Jesus offered his body and his blood, as the final sin offering for all
"With his own blood he entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having
Heb 9:12
"We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
Heb 10:10
"For by one offering he has perfected forever
Heb 10:14
One of the signs which accompanied Christ's sacrificial death, took place in the inner sanctum of the house of animal sacrifice: "Behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom"
The interior of the temple proper was divided into two holy places. The part nearest the entrance was called the sanctuary or holy place. Here were kept a sacred lampstand, a table for ceremonial bread, and an altar for incense. A second area was called the Holy of Holies
This inner room once contained a golden censer for incense and a mysterious box called the ark of the covenant containing souvenirs from the wilderness wanderings: the stone tablets, Aaron's rod which budded, and a golden pot of manna. Upon this ark was placed a mercy seat, a kind of altar, with sculptured winged cherubs of
Only the high priest could venture into this holiest place, and that only once a year with the blood of animal sacrifice for atonement. This Most Holy Place was closed off
The temple of Jesus's day was new. Solomon's temple had long ago been destroyed by the Babylonians. It was rebuilt under great stress in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah with the help of Darius king of Medopersia. However it was inferior to Solomon's temple and the one Ezekiel saw in visions. Centuries later, about twenty years before Jesus came, work commenced to replace this temple with the magnificent structure still being completed at the time the disciples of Jesus admired it and Jesus ironically but accurately foretold its destruction
Later, at our Lord's crucifixion, the great curtain veiling the Holiest place was torn from top to bottom. The room now visible through the rend in the veil was bare, its irreplacable artifacts lost in antiquity. That made more poignant
Short of letting the earthquake demolish the temple completely then and there, God could not have given the Jews a clearer sign. Christ had opened the way into the Holiest Place; the temple, its priesthood, and its blood sacrifices were now defunct. The final sin offering had been made. God did not destroy the temple then. He gave the Jews time to make a voluntary end to sacrifice and offering, and to recognise the death of his beloved Son instead as the
The one man who had been allowed to enter the Holiest Place through the curtain was Caiaphas the high priest. As this temple chief beheld the torn curtain, did he forget that only days ago he himself had spoken under the spirit of prophecy to the Pharisees who were plotting to kill Jesus? "You know nothing, nor do you consider it expedient that one man should die for the people"
Caiaphas himself had later challenged Jesus, "I adjure you by the living God that you tell us if you are Christ the Son of God." When Jesus acknowledged that he was, Caiaphas had yelled "Blasphemy!"
Some weeks later another sign attracted the attention of all Jerusalem, at the very time devout Jews from every nation were visiting the city for special services at the temple. On that day, miraculously speaking the various languages of the pilgrims, the apostles proclaimed the gospel of Jesus. They said that the death of Jesus was according to God's predetermined plan. They proclaimed forgiveness of sins by repentance and baptism into Christ's death. A great many responded, and the first church of Christ, three thousand strong, actually met daily in the temple buildings while the message of
Nevertheless, the worship of the temple went on, with hardly a hiccup. It went on even after it was made clear to Jewish people far and wide that the one man who could die for the people had done so. It went on even after his perfect sacrifice was made once and for all. Jesus offered his body and his blood, as the final sin offering for all people for all eternity. From that time animal
Animal sacrifices should have ceased the day Jesus died when Caiaphas ought to have realised what his own prophecy meant. It should have ceased the day Jesus's tomb was found empty and falsehood was needed to explain it away. It should have ceased the day Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit from heaven upon Jerusalem. But no. The bloody slaughter of animals went on for another generation. It continued until it ceased perforce, when the temple was destroyed
The foregoing brings us to one simple but important question: Was it God's will that animal sacrifices continue
Were anyone's sins forgiven through the blood of animals slaughtered in the temple after Jesus laid down his life and shed his own precious blood? Or was it now rather a sin to offer animal blood to God? Did animal sacrifices push sins back to the cross like they had formerly
Those who hold certain views, about the significance of events in Jerusalem AD70, and those who hold certain views about the change of covenants, will suggest that animal sacrifices still held good for some people after the crucifixion and up till the end of them in AD70. Others will say that the cessation of animal sacrifices was unfortunate, and that Jesus himself will restore the practice
Yet Christ was the final sin offering and his death atoned for sins once and for all. He put an end to the offering of beasts as a legitimate act
Daniel prophesied that, after the Messiah was cut off, God would confirm a covenant with many for one week (not a literal week). In the middle of that week, God would "put a stop to sacrifice" with an abomination of desolation
The destruction of the temple occurred about the middle of a seventy-year period (possibly the final week of Daniel's seventy weeks) when God was confirming the new covenant or gospel. This confirmation was in the form of miraculous signs and gifts of the Holy Spirit
Some people hold the view that while the covenant was being confirmed, it was not fully and exclusively in force; therefore God allowed the old covenant to continue in effect for the sake of a generation of Jews who did not
The idea that God continued the first covenant and its animal sacrifices in order to establish the second covenant and the sacrifice of Christ, is not the Hebrew writer's position. He says that Jesus "takes away the first that he might establish the second"
Some will reply that there is no question of whether Christ abolished animal sacrifice. Of course he did. The question is when. They will say not at the cross, but in AD70 at the destruction of Jerusalem. But the Hebrew writer says it was when Jesus came to do God's will in offering
In the following verses he makes it perfectly clear that the sacrifices still being offered in the temple were "no longer any offering for sin" because Christ had offered "one sacrifice for sins
Who will you believe? Those who say animal sacrifices still made atonement, or the inspired writer who says they were no longer
When Jesus Christ died upon the cross, he laid down his life for all mankind. The animal sacrifices of the Patriarchal and Mosaical ages were effective only because they looked forward to the true sacrifice. Once the Son of God came and surrendered himself, all other sacrifices
The Passover observed just before Jesus was crucified, should have been the last act of Jewish temple worship involving flesh and blood slaughtered and shed for atonement. The only sacrifice offered after that should have been the offering of the precious body
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