But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
In those yearly sacrifices there was a recalling of guilt rather than a removing of it, keeping sin before the people because the blood of animals in itself could not cleanse, pardon, perfect or give life. They were appointed figures pointing forward to Christ as the only sufficient and effective offering for the sins of the world, teaching that without shedding of blood there is no remission and that cleansing comes through his blood alone. When he died type met antitype, fulfilling and ending the divinely given system so that its ceremonies lost their value and use. What ceased at the cross was only the law of sacrifices and ordinances, while the law of ten commandments stands unchanged and is honored and enforced by his death. The benefit foreshadowed becomes real only through faith in the coming Mediator with true repentance and obedience, for multiplied offerings without a broken heart cannot take the place of sorrow for sin.
Yearly Remembrance Explained
In those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins every year rather than a removal of them, for the yearly offerings recalled guilt and kept sin before the people instead of taking sins away. They could not in themselves cleanse, expiate, save, make perfect, or give spiritual life, but kept before worshipers' minds the need for Christ's blood. They were figures pointing to the perfect offering represented by their blood, and to Christ whose death and mediatorial work provided the way back to God. They foreshadowed Christ's offering as a spotless Lamb and his one great offering of his own life, which fulfilled the type and ended the value of those sacrifices so that they were to cease at his death, with the laws regulating those sacrifices and offerings ceasing at that time.
The system of sacrificing beasts was established after Adam's fall to keep continually before fallen humanity that the penalty of disobedience is death, countering what the serpent made Eve disbelieve. Transgression of God's law made Christ's sacrificial death necessary to make escape from the penalty possible while preserving the honor of God's law. If God's law had not been transgressed there would never have been death and there would have been no need for these additional requirements suited to man's fallen condition. From Adam onward the death of the victim taught the sinner to acknowledge transgression and to recognize that sin brings death, while also giving hope by pointing forward to the Son of God whose death alone could expiate sin and provide the perfect sacrifice. The sacrifices were to teach humility in view of the fallen condition and to lead to repentance and trust in God alone through the promised Redeemer for pardon for past transgression of His law, thus recalling guilt while giving a star of hope through faith in Christ's coming sacrifice.
The yearly remembrance belonged to a solemn sanctuary service that typified grand truths to be revealed through successive generations. The cloud of incense ascending with the prayers of Israel represents His righteousness that alone can make the sinner's prayer acceptable to God, the bleeding victim on the altar of sacrifice testified of a Redeemer to come, and the visible token of the divine presence shone forth from the holy of holies. The offering of beasts did not cleanse away sin but was a symbol of the great and complete sacrifice to be made for the sins of the whole world. The service was designed to impress that the things God has set apart for Himself are holy, that the distinction between the sacred and the common must ever be observed, and that holy things must be kept holy. Even the productions of the earth and the bounties provided for man's sustenance are owed to the offering of Christ upon the cross, and all received from God is the gift of redeeming love, as the rivers of blood that flowed at the harvest thanksgiving when sacrifices were offered in such large numbers were meant to teach. The ceremonial law so illustrated was given by Christ and is glorious, worthy of its divine Originator, with its true position and value remaining even after it was no longer to be observed, as presented before the Jews showing its place in the plan of redemption and its relation to the work of Christ, through which age after age of darkness and apostasy faith was kept alive in the hearts of men until the time came for the advent of the promised Messiah.
God gave definite directions about the sacrifices so His people might understand their true import, because they had confused ideas of the ceremonial sacrificial offerings and had heathen traditions confounded with their ceremonial worship. The sacrificial ordinances were sacred because they prefigured the sinless offering of God's Son and pointed to His sacrifice. They were temporary, to last only till the Lamb of God should be slain, who was the great antitype of all the sacrificial offerings, while repeatedly reminding the people of their sins. They were not ceremonies to be treated lightly or performed by anyone without authority.
