By: Obed Pineda
Between the years 48 and 49 AD, the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to scribe his epistle directed to the church in Galatia. This letter was redacted in response to the alarming pace that many of the Galatians were returning to the old law. Their quick turn around from Christ befuddled Paul as he expressed, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). The apostle’s reference to “a different gospel” was in no shape or form validating that there is an alternative way leading to salvation, rather he was using a bit of satire to amplify his astonishment at how easily they had been persuaded by those “who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:7). Those who snared the feet of the Galatians did so by promoting a return to the works of the Law of Moses, incorrectly claiming that justification could be attained by doing so. Unsurprisingly, they had missed that the true purpose of the law was to be “our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” because “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Galatians 3:24 and Romans 10:4). Although the Mosaic Law had fulfilled its purpose in shedding its light on sin, it was also announcing the good things that were to come (Hebrews 10:1). The rituals ordained by Jehovah God to the Levitical priesthood were meant to illustrate to man how He would ransom His creation from the frigid grip of death (cf. Hebrews 9:1-10). For this reason, it is essential to understand the function that the blood of bulls and goats served in the annual ceremony of the Day of Atonement. Keep in mind that the purpose of Hebrews 9 is to demonstrate the superiority of the heavenly tabernacle that Jesus entered for us (cf. 9:11, 24) and the superiority of His sacrifice to secure our entrance into the Most Holy (cf. 9:12-23). The Hebrew amanuensis elucidates, “if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:13-14)? Note that in this quoted Scripture, the Holy Spirit reveals that the animals sacrificed in accordance to the law would achieve atonement, but limited to the flesh only. The meaning of this vital piece of information is that keeping this yearly event like God had commanded only temporarily removed the ceremonial defilement, but never the moral guilt. Thus, their obedience to Jehovah’s mandates regarding the Day of Atonement delayed His righteous punishment of sins, but did not appease His righteous wrath to remove them (cf.Hebrews 10:4).The reason was because the blood of animals could not purge the conscience from guilt. This serious disadvantage begs the question, how then did the blood of sacrificed animals foreshadow the Lamb of God? To begin to answer this query correctly, one must return to the Book of Origins, and delve a little deeper into our origin story (cf. Genesis 1:24-31). Holy Writ declares that on the sixth day of creation, “God made the beast of the earth according to its kind” and on that same day “God created man in His own image;in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:25, 26). The inspired Moses repeats that man was made in the image (i.e. likeness) of God five times throughout this book (cf. Genesis 1:26, 27 (twice), 5:1, and 9:6). James, too, reminds his readers about the silliness of man cursing man with his mouth for “with it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.” (James 3:9). It cannot be disputed that God wants mankind to know that he was made different from the rest of creation because God “made him [man] to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen – even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas” (Psalm 8:6-8, addition mine). King David’s astute conclusion unveils the purpose for the Creator making man in His image, reflecting on God’s own words (cf. Genesis 1:26), but also explains that for man to be able to rule over the rest of creation, he could not be like the rest of the animals and live on instinct alone. Man required the God-given ability to reason logically and make judicious decisions benefiting him and that which was entrusted to him. Herein lies the key difference between man and beast; man can make rational decisions that will minimize, even eradicate, collateral damages selflessly where a beast will simply react instinctively, not being under a conscience control. Ergo, when a man kills another man without righteous cause he is guilty of murder, which is sinful, but when an animal kills another animal, it is innocent because it do so instinctively. The beast’s inability to control its innate nature is due to its inability to rationalize and for this reason it is impossible for this creature to sin. Therefore, this enlightens God’s motive in choosing the blood of animals as the means to purify the tabernacle along with its vessels under the law. It was because their blood was untainted from sin since an animal cannot make a conscientious decision to disobey Divine ordinances. The Almighty was illustrating to man that innocent blood, guiltless of sin, would be required to grant him redemption. Yet, despite these creatures being exonerated from spiritual lawlessness, let us recall that their ceremonial sacrifice on the Day of Atonement only achieved “the purifying of the flesh” for this same reason. Additionally, due to their inevitable irrationality, the beasts selected by God for this priestly service did not voluntarily chose to spill their blood as a sin offering. Because they were offered by someone else due to their untainted blood and not by their own choice, this also constricted man’s redemption to be incomplete. Thus, not only was innocent blood necessary to atone for the world’s sins, but the sacrificial Lamb had to have made the choice of becoming mankind’s sacrifice from His own free will. The Hebrew penman verifies, “In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come – in the volume of the book it is written of Me – to do Your will, O God’” (Hebrews 10:6-7). To be continued…