Why the Blood? {Part Two}

Here I am thinking out loud again. Not paying attention to what theology or orthodoxy says but only to what the word of God is saying to me personally through the knowledge of His son Jesus.

"Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." Hebrews 9:12

So in the last post we talked a little about why there was a need for blood sacrifice. We talked a bit about what happened on the Day of Atonement each year. The Day of Atonement was a day of corporate repentance and atonement of the Israelites. It was also the only day of the year the the high priest was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. Once the appropriate sacrifices had taken place the High Priest could boldly approach the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat there of to make reconciliation for the nation in the presence of God. He also sprinkled blood on the ark to symbolically bind for another year the relationship of the people to God. Remember the ark contained a gold bowl of manna{symbol of God's provision for his people}, the law{symbol of God's justice and call to righteousness} and Aaron's budded rod{a symbol of God's authority through the priesthood}.

Now fast forward to the time of Jesus in New Testament and the great temple in Jerusalem. The day of Atonement was still the most holy of days to the Jewish people. But one very important thing was missing. The holy of holies was empty. There was no ark of the covenant, there was no bowl of manna, there was no ten commandments, there was no rod of Aaron. When the priests entered to sprinkle blood on the Day of Atonement it was sprinkled onto a stone. I can't image that it had the same meaning as when the ark and the mercy seat were there. So what does God do? He sends his Son to make atonement by the shedding of blood and a new covenant by the sprinkling of blood.

"And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." Hebrews 9:15

Now this portion of Hebrews also gives a great analogy of why Jesus had to die to mediate this new covenant. The author uses the concept of a last will and testament. A will is defined as "A legal declaration of how a person wishes his or her possessions to be disposed of after death." Therefore a will is not exercised until the the person making the declaration has died. Think of the covenant in the ark...provision, justice, righteousness, authority. BTW justice and righteousness are the same word in both the Hebrew & Greek. These are the things that God came in the flesh to mediate to us. He had to die so that we may receive our inheritance. Our only access to this inheritance is through the atonement of the blood shed on the cross and the sprinkling of blood on the new covenant.

"For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood." Hebrews 9:16-18

Why the Blood? {Part One}

Here I am thinking out loud again. Not paying attention to what theology or orthodoxy says but only to what the word of God is saying to me personally through the knowledge of His son Jesus.

I was spending some more time on why the cross was needed to save us. To a non Christian it seems silly that God would in a sense need to kill himself to satisfy his own wrath. I came across this comment on a YouTube video...

"I'm not going to worship a god who had to sacrifice himself to himself in order to appease himself."

This is an honest concern. So I started doing a little research into the Levitical law about sacrifice and what the Jewish community thought. It was interesting that on almost every Jewish website or blog they seemed to have the same concern. But from a more biblical perspective. I think just about every site had disagreement the Jesus was the Messiah and that He is the only forgiveness of sins based on this verse.

"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." Hebrews 9:22

I was happy to see that so many of our Jewish brothers were reading the New Testament and thinking about a book that really was addressed to them. But it also challenged me to look a little further into how to explain WHY we need the blood of Christ to be forgiven. Because we most certainly do. Now the problem that the Jewish community is that this verse in Hebrews does not gel with what their Torah says, namely the book of Leviticus. Leviticus is the book on sacrifice and the goings on of the Old Testament tabernacle. Here is the verse they use to nullify {in their minds that blood is needed for forgiveness}. From the book of Leviticus specifically talking about the "sin-offering".

"If, however, he cannot afford two doves or two young pigeons, he is to bring as an offering for his sin a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He must not put oil or incense on it, because it is a sin offering." Lev 5:11

So according to the Old Testament law people could have remission of sin without blood sacrifice. To top that off there are several verses in the Old Testament that God himself says he does not want blood sacrifice.

Clean and Unclean Sacrifice {Part Two}

Click to read part one.

The book of Leviticus is a book of sacrifice and a book of clean and unclean. This is the first time that all the rules and regulations on these things were written down. As we discussed in the prior blog God instituted the need for sacrifice in the garden of Eden. We assume then that the oral tradition was passed down to people like Noah and Abraham.

The practice of blood sacrifice by the Israelites seems very archaic and primeval. To put it simply...yes it was. We are talking about a practice that took place 2000-4000 years ago. But by comparison to other pagan practices and sacrifice the Israelite practice was never savage or unclean. The book of Leviticus tells of the very strict rules and regulations concerning these practices. Why? Well to prevent the spread of disease, to respect creation and to respect God. The pureness and holiness was a prerequisite for having God involved. If God was going to dwell among the people there had to be an environment free of sin and evil. Then the presence of God could embed itself into the presence of man.

