INTRODUCTION

God made man in His own image from the beginning of age, sinless and immortal, just like Himself and gave him dominion over every other creature He made. Man was placed in a beautiful garden where he was to live and fellowship with God right in His presence. However, sin came and not only was that glorious estate lost; man was stripped of his dominion and immortality and became alienated from God. He could no longer stand in the presence of God. (Gen. 2:7-3:24). ¹

With the fall of man came the need for redemption and this was not to be done without the shedding of blood. Nonetheless, God, because of His love for man at the same time made provision for the redemption of man through his seed (Gen. 3:15); this was however not to become a reality until many centuries later. In the interim, the ground for fellowship was to be sacrifices as documented in Leviticus 1-17.

This paper therefore seeks to analyse the provision that God made for man’s redemption from the foundations of the world and will attempt to compare the interim arrangement with the permanent solution for sin.

THE PROBLEM OF SIN

Hamartiology is the branch of theology that deals with the study of sin. It investigates how sin originated, how it affects the human race, the different types and degrees of sin, and the results of sin. For the purpose of this paper, sin is defined as as the breaking, or transgression, of God's law (1 John 3:4). It is also described as disobedience or rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7), as well as independence from God. The transliteration of the original Greek work ‘hamartanó’ means "to miss the mark" of God's holy standard of righteousness. ²

Sin originated from Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God (Genesis 3; Romans 5:12). It entered the world through Adam, the head or root of the human race, and so every man after him is born into a sinful state or fallen condition. ³

THE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN

The problem of sin resulted in death as its consequence (Gen 2:17). Ezekiel 18:20a says ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die….’¹ The righteous judgement for sin is death (Rom. 6:23), death of the soul, which relates to alienation from God both in the present world and in eternity. ⁴ It is frequently observed by the Jewish doctors ⁵ that "there is no death without sin": sin is the cause of death, and death the fruit and effect of sin.

God took note of man’s helplessness in this condition and noted that all his imagination is only evil continually (Gen.6:5). Even though God is desirous of fellowship with man, it is impossible for a holy God to relate or fellowship with a sinful, depraved man. ‘Thou art of a purer eyes than to behold iniquity..’ (Hab. 1:13). ¹

THE TEMPORARY SOLUTION FOR SIN

The Pulpit Bible Commentary explains Hab. 1:13 and meaning ‘God's holiness cannot endure the sight of wickedness, nor his mercy the sight of man's misery’. This connotes that His mercy compelled Him to provide a way out of sin.

In the Old Testament, God entered into a covenant with the Israelites after rescuing them from Egypt; He gave them the Decalogue, written with His own hand, as well as ceremonial laws about sanctification and holiness. He charged them to live by these laws; they were to guide their relationship with one another and Himself. The law was to provide objective standard for measuring sin; ⁷ for without the law, man could not be held responsible for his sin (Rom. 5:13).

He told them to build Him a sanctuary where He could dwell among them (Ex. 25:8) and this was built with three courts; the Outer Court, Inner Court and the Holiest of all. The Ark of the Covenant, which represents the presence of God, was to be placed in the Most Holy Place, the place of intercession where the atoning blood will presented and accepted separated from the rest by a veil. If anyone broke the law (committed sin), there were sacrifices that had to be made by a mediator, which involves sprinkling of blood, for the remission of such sins. (Lev. 17:11) The Israelites were therefore to approach the holy God on the basis of sacrifice and priestly mediation as a temporary measure for dealing with the problem of sin.

Various sacrifices or offerings were established to address the breaking of the law including the Sin Offering, for unintentional sin; and Trespass Offering for outright violation of the law. However, the Day of Atonement was at the center of the tabernacle system of offering; it was a yearly sacrifice for the nation’s sin (Lev. 16:29). This was the only day the High Priest could open the veil and enter the Holiest of all with the blood of a goat to atone for the sin of the people; however, not before he has atoned for his own sin first. At the same time, the high Priest picks a goat and confesses on the sins of the nation upon it and this is released into the wilderness, taking away all the sins of the nation as a scapegoat (Lev. 16:21).

THE WEAKNESS AND IMPERFECTION OF THE OLD

The temporary measure that God provided for sin was a fore shadow of what was to come. There were weaknesses in the system that necessitated the replacement of the old with the new.

