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READ | Hebrews 10:1-14
God’s grace has no limits. His mercy can reach the darkest part of
our hearts. What’s more, the forgiveness Jesus offered on the cross
stretches back to earth’s first day and forward to its last. Christ not
only erased our past, present, and future sin; He also paid for
the wrongs of every generation.
When the ancient Israelites brought a goat or a lamb to the temple
for a sacrifice, they placed their hands on its head and confessed their
sins. The priest then killed the animal and sprinkled some of its blood
on the altar of atonement. The ritual symbolized a confessor’s payment
for sin. But the lamb could not actually take on the sin and die in
place of the Israelite (Heb. 10:4).
If an animal’s blood could actually erase a sin-debt, we’d still be
offering those frequent sacrifices, and Jesus’ death would have been
unnecessary. Yet we must remember that, though the act itself had no
saving power, the ritual of sacrifice was God’s idea (Leviticus 4). He established such offerings as a powerful illustration of the
seriousness and penalty of sin. The practice also pointed to Christ’s
perfect sacrificial death on our behalf and the salvation He offers. To
use a modern metaphor, sacrifice can be thought of as a credit card. God
accepted the lamb’s blood as temporary payment. When the bill came due,
Jesus Christ paid the sin-debt in full.
Modern believers practice certain biblical rituals too. But we are
not pardoned through prayer, Bible reading, or even the act of
confession. Like the Israelites, we must also look to a lamb—the Lamb of
God. When we receive Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, we are forgiven
forever.