Sacrifices Foreshadow Christ
In those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins every year rather than a removal of them, for the yearly offerings kept guilt before the mind and could not make the worshipers perfect, take away sins, truly atone, or save anyone in themselves. The repeated animal sacrifices, their blood, and the whole Jewish religious system were figures, types, shadows and symbols pointing to Christ as the Lamb of God, the spotless, perfect, sufficient, complete and only effective offering for the sins of the world. The ceremonial sacrificial system foreshadowed Christ's offering as a spotless Lamb and was to continue only until His death, when His one great offering of His own life fulfilled the type and ended the value of those sacrifices. All the sacrificial offerings only prefigured the death of the Son of God, and at His death type met antitype, so the divinely appointed ceremonies and sacrifices were abolished and rendered valueless.
Every dying victim was appointed to rivet in mind and heart the great truth that the blood of Jesus Christ alone cleanses from all sin and that there is no remission without the shedding of blood. The offerings pointed to His voluntary self-sacrifice, His blood shed for the salvation of the world, and the priesthood represented His mediating work, through which transgressors of the law find peace, pardon, forgiveness, and the way back to God. The ceremonies were instituted to keep before people the separation that sin caused and the need for mediation, and they were to continue until Christ, the perfect Offering, took the place of what they represented. That forgiveness becomes a living reality only through faith in the cleansing blood of Jesus as coming Messiah and Mediator, which forgives the sins that cling like foul leprosy, for apart from Him the religious ceremonies had no value. He was the great reality those offerings foreshadowed, whose voluntary, spotless self-sacrifice bore the world's sin and the law's curse and whose separation from the Father met the penalty for transgression, thereby vindicating God's justice, upholding the unchanging law, and settling the controversy over its character.
The entire Jewish system of sacrifices was originated, founded, and given by Christ, who is Author, foundation and Finisher of the faith and religion of God's people from Adam's day, vindicator of the truth and fulfiller of all prophecies. The typical sacrifices kept their significance often before minds including children because they prefigured the great sacrifice to be made for the redemption of man, and the same lessons remain essential to lay a foundation for prosperous households. Through age after age of darkness and apostasy faith was kept alive in hearts until the time came for the advent of the promised Messiah, for the sacrifices helped teach the plan of salvation and duty before God. The yearly remembrance belonged to the solemn service of the sanctuary that typified grand truths to be revealed through successive generations: the cloud of incense ascending with prayer represents His righteousness that alone can make the sinner's prayer acceptable, the bleeding victim testified of a Redeemer to come, and the visible token of the divine presence shone forth from the holy of holies. He did not make the law of God of none effect but came for the express purpose of vindicating His Father's law, in whose light the sinner sees himself a sinner, dies to sin, repents, has faith in Jesus as Saviour, is baptized, and becomes obedient to its claims.
Type Meets Antitype
When he died, type met antitype and prophecy became history, for all the sacrificial offerings only prefigured the death of the Son of God. The one great offering fulfilled the types and terminated their value, so that the offering of the blood of beasts became valueless and the typical ceremonies were to cease. The divinely appointed ceremonies and sacrifices of the Jewish religion were abolished and rendered valueless, unacceptable to God, and of no more use or moral efficacy, while the gospel gave the ancient rites a new significance. This change concerned the ceremonial system, not the Ten Commandments, and his providence opened the way for and authorized a change in the specifications of worship once specified for the Hebrews, so that Christianity was not to be joined to the Jewish laws and ceremonies, restrictions and national peculiarities that had kept the Jews distinct.
The yearly sacrifices with their yearly remembrance of sins were temporary reminders connected with sin, not the final reality, given to teach their true import only until the Lamb of God should be slain, who was the great antitype of all the sacrificial offerings. Definite directions were given about them so the people might understand their true meaning, because they had confused ideas of the ceremonial offerings and had heathen traditions confounded with ceremonial worship. The ceremonial offerings had pointed forward for four thousand years to Christ the Lamb of God, and for hundreds of years the Jewish nation offered sacrifices which foreshadowed his death. When he was crucified in A.D. 31 the type met its antitype and the sacrificial system ceased, proving that not one word that has proceeded from the mouth of God becomes null and void before it is fulfilled.
