Study 2
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission”
(Hebrews 9:22)
Introduction
The Old Testament would be meaningless, spiritually speaking, if there was no access to God for the sinner through an atoning sacrifice. At the heart of Old Testament faith was the belief that blood sacrifices covered iniquity, thus permitting the sinner to come before a holy God. In Old Testament times there was a definite understanding of the need for atonement. It produced both an awareness of the guilt in a person's conscience and also an awareness of the effects of the sin in an individual's relationship to God.
Blood
Without the shedding of the blood of ceremonial clean animals there was no atonement (Hebrews 9:22.) The blood of an animal represented the fact that the life of an innocent party was given to set a guilty sinner free (Leviticus 17:11-14). We say “innocent” since the animal had to be without blemish (Exodus 12:5). Peter uses this as an illustration regarding the sinlessness of Christ (1 Peter 1:19.) The Feast of Passover reveals much about what the atonement meant.
The victim was a substitute for the sinner (Leviticus 1:4; 3:2; 8:13; 4:4, 15, 24, 29; 16:21). For this blood to be effectual the person had to admit he was in deed guilty.
The purpose for the ritual is made very clear in several places. It is to cleanse from all sins (Leviticus 16:30). Other passages make it clear that such cleansing results in saving the life of the offender (Leviticus 17:11). The restoring of pure relationship is an important result, too, since the atonement is for all uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been (Leviticus 16:16). Thus the sinner is reunited in purity with God by the atoning sacrifice for sins.
The holiness of God
The entire sacrificial system, as seen under the Old Covenant, was designed by God to accomplish four things:-
1. To reveal that He was holy.
2. To reveal that man was unholy and depraved.
3. To reveal that man needed someone other than himself to save him.
4. That God was willing to forgive the sinner, not on the merits of religious duty, but on those of an innocent substitute.
The Old Testament clearly recognises that offerings in themselves do not atone for sin, it is only through the grace of God (Psalm 51:16-17; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8.)
Prophetic
Hebrews chapter 8 makes it abundantly clear that the Old Testament sacrificial system was inadequate in removing sin and making a person right before God. A new and better covenant had to be established that was based on a perfect sacrifice. This Lamb would not be an uncaring animal that was forced to give up its life, but the Son of God who would willingly lay down His life for all men (Isaiah 53.)
Conclusion
What the atonement under the Old Covenant did was to make God’s people aware that they could not redeem themselves. It prepared them for the coming of the Messiah, so that, when He arrived and died on the cross, they would make the connection with the old system. In reality, only those who trusted in Christ made sense of the complicated sacrifices of the Old Testament, realising they pointed to Him.
