And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Under the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission, which is forgiveness and the putting away of sin. Animal blood itself had no virtue to take sin away but had value only as it pointed forward to Christ, while the earthly sanctuary was cleansed in symbol with animals' blood and the heavenly sanctuary is cleansed in reality with Christ's precious blood as the better sacrifice. God made this blood requirement known to Adam, and every sacrifice taught that sin brings death, that the sentence rests on a substitute, and that the slain victim bore the sinner's guilt and forfeited life under the broken law. The covenants were ratified by shed blood, the covenant at Sinai by sacrificial blood sprinkled on altar and people and the covenant with Adam and Abraham renewed by Christ's death, with bread and wine keeping His infinite sacrifice before believers. Only the blood of Jesus Christ the sinless Lamb cleanses from sin and shelters from wrath, as foreshadowed by the Passover lamb, and that remission is fully available for sins least and greatest and is received by faith to cleanse, wash, change and transform.
Law's Blood Requirement
Under the law almost all things are purified and cleansed with blood. This cleansing was provided in symbol in the earthly sanctuary service by the blood of animals, while the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary is accomplished in reality by a better sacrifice, Christ's own precious blood. The blood is necessary because remission of sin is the work to be accomplished.
Without shedding of blood there is no remission, and remission means forgiveness and the putting away of sin. The sacrifices of the old dispensation pointed to Christ, the Lamb of God, through whom alone sin is forgiven, for the blood of bulls and goats could not take sin away. Israel's sacrificial offerings were appointed as solemn symbols to impress upon the people that Christ's blood alone cleanses from sin and brings forgiveness. Each repeated sacrifice symbolized Christ whose blood was shed for the salvation of the world, and the solemn ceremony of the sin offering with its details taught that the Son of God would be offered for their sins. His suffering was not to make atonement for Himself, but its depth was proportionate to His divine dignity, sinless character, equality with God and perfect purity, and this truth calls sinners to trust in His cleansing blood, to recognize the gravity of sin and to hate it.
The setting is a temple in the Holy City having a door, with a first veil leading into the Holy Place and a second veil leading into the Holy of Holies. The Holy Place contains the altar of incense, the candlestick with seven lamps, and the table of showbread. Jesus ministers there, lifting the veils to give entrance from the Holy into the Holiest.
Earthly and Heavenly Cleansing
Under the law almost all things are purified with blood, because remission means the putting away of sin and there is no remission without shedding of blood. For this reason the earthly sanctuary was cleansed in symbol by the blood of animals, while the heavenly sanctuary is cleansed in reality by the better sacrifice of Christ's precious blood. The cleansing of both sanctuaries rests on the same necessity, since the work to be accomplished is the remission of sin.
The ministry of the earthly priests was an example and shadow of heavenly things. In the earthly service a repentant sinner confessed sins over the animal and laid hands on its head, thereby transferring guilt symbolically to the innocent victim, which was then slain. That victim bore the sinner's guilt, and its blood represented the sinner's life forfeited by God's broken law, which demands the transgressor's life. When the priest carried the blood into the holy place and sprinkled it there, sin was symbolically transferred from the repentant sinner to the sanctuary.
The offering was brought with confession of sinfulness and desert of wrath, with repentance and faith in Jesus Christ whose blood would remove guilt, and God signified acceptance by consuming the offering on the altar. Only clean, precious animals without spot or blemish could be used, because they best symbolized Christ, and since Heaven's most perfect and valuable treasure was given for salvation, only the dearest and most precious gift is acceptable in return. When the blood was not brought into the holy place, the priest instead ate the flesh of the sacrifice to bear the iniquity of the congregation. Both ceremonies alike represented the transfer of sin from the penitent to the sanctuary, showing that sin lodged there required a later work of atonement for its removal.
Covenant Ratified by Blood
Forgiveness and the ratifying of a covenant require the shedding of blood. The covenant made with Adam and renewed to Abraham was ratified by the death of Christ, while the covenant made at Sinai was ratified by sacrificial blood. The Abrahamic covenant is called new or second because the blood of Christ was shed after the blood that ratified the first covenant. The blood that Moses sprinkled on the altar and on the people when Israel promised obedience to the covenant was a most solemn service that set Israel apart as a peculiar people, and it represented cleansing from sin by the shedding of the blood of Jesus.