Sacrifices and offerings continued after his first coming were useless because the Messiah they were looking forward to had already come. The apostles' teaching about the risen Christ made the Jewish sacrificial ceremonies ineffective, for the yearly sacrifices that brought sins to remembrance again belonged to ceremonies that pointed forward to Christ and reminded people of sin. Those offerings did not accomplish the benefit sought, just as prayers directed toward the heavenly sanctuary apartment Jesus had left cannot benefit those who reject his ministry in the Most Holy Place.
Though the sacrifices offered in the temple made it holy, pointed forward to his coming, pictured his death, and said by ceremony for the Saviour to come, those who kept offering them made no preparation to welcome him when he came and did not recognize or receive him when he was among them. The yearly sacrifices under the law were appointed to prove and test professed faith and obedience, and were typical of the Lamb of God illustrating his great atonement and prefiguring Christ. The nation was so blinded and deceived by Satan that when Christ came, whom their sacrifices had been prefiguring, they would not receive him but led him as a lamb to the slaughter, holding their own standard of virtue and purity of life and refusing to be taught by the Just One. The thought that the Messiah should die was too humbling, so they rejected him and turned with contempt from the One their own sacrifices pointed to, honoring him with mouth and lips while the heart was far from him, though the prophecies gave sufficient evidence to unprejudiced minds that he was the Son of God and Saviour of the world.
Ceremonial And Moral Law
What ended at the cross was the sacrificial system alone, the laws regulating sacrifices and offerings, the handwriting of ordinances blotted out and nailed to the cross. The yearly remembrance of sins belonged to temporary types pointing to the death of the Son of God, in force only until type reached antitype in His greater and wholly perfect sacrifice as the Lamb without blemish. When He died type met antitype, the one great offering fulfilled the types and terminated their value, so the typical ceremonies were to cease and the repeated offerings became valueless and no longer acceptable to God. That change did not mean the law of ten commandments died with Christ, for the original law engraved in tables of stone stands immutable, unchangeable and binding with its claims upon man in all ages. His death did not destroy His Father's law or make it of none effect or lessen obligation to obey it, but magnified and honored it, vindicated it and the truth, fulfilled all prophecy, and enforces obedience to all its holy precepts. In its light the sinner sees himself a sinner, dies to sin, repents, has faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, is baptized, and becomes obedient to its claims, since He is Author and Finisher of the faith of God's people from Adam's day and came for the express purpose of vindicating that law.
He Himself observed what was binding upon the Jews to the hour of His death upon the cross, and Paul continued to keep the Ten Commandments afterward. God once specified the Hebrew manner of worship, yet His providence opened the way for and authorized a change in its specifications when the blood of beasts became valueless. Christianity was not to be joined to the Jewish laws and ceremonies, restrictions and national peculiarities that had kept the Jews distinct from all other people, but the gospel gave the ancient rites a new significance.
The ceasing of the yearly typical sacrifices shown in Hebrews 10:1-14 did not repeal or relax the tithing system enjoined upon the Hebrews, which remains in force. It was to be more fully carried out and extended as salvation through Christ alone was more fully brought to light in the Christian age, requiring not less gifts but greater gifts and offerings in proportion to the light and blessings enjoyed. The lessons of practical obedience taught by Christ remained binding after the need for sacrificial offerings ceased. His sacrifice was to save people from sin, not leave them in it, and to lead them to loyalty to God's law.
Faith And True Worship
Forgiveness through the sacrifices becomes a living reality only through faith in the cleansing blood of Jesus as coming Messiah and Mediator, for every dying victim was appointed to rivet in mind and heart that his blood alone cleanses from all sin and that there is no remission without shedding of blood, forgiving sins that cling like foul leprosy. The yearly offerings were appointed to prove and test professed faith and obedience, and they were typical of the Lamb of God illustrating His great atonement and prefiguring Christ. The verse teaches justification by faith in Jesus Christ and access to God only through a Mediator because of the lost condition, guilt, and sin of man, since pardon comes only through Him whom the offerings represented. Repeated offerings brought sins to remembrance rather than removing them, and pointed to the need for Christ's blood, the true sacrifice for sin, apart from whom the religious ceremonies had no value.
