Bible Discussion Thread

 
  • Daniel Raymond Gibbs on Exodus 31 - 3 years ago
    EXODUS 29, What dose the killing of Animals have to do with God. This makes no sense to do this horrible act. I have never heard of any such act committed in the name God within my lifetime. Why are they not doing this today in churches, if this chapter demands it must be done!
  • Chris - In Reply on Exodus 31 - 3 years ago
    Page 3.

    This has been a very brief explanation as there's much that could be said, but I hope that the message from God to us is clear to you & please feel free if you require further information. And yes, the Church does not practise animal sacrifice today & never will, because God provided His Own Sacrifice that fully met His demands & penalty that was against us. This was a once only Sacrifice & for all who come to Him by faith in Jesus.
  • Chris - In Reply on Exodus 31 - 3 years ago
    Page 2.

    The blood of the animal was spilt & applied for man's sake, but the flesh of the animal was later consumed by those officiating in the Tabernacle as food. So by doing this, were the people forgiven & free from their sin against God? No - the sacrifices only temporarily covered their sin & hid God's Anger, as long as the people repented for their sins & sacrifice was being made. But this system could not go on forever as God had planned that a once-only permanent sacrifice would be made that would be acceptable to Him. Why couldn't God do this in the first place? Well, His people, Israel, had to first learn what sin was & how reprehensible sin was to a Holy God. The Laws that they couldn't fully obey were to show them their sinfulness & utter reliance upon God Who could still forgive them through sacrifice.

    But the time had come for God's Own Sacrifice to come to Earth to be the only acceptable & permanent Sacrifice. And this Sacrifice would completely do away with those temporary animal sacrifices. So God provided His Son, called Jesus Christ, to give His Life for mankind's sins (both for the Jew & the Gentile): John 3:16. Jesus' death on the Cross provided the way for mankind to come back to God - not by sacrifice or any self-effort, but only by believing in Jesus' death & resurrection from the grave & by putting his faith in God to accomplish it on his behalf. So again, a blood sacrifice was required as it showed "a life being given for another life". What we couldn't do because we're filthy sinners, Jesus Christ the spotless Lamb from God was able to do for us & God accepted it by raising Jesus from the dead. So all who put their faith in Jesus are 'justified' by God: i.e. declared no longer guilty & made righteous before Him.
  • Chris - In Reply on Exodus 31 - 3 years ago
    Daniel, even though this act of killing animals for sacrifices sounds horrible & detestable, it was something that was required by God for His people, Israel. To explain this further:

    Ever since mankind was put on the Earth & they chose to do wrong & disobey God, their Creator, they were under the sentence of death; death was both a physical & spiritual death