This is a long read, but I promise you, it is well worth the time and thought to read it.
There are questions on my mind tonight...
The Lord tells us we must have a death occur for our sins.
Leviticus 17:11
"11 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 maketh an atonement for the soul."
In the Old Testament that was a sacrificial animal such as a lamb, bull, goat, etc. The Israelites were to find one of the acceptable animals that didn't have any blemishes or spots, that wasn't hurt or imperfect in any way.
Passover represents the season of deliverance, atonement and salvation.
Exodus 12:22-27
"22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
23 For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
24 And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.
25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?
27 That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped."
Once the Passover sacrificial animal had been chosen, it had to stay with the family from the 10th to the 14th of the month. That's 5 days (10, 11, 12, 13, 14). I know my kids get attached to animals on the first day. Can you imagine how the Israelites got attached to the sacrificial animal they had to keep for these 5 days? They probably had to watch it, protect it, take care of it so it didn't get sick or hurt. They had to take care of this animal so it would stay free from blemish or spot.
Exodus 12:1-3, 5-6
"1 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,
2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:"
"5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening."
Not only did they have to kill this animal they had lived with and taken care of for 5 whole days, but they had to collect its blood and put it on the two side posts and the upper door post of their houses. Then they had to roast in with fire, not raw or boiled, but roasted in the fire. They had to see the head, legs, liver, heart, and lungs of their animal roasting too. If they couldn't finish all of it they had to completely burn up the rest of it in the fire. Nothing could be left over until the morning.
Exodus 12:7-10
"7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire."
They had to eat it with their clothes and shoes on and staff in hand. They had to be ready so when Pharaoh told them to leave they could go immediately.
Exodus 12:11
"11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover."
The Lord was going to pass through Egypt and kill all the firstborn of humans and animals. It was His judgment for how the Egyptians had treated the Israelites for so many years.
Exodus 12:12
"12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord."
The blood was the sign for the Israelites that they obeyed the Lord and did as He commanded them. They had sacrificed the animal's life for their own. When the Lord saw this sign, He passed over that house and no human or animal was killed for that household.
Exodus 12:13
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt."
There are specifics as to who could and who couldn't eat the Passover sacrifice and meal:
No stranger could eat it, every male had to be circumcised before they could eat it, and a foreigner couldn't eat it.
Exodus 12:43-45
"43 And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
44 But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
45 A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof."
It had to be eaten in one house, and none of its bones could be broken.
Exodus 12:46
46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof."
Every one of the Israelites had to keep this Passover sacrifice and meal according to the ordinances the Lord had commanded them.
Exodus 12:47
"47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it."
If a stranger wanted to keep the Passover to the Lord, he and all his males had to be circumcised first. Then he was considered to be as one that was born in the land, one of the Israelites, one of the Lord's children.
Exodus 12:48
"48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof."
This was to be one law for both the Israelites ("homeborn") and for the stranger that journeyed with them.
Exodus 12:49
"49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you."
Remember, there was a mixed multitude that came out of Egypt.
Exodus 12:37-38 "37 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. 38 And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.".
Now, I have said all of this to ask these questions...
1. If they had to sacrifice the life of an animal so that their sins can be forgiven, then why aren't people still doing it now?
2. With that said, if the life of an animal could atone for their sins, how come they had to repeat it over and over again every time they sinned?
3. That brings up another question: How come it was written in the Old Testament that the Lord was no longer pleased with the sacrifice of animals?
The answers are:
1. They are not still doing the sacrifices today because the temple was destroyed and never physically rebuilt. There is no physical temple to sacrifice in:
Matthew 27:51
"51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;"
The Lord does not dwell in a physical temple:
1 Kings 8:27
"27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?"
2. The blood of animals cannot atone for sins. The sacrifice of animals cannot purge our conscience of sin. Only the blood of Jesus, perfectly sinless, the Son of God, can pay for our sins through His sacrificial death on the cross, once for all:
Hebrews 9:6-18
"6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
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?
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood."
3. The Lord meant for the ordinances of sacrifices to be for our examples, a type and shadow of things to come (Jesus dying on the cross as our sacrificial Lamb.
1 Samuel 15:22
"And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
Psalm 51:17
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."
Isaiah 1:2-6
"2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment."
Isaiah 1:9-18
"9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Isaiah 1:24-28
"24 Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:
26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed."
Isaiah 2:2-3
"2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
Luke 2:25-32
"25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."
The Lord gave Moses the law in Zion. The Lord gave us His Son Who preached the Word of the Lord in Jerusalem.
Luke 2:41-49
"41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"
Ultimately, the real question is this:
Will you choose to die for your own sins and spend eternity in hell, or will you choose to accept Jesus as your Sacrificial Lamb Who died for your sins and live eternity in Heaven?
No comments:
Post a Comment