Multitudes of offerings without true repentance cannot take the place of true sorrow for sin and obedience to God, for animal sacrifices repeated continuously for centuries kept making remembrance of sins every year because they could not remove guilt. They symbolized the great atonement of the Son of God to be offered for salvation, whose blood would be shed for the sins of the world, but multiplying sacrifices without humble repentance turned them into heartless service and obscured their purpose of pointing to Him. A broken heart and contrite spirit is of far more value than multitudes of offerings without true repentance. The guilt fastened by rejecting present mercies and warnings is guilt which the blood of bulls and goats cannot wash away.
Israel centered religion in outward ceremonies of the sacrificial system, making outward forms all-important while losing the spirit of true worship, corrupting the service with heathen traditions and practices, and in performing the rites not looking beyond the shadow to discern Christ the true offering for the sins of men. In great measure the people lost the knowledge of God and of the only way to approach Him, and lost nearly all genuine sense of what constitutes sin and what constitutes righteousness, so that pardon through Christ set forth in their own offerings was dimly understood by all and had become entirely extinct in the minds of many. Therefore God brought captivity with destruction of the temple and suspension of the temple service so outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion. By that removal principles and practice would be purged from heathenism, ritual service ceasing would revive heart service, and removal of outward glory would reveal the spiritual.
Worshipers often offered without understanding their meaning, though Christ had given the offerings their symbolic value as symbols of Himself the only perfect Sacrifice, and their purpose was perverted when people misunderstood them and spiritual worship faded. The sacrificial rites were a shadow of Christ the true offering for human sin, but the people failed to look beyond the outward ceremony to Him. In the old dispensation the typical sacrifices kept their significance often before the minds of children because they prefigured the great sacrifice to be made for redemption, and the same lessons are essential in our time to lay a foundation for prosperous households.
Christ was the great reality those repeated yearly remembrances foreshadowed, whose voluntary spotless self-sacrifice bore the world's sin and the law's curse, and whose separation from the Father met the penalty for transgression. His sacrifice vindicated God's justice, upheld the unchanging law, and settled the controversy over its character.
In those yearly sacrifices there was a recalling of guilt rather than a removing of it, keeping sin before the people because the blood of animals in itself could not cleanse, pardon, perfect or give life. They were appointed figures pointing forward to Christ as the only sufficient and effective offering for the sins of the world, teaching that without shedding of blood there is no remission and that cleansing comes through his blood alone. When he died type met antitype, fulfilling and ending the divinely given system so that its ceremonies lost their value and use. What ceased at the cross was only the law of sacrifices and ordinances, while the law of ten commandments stands unchanged and is honored and enforced by his death. The benefit foreshadowed becomes real only through faith in the coming Mediator with true repentance and obedience, for multiplied offerings without a broken heart cannot take the place of sorrow for sin.
Yearly Remembrance Explained
In those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins every year rather than a removal of them, for the yearly offerings recalled guilt and kept sin before the people instead of taking sins away. They could not in themselves cleanse, expiate, save, make perfect, or give spiritual life, but kept before worshipers' minds the need for Christ's blood. They were figures pointing to the perfect offering represented by their blood, and to Christ whose death and mediatorial work provided the way back to God. They foreshadowed Christ's offering as a spotless Lamb and his one great offering of his own life, which fulfilled the type and ended the value of those sacrifices so that they were to cease at his death, with the laws regulating those sacrifices and offerings ceasing at that time.
The system of sacrificing beasts was established after Adam's fall to keep continually before fallen humanity that the penalty of disobedience is death, countering what the serpent made Eve disbelieve. Transgression of God's law made Christ's sacrificial death necessary to make escape from the penalty possible while preserving the honor of God's law. If God's law had not been transgressed there would never have been death and there would have been no need for these additional requirements suited to man's fallen condition. From Adam onward the death of the victim taught the sinner to acknowledge transgression and to recognize that sin brings death, while also giving hope by pointing forward to the Son of God whose death alone could expiate sin and provide the perfect sacrifice. The sacrifices were to teach humility in view of the fallen condition and to lead to repentance and trust in God alone through the promised Redeemer for pardon for past transgression of His law, thus recalling guilt while giving a star of hope through faith in Christ's coming sacrifice.
