ate. She then gave the fruit to Adam & he ate in direct disobedience & rebellion to God.
At that moment of disobedience and self-will, an eternal breech or separation between God and man occurred for all eternity. Humanity, God, & creation were no longer in harmony. This disobedience I will call sin. The perfect union of acceptance, purity, love, and harmony changed to one of destruction, separation, mistrust, and discord. Does that sound like society still is, today? All creation was now tainted and not able to have the fellowship Adam and Eve & creation once shared with their and our maker.
As payment for this sin, God set up animal sacrifices through the blood sacrifice of a pure lamb for the forgiving or pardoning of sin. But it was an animal. Animals don't have the ability to choose as we humans do. Therefore, God sent Jesus, His Son who chose to be born so He could die. Jesus came to repair this separation and pay the penalty of our sins, which is eternal separation from God, through the shedding of His pure blood--a blood sacrifice. Jesus was the blood sacrifice that covers all and no repeat is necessary. Jesus did a once and done deal. On the cross before He died, He stated, "It is finished!"
Who wants separation? It is lonely and cold and is not good news. But we don’t have to choose that. God sent His son as the pure, human, lamb sacrifice to pay the penalty of man’s sin of disobedience & rebellion. Jesus came so that we could have the same type of fellowship with God that Adam and Eve had in the beginning. We can have acceptance, love, purity, and harmony with God, our creator! And when we die, we get to eternally live with God as our sins are covered (paid the price for) by Jesus' blood. God sees us as white as snow without blemish through Jesus' shedding of His blood on the cross. Jesus also came to conquer the power of death & the power of our sin nature (disobedience) through His resurrection and we no longer are slaves to our sin. AND, once we truly and sincerely accept what Jesus did for us, He gives us His Holy Spirit to live within us! God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, is given to us and will live within us if we believe and accept by faith, what Jesus did for us with his death and resurrection. This indeed, is GOOD NEWS!
If you want to be forgiven and free, as Adam and Eve where in the beginning with God, confess your knowledge that you need a savior and ask Jesus to come into your heart and begin teaching you, His ways. Next, search out & find a spirit filled, bible teaching and believing church and hang on! It's a wild ride but totally worth it. Eternally worth it!
Enjoy the journey,
Nancy