Bloody sacrifices!

Leviticus 4:1-12 NKJV

Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [2] "Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the LORD in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, [3] if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. [4] He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, lay his hand on the bull's head, and kill the bull before the LORD. [5] Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull's blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting. [6] The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary. [7] And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of meeting; and he shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. [8] He shall take from it all the fat of the bull as the sin offering. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat which is on the entrails, [9] the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove, [10] as it was taken from the bull of the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering. [11] But the bull's hide and all its flesh, with its head and legs, its entrails and offal- [12] the whole bull he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.

Reading Leviticus chapters 4 & 5 fills me with horror - all those innocent animals and birds being on a "conveyor belt" of bloody slaughter as a sacrifice for the sins of the people.

Honestly it fills me with revulsion, and, having a graphic imagination, the cinematic picture of that carnage causes me to rightly recoil in outrage.

What is the Lord trying to achieve here?

We are called to see the severity of sin - it's not something to brush off as nothing and say it doesn't really matter.

To God EVERYTHING MATTERS. He is perfect and demands perfection in that sin must be paid for.

Imagine now doing something wrong and having to bring a little lamb, so innocent and pure. Looking into its eyes and placing your hand on its little head to pay for what you've done wrong. Then killing it, draining its blood etc etc.

It brings sin into perspective, doesn't it? Someone has to pay for you and I to be forgiven!

Yet the New Testament tells us:

Hebrews 10:4 NKJV

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

So these sacrifices were needed over and over again. What a blood bath.

The only bloody sacrifice that could permanently erase sin's indelible guilt is Jesus' - the Lamb of God who takes way the sin of the world.

Hebrews 10:10,14 NKJV

By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. [14] For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

What a wonderful Saviour - giving His own lifeblood to cleanse away my guilt.

Selah