The yearly remembrance belonged to a solemn sanctuary service that typified grand truths to be revealed through successive generations. The cloud of incense ascending with the prayers of Israel represents His righteousness that alone can make the sinner's prayer acceptable to God, the bleeding victim on the altar of sacrifice testified of a Redeemer to come, and the visible token of the divine presence shone forth from the holy of holies. The offering of beasts did not cleanse away sin but was a symbol of the great and complete sacrifice to be made for the sins of the whole world. The service was designed to impress that the things God has set apart for Himself are holy, that the distinction between the sacred and the common must ever be observed, and that holy things must be kept holy. Even the productions of the earth and the bounties provided for man's sustenance are owed to the offering of Christ upon the cross, and all received from God is the gift of redeeming love, as the rivers of blood that flowed at the harvest thanksgiving when sacrifices were offered in such large numbers were meant to teach. The ceremonial law so illustrated was given by Christ and is glorious, worthy of its divine Originator, with its true position and value remaining even after it was no longer to be observed, as presented before the Jews showing its place in the plan of redemption and its relation to the work of Christ, through which age after age of darkness and apostasy faith was kept alive in the hearts of men until the time came for the advent of the promised Messiah.
God gave definite directions about the sacrifices so His people might understand their true import, because they had confused ideas of the ceremonial sacrificial offerings and had heathen traditions confounded with their ceremonial worship. The sacrificial ordinances were sacred because they prefigured the sinless offering of God's Son and pointed to His sacrifice. They were temporary, to last only till the Lamb of God should be slain, who was the great antitype of all the sacrificial offerings, while repeatedly reminding the people of their sins. They were not ceremonies to be treated lightly or performed by anyone without authority.
Sacrifices Foreshadow Christ
In those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins every year rather than a removal of them, for the yearly offerings kept guilt before the mind and could not make the worshipers perfect, take away sins, truly atone, or save anyone in themselves. The repeated animal sacrifices, their blood, and the whole Jewish religious system were figures, types, shadows and symbols pointing to Christ as the Lamb of God, the spotless, perfect, sufficient, complete and only effective offering for the sins of the world. The ceremonial sacrificial system foreshadowed Christ's offering as a spotless Lamb and was to continue only until His death, when His one great offering of His own life fulfilled the type and ended the value of those sacrifices. All the sacrificial offerings only prefigured the death of the Son of God, and at His death type met antitype, so the divinely appointed ceremonies and sacrifices were abolished and rendered valueless.
Every dying victim was appointed to rivet in mind and heart the great truth that the blood of Jesus Christ alone cleanses from all sin and that there is no remission without the shedding of blood. The offerings pointed to His voluntary self-sacrifice, His blood shed for the salvation of the world, and the priesthood represented His mediating work, through which transgressors of the law find peace, pardon, forgiveness, and the way back to God. The ceremonies were instituted to keep before people the separation that sin caused and the need for mediation, and they were to continue until Christ, the perfect Offering, took the place of what they represented. That forgiveness becomes a living reality only through faith in the cleansing blood of Jesus as coming Messiah and Mediator, which forgives the sins that cling like foul leprosy, for apart from Him the religious ceremonies had no value. He was the great reality those offerings foreshadowed, whose voluntary, spotless self-sacrifice bore the world's sin and the law's curse and whose separation from the Father met the penalty for transgression, thereby vindicating God's justice, upholding the unchanging law, and settling the controversy over its character.
The entire Jewish system of sacrifices was originated, founded, and given by Christ, who is Author, foundation and Finisher of the faith and religion of God's people from Adam's day, vindicator of the truth and fulfiller of all prophecies. The typical sacrifices kept their significance often before minds including children because they prefigured the great sacrifice to be made for the redemption of man, and the same lessons remain essential to lay a foundation for prosperous households. Through age after age of darkness and apostasy faith was kept alive in hearts until the time came for the advent of the promised Messiah, for the sacrifices helped teach the plan of salvation and duty before God. The yearly remembrance belonged to the solemn service of the sanctuary that typified grand truths to be revealed through successive generations: the cloud of incense ascending with prayer represents His righteousness that alone can make the sinner's prayer acceptable, the bleeding victim testified of a Redeemer to come, and the visible token of the divine presence shone forth from the holy of holies. He did not make the law of God of none effect but came for the express purpose of vindicating His Father's law, in whose light the sinner sees himself a sinner, dies to sin, repents, has faith in Jesus as Saviour, is baptized, and becomes obedient to its claims.
