When I think back to Old Testament times and how believers had to make sacrifices every time they sinned all I can think is, “Whew! Thank God I don’t have to do that!”. I mean imagine with me for a moment:
You’re on the highway driving to meet your friend then all of a sudden someone who is driving like a maniac cuts you off. You slam on your breaks, get angry, say some choice words, and continue driving. Once you become aware of the sin you had committed you immediately take the next exit, pull over and begin your search for a perfect and spotless lamb to be purified from your sins and made right before God.
Man… I feel like I’d be taking exits pretty often… Imagine how many times you’d have to cancel your plans in order to make an atonement for your sins. Good thing that’s not the case any more right?! We have Jesus who came to be our perfect and spotless lamb who died once and for all to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Now we don’t have to take the exit, we can just toss up a prayer to God and move on with our day!
Oh wait. Is that really what God hoped would happen once He sent Jesus to die for our sins? Do you think He wants us to continue with our everyday plans as if nothing has happened? My guess is no...
Just because Jesus died for our sins doesn’t mean we should forget the seriousness of our sins.
I do still believe that the people of the Old Testament had it rough, but they experienced first hand just how serious their sins were. The experience of searching for the perfect sacrifice and offering it on the altar. The reality of a crying animal, blood being spilled, and the smell of burning flesh and bones. Imagine the impact that kind of experience would have on your life when you know that it was your sin that made this action necessary. The frustration you would feel knowing that you would have to do it again, and again, and again, every time you missed the mark. I imagine after doing such a sacrifice these people desired to sin no more. They saw just how gross their sin was, and desired to walk in it no longer.
Do I have something like the people of the Old Testament to make me aware of how gross my sin is? What causes me to no longer desire to walk in sin? Maybe I don’t have something in the sense of smelling burning flesh, but I do have something they didn’t have access to. I have access to the Spirit. The Spirit that convicts me of my sins and leads me to repentance. The Spirit that allows me to experience the presence of God without going into the temple. I get to experience first hand just how holy our God is, which causes me to realize just how sinful I am. Compared to Jesus I am gross because of my sin. As people who desire to be near to God, we should run from our sin. We should pursue being holy as He is holy, and the only way to do this is by continually confessing our sins to God and admitting that His way is better.
Although I do not have the physical reminder of how gross my sin is to lead me to repentance, I have the Spirit who leads me and guides me. The truth is the sacrifices of the Old Testament were only temporary coverings of sin. Everything that the people of the Old Testament could do would still fall short of pleasing a holy and perfect God. Something better was necessary. Romans 8:3-4 does a wonderful job of telling us why. It states, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Jesus on the cross saying “It is finished.” fulfilled what sacrifices couldn’t do for us. Because of Him, we will be passed over and seen as righteous before God, not because of what we have done but because of what Jesus has done for us. In response we can walk in the Spirit with thankful hearts knowing that God knew what He was doing when He sent Jesus to be the better sacrifice for us.
Ginnie Sannes, Senior
Bethel University
2020 VLP Communications Intern