The blood sprinkled on the altar meant that Israel consecrated body, mind, and soul to God. The blood sprinkled on the people meant that God graciously accepted them as His special treasure through the sprinkled blood of Christ. By that blood they were set apart and sealed to God and entered into solemn covenant with Him, typifying the covenant made between God and every believer in Jesus Christ. The covenant was ratified through the blood of Christ, and the bread and wine of the sacrament keep before believers the infinite sacrifice He made for each person and for fallen humanity.
Sacrifice Taught Since Eden
From the beginning the requirement that forgiveness comes only by shedding of blood was made known to Adam, and his first sacrifice taught him that disobedience had brought death and that only the death of the Son of God could atone for sin. The slain innocent animal made him acknowledge guilt and see the death penalty due to sin, while its blood pointed forward in faith to the promised Sacrifice and gave hope by prefiguring a perfect offering. That victim pointed to the spotless Lamb of God and to the ransom provided to save the guilty, reminding the sinner of sin, acknowledging repentance, and expressing faith in the coming Redeemer.
The offerings ordained for Cain and Abel were to keep sin and the promised Redeemer in mind, expressing faith in Christ whom the sacrifices represented and acknowledging dependence on Him for pardon. By offering firstlings of the flock in faith as commanded they showed faith in Christ as the promised atonement and obedience to the plan of redemption, while first-fruits of the earth were presented separately as a thank-offering. The slain lamb and its blood pointed to the Messiah as the great sacrifice for humanity, teaching that remission requires shed blood.
God specified a lamb without blemish to declare faith in the promised Redeemer, so an offering without the lamb was worthless, offensive, and could not be accepted. Cain brought only fruit of the ground and refused to add a lamb, while Abel brought firstlings of his flock and was accepted, because Cain's offering lacked the one thing that gave an offering value. That lack came from rejecting submission and obedience to the ordinance, choosing his own plan as nobler and less humiliating and slighting the blood of atonement. In the same way labor to introduce truth that is almost entirely theoretical and does not urge Christ home upon the conscience when feelings are softened lacks that sacrificial blood and is not acceptable. Cain's disobedience to the blood requirement, followed by jealousy over Abel's acceptance, led to the first death when he killed Abel.
The solemn shedding of the victim's blood signified repentance for sin and typified a future atonement through a Redeemer to come. Satan watched those sacrifices with intense interest and great uneasiness, learned that mystery, and because it opposed his purposes at once began to work on Cain's heart to lead him to rebellion against the blood offering. Israel's repeated sacrifices, ceremonies, symbols and figures were afterward appointed to impress that same truth of atonement upon the world and ever keep the gospel before them. Each sacrifice symbolized Christ, whose blood alone cleanses from sin and brings forgiveness, and the solemn ceremony and details of the sin offering taught how the Son of God would be offered for sins. His sufferings were not for atonement for Himself but for fallen humanity, proportionate to His divine dignity, sinless character, equality with God and perfect purity, and faith grasps the complete pardon for sins least and greatest without setting aside justice, holiness or truth.
Substitute Death For Sin
Sin brings death, and therefore forgiveness requires blood to be shed. Fallen man's guilt and transgression of the divine law placed an impassable barrier between the holy God and the transgressor so that he could no longer come directly before God with his supplications, so the sentence of death was made to rest upon a substitute. In the slain victim man was to see God's death sentence against sin fulfilled for the time being, and the flowing of the blood signified an atonement. The victim's death displayed the penalty their sin deserved and was associated with the blood of the Son of God. Without sin man would never have known death, but in the innocent offering slain by his own hand he beholds the fruits of sin, even the death of the Son of God in his behalf.
