Understanding the Old Testament sacrifices

The Old Testament says a great deal about sacrifices. The people of God had to do so many of them, some at set times, and some in response to things that happened. Sometimes they brought a lamb or a goat, sometimes a bird, sometimes grain or wine. There would have been a permanent BBQ smell around the temple! It all seems so foreign to us in the modern world. Yet it matters that we understand the logic of these sacrifices; they help us to understand Jesus.

While there are a number of different sacrifices commanded in the Old Testament, I’m going to break it down into a few different key ideas so we can understand what they were all about.

• Sacrifices were costly. Animals were expensive, and regular sacrifices reminded the people how bad their sin was. This was no small matter, but something that required a significant expense to pay for.
• Sacrifices were about substitution. The person bringing the sacrifice deserved death for their sin; the animal was killed in their place.
• Sacrifices needed to be done by a priest. No-one could approach God directly but they needed a mediator between God and themselves.
• Sacrifices needed to be done how God instructed, not how people wanted. People were not left to decide what was needed to pay for their sin, but God told them what, and how, and where, and when to do it.

As the believer saw their animal burnt on the altar by the priest, they would be thinking, “That should have been me”. God kindly set up a system where an animal died in the place of the one bringing the offering. We deserve death, but by God’s grace we receive life.

Christians don’t need to bring animal sacrifices anymore. That is because Jesus is the perfect sacrifice for our sins, the One that the animal sacrifices pointed to. We can see this using the same categories as above:

• Jesus’ sacrifice was costly. Jesus was God himself, with his life having infinite value. It was only Jesus’ death that was enough to pay for the depth of our sin.
• Jesus’ sacrifice was for his people. We all deserve death for our sin; Jesus is the substitute for all who believe. He died so we could live.
• Jesus was the high priest as well as the sacrifice. We need a mediator with God; as Jesus was both God and man, he acted as the priest as well as the sacrifice.
• Jesus’ sacrifice needed to be done how God instructed, not how people wanted. There was only one way to be saved from our sin, not our effort or religion or goodness. That way was Jesus’ death on the cross, which was planned long beforehand and happened exactly as God wanted it to.

As a Christian reflects on Jesus’ death on the cross, we think, “That should have been me”. The same logic used in the Old Testament sacrifices applies, but in a more complete way. Jesus died once for all for our sins, so all who trust in Jesus receive life instead of death.

Sometimes we use the word ‘sacrifice’ to mean that we give something up for a greater good. Yet however much we might give up in order to serve God, it is only Jesus’ sacrifice that can pay for sin. We can never be good enough for God.

Romans 12 speaks of us being “living sacrifices”. Again, while this is useful language to explain our lives of devotion to the One who died for us, we do not pay for our own sin. Our lives are only ever a response to knowing that Jesus died for us in our place.

As we see in so many ways, the Old Testament helps us to see the wonder and beauty of Jesus and what He has done for us. He is the perfect sacrifice all of us need.