WHY ALL THE BLOOD?

The pagans saw their gods as gods of wrath who could be appeased by blood sacrifice. They even sacrificed their own sons and daughters to these gods, most of which were simply idols of wood or stone.

An enormous difference in meaning separates the Jewish sacrifices from those of their pagan neighbors. Understanding this difference is truly essential to a balanced understanding of the Bible as a whole and the character of God in particular.

1.	According to the bible, who performed the first blood sacrifice? Genesis 4:1-5

Helps and hints: For those who accept the creation story, it would be logical to assume that God instructed Adam and Eve in the offering of innocent sacrifices to remind them of the ultimate effect of sin and the promise of a sinless Redeemer. These instructions would have been passed on their descendants, the first being Cain and Able. Whether that is indeed what happened is not stated explicitly in Scripture, but we do find Abel offering such a sacrifice to God, according to His instruction.

As mankind turned from God more and more, their understanding of God's character became increasingly warped. They gradually came to see Him as a wrathful God who thrived on blood sacrifices. As they departed from God altogether, they transferred this idea to their own invented gods. As we will see, this was never the intention God had in mind for the blood sacrifices.

Helps and hints: While one obvious reason is that the survivors of the flood would need these animals for food until the vegetation was restored, of equal importance was the maintenance of Noah's role as priest in offering sacrifices for himself and his family. The experience of Abraham helps us understand the significance of this act.

Helps and hints: It is here we see the real meaning behind the sacrifices. In the Garden of Eden, God promised Adam and Eve that one of their descendants would be engaged in a life or death struggle with the serpent (Satan) and would be victorious. But he would be bruised in the process. (Genesis 3:15) Abraham must have thought that Isaac was the fulfillment of this promise. But at the last minute, God provided a ram instead. The message to Abraham was that God would send His own innocent Son to die for the sins of the human race, and would thereby defeat the devil for all who chose to accept forgiveness. The reason for the sacrifices was to remind mankind of the great sacrifice God was going to make Himself in their behalf.

Helps and hints: Every sheep, goat, or bull that was offered on an altar built to the true God of heaven was intended to represent the work of the Messiah in offering Himself as payment for the sins of mankind.

Important lessons were graphically illustrated by the sacrifices. It was shown that death could easily be produced by one stroke of the knife, but what man could restore life once it was gone? So man is able to separate himself from God with one blatant act of disobedience, but cannot produce eternal life for himself any more he has been able to produce an ordered society of peace and harmony that is lasting. The lesson taught by the sacrifices in the Old Testament is confirmed in the New Testament by the apostle Paul, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23.

Helps and hints: God could have let the human race die in their sins and then created a new order of beings. But He is indeed a God of love, and suffered the greatest pain Himself, for our benefit.

Helps and hints: God allowed Himself to be sacrificed by human beings, though in reality, it was murder from man's point of reference; the hateful, premeditated destruction of an innocent man. As far as any other human sacrifice, this was strictly forbidden by God. Through Jeremiah the prophet, God said it never entered His mind. The Israelites committed this sin when they turned to the pagan gods. The personality behind these false gods was Satan himself, who worked continually to make God appear cruel and tyrannical in the eyes of men and women.

Helps and hints: Moses led the children of Israel into the land of Palestine after their Egyptian slavery. The people living there practiced all manner of sexual perversion as well as human sacrifice (mostly children). Their altars can still be visited today. Contrary to God's instructions, the Israelites adopted some of these customs after entering Canaan.

Helps and hints: Both the Old and the New Testaments testify that the power to forgive sin was not in the animal sacrifices but in THE SACRIFICE they represented. That sacrifice was the death of the Messiah. When an Old Testament worshiper of God offered a sacrifice, it was to be a demonstration of their faith in the promise of God to provide the genuine sacrifice. The forgiveness they received was just as real, but it was by faith and not by works. When a New Testament believer confesses the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the payment for their sins, they also receive forgiveness by faith, faith in the completed sacrifice of the true Messiah. One looked forward in faith, the other looks back in faith, but the same sacrifice covers all their sins. As the apostle Paul noted, "It is one God, which shall justify the circumcision (Jews) by faith, and the uncircumcision (Gentiles) through faith." Romans 3:30

Helps and hints: The animal sacrifices were only to illustrate the work of the Messiah until the Messiah came. If the death of an innocent lamb can arouse our sympathies to the evil in the world and can help us gain an appreciation of the true nature of sin, how much more should we be moved by the life and sufferings of the best man who ever lived? There are some today who believe the animal sacrifices should, and in fact will be renewed. Many in the Old Testament came to believe they could pay for their sins just by killing animals. But these have all missed the real meaning behind the sacrifices.

Helps and hints: God loves all of His creation, as Jesus indicated. But mankind is the special object of God's affection, the crowning act of His creation, the only earthly creature capable of appreciating His character, the only one capable of sin.

CONCLUSION:

Once the real meaning of the Old Testament sacrifices is known, we see a different picture of God than many are seeing today. Instead of a wrathful God who enjoyed death, we see in the Old Testament a living God who used the death of animals to help mankind see the horrors and futility of rebellion and selfishness. We see a God who went to unpleasant lengths so that men and women would not have to perish eternally. There is no difference between this God and the God of the New Testament. It is the same God who allowed Himself to be crucified upon a cross to bring forgiveness to those who had actually condemned themselves to death through their own unjustified rebellion.

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