The whole concept of clean and unclean is born out of God's desire to be close to His people. Unclean simply meant effected by sin. God and sin do not mix. Think of how water and oil don't mix. Now also think of fire and ice. Individually they are elements in their own right. When they are keep apart there is no reaction. But put them together and fire will always melt the ice. God is the fire and sin or uncleanliness is the ice. When God is in the presence of sin there is a natural reaction. Holiness can not co-habitate with sin. What must become clear in your mind is that God reacts to the sin, not the person. Making it all the more important that the person in the camp have NOTHING to do with sin. Remember sin has the same "reaction" with man. Sin=death. But because our fire is not as holy as God's the ice melts more slowly. Does that make sense?

God being the most holy being in the universe will always evoke the essence of what He interfaces with. So when God interfaces with blatant sin, the essence of that sin is death. Likewise if God interfaces with the holiness of a people the essence of that holiness is intimacy, life and the protection of God. So the book of Leviticus(along with Deuteronomy and parts of Exodus) is God teaching His people how to be holy as God is holy. So that God can have the most positive interface with them. Remember it is all about relationship. God is teaching His people how to remove barriers in the way of relationship with Him.

Every aspect of the Israelite sacrifice had to be clean and holy. The animals, priests, the clothes, the utensils, the bowls, even the actual elements of fire, water, and oil. There is on instance in the book of Leviticus where two priest's sons use an "foreign fire sprinkled with incense" for a particular sacrifice. They were instantly consumed by the holy fire of God and died. Sounds pretty harsh. But they were sacrificing they way the pagans did and knew better not to do so. Remember fire and ice. When God interfaces with evil there is death. That is why everything in Leviticus is so particular. God wanted everyone to know exactly how to live so that He could always be with Him. And so they would stay alive in His presence.

You can almost assume that anything that was labeled unclean or detestable in the old testament was something that had was a sin or had been effected by sin. A lot of the things were practices of pagan people groups such as the Canaanites or Ammonites. People groups in ancient times were not as individualistic as we are in modern western culture. If you were a part of a particular people group it was a given that you were a part of their particular religion. There was no such thing as religious freedom. Pagan ritual and religion was the lifestyle of that people. Everyone was involved. God in the same wanted His people to have their beliefs and relationship with God as a part of their lifestyle. So God had to "set apart" a particular group of people from the pagan, demonic practices of the day.

That is what the word "holy" means...set apart. The word "consecrate" is the same idea. It means dedicated, fullness, complete. So when you see God over and over again in the Bible saying "Consecrate yourselves and be holy for I am holy". All He was saying was "be separate from sin and the demonic. If you don't I can't be with you." Moreover you will never be full or complete. Again it is all about relationship. God wanted to be able to dwell with His people; to be embedded in their spiritual and physical lives. He was not just a voice in the sky He dwelt with them. If you don't think that God was physically in the camp with the Israelites here is a great verse to prove otherwise.

Deuteronomy 23:12-14
12 "Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14 For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you."

A little crude I know but they are God's words not mine. Do you see though? God was not like the other gods. He dwelt in the presence of His people. He came out Eden to be with us. He came down from heaven to be with us. God was a visible cloud by day and a visible pillar of fire by night over the Israelites. He could not be those things unless the camp was clean and free of sinful, pagan practices.

Pagan practices were demonic and unclean spiritually and physically. They involved both human and animal sacrifice. Human in some instances being children. The blood of sacrifice was sometimes bathed in or spread over the persons body. Sacrificial feasts were eaten over bowls of blood. Sexual deviance was involved in almost every sacrifice. Pagan ritual involved public nakedness, public orgies, public insect, pedophilia, zoophilia. Many rituals involved self-mutilation, shaving your head, a particular look of facial hair, tattoos, gaudy jewelry and on, and on, and on. God specifically says...

Leviticus 18:24
24 "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled."

I hear it said a lot that God must have had a real problem with nakedness and sex because of how much of it was "unclean". NO. Everything that you see when you stand naked in front of the mirror God thought up and made. God thought up sex. But God also wanted these things to be special and private. Not flapping in the wind for the whole world to see. (more on this latter).

