"For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul."
Leviticus 17:11 NKJV
What can we say of the blood of Jesus? For it is by this guiltless shed blood that we are today free from sin. There is a definate reason that our Lord required a blood sacrafice in the old testament to cover the sins of His people the Isrealites. However, even though these were blood sacrafices offered to God, the sins of the people were never truly covered and removed. In fact, one definition of the word atonement is "To cover." Not to remove, but to cover. So, the blood sacrafice, which was required to satisfy Gods righteous judgement, atoned for the sins of the Isrealites. I've lost track of just how many times Gods people needed to offer sacrafices in the old testament. As one can see, the sin was never truly removed, just covered over. Ever wonder the definition of a scapegoat? No, it's not Donald Trump! The scapegoat was a goat chosen by the high priest of the Isrealites to symbolicaly bear the sins of the people. Once the sins of the people were "placed" on said goat, it was released into the wilderness, in theory taking the sins of the people with it! Notice, the sins of the people were never taken away, just sent into the wilderness. Hopefully that goat never got homesick and found it's way back home!
He is despised and rejected by men, A man of sorrows and aquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53: 3-6 NKJV
Obviously, the entire idea of animal sacrafices never worked for the Isrealites, for if they had there would have been no need to continue to offer sacrafices! No, God needed something more, something permanent. Yes, there needed to be shed blood, but sin itself also needed to be put to death once and for all. How could such a act of mercy be achieved? Enter the man Christ Jesus, who was bruised for our iniquities. Long before his birth in Bethlehem that night, the prophet Isaiah fortold of the birth of the savior of Gods people. We have to assume that God had this planned for some time. For Jesus would become that blood sacrafice AND that death of sin.
For He made Him who knew no sin to BE sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV
In order for our sins to be covered, the blood of Jesus needed to be shed as atonement for our sin. Not just our past sins, mind you, but past, present and future. That took care of the atonement for our sins, but there was more that needed to be done. Looking back into the garden of eden and the creation of mankind, we remember the ultimate fall into sin of Gods creation. It is this sin nature that needed to be put to death in us. Therefore, as the apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21, it is Christ who BECAME sin in our place in order that the nature of sin might be done away with. It is through the blood and resurection of Jesus that the sin nature we once carried has ultimately been put to death. When God looks upon us, he sees not the guilty people and the sins that were carried away by a scapegoat yet never covered. No, through the guiltless sacrafice of Christ, our sin stain has been removed.
~Scott~
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