The slain offering reveals the immutable character of the law he has transgressed, leading him to confess his sin and rely upon the merits of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, while through the love of God in providing such a ransom a star of hope illumines the terrible future spread before the transgressor. By sacrificing, sinners acknowledged their guilt and showed faith in the coming perfect sacrifice of God's Son, which animal offerings prefigured, for without Christ's atonement there could be no blessing or salvation from God to humanity. There was no virtue or power in the blood of animals itself to remove sin; it signified atonement and had value only as it pointed forward to a Redeemer who would one day come to the world and die for the sins of men. The blood of bulls and goats could not take sin away, and only the blood of Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb, cleanses from sin. Once Christ, the reality foreshadowed by those offerings, gave His own life as the one great sacrifice, His death ended the value of the Jewish sacrificial offerings.
By that death Christ would fully uphold and vindicate His Father's law. His sacrifice on the cross, where He shed His blood and bore sin's penalty, is the only ground for forgiveness and for the imputation of His righteousness to the believing sinner. This remission does not make the law void or permit a person to remain in sin, for Christ's righteousness makes obedience acceptable and faith establishes the law. It was not enough for Him merely to live the law and reveal God's character in a spotless life; He had to offer Himself voluntarily as a willing, spotless sacrifice and suffer the agony of a public death on the cross, so that His atoning death would be witnessed without the shadow of a doubt. The atonement is necessary and cannot be set aside without sweeping away the whole Christian economy. To do away with the necessity for the atonement makes man his own saviour and makes God's word of no effect, and without it the defenses of the soul are broken down so that man has no barrier against sin, and when the restraints of God's word and His Spirit are rejected there is no knowing to what depths one may sink.
Christ's Blood Alone Saves
The blood of bulls and goats could not take sin away, and forgiveness comes only through shed blood pointing to Christ the Lamb of God through whom alone sin is forgiven. Israel's offerings were appointed as solemn symbols to impress that Christ's blood alone cleanses from sin and brings forgiveness. He is the sinless Lamb whose sacrifice makes pardon possible, and only the Son of God could pay sin's penalty. Salvation does not rest on human works of righteousness but on God's mercy and love received by living faith and continued dependence.
His suffering was not to make atonement for Himself, for He needed none, but was given for fallen humanity. Its depth was proportionate to His divine dignity and sinless character, to His equality with God and perfect purity, though He suffered on behalf of sinners. Through Him as the only Mediator God forgives fully without setting aside justice, holiness, or truth, with free pardon available for sins least and greatest. Understanding its cost deepens as people recognize the seriousness of sin and the deliverance from it, calling them to trust His cleansing blood, recognize the gravity of sin, and hate it.
The claims of God's law could be met only through His atoning sacrifice, as Abel's slain victim pointed by faith to the Son of God dying for sinners. Human works, wealth, abilities, and personal merit cannot atone for sin or secure God's approval. Without His sacrifice and divine mediation a person remains under condemnation and in bondage to sin, and forgiveness rests on His sacrifice received through faith and obedience.
The blood required for cleansing from sin and shelter from wrath is the blood of Christ, foreshadowed by the slain Passover lamb and by the blood marking the doorposts in Egypt. The lamb's death pointed forward to His death, and that blood is efficacious for the believing sinner both to cleanse from sin and to shelter from the wrath of God to come upon the impenitent and unbelieving world, as the wrath of God fell upon the Egyptians. Its benefit is received only by those who perform the work God leaves them to do and by their acts manifest faith in the provision God made for salvation. The command to sprinkle the blood of the slain lamb on the door lintels so the death angel would not enter shows how shed blood protects from divine judgment. That blood is the blood of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, crucified and risen, whose virtue is the sinner's only hope because salvation comes only through His merits, tasted death for all, received through faith in His name unto cleansing from all sin.
Animal blood flowed in the temple as a symbol of His blood, showing that forgiveness and cleansing come through His sacrificial death. The beasts led for centuries through the sheep gate for sacrificial offerings pointed to Jesus as the great Antitype whose sacrifice for the sins of the world fulfills them, as He Himself was about to go through that gate toward Gethsemane and Calvary to offer His own life. Every gift of God is as it were sprinkled with His blood and made one through His sacrifice, expressing God's love for fallen humanity. His blood is efficacious for remission and seals the promise to those who trust in Him as their only hope and stronghold.