Other "unclean" things in that list have to do with a particular culture in a particular time in history. In 2009 you are NOT unclean or demonic if you shave your head, get a tattoo, or sport a goatee. My husband has two of the three things in that list. Bet you can't guess which ones. LOL. But if I were to tell you in 2009 if you visit the country of Botswalesia(not a real country) with your blue hair you would be identified as a male temple prostitute of that country; you would probably change your hair color before visiting that country. Is blue hair evil? NO. But the association with blue hair in that country is. Get it?

Finally many of the principles of the rules of the old testament still stand today. It is something discussed quite a bit in the new testament. Jesus both abolished and fulfilled the law. Click to read that blog.

So back to camp. Camp Israel that is. Well not really this camp had a population of about 2 million. But even so...It had to be CLEAN! Sacrifice had to be clean. Houses had to be clean. Food had to be clean. People had to be clean. Why? So God could have relationship and dwell with His people. Now as we well know the whole earth and all the people in it became unclean after the sin in the garden of Eden. God knows this. He was not looking for total perfection that is impossible in a fallen world. But He was trying to get His people back as close to perfection as He could by teaching them to be clean, accountable for sin and holy. Not because He is a control freak but because that is where we, as His created, are the most complete and the most effective in battle against the devil.

Disease or physical imperfection in the old testament made people unclean because it was a result of personal sin or the sin of humanity in general. Prior to sin our there was no disease, no malformation, no decay, no mutation, no death. I believe our pre-sin bodies were stronger than the post-sin body. If we never had sinned there would have been no such thing as a broken bone or a cut on your arm, a skin rash, eye problems, deformation and so on and so forth. These things made you unclean because they were effects of the sin on humanity in general. Remember fire and ice. Remember our sin/dominion formula? So people were separated to prevent an acute disease from spreading. If someone had a chronic disease they did NOT have to be separated. So in some instances being unclean did not mean you had sinned and required sacrifice. It only required segregation from others in the camp. Some diseases however did require an actual sin offering. Sexually transmitted disease is a good example. (Lev.15:2-15). You were unclean because of the personal sin you had committed and the disease you had incurred because of your sin.

Women were unclean during menstruation and childbirth due to the spilling of blood in both instances. This was a common practice of all ancient cultures. Women didn't have the modern conveniences of today. So the women were segregated from the others during their "unwellness" as it says in the Hebrew. Really not such a bad idea if you ask me. Seriously though...it did not mean that women were "in sin". Think about all the blood borne diseases we know about today. It would have been dangerous to the woman and the child to not be separated from the general population. I do think that the loss of blood in both instances signifies the death because of sin in general on humanity. Remember in Eden God tells Eve that child birth will be harder and more painful than now because of sin. Death of a egg or seed in menstruation and spilling of blood or death to produce a life. I do not think this is the way God had originally intended it to be. There is no doubt that when a woman gives life to a child she gives up part of her body to do so. We are never the same physically. So the burnt offering and offense offering that a woman had to give was to cover the child. Not that babies are sinful in their own right but that the two people are a part of a sinful humanity in general. Besides this is nothing that Mary the mother of Jesus didn't do herself.

Luke 2:22-24
22 "Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy(consecrated) to the LORD”),24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

(I have seen several atheist blogs use the word "consecrate" in verses from Exodus 13 and Numbers 3 to say the Israelites practiced human sacrifice. The verses say to "consecrate your first born to Me(the Lord)." This new testament verse is referring to those same verses. This is NOT what that means. The first born sons were to be the first priests before the Levitical tribe became as such. Human sacrifice has been and will always be demonic...meaning NOT of God.)

So what were the types of blood sacrifice of the Israelites. Take a look below at my very simple graph. If you want a more in depth graph click here. The "red" is the dominion, "black" the type of offering, "aqua" what could be sacrificed. Leviticus chapters 1-5.

I am not going to go into great detail here. I came across a 3000 page book the other day just about Leviticus and the sacrifices. Way too much information! What I do want to point out is the love and grace of God. Again these sacrifices were not to appease a pissed off God. They were to express voluntary worship and thanks. They were to express unity as a community. The personal scarifies were to pacify the devil and pardon man from the death of his sin.

Creation had to be respected in every way through these sacrifices. A man could not kill an animal without bringing it to the tent of meeting first. Even if it was just for food. If it was just for food the blood had to be poured out onto the earth. Almost as a sacrifice for creation. If a man didn't do this it was considered murder to the animal and a sin.

Man had to be respected in these sacrifices. You will notice that with some of the sacrifices there are different options of animals or birds. This was so every family rich or poor could be included. If you were wealthy you may bring a bull. But if you were poor it was fine to bring birds. Notice the verse about Mary above. Jesus' family was not wealthy.

