Grown-up Faith by Kevin Myers

Author:Kevin Myers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2018-12-13T16:00:00+00:00

Worship and Atonement Through Sacrifice

All the inner workings of the sanctuary would have been known only by the priests, who were descendants of Levi, Israel’s third son. They were the only people allowed inside the Holy Place. The rest of the Israelites would have seen just the fence, one-hundred-fifty feet long by seventy-five feet wide, that surrounded the tabernacle. And their interaction inside that fence would have been restricted to their limited participation in the system of sacrifice God instructed them to follow.

Only the male head of household was allowed to enter the area within the fence and approach the tabernacle. Once a year he would come, representing his family, bringing a year-old lamb to be sacrificed. Why? Because the consequences of sin are always death, and the only way sinful human beings could approach God was through a sacrifice made to atone for their sins. The lamb, which had to be without defect or blemish and a firstborn, was a substitute for the man and his family. It was a temporary, substitutionary sacrificial atonement for their sins.

•Temporary: This process had to be repeated annually; it only gave the head of household and his family relief from their guilt for a short season.

•Substitutionary: The innocent lamb took the place of the man and his family who deserved to die for their sin.

•Sacrificial: The lamb’s blood had to be shed, and it had to lose its life.

•Atonement: Sin always has a price and must be atoned for.

The head of household would approach the outer gate on the east side of the tabernacle compound. There he would present the lamb to a priest, who would inspect it to be certain it was in perfect condition with no blemishes. The Israelites were to sacrifice only their very best, never an inferior or unwanted animal.

Once the animal was inspected and found to be worthy of sacrifice, the head of household would be allowed through the gates. This would bring him face-to-face with the bronze altar—the place where the lamb would be consumed by fire. Escorted by the priest to a slaughtering table, the man would place his hand on the lamb’s head and confess his sins and those of his family, symbolically transferring their guilt to the innocent lamb. He would then take a knife and slice the lamb’s neck from ear to ear. The blood and life draining from the animal would remind him that the consequence of sin is death. I don’t know about you, but that would mark me. Can you imagine doing that? What would it be like to take the life of an innocent lamb, knowing that it was dying as a substitute for your own sin? I would feel both guilt that an animal had to die for me and gratitude that God would allow a substitute to take my place.

This was as far as the head of household was allowed to go in his worship of God at the tabernacle. The rest of the process was handled

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