The Sacrifice of Jesus
“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness [of sins]” – Hebrews 9:22
We see this clearly evidenced right from the beginning:
Adam and Eve sowed fig leaves together to provide a covering for their naked bodies (Genesis 3:7). God killed an animal and used the animal skin to clothe them (Genesis 3:21).
Cain, the firstborn into the world, offered up the produce of his hands (fruit and vegetables) to God, but God rejected him. Abel offered animals, which had to be killed, and God accepted him (Genesis 4:3–5).
God asked Abraham (the father of the Jewish people) to offer Isaac, the promised son, as a sacrifice on an altar, and God took Abraham to Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:1–2). When Abraham was about to kill Isaac, God stopped him and Abraham saw a ram with its horns caught in a thicket. Abraham then sacrificed the provided ram and called the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; and said “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided” (Genesis 22:10–14). It is understood by many that Isaac could have been in his early 30s when this took place. Although he could have resisted Abraham, he submitted – even unto death.
God brought the Israelites out of the captivity of Egypt and created the Passover. God passed over the homes of those who had the blood of the sacrificed lamb on the doorposts and lintel of their houses. The people were protected by the covering that the blood provided (Exodus 12:3–7,12–13).
Years later when arguing with the Jews, Jesus said that Abraham saw His day and rejoiced (John 8:56). He was referring to the fact that when Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, God stopped him and provided a substitute. Abraham saw the ram that God provided for the sacrifice, and he rejoiced in God’s provision and that He had provided a substitute in place of his son Isaac. Mount Moriah, where God took Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, became the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where all the sacrifices were made, and it is close to Calvary (Golgotha). Calvary was the place where the Jews, by the hands of the Romans, took Jesus and had Him crucified (John 19:16–18). Thus Jesus, who was also in his early thirties just like Isaac had probably been, having willingly submitted to the will of the Father just like Isaac had done, became the true sacrificial lamb (ram). He became the Lamb whom God would provide, as demonstrated to Abraham, and whom Abraham saw and rejoiced. The shedding of Christ’s blood provided the forgiveness of sins and shields those from God’s judgement who come under its covering, just like the Israelites were covered at the time of the Passover.
From before there was Jew or Gentile or a nation or a people, God had promised to send the Saviour (Genesis 3:15). He alone would be the saviour of the world, for as it is written,
“I, even I, am the LORD, and besides Me there is no saviour” (Isaiah 43:11), and
“I (Jesus) am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6), and
“Behold! The Lamb of God (Jesus) who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), and
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), and
“He (Jesus) Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
“For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another – He (Jesus) then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” “This He did once for all when He offered up Himself” (Hebrews 9:24–26; 7:27).
We, therefore, need to come under the covering of His blood, shed in our stead, through acceptance of Him as Lord and Saviour. For God requires the debt of sin to be paid, which is death, He does not overlook it, for as scripture says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne”, yet, God paid the debt Himself through Christ Jesus, for as the scripture continues, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face. Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!” (Psalm 89:14–15).
Judson McCawl