Firstly, the law only spelled out sin to man; it was impossible for man to keep the law neither can anyone be justified by keeping the law (Rom. 3:19-20). No natural man, since the fall, is able to keep perfectly the commandments of God, but breaks them daily, in thought, word, and deed. (Man's Inability to Keep the Moral Law, the Ten Commandments — Thomas Watson) This is because he was conceived in sin (Ps. 51:5) and is spiritually dead (Eph 2: 1). Apostle Paul also noted that even when man desires to obey God, he lacks the ability to do so because man is ‘carnal and sold under sin’ (Rom. 7:14-18).

Secondly, the blood of goats and other animals only covered sin, they could not remove sin (Heb. 10:4). It could only serve to sanctify for the purifying of the flesh (Heb.9:13). That is why it was necessary to keep observing the Day of Atonement on a yearly basis.

The third weakness of the old covenant arrangement is the fact the mediator, who is supposed to enter the Holy Place to intercede for the sin of the people, is himself not free from sin! He must therefore first make atonement for his own sin before he can be enter the presence of God.

Fourthly, under this old covenant, only the High Priest has access to the most Holy Place (Heb. 9:7). All other must stand outside their tents and wait for him to carry out the sacrifice for them. So the presence of God remained shielded from man behind a thick curtain during the history of Israel. ⁸

THE NEW AND FINAL SACRIFICE

The old covenant, being a fore shadow of the new, failed to fully satisfy the demand for the restoration of man from the fallen state back into a state where he is able to fellowship with God. However, it is important to note that the sacrifice and priestly system typifies the new covenant that was now to be instituted by God to permanently and once and for all, deal with the problem of sin.

God decided to make a new covenant with His people Israel; this time not writing the law on tablets of stones any more but on the tables of their hearts (Jer. 31:33). He therefore set aside the old to make room for the new because of it was weak and useless (Heb.7:18).

To fulfil the requirement of shedding of blood for the remission of sin, God sent His only begotten son as the spotless lamb to be slain as a propitiation for the sin of man and as such reconcile man back to God. The blood of Jesus, in that it was different from, and more powerful than the blood of animals, cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:7) and delivered us from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).

Jesus, by His sacrifice on the cross, became our high priest as appointed by God after the order of Melchidezek (Heb. 7:20-21); and with His own blood entered into the Holiest of all to make atonement for us once and for all. Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood (Heb7:23) continually making intercession for us on the right-hand side of God.

God planned from the beginning that the religious ceremonial laws would cease at the cross, because Christ, the true Lamb of God was sacrificed. The animal sacrifices all pointed forward to Christ’s death on the cross. “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,….” (Daniel 9:27) therefore, for us, offering of animal sacrifices today would be a sacrilege, it will mean saying that Christ did not die for our sins.

Moreover, the restriction on access to the presence of God by the priest only was abolished through the sacrifice of Christ. When He died, the curtain in the Jerusalem temple was torn in half, from the top to the bottom, making the presence of God now accessible to all. Only God could have carried out such an incredible feat because the veil was too high for human hands to have reached it, and too thick to have torn it. Furthermore, it was torn from top down, meaning this act must have come from above. ⁸

We can now boldly enter into God’s presence, “the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf.” (Hebrews 6:19-20) “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body …let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.” (Hebrews 10:19-22) The Holy of Holies is a representation of heaven itself, God’s dwelling place, which we have access now through Christ. In Revelations, John’s vision of heaven — the New Jerusalem — also was a perfect square, just as the Holy of Holies was (Revelation 21:16).

CONCLUSION

From the foregoing, it can be concluded that the sacrifice of Jesus abolished all other sacrifices for sin and delivered us from the curse in the Garden of Eden having been made a curse himself when He hung on the tree (Gal. 3:13). The torn veil illustrated Jesus’ body broken for us, opening the way for us to come to God. As Jesus cried out “It is finished!” on the cross, He was indeed proclaiming that God’s redemptive plan was now complete. The age of animal offerings was over. The ultimate offering had been sacrificed; Jesus is the finality of all sacrifices!

“For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. …But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Hebrews 9:24-26)