3.7
I am the Lord who sanctifies you (Exodus 31:13)
God’s command to approach Him with blood sacrifice seems to contradict His command to rest. At the same time Israel was to rest from her labors and contribute nothing to God’s providing, she was also commanded to give certain animals to Priests who would sacrifice them to God according to the pattern God showed Moses on Sinai. These animal sacrifices were made for the people’s sake. Animals died for human life. God’s simple explanation is “. . .the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your life; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement” (Leviticus 17:11). Life alone can atone for life. God’s holiness is grounded in His life in rest. He does not want our striving, our work or our property. All He wants is our life in such a way that we can live with Him. In His mysterious wisdom, God chooses to make us alive in His life with another’s life, sacrificed for us
The nature and meaning of blood sacrifice are best explained in the holiest festival of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. It is observed on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Sabbath month of Tishri. Only on this day of the year could the High Priest enter the Temple’s innermost sanctuary, the Holy of Holies where the Presence of God dwelt. The special services performed on Yom Kippur describe something of the nature of God’s holiness and of His relationship with Israel. Most prominent in its observances are the role of the High Priest; blood sacrifices; Israel’s position before God; and the quality of this day as a Sabbath of Sabbaths
On Yom Kippur, the High Priest assumed his most important role as mediator between God and Israel. Attached to his richly embroidered robes was a breastpiece over his heart with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (Exodus 28:9, 29). He was to carry, as if upon his own heart, all the people to God. There was no higher or more privileged position before God than that of High Priest, servant of both God and people. His service included performing animal sacrifices; washings with water; presenting grain offerings and incense; anointing with oils and lighting candles, all specially prepared according to the pattern God showed Moses. The High Priest was to cleanse his own and Israel’s sins, and also cleanse the places and vessels used in the Priest’s service of worship. All the Priest did ultimately served to separate people and things for God to separate and accept. Separation is essential to holiness. The Hebrew word for both holy and sanctify is kadash, from kodesh which means apartness and sacredness
In all these things the High Priest did as mediator on the Day of Atonement, atoning with the blood of sacrificed animals was most important. On Passover, the Israelites killed lambs and with their blood, atoned for the lives of their firstborn. But on Yom Kippur, “atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you, you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:30). On this day, the High Priest alone atoned for all the people. There is nothing reasonable or pretty about blood sacrifices. They are violent, destructive and grievous for both the animals and those who care for them. Still, God says without any equivocating that life is required for life. Only the blood of a sacrificed life can deliver the life of another. The assumption here is that the High Priest and all the people of Israel needed deliverance. It was clear when she was a slave in Egypt that she needed deliverance from her master. But from what was she being delivered on Yom Kippur? “. . .atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you, you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord.” On that day, God delivered from sin so that Israel would be free to know Him. Unless God frees from sin, a person is not only incapable of knowing God but doesn’t even know her ignorance of God
Yom Kippur exposes the great division separating human life and God’s life. Death takes on a central role in mediating between these two lives, a death that is sacrificial. In the life of God, sin kills. When the people repented of their sins in the Bible, they put on sackcloth and covered themselves with ashes or dirt in the same way they mourned physical death (e.g. Nehemiah 9:1; Daniel 9:3-5; Jonah 3:5,6). There is need for “mourning over his own iniquity” (Ezekiel 7:16-8) because sin kills spiritually. Only life can redeem and make spiritually alive again. In the ways of God’s Spirit, only a sacrificed life can bring back to life the one who died in sin. The heart of this holiday is the blood sacrifice that cleansed Israel of her sins, the atonement made for her. In this we see how central is the sacrificial system to Jewish Biblical faith