Receiving Forgiveness by Faith
Without shed blood there is no forgiveness, and the sacrifices given to Israel repeatedly impressed that truth in symbols and figures pointing to forgiveness through Christ's blood alone. His sufferings were not for any need of atonement in Himself, for He was equal with God and perfectly pure, but were borne for fallen humanity. Through Jesus the only Mediator God pardons fully without setting aside justice, holiness or truth, and the repentant sinner who confesses and trusts Him receives pardon for sins both least and greatest. Faith grasps this complete free pardon, and its cost is understood more deeply as the seriousness of sin and the deliverance from it are recognized. Those who look to Him in faith are pardoned, as was shown when the dying thief looked to Him.
The blood appointed from beasts typified pardon through the great offering to come and stood as a pledge of forgiveness. To offer that blood signified repentance, obedience and faith in a Redeemer to come, acknowledging sinfulness and weakness and dependence upon another for atonement. The sinner bringing an offering confessed himself a sinner deserving God's wrath and showed repentance and faith in Jesus Christ whose blood would remove guilt, transferring his sin to the victim by laying hands on its head. In the victim's suffering he saw Christ typified giving Himself as a sacrifice for sins, and God signified acceptance by consuming the offering on the altar. Only clean, precious animals without spot or blemish that best symbolized Christ could teach this, and since Heaven's most perfect and valuable treasure was given for salvation, God receives in return only the dearest and most precious gift. God forgave the people when they offered these sacrifices in obedience to His law, yet the offerings had no value without true contrition and repentance from the heart, with Christ's grace working in them as they confessed to God and to one another unto genuine reformation.
Christ gave His precious life to secure remission as an inestimable heavenly treasure for every perishing soul. Received by faith into the heart, the gospel brings remission and transforms the person. It cleanses the impure, washing them in the blood of the Lamb, and changes the whole man.
Even for souls stained by the corruptions of a degenerate age who have professedly served God, the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour atones, and even now it is not too late for wrongs to be righted and pardon received if sinners repent and feel their need. Those who name Christ must not grow careless and look upon sin with indifference, but must watch and pray as never before and guard the avenues of the soul. Satan is at work to corrupt and destroy if given the least advantage, and the camp needs purging.
The poor who came to the temple believed forgiveness required shed blood and were distressed because they were too poor to purchase even the humblest offering and feared they could not be forgiven. At Passover those coming from a distance felt compelled to buy animals for sacrifice, while priests and rulers who had bought cattle cheaply sold them at exorbitant prices in sharp bargaining. This oppression in the outer court turned into a place of unholy traffic moved Christ to cleanse the temple.
The required sacrifices were ceremonies typifying the only perfect sacrifice, Christ Himself, who gave directions for the offerings and is the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. The people were not instructed in their import and offered them without understanding what they pointed to, so the service had become mere form and spiritual worship was disappearing. The symbolic meaning had been misunderstood and perverted, and Christ the one perfect Sacrifice stood among the worshipers unrecognized.
The sacrificial blood of atonement is what gives an offering value and makes it acceptable to God, so an offering that leaves it out is worthless like Cain's offering of only the fruit of the ground. Labor to introduce truth that is almost entirely theoretical, that does not urge the religion of Christ home upon the conscience when feelings are softened, lacks that blood and is not acceptable. Doctrinal preaching that is only theoretical and does not present Christ and Him crucified with practical godliness lacks the blood that makes it acceptable and able to reach hearts.
Through the shedding of Jesus' blood peace and goodwill are proclaimed, and faith in His blood and attention to His atoning sacrifice are necessary for remission. Forgiveness comes only through shed blood, the great truth ever kept before Israel by the tabernacle sacrifices setting forth the gospel. He tasted death for all, and cleansing from all sin is received through faith in His name, for salvation comes only through His merits and His virtue is the sinner's only hope. He must be lifted up, with this testimony heard in every discourse.