Type Meets Antitype
When he died, type met antitype and prophecy became history, for all the sacrificial offerings only prefigured the death of the Son of God. The one great offering fulfilled the types and terminated their value, so that the offering of the blood of beasts became valueless and the typical ceremonies were to cease. The divinely appointed ceremonies and sacrifices of the Jewish religion were abolished and rendered valueless, unacceptable to God, and of no more use or moral efficacy, while the gospel gave the ancient rites a new significance. This change concerned the ceremonial system, not the Ten Commandments, and his providence opened the way for and authorized a change in the specifications of worship once specified for the Hebrews, so that Christianity was not to be joined to the Jewish laws and ceremonies, restrictions and national peculiarities that had kept the Jews distinct.
The yearly sacrifices with their yearly remembrance of sins were temporary reminders connected with sin, not the final reality, given to teach their true import only until the Lamb of God should be slain, who was the great antitype of all the sacrificial offerings. Definite directions were given about them so the people might understand their true meaning, because they had confused ideas of the ceremonial offerings and had heathen traditions confounded with ceremonial worship. The ceremonial offerings had pointed forward for four thousand years to Christ the Lamb of God, and for hundreds of years the Jewish nation offered sacrifices which foreshadowed his death. When he was crucified in A.D. 31 the type met its antitype and the sacrificial system ceased, proving that not one word that has proceeded from the mouth of God becomes null and void before it is fulfilled.
Sacrifices and offerings continued after his first coming were useless because the Messiah they were looking forward to had already come. The apostles' teaching about the risen Christ made the Jewish sacrificial ceremonies ineffective, for the yearly sacrifices that brought sins to remembrance again belonged to ceremonies that pointed forward to Christ and reminded people of sin. Those offerings did not accomplish the benefit sought, just as prayers directed toward the heavenly sanctuary apartment Jesus had left cannot benefit those who reject his ministry in the Most Holy Place.
Though the sacrifices offered in the temple made it holy, pointed forward to his coming, pictured his death, and said by ceremony for the Saviour to come, those who kept offering them made no preparation to welcome him when he came and did not recognize or receive him when he was among them. The yearly sacrifices under the law were appointed to prove and test professed faith and obedience, and were typical of the Lamb of God illustrating his great atonement and prefiguring Christ. The nation was so blinded and deceived by Satan that when Christ came, whom their sacrifices had been prefiguring, they would not receive him but led him as a lamb to the slaughter, holding their own standard of virtue and purity of life and refusing to be taught by the Just One. The thought that the Messiah should die was too humbling, so they rejected him and turned with contempt from the One their own sacrifices pointed to, honoring him with mouth and lips while the heart was far from him, though the prophecies gave sufficient evidence to unprejudiced minds that he was the Son of God and Saviour of the world.
Ceremonial And Moral Law
What ended at the cross was the sacrificial system alone, the laws regulating sacrifices and offerings, the handwriting of ordinances blotted out and nailed to the cross. The yearly remembrance of sins belonged to temporary types pointing to the death of the Son of God, in force only until type reached antitype in His greater and wholly perfect sacrifice as the Lamb without blemish. When He died type met antitype, the one great offering fulfilled the types and terminated their value, so the typical ceremonies were to cease and the repeated offerings became valueless and no longer acceptable to God. That change did not mean the law of ten commandments died with Christ, for the original law engraved in tables of stone stands immutable, unchangeable and binding with its claims upon man in all ages. His death did not destroy His Father's law or make it of none effect or lessen obligation to obey it, but magnified and honored it, vindicated it and the truth, fulfilled all prophecy, and enforces obedience to all its holy precepts. In its light the sinner sees himself a sinner, dies to sin, repents, has faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, is baptized, and becomes obedient to its claims, since He is Author and Finisher of the faith of God's people from Adam's day and came for the express purpose of vindicating that law.
