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God knew
that Adam would sin and through him sin would pass upon all men; that’s why He
had purposed to send His Son into the world to make atonement for our sins. But
how would His Son make atonement for our sins? Through His sacrifice, that
is, by offering Himself for our sins. As I said before, His sacrifice was
foreshadowed by the killing of animals which took place in the Garden of Eden
after the first man had sinned, but His sacrifice was foreshadowed above all
by the sacrifices which God - when He gave the law to the people of Israel - commanded
the Israelites to offer for their sins. Here is what we read in the book of
Leviticus about the sin offering which had to be offered if the anointed
priest or the whole Israelite community or a leader or a member of the
community sinned unintentionally: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through
ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which
ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: If the priest that is
anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for
his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD
for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon
the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the LORD. And the priest that
is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle
of the congregation: And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and
sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the
sanctuary. And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the
altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the
congregation: and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of
the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation. And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock
for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that
is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them,
which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it
shall he take away, As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of
peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt
offering. And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and
with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, Even the whole bullock shall he
carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured
out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall
he be burnt. And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance,
and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done
somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which
should not be done, and are guilty; When the sin, which they have sinned
against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for
the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation. And the
elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock
before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD. And the
priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock's blood to the tabernacle
of the congregation: And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the
blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the vail. And
he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before
the LORD, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out
all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall take all his fat
from him, and burn it upon the altar. And he shall do with the bullock as he
did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the
priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. And
he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned
the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation. When a ruler
hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the
commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done,
and is guilty; Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge;
he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish: And
he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place
where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD: it is a sin offering. And
the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and
put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his
blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering. And he shall burn all his
fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the
priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be
forgiven him. And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance,
while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD
concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; Or if his sin,
which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his
offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he
hath sinned. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and
slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering. And the priest
shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of
the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the
bottom of the altar. And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat
is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall
burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall
make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. And if he bring a
lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish. And he
shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin
offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. And the priest
shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon
the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood
thereof at the bottom of the altar: And he shall take away all the fat
thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace
offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the
offerings made by fire unto the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement
for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him” (Leviticus
4:1-35). As you can see, according to the law, when anyone sinned
unintentionally he had to offer a sin offering for the sin he had committed.
Therefore the priests offered sin offerings every day. However, once a year (that
day was called ‘the Day of Atonement’) the High Priest had to make atonement
for his own sins and for the sins of the people. Here is what God said to
Moses: “Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the
holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that
he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Thus shall
Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and
a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall
have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen
girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy
garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. And
he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the
goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall
offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an
atonement for himself, and for his house. And he shall take the two goats,
and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the
LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat
upon which the LORD's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the
goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive
before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a
scapegoat into the wilderness. And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering,
which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his
house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: And
he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar
before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring
it within the vail: And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the
LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the
testimony, that he die not: And he shall take of the blood of the bullock,
and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the
mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. Then
shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring
his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of
the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:
And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness
of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their
sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that
remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no
man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an
atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement
for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.
And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an
atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the
blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And he
shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse
it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he
hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the
congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall
lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all
the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all
their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away
by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the
goat in the wilderness. And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the
congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he
went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: And he shall wash his
flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth,
and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make
an atonement for himself, and for the people. And the fat of the sin offering
shall he burn upon the altar. And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat
shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into
the camp. And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin
offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place,
shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their
skins, and their flesh, and their dung. And he that burneth them shall wash
his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into
the camp. And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh
month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no
work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that
sojourneth among you: For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for
you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a
statute for ever. And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall
consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall
make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy
garments: And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall
make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar,
and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the
congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an
atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year” (Leviticus
16:2-34). As you can see, it was the blood that made atonement for the sins,
that’s why God forbade the Israelites to eat blood (Leviticus 17:10-12). In
the above mentioned passages quoted from the law we find the principle that
without the shedding of blood there is no remission.
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