Under the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission, which is forgiveness and the putting away of sin. Animal blood itself had no virtue to take sin away but had value only as it pointed forward to Christ, while the earthly sanctuary was cleansed in symbol with animals' blood and the heavenly sanctuary is cleansed in reality with Christ's precious blood as the better sacrifice. God made this blood requirement known to Adam, and every sacrifice taught that sin brings death, that the sentence rests on a substitute, and that the slain victim bore the sinner's guilt and forfeited life under the broken law. The covenants were ratified by shed blood, the covenant at Sinai by sacrificial blood sprinkled on altar and people and the covenant with Adam and Abraham renewed by Christ's death, with bread and wine keeping His infinite sacrifice before believers. Only the blood of Jesus Christ the sinless Lamb cleanses from sin and shelters from wrath, as foreshadowed by the Passover lamb, and that remission is fully available for sins least and greatest and is received by faith to cleanse, wash, change and transform.
Law's Blood Requirement
Under the law almost all things are purified and cleansed with blood. This cleansing was provided in symbol in the earthly sanctuary service by the blood of animals, while the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary is accomplished in reality by a better sacrifice, Christ's own precious blood. The blood is necessary because remission of sin is the work to be accomplished.
Without shedding of blood there is no remission, and remission means forgiveness and the putting away of sin. The sacrifices of the old dispensation pointed to Christ, the Lamb of God, through whom alone sin is forgiven, for the blood of bulls and goats could not take sin away. Israel's sacrificial offerings were appointed as solemn symbols to impress upon the people that Christ's blood alone cleanses from sin and brings forgiveness. Each repeated sacrifice symbolized Christ whose blood was shed for the salvation of the world, and the solemn ceremony of the sin offering with its details taught that the Son of God would be offered for their sins. His suffering was not to make atonement for Himself, but its depth was proportionate to His divine dignity, sinless character, equality with God and perfect purity, and this truth calls sinners to trust in His cleansing blood, to recognize the gravity of sin and to hate it.
The setting is a temple in the Holy City having a door, with a first veil leading into the Holy Place and a second veil leading into the Holy of Holies. The Holy Place contains the altar of incense, the candlestick with seven lamps, and the table of showbread. Jesus ministers there, lifting the veils to give entrance from the Holy into the Holiest.
Earthly and Heavenly Cleansing
Under the law almost all things are purified with blood, because remission means the putting away of sin and there is no remission without shedding of blood. For this reason the earthly sanctuary was cleansed in symbol by the blood of animals, while the heavenly sanctuary is cleansed in reality by the better sacrifice of Christ's precious blood. The cleansing of both sanctuaries rests on the same necessity, since the work to be accomplished is the remission of sin.
The ministry of the earthly priests was an example and shadow of heavenly things. In the earthly service a repentant sinner confessed sins over the animal and laid hands on its head, thereby transferring guilt symbolically to the innocent victim, which was then slain. That victim bore the sinner's guilt, and its blood represented the sinner's life forfeited by God's broken law, which demands the transgressor's life. When the priest carried the blood into the holy place and sprinkled it there, sin was symbolically transferred from the repentant sinner to the sanctuary.
The offering was brought with confession of sinfulness and desert of wrath, with repentance and faith in Jesus Christ whose blood would remove guilt, and God signified acceptance by consuming the offering on the altar. Only clean, precious animals without spot or blemish could be used, because they best symbolized Christ, and since Heaven's most perfect and valuable treasure was given for salvation, only the dearest and most precious gift is acceptable in return. When the blood was not brought into the holy place, the priest instead ate the flesh of the sacrifice to bear the iniquity of the congregation. Both ceremonies alike represented the transfer of sin from the penitent to the sanctuary, showing that sin lodged there required a later work of atonement for its removal.
Covenant Ratified by Blood
Forgiveness and the ratifying of a covenant require the shedding of blood. The covenant made with Adam and renewed to Abraham was ratified by the death of Christ, while the covenant made at Sinai was ratified by sacrificial blood. The Abrahamic covenant is called new or second because the blood of Christ was shed after the blood that ratified the first covenant. The blood that Moses sprinkled on the altar and on the people when Israel promised obedience to the covenant was a most solemn service that set Israel apart as a peculiar people, and it represented cleansing from sin by the shedding of the blood of Jesus.