He Himself observed what was binding upon the Jews to the hour of His death upon the cross, and Paul continued to keep the Ten Commandments afterward. God once specified the Hebrew manner of worship, yet His providence opened the way for and authorized a change in its specifications when the blood of beasts became valueless. Christianity was not to be joined to the Jewish laws and ceremonies, restrictions and national peculiarities that had kept the Jews distinct from all other people, but the gospel gave the ancient rites a new significance.
The ceasing of the yearly typical sacrifices shown in Hebrews 10:1-14 did not repeal or relax the tithing system enjoined upon the Hebrews, which remains in force. It was to be more fully carried out and extended as salvation through Christ alone was more fully brought to light in the Christian age, requiring not less gifts but greater gifts and offerings in proportion to the light and blessings enjoyed. The lessons of practical obedience taught by Christ remained binding after the need for sacrificial offerings ceased. His sacrifice was to save people from sin, not leave them in it, and to lead them to loyalty to God's law.
Faith And True Worship
Forgiveness through the sacrifices becomes a living reality only through faith in the cleansing blood of Jesus as coming Messiah and Mediator, for every dying victim was appointed to rivet in mind and heart that his blood alone cleanses from all sin and that there is no remission without shedding of blood, forgiving sins that cling like foul leprosy. The yearly offerings were appointed to prove and test professed faith and obedience, and they were typical of the Lamb of God illustrating His great atonement and prefiguring Christ. The verse teaches justification by faith in Jesus Christ and access to God only through a Mediator because of the lost condition, guilt, and sin of man, since pardon comes only through Him whom the offerings represented. Repeated offerings brought sins to remembrance rather than removing them, and pointed to the need for Christ's blood, the true sacrifice for sin, apart from whom the religious ceremonies had no value.
Multitudes of offerings without true repentance cannot take the place of true sorrow for sin and obedience to God, for animal sacrifices repeated continuously for centuries kept making remembrance of sins every year because they could not remove guilt. They symbolized the great atonement of the Son of God to be offered for salvation, whose blood would be shed for the sins of the world, but multiplying sacrifices without humble repentance turned them into heartless service and obscured their purpose of pointing to Him. A broken heart and contrite spirit is of far more value than multitudes of offerings without true repentance. The guilt fastened by rejecting present mercies and warnings is guilt which the blood of bulls and goats cannot wash away.
Israel centered religion in outward ceremonies of the sacrificial system, making outward forms all-important while losing the spirit of true worship, corrupting the service with heathen traditions and practices, and in performing the rites not looking beyond the shadow to discern Christ the true offering for the sins of men. In great measure the people lost the knowledge of God and of the only way to approach Him, and lost nearly all genuine sense of what constitutes sin and what constitutes righteousness, so that pardon through Christ set forth in their own offerings was dimly understood by all and had become entirely extinct in the minds of many. Therefore God brought captivity with destruction of the temple and suspension of the temple service so outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion. By that removal principles and practice would be purged from heathenism, ritual service ceasing would revive heart service, and removal of outward glory would reveal the spiritual.
Worshipers often offered without understanding their meaning, though Christ had given the offerings their symbolic value as symbols of Himself the only perfect Sacrifice, and their purpose was perverted when people misunderstood them and spiritual worship faded. The sacrificial rites were a shadow of Christ the true offering for human sin, but the people failed to look beyond the outward ceremony to Him. In the old dispensation the typical sacrifices kept their significance often before the minds of children because they prefigured the great sacrifice to be made for redemption, and the same lessons are essential in our time to lay a foundation for prosperous households.
Christ was the great reality those repeated yearly remembrances foreshadowed, whose voluntary spotless self-sacrifice bore the world's sin and the law's curse, and whose separation from the Father met the penalty for transgression. His sacrifice vindicated God's justice, upheld the unchanging law, and settled the controversy over its character.