The priests had to be respected by the people and respectful of the people. There were extremely strict rules for the priests. It was very important to God that they treated the people honestly, gracefully and honorably. Once the sin was pardoned there was no record of wrong; by God or the priest.

First and foremost as we have seen God had to be respected in the sacrifices and in the camp. These sacrifices all had elements of blood, water, fire and oil. Who does that sound like? The Holy Spirit. God and the Holy Spirit were present at all times in the camp. That is why it had to be "clean". That is why the people had to be "clean". Not because God is a control freak or picky. Remember the whole need for sacrifice was due to our choice to sin. God wanted to be embedded into the lives of His people. He wanted His people to experience the fullness of His holiness and their own holiness when they were clean and free of sin. He wanted to protect them from the schemes of the devil. He wanted to protect them from the brokenness of sin. He wanted to show them how He had intended things to be. Just like Eden. Sacrifice was what brought us back into intimacy with God; back to the way things were suppose to be. Full of love and grace.

Clean and Unclean Sacrifice {Part One}

The old testament is full of blood. Most all the bloodshed in the old testament is due to sin. Remember sin=death. Prior to sin there was no death in the world. Meaning there was no bloodshed. So if bloodshed is sin then why does God institute sacrifice? The whole book of Leviticus is one big bloodbath! It can be horrific and macabre to read. So what was the deal? Let me try to explain.

The Hebrew word for blood is "dam"; which simply means blood. The root word is "damam" which means to be still or silent. So that makes sense...when your blood is spilled you are silent or dead. So in old testament sacrifice the animal was silenced and so was the devil. Let me say that a little different. When man sins it silences the will of God but when blood sacrifice is offered it silences the will of the devil.

See all ancient people groups had sacrifice as a part of their religious rituals. Many even practiced human sacrifice. The difference in pagan sacrifice was that it was to appease the gods. The sacrifice of the Hebrews and Israelites was not to appease God but to instead pacify the devil. That is not to say that the sacrifice was not pleasing to God. It most certainly was. It was a public statement in the spiritual and the physical that a person was stepping out of sin (will of the devil) and into righteousness (will of God). So yes God was most pleased. But sacrifice had to first come from the heart. The sacrifice to God was about relationship. Pagan sacrifice was out of fear.

So how did this whole thing get started? The book of Leviticus is a good 2000 years after the time of Adam and Eve. So how did people like Abraham, Noah and Abel know about sacrifice? How did they know what to sacrifice? Well once again we must go back to the beginning.

After Adam and Eve sinned in the garden it says that they realized they were naked and covered themselves with leaves. Now remember before sin there was no death. Man and beast both were vegetarian. Both man and beast did not kill animals for food. Isaiah 11:6-9 tells us how it was in the garden and how it will be in heaven.

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD
As the waters cover the sea."

So to all my vegetarian friends...you are sooo holy. LOL. Whether you want to be or not. ;D So man's sin had a HUGE effect on the animal kingdom. Think of all the animals that are meat eaters. Think of all the animals that scavenge for food. Think of micro-organisms and the effect sin had on them. The beginnings of decay and disease that led to death. MAYBE this is some of the "evolution and adaptation" some scientist have found in biology. The change from a pre-sin state to a post-sin state. I don't know for sure. What I do know is that when sin came into the world EVERYTHING changed. Man had dominion over everything so his sin affected everything. Click to read blog on dominion.

So back to Adam and Eve and their strategically placed fig leaves. Before they are sent forth from the garden God does something for them out of love. Gen. 3:21 "The Lord made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." This was the very first sacrifice. The Lord took the life of an animal in place of Adam and Eve. The animal died so Adam and Eve wouldn't have to. This in turn pacified the devil, glorified God and atoned Adam and Eve of their sin. God didn't cover Adam and Eve's nakedness because He was ashamed of them. He covered them so that they would not be ashamed of themselves. This is what we are clothed in by the Lord. Isaiah 61:10 "For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." The covering of salvation and righteousness took Adam and Eve out of the will of the devil and back into the will of God.

Sacrifice was also a way of staying in relationship with God. It was an act of accountability to God not just for sin but also honouring and thanksgiving. It was to be an outward display of the heart. A sign that someone was choosing God's way over the devil's way. We see with Cain and Abel that it was what was sacrificed and with what attitude it was sacrificed. Abel brought the very best to God. Cain only brought a portion. See an offering without sacrifice is just giving. Sacrifice whether it was animal or grain was to be the very best. Cain was just walking through the motions. His heart was not in relationship. God even comes to warn him to be careful of his attitude. Not because God would be pissed but because "sin is crouching at the door"meaning the devil. When we do not give our ALL to God it leaves a portion for the devil. So why did you have to sacrifice so God would know your heart? Doesn't God already know? Yes. Sacrifice is again a statement to the devil. Sacrifice is spiritual warfare. It is an act proclaiming whose team you are on.