The blood sprinkled on the altar meant that Israel consecrated body, mind, and soul to God. The blood sprinkled on the people meant that God graciously accepted them as His special treasure through the sprinkled blood of Christ. By that blood they were set apart and sealed to God and entered into solemn covenant with Him, typifying the covenant made between God and every believer in Jesus Christ. The covenant was ratified through the blood of Christ, and the bread and wine of the sacrament keep before believers the infinite sacrifice He made for each person and for fallen humanity.
Sacrifice Taught Since Eden
From the beginning the requirement that forgiveness comes only by shedding of blood was made known to Adam, and his first sacrifice taught him that disobedience had brought death and that only the death of the Son of God could atone for sin. The slain innocent animal made him acknowledge guilt and see the death penalty due to sin, while its blood pointed forward in faith to the promised Sacrifice and gave hope by prefiguring a perfect offering. That victim pointed to the spotless Lamb of God and to the ransom provided to save the guilty, reminding the sinner of sin, acknowledging repentance, and expressing faith in the coming Redeemer.
The offerings ordained for Cain and Abel were to keep sin and the promised Redeemer in mind, expressing faith in Christ whom the sacrifices represented and acknowledging dependence on Him for pardon. By offering firstlings of the flock in faith as commanded they showed faith in Christ as the promised atonement and obedience to the plan of redemption, while first-fruits of the earth were presented separately as a thank-offering. The slain lamb and its blood pointed to the Messiah as the great sacrifice for humanity, teaching that remission requires shed blood.
God specified a lamb without blemish to declare faith in the promised Redeemer, so an offering without the lamb was worthless, offensive, and could not be accepted. Cain brought only fruit of the ground and refused to add a lamb, while Abel brought firstlings of his flock and was accepted, because Cain's offering lacked the one thing that gave an offering value. That lack came from rejecting submission and obedience to the ordinance, choosing his own plan as nobler and less humiliating and slighting the blood of atonement. In the same way labor to introduce truth that is almost entirely theoretical and does not urge Christ home upon the conscience when feelings are softened lacks that sacrificial blood and is not acceptable. Cain's disobedience to the blood requirement, followed by jealousy over Abel's acceptance, led to the first death when he killed Abel.
The solemn shedding of the victim's blood signified repentance for sin and typified a future atonement through a Redeemer to come. Satan watched those sacrifices with intense interest and great uneasiness, learned that mystery, and because it opposed his purposes at once began to work on Cain's heart to lead him to rebellion against the blood offering. Israel's repeated sacrifices, ceremonies, symbols and figures were afterward appointed to impress that same truth of atonement upon the world and ever keep the gospel before them. Each sacrifice symbolized Christ, whose blood alone cleanses from sin and brings forgiveness, and the solemn ceremony and details of the sin offering taught how the Son of God would be offered for sins. His sufferings were not for atonement for Himself but for fallen humanity, proportionate to His divine dignity, sinless character, equality with God and perfect purity, and faith grasps the complete pardon for sins least and greatest without setting aside justice, holiness or truth.
Substitute Death For Sin
Sin brings death, and therefore forgiveness requires blood to be shed. Fallen man's guilt and transgression of the divine law placed an impassable barrier between the holy God and the transgressor so that he could no longer come directly before God with his supplications, so the sentence of death was made to rest upon a substitute. In the slain victim man was to see God's death sentence against sin fulfilled for the time being, and the flowing of the blood signified an atonement. The victim's death displayed the penalty their sin deserved and was associated with the blood of the Son of God. Without sin man would never have known death, but in the innocent offering slain by his own hand he beholds the fruits of sin, even the death of the Son of God in his behalf.
