For hundreds of years, priests performed the blood ritual according to Moses' law. The purpose of the sacrifice was to appease God, but the effect was to establish a means whereby God's people would recognize their need to be forgiven.

There were many differing sacrifices offered on the altar within the wilderness tabernacle and later the courtyard of the Jerusalem temple. In fact on one day alone it was expected that every family would bring an animal to the priest. There he would slit the throat of the animal, drain its blood, cut open the body, carve out certain parts and burn the remaining carcass on the fire of the altar.

What most don't realize when considering the Jewish animal sacrifice system, is the implication. The animal brought to the priest was to be without defect. That meant it had to hand-selected and kept from harm until it was time to be taken to the priest. Most families raised sheep and isolated the one without blemish making him the family pet where every member of the family watched over it, revering it as an integral part of their family. That is until the Day of Atonement when the animal was taken to the priest to be killed in symbolic representation of forgiveness of the sins of the entire family.

Most of us have a picture of a sparkling clean kitchen when it comes to visualizing the place where sacrifices were offered; priests in white aprons containing the blood where there was no spills and no unsavory visual effects. But I remind you, thousands of animals were slaughtered in one day within one area. The apron of the priest probably looked like that of a butcher. The Laver was filled with water to provide a place to clean their hands and articles, but it had no drainage. After the first sacrifice, the priests were cleaning their bloody hands with bloody water.

You might be asking what all this has to do with us today. After all, the Jews don't practice this ritual any more. Does that mean they no longer forgiven? Did the coming of Jesus somehow remove the need for sacrificial forgiveness? More importantly, is forgiveness of sins an never ending quest or is there any hope for finding it and taking care of the problem once for all? If you don't know the answer to these questions, I have good news for you.

The ninth chapter of Hebrews teaches us that Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice whose shed blood was sufficient to appease the Father. But there's only one Son and the Day of Atonement comes every year for the Jew. How then can Jesus be sacrificed one time and still satisfy the law? The fact is, He is the perfect fulfillment of the law and doesn't have to die over and over!

Verse 27 tells us that just as man will die once and face judgment once, so Christ was sacrificed once and will deliver salvation to those who wash themselves in the cleansing water of his forgiveness. This in spite of the fact our hands are still bloody from driving the nails in the hands of the crucified Lamb of God.

One question remains. Are you covered in the blood of Jesus? If Scripture is correct and I believe it is, then you're saved and won't answer for your sinful nature. But those who are not under the blood remain unforgiven and are destined to die, face judgment for their sin and be separated from God forever.

If you're lost, you may be clean on the outside but you're filthy on the inside. If you're saved, then you're bloody on the outside and clean on the inside.

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( Ez. 20:1-49 Hb. 9:13-28 Ps. 107:1-43 Pr. 27:11 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society

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