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Grace, Blood and the idea of a proxy sacrifice
This is my last post on the Bloodthirsty God posts for a while. This time, I want to go right to Leviticus, where we begin to see the blood sacrifices spelled out for us.
I used to envision the sacrifices going something like this:
Joe Israelite brings a sacrificial animal from his flock, gives it to the priest and sits and waits for the priest to do the dirty work. Once the bloody work is done, Joe Israelite goes home, maybe whistling a Yiddish tune because he feels so clean and forgiven.
Now, let's go to the particulars of the Levitical law, and I want to point our a couple of things:
Leviticus 1:2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock.
When any of you bring...
Leviticus 1:3 “ ‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without defect. He must present it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord.
"He" (that same "you" from vs 2) is to present it...
Leviticus 1:4 He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.
That same "he" lays his hand on the sacrifice's head...
Leviticus 1:5 He is to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
That same "he" slaughters the sacrifice.
Now, let's readjust our picture with the details just provided.
Joe Israelite brings the best of his possessions before God. He then lays his hand on its head, forcing himself to the realization that this innocent creature is about to die for his sins. Then he slits its throat and watches its life spill out-- again, with the realization that it was his sins that blood flows for.
The sacrifice forced the offender to look his sin and its consequences in the eyes. It forced him to admit his guilt and watch the consequences of that guilt. I think it also made the offender think more seriously about offending again.
Most importantly, it pointed forward to God presenting HIS best on our behalf, because we don't have "best" enough to offer. We could never make atonement for even one sin. Praise God His plan was to do it for us
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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Free Grace is truly awesome
Yes, Christ was our sacrifice, substituted on our behalf, in our stead. Study that real close and you realize that it does not matter if you "accept" or not, he was your paid your debt 2000 years ago, just as He paid Abraham's debt thousands of yours in advance.
The wonderful picture you paint above is the shadow of this to come. Christ was our sacrificial lamb that allows us to enter into the outer court of the tabernacle, just as those described above were permitted with thier own sacrifices. By His death, and at regeneration, we are translated into the kingdom of Christ, symbolized by the tabernacle then. Only with sacrifice was one allowed to enter through the widest gate into the outer court. Sacrifice was all that was required for that. But consider now, after having entered into the outer court by the sacrifice of Christ, how then shall one enter into the Holiest of Holies as a Preist? How then shall one progress from the outer court into the inner court, through the narrow door? Entering into the outer court by Christ's death is our first salvation by grace. Becoming a preist and entering in through the narrow gate, into the innner court, is our second salvation by works.
Welcome back, BC
I think anyone who has read any of our dialogs will see where we differ in our theology. The problem is that the purpose of this blog is not to widen the chasm of free will vs sovereignty. So, you'll hopefully understand when I neglect to respond to some of the points that you bring up (especially from here on out).
Aside from that, I can only recommend that you further study the type of the "inner court", mercy seat, etc... Carry that into Hebrews and you'll see that Christ is the priest that we needed, not us. We don't become a priest. He did.
You said: Study that real close and you realize that it does not matter if you "accept" or not...
That is simply not scriptural. Faith and belief are required for your justification just as it was for Abraham in your example.
You've made your case for (2) salvations elsewhere. Really, what I am interested in the righteousness from God, and Romans 3 is very specific on that:
21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
There, we see the righteousness of God is in faith, to those who believe. We see that atonement is through faith in His blood. We see that He justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
If you look anywhere but there for any of the above, you have entered the temple of heresy.
So, with all of that said, please feel free to add any input to any post or comment as it may pertain to the subject matter. But I do request that we stay on the subject matter and not turn the blogs toward unintended discussion topics. I don't mean to sound short, but, really, I'd prefer that Faith Well Grounded not turn into a den of argument over election/free will.
Thanks! And God bless...