The slain offering reveals the immutable character of the law he has transgressed, leading him to confess his sin and rely upon the merits of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, while through the love of God in providing such a ransom a star of hope illumines the terrible future spread before the transgressor. By sacrificing, sinners acknowledged their guilt and showed faith in the coming perfect sacrifice of God's Son, which animal offerings prefigured, for without Christ's atonement there could be no blessing or salvation from God to humanity. There was no virtue or power in the blood of animals itself to remove sin; it signified atonement and had value only as it pointed forward to a Redeemer who would one day come to the world and die for the sins of men. The blood of bulls and goats could not take sin away, and only the blood of Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb, cleanses from sin. Once Christ, the reality foreshadowed by those offerings, gave His own life as the one great sacrifice, His death ended the value of the Jewish sacrificial offerings.
By that death Christ would fully uphold and vindicate His Father's law. His sacrifice on the cross, where He shed His blood and bore sin's penalty, is the only ground for forgiveness and for the imputation of His righteousness to the believing sinner. This remission does not make the law void or permit a person to remain in sin, for Christ's righteousness makes obedience acceptable and faith establishes the law. It was not enough for Him merely to live the law and reveal God's character in a spotless life; He had to offer Himself voluntarily as a willing, spotless sacrifice and suffer the agony of a public death on the cross, so that His atoning death would be witnessed without the shadow of a doubt. The atonement is necessary and cannot be set aside without sweeping away the whole Christian economy. To do away with the necessity for the atonement makes man his own saviour and makes God's word of no effect, and without it the defenses of the soul are broken down so that man has no barrier against sin, and when the restraints of God's word and His Spirit are rejected there is no knowing to what depths one may sink.
Christ's Blood Alone Saves
The blood of bulls and goats could not take sin away, and forgiveness comes only through shed blood pointing to Christ the Lamb of God through whom alone sin is forgiven. Israel's offerings were appointed as solemn symbols to impress that Christ's blood alone cleanses from sin and brings forgiveness. He is the sinless Lamb whose sacrifice makes pardon possible, and only the Son of God could pay sin's penalty. Salvation does not rest on human works of righteousness but on God's mercy and love received by living faith and continued dependence.
His suffering was not to make atonement for Himself, for He needed none, but was given for fallen humanity. Its depth was proportionate to His divine dignity and sinless character, to His equality with God and perfect purity, though He suffered on behalf of sinners. Through Him as the only Mediator God forgives fully without setting aside justice, holiness, or truth, with free pardon available for sins least and greatest. Understanding its cost deepens as people recognize the seriousness of sin and the deliverance from it, calling them to trust His cleansing blood, recognize the gravity of sin, and hate it.
The claims of God's law could be met only through His atoning sacrifice, as Abel's slain victim pointed by faith to the Son of God dying for sinners. Human works, wealth, abilities, and personal merit cannot atone for sin or secure God's approval. Without His sacrifice and divine mediation a person remains under condemnation and in bondage to sin, and forgiveness rests on His sacrifice received through faith and obedience.
The blood required for cleansing from sin and shelter from wrath is the blood of Christ, foreshadowed by the slain Passover lamb and by the blood marking the doorposts in Egypt. The lamb's death pointed forward to His death, and that blood is efficacious for the believing sinner both to cleanse from sin and to shelter from the wrath of God to come upon the impenitent and unbelieving world, as the wrath of God fell upon the Egyptians. Its benefit is received only by those who perform the work God leaves them to do and by their acts manifest faith in the provision God made for salvation. The command to sprinkle the blood of the slain lamb on the door lintels so the death angel would not enter shows how shed blood protects from divine judgment. That blood is the blood of Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, crucified and risen, whose virtue is the sinner's only hope because salvation comes only through His merits, tasted death for all, received through faith in His name unto cleansing from all sin.
Animal blood flowed in the temple as a symbol of His blood, showing that forgiveness and cleansing come through His sacrificial death. The beasts led for centuries through the sheep gate for sacrificial offerings pointed to Jesus as the great Antitype whose sacrifice for the sins of the world fulfills them, as He Himself was about to go through that gate toward Gethsemane and Calvary to offer His own life. Every gift of God is as it were sprinkled with His blood and made one through His sacrifice, expressing God's love for fallen humanity. His blood is efficacious for remission and seals the promise to those who trust in Him as their only hope and stronghold.
