Theology: Preparing For Easter

Why Did God Require Animal Sacrifices in the OT?

● God, in his sovereignty, determined that capital punishment (death) is just penalty for sin (Rom 6:23).

● All men are sinners and therefore deserve to die. (Rom 3:23).

● God required animal sacrifices so mankind could receive forgiveness for their sins (Leviticus 4:35; 5:10). The sacrificed animal served as a substitute. In other words, the animal died in place of the sinner.

● When Adam and Eve sinned, animals were sacrificed by God to clothe them (Genesis 3:21).

● Cain and Abel brought different 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, the animals that Noah sacrificed were a soothing aroma to the Lord (Genesis 8:20-21).

● God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Just as Abraham was about to slay Isaac, God intervened and provided a ram to die in Isaac’s place (Genesis 22:10-13).

● The sacrificial system reached its climax with the nation of Israel. God commanded Israel to perform various kinds of sacrifices. According to Leviticus 1:1-4, a specific 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 provided forgiveness of sins.

● Another sacrifice known as the Day of Atonement is described in Leviticus 16, and 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.

● Animal sacrifices have ended because Jesus Christ was the ultimate sacrifice on the Cross at Calvary. Christ is now the only mediator between God and mankind (1 Timothy 2:5).

● John the Baptist recognized this when he saw Jesus for the first time by saying, "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

● So why animals? What did they do wrong? That’s the point. Since the animals did no wrong, they died in place of the one performing the sacrifice. Jesus Christ, like a spotless lamb, also knew no wrong but willingly gave Himself to die for the sins of mankind (1 Timothy 2:6).

● Theologians 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 (God) made Him (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, any individual can receive God’s forgiveness.

I’m indebted to GotQuestions.org for this information. For another angle on this subject see also, "Why is Christianity Such a Bloody Religion?"

Cain & Abel: Two Appoaches to God

"If it had been possible for us to stand there that day looking out over the future of history springing forth from the two altars [of Cain and Abel], we might have seen something like this, if centuries could be charted into a kind of graph. Simply two lines—but what a profound truth these two lines can illustrate!

People, mankind, human beings, divided into two kinds—not black and white, not rich and poor, not educated and uneducated—simply those who have believed God, believed what He has said, believed His word and have acted upon that belief; and those who have not believed Him, but who have said in one form or another, 'I’ll do my own thing.'

All religions that have ever been thought up by man have had something in common, and that is that they think that through works, religious works or moral works, they will be accepted by whatever concept of God they have, or by what they might call their spiritual universe...

Abel’s bringing of the lamb was with some measure of understanding that he himself could not make up for what had been done, that it was impossible to figure out a way of paying for sin oneself, that it was necessary for the price to be paid in another way, and that God had really spoken truth when He said to come with the lamb as a sacrifice."—Edith Schaeffer from Christianity is Jewish

Information about the next edition of the Christian Carnival is here.

Coming Soon—Emotional Phases of a Woman’s Life

Does the concept of Jesus' sacrifice to atone
for human sin make sense to you?

Photo Credits: Paraflyer, rtv75, Sweet Uncertainty (Flickr)

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