Peter SmytheDecidedly Unprofessional

Our Western mindset usually conceives “sacrifice” only as some kind of loss and not as something ceremonial. For instance, if a man chooses a lower-paying job in order to take care of an ailing wife, we think of that as sacrifice. The Word defines sacrifice quite differently, which means that we must adjust our mindset in order to more accurately understand the mechanics of our redemption. In Part 2, I demonstrated that Hebrews 9:22’s sacrifice suitcase includes not only the literal shedding of blood, but also its ceremonial application for the atonement or remission of sins. In the Old Testament, animal sacrifice was not a weekend-warrior activity, but it constituted the cornerstone of God’s dealings with His people. Without the sacrifices prescribed in the Law, man’s sins could not be covered at all.

By our suitcase analogy, we understand that the cross constitutes part of a sacrificial offering. This is affirmed in Hebrews:

By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once and for all, but when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, for by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:10, 12, 14)

Consequently, once shed, Jesus’s blood had to be ceremonially applied like any other sacrifice in order to effect our eternal redemption. How was that done? Hebrews 10 answers the question. In Hebrews 10: 1, 4, we read:

For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, they can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh, for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

Here the Word specifically references the Day of Atonement as a shadow of Jesus’s own sacrifice. The Day of Atonement in the Old Testament was the annual day where the high priest presented offerings upon the Mercy Seat of the Tabernacle (and subsequently the Temple) for the atonement of Israel’s sins. The “Day” as it is referred to in the New Testament gives us a glimpse of the ritualistic requirements of our own eternal “atonement” or redemption.

The Resurrection and the Blood - Part 4