Receiving Forgiveness by Faith
Without shed blood there is no forgiveness, and the sacrifices given to Israel repeatedly impressed that truth in symbols and figures pointing to forgiveness through Christ's blood alone. His sufferings were not for any need of atonement in Himself, for He was equal with God and perfectly pure, but were borne for fallen humanity. Through Jesus the only Mediator God pardons fully without setting aside justice, holiness or truth, and the repentant sinner who confesses and trusts Him receives pardon for sins both least and greatest. Faith grasps this complete free pardon, and its cost is understood more deeply as the seriousness of sin and the deliverance from it are recognized. Those who look to Him in faith are pardoned, as was shown when the dying thief looked to Him.
The blood appointed from beasts typified pardon through the great offering to come and stood as a pledge of forgiveness. To offer that blood signified repentance, obedience and faith in a Redeemer to come, acknowledging sinfulness and weakness and dependence upon another for atonement. The sinner bringing an offering confessed himself a sinner deserving God's wrath and showed repentance and faith in Jesus Christ whose blood would remove guilt, transferring his sin to the victim by laying hands on its head. In the victim's suffering he saw Christ typified giving Himself as a sacrifice for sins, and God signified acceptance by consuming the offering on the altar. Only clean, precious animals without spot or blemish that best symbolized Christ could teach this, and since Heaven's most perfect and valuable treasure was given for salvation, God receives in return only the dearest and most precious gift. God forgave the people when they offered these sacrifices in obedience to His law, yet the offerings had no value without true contrition and repentance from the heart, with Christ's grace working in them as they confessed to God and to one another unto genuine reformation.
Christ gave His precious life to secure remission as an inestimable heavenly treasure for every perishing soul. Received by faith into the heart, the gospel brings remission and transforms the person. It cleanses the impure, washing them in the blood of the Lamb, and changes the whole man.
Even for souls stained by the corruptions of a degenerate age who have professedly served God, the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour atones, and even now it is not too late for wrongs to be righted and pardon received if sinners repent and feel their need. Those who name Christ must not grow careless and look upon sin with indifference, but must watch and pray as never before and guard the avenues of the soul. Satan is at work to corrupt and destroy if given the least advantage, and the camp needs purging.
The poor who came to the temple believed forgiveness required shed blood and were distressed because they were too poor to purchase even the humblest offering and feared they could not be forgiven. At Passover those coming from a distance felt compelled to buy animals for sacrifice, while priests and rulers who had bought cattle cheaply sold them at exorbitant prices in sharp bargaining. This oppression in the outer court turned into a place of unholy traffic moved Christ to cleanse the temple.
The required sacrifices were ceremonies typifying the only perfect sacrifice, Christ Himself, who gave directions for the offerings and is the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. The people were not instructed in their import and offered them without understanding what they pointed to, so the service had become mere form and spiritual worship was disappearing. The symbolic meaning had been misunderstood and perverted, and Christ the one perfect Sacrifice stood among the worshipers unrecognized.
The sacrificial blood of atonement is what gives an offering value and makes it acceptable to God, so an offering that leaves it out is worthless like Cain's offering of only the fruit of the ground. Labor to introduce truth that is almost entirely theoretical, that does not urge the religion of Christ home upon the conscience when feelings are softened, lacks that blood and is not acceptable. Doctrinal preaching that is only theoretical and does not present Christ and Him crucified with practical godliness lacks the blood that makes it acceptable and able to reach hearts.
Through the shedding of Jesus' blood peace and goodwill are proclaimed, and faith in His blood and attention to His atoning sacrifice are necessary for remission. Forgiveness comes only through shed blood, the great truth ever kept before Israel by the tabernacle sacrifices setting forth the gospel. He tasted death for all, and cleansing from all sin is received through faith in His name, for salvation comes only through His merits and His virtue is the sinner's only hope. He must be lifted up, with this testimony heard in every discourse.