Making Sacrifices

Over Eastertide I hoped you enjoyed the two blog posts, ''Spotless'' and ''Happy to be passed over''.

My aim was to provide a better understanding of the work of Jesus in the context of sacrifices in the Old Covenant, the bridge to the New Covenant and what lies beyond for all of us.

This week I'd like to share with you an article, written by my eldest son for a student magazine for which he is a regular contributor; the article summarises much of what I have covered over the last two weeks:-

''Several times in history, God made a contract, or Covenant, with certain people. These covenants laid down certain things that these people would do, and things that God would do in return should they fulfill their part. There was a covenant with Adam; that he would have rule over all creation provided he did not eat the apple. There was a covenant with Abraham, that because he had such faith in God he would found a great nation, and have more descendants than stars in the sky.
The most significant contract from the Christian point of view, as far as I am aware, was the Mosaic Covenant- the agreement between God and the Israelites after he led them out of Egypt.

God gave to the Israelites a Law. This law set out what could and could not be done by the Israelites, as individuals and as a nation. The part of it I am going to discuss here is the idea of sacrifice. Now that there was a Law, it could clearly be broken. If the Israelites broke their part of the deal, by sinning, then they were in trouble with God. His presence would depart from them and their nation, as it must depart from things that are impure. However as humans are fundamentally imperfect, it was inevitable that they would break the law. If there was no way of making amends then the Old Covenant would be futile- it would be dissolved in a matter of weeks, at best.

However there was a way for the Israelites to atone for their mistakes and disobedience, and that was Sacrifice. Why sacrifice is necessary, and why it works, is a mystery. The Bible says that it is the shadow, or image, of something far greater that takes place in the spiritual world, and presumably this is what makes it effective.

Nevertheless, by the sacrifice of animals, the Israelites could cleanse themselves of sin, and make right their failures to fulfill their part of the contract. The main sacrifice was made once a year, by the high priest of the Jews. This wiped out the sins the entire Jewish race had committed over the preceding year.

This sacrifice was made in the presence of God, which dwelt above the Ark of the Covenant, in the innermost room of the temple- the holy of holies. The high priest was the only man who could enter this presence, and then only after an elaborate ritual of purification. If he did not do this, or if anyone else entered this room, they would be struck dead by their contact with God’s presence.

Individuals also made private sin offerings for themselves, to cover their own misdemeanors apart from the general sacrifice. There were many different types of sacrifice, for many different sins, but the principle remained the same. The Jews had a set of laws to obey. If they obeyed them, then God would bless their nation. If not, he would withdraw his protection from it. If they broke the law, they could redeem themselves by sacrifice- they could wipe the slate clean between them and God. This is often called the ‘Old Covenant’, in contrast to the ‘New Covenant’ given with Jesus’ sacrifice.

However it can be seen that the system was imperfect. It relied upon humans being able, purely by their own conscience, to stick to a certain set of rules. Even though they could atone for the breaking of these rules, this atonement involved following the same set of rules. Furthermore, in the Old Covenant only one man- the high priest- could come into God’s presence, and then only once a year, and with great danger.

The question can be asked, therefore, why it was instituted in the first place. The Bible seems to imply that it was because it was necessary. The Apostle Paul said that the Law showed that humans absolutely could not become perfect by themselves. They tried to follow a system whereby they would be made pure by their own actions, and this failed completely. He says that the point of the law was to demonstrate this fact.

I know just enough about Paul’s theology to know that there are many deep questions surrounding his idea of the Law, and I know rather too little to be able to try to answer them. However I would venture an unlearned opinion on the above; that at least one part of the meaning was that the Old Covenant was necessary for the New to have its full effect. As with many things in the Old Testament, the Law was there to prepare the ground for the Crucifixion. With this argument, had the Law not been given, then many fewer people would eventually gain entrance into heaven.''

Next week - ''A wash with good people'' - 'stage 7' and the resumption of our journey.