Learning Through Sacrifice

thursday

JULY 21

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Through its sacrificial rituals, the sanctuary provided a means through which God’s covenant people could enter into His divine presence. What were those sacrifices about, which gave them access to God? And how did these sacrifices prefigure what Christ would (and has done) for us?

The sanctuary was God’s way of calling His people into a covenant rela­tionship with Him through worship. Through the sanctuary, they could learn about His plan of salvation, and they could participate in His holiness. They also could learn about living by faith and about how to be obedient to Him.

Sin disrupted this covenant relationship. Unless sin was dealt with, His people would be left to bear their own iniquity, and they would never attain eternal life. The Lord, however, through His grace, showed them how they could be forgiven and cleansed from sin. These provisions were at the heart of the sacrificial system of the sanctuary. In bringing a sacrificial lamb to the sanctuary, the Israelite was confessing his belief in God’s promised Savior. In turn, the priest, who stood in God’s stead, made atonement for sin (Lev. 5:5, 6). The exact type of animal or ritual depended upon numerous factors, but this basic idea was always the same.

When one thinks of the sanctuary, it is not unusual to reflect upon the building constructed under the direction of the Lord Himself. However, more important than its extraordinary beauty was the beautiful message God intended to communicate by way of the sanctuary’s services, in par­ticular, the role His only Son, Jesus Christ, would play in the fulfillment of these services.

“Christ Himself was the originator of the Jewish system of worship, in which, by types and symbols, were shadowed forth spiritual and heavenly things. . . .

“A lesson was embodied in every sacrifice, impressed in every cere-mony, solemnly preached by the priest in his holy office, and inculcated by God Himself—that through the blood of Christ alone is there forgiveness of sins. . . .

“The whole mind, the whole soul, the whole heart, and the whole strength are purchased by the blood of the Son of God.”*

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*God’s Amazing Grace, p. 155.

Written by: Glenn Brian Ente, Zambales, Philippines