THE SUPERNATURAL NAME OF JESUS

THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS IS FOOLISHNESS TO THOSE WHO ARE PERISHING PART 3

TYPES OF SACRIFICES OFFERED TO GOD IN OLD TESTAMENT

There were many sacrifices offered to God in Old Testament according to the instructions of God.  Some of them include the followings:

a.         Thanksgiving Offerings. Is given to God to appreciate God and we can see example in the case of Noah who slaughtered best animals immediately after the flood to appreciate God.

b.        Sacrifice for Remission of Sins. For God to cleanse the Israelites of their sins, an animal must be slaughtered on the Alter and the blood is sprinkled on their body. The book of Leviticus 4 explains how God commanded His people the way to offer sacrifices for different types of sin whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Leviticus 4

            1.        Now the lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel            saying if a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments     of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them

            3.        If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let Him          offer   to the Lord for His sin which he has sinned, a young bull without           blemish as a sin offerings.

            4.        He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting         before the Lord, lay hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the              Lord.

            5.        Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and       bring it to the tabernacle of meeting.

            6.        The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the             blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary.

In Leviticus 9, we can also see account of Aaron that stood in the gap between the children of Israel and God and made all manners of sacrifices: burnt offering, peace offerings and offerings for remission of sin.

             Leviticus 9:7. And Moses said to Aaron, Go to the altar, offer your sin       offering and burnt offerings and make atonement for yourself and for the             people, Offer offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the        Lord commanded.

Therefore, there was no direct communication between people and God they must go through the priest which has to atone himself first before making atonement for his people because if he failed to do that and enter God’s presence with sin he will be devoured. All these things are no more as a result of the circumstances around the death of Christ as we will see in this discussion.

Other form of offerings include burnt offerings, fellowship  and peace offerings. This law of alter was given to Moses by God in Exodus 20:24-26. God gave the Israelite the description of the alter and what should be burnt on it.

            God said an alter of earth you shall make for me and you shall sacrifice on           it your burnt offerings, peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In           every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you.

This tell us before God will come down to bless and Fellowship with His people, there must be a registered place where burnt offerings must be made on an alter. An interesting thing about sacrifice is that it must be made from precious and non blemish substances.

With all these evidences we are now better informed that God really demanded sacrifices from His people in Old Testament. This tells us that there is something special about the blood and sacrifices offered to God.

God also commanded that burnt offerings must be continually made every morning and evening before the Lord

            Exodus 29:38 Now this is what you shall offer on the alter: Two lambs, of             first year, day by day continually.

             Numbers 28;9 on the Sabbath day two lambs in their first year, without blemish, and two-tenth of an ephan of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed            with oil, with its drink offering. first day of month, two bullocks, one ram         and seven    labs.

            10. this is burnt offering for every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt        offering with its drink offerings.

The burnt offerings can be made from cattle, goats, sheep birds ( Leviticus 1 ;3- 14). During the ritual, the high priest will lay his hand on the head of the animal placed on the alter and confess the sin on behalf of the people Lev 1:4. The priest will sprinkle the blood of the animal on the alter (Lev1:5)

Then, the carcass of the animal will be burnt on the alter with fire to produce sweet savour to God. The burnt offerings were ways of calling God’s attention, fellowshipping and requesting from God.  Therefore, the sacrifice process include confessing , shedding and sprinkling of blood for the forgiveness of sins and thereafter burning of the carcass on the alter to produce sweet smell for God’s attention to any request (fellowshipping).

The question to ask yourself is that are you still practicing this in your religion and if not you have to ask why these entire thing did stopped. If you can confess your sins by simple prayer “God forgive my sins without the need to meet any priest and killing any animal”. Then how did this stop all of a sudden after the death of Jesus Christ. Let us search the scriptures together and find out why