The next instance of sacrifice in the bible is with Noah after the flood. Gen. 8:20 "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed..." Now how did Noah know what animals and birds were clean or unclean? It isn't until the book of Leviticus that this is written about; some 1500 years later. Moreover why did Noah take seven of each clean animal and only two of each unclean animal onto the ark? We know now that sacrifice was instituted in the garden by God Himself. I'm sure that God had a little chit chat with Adam and Eve about the whole thing. As far as I can tell it can take up to two weeks to make clothes from from animal skins. So I'm sure God used this time to teach them how to live outside the garden. Which is a nice thought huh? They weren't kicked out on their butts the same day they sinned. Our loving God made sure they were protected and that they had understanding of how things were going to be outside the garden.

This was something that must have been passed down in oral tradition. When sacrifice was needed and what to sacrifice. Being that Noah was a descendant of Adam and a righteous man who walked with God he must have known this tradition. So the need of more clean animals on the ark was because they would be needed for sacrifice.

There is also an easy way to see the difference of clean animals from unclean animals. Unclean meaning unfit for sacrifice. At this point eating any animal is not allowed. Look at this list of some unclean animals. Now at quick glance what do these animals have in common? 1} Most of them kill for food and eat meat. 2} Some of them are scavengers who eat anything. 3} Some carry disease. 4} Others are good for work or for pets.

Except for #4 I believe these animals were made "unclean" when man sinned. The other animals like the donkey and dog were for better purpose than to eat or sacrifice. So given all the information Noah had from God and through oral tradition it probably wasn't too hard for him to figure out. It also think he did the best he could and God was fine with that.

One interesting note while Noah and the animals were on the ark. The dove(clean) as you may know was not the first bird to be sent out from the ark to look for land. Noah first sends out the raven(unclean). But the raven did not return. It wandered "to and fro until the waters dried up" Gen.8:7. Remember the Hebrew root word for sin? "Chata" meaning to wander from the way. Who else was known to wander "to and fro" along the earth? The devil in the book of Job 1:7. Weird huh? So does this mean that the "unclean" animals are actually now evil? I don't know? I do know that man was given dominion over the animals. But we also know that the devil appeared as a serpent. There are other places in the bible that describe known demons in the pagan world as a particular animal. Certain animals have played very large roles in pagan and demonic practices.(I will blog more on this later)

The bottom line really is Jesus. When He died and rose again all things were reconciled. I believe that meant the animals too. So no your dog is not possessed by the devil. My dog however is a different story. LOL. No, just kidding. He is a good dog...most of the time

Now after Noah exits the ark and gives sacrifice; God makes a new covenant. The world had changed for the worse after sin entered in. That was the reason for the flood. One particular disappointment of God's was that the world was now full of violence. Both man and beast alike. So God reminds Noah of his dominion over the animal kingdom. Even though they are now carnivores they will have "fear and dread of you." (Gen. 9:2) Also the dietary rules changed. God gave permission to eat meat as long as the life blood was no longer in it. Why was it OK now and not before? I have heard a few ideas on this. 1} to exercise dominion. 2} so that man would get his violence out on animals instead of man. 3} the changes that sin caused on creation (namely vegetation) made a vegitarian diet insufficiently nutritious.

Number 3 seems the most likely to me. If you think in terms of what was available in ancient times. The way that man was living and working was different in a post sin world than how it would have been without sin. So that means that man dietary needs would have changed as well. So no every time I am eating a nice juicy rib eye I am not doing spiritual warfare and taking dominion. At least I don't think so. ;D

I also think that it only made sense in the long run to allow meat eating because of all the sacrifice. The animals had to be killed. So to not wasteful they now could be eaten. One thing I do want to make clear is God's very obvious statement about how to treat animals. "But you must not eat meat that has it's lifeblood still in it...I will demand an accounting from every animal." Gen. 9:4-5. Meaning don't be a savage. Respect God's creation. Be responsible and a good steward. It is so important to God that He places this command with the command about not taking the life of another man. (Gen. 9:6) Not that man and animals are equal, but that we must respect God's creation.

So let's fast forward to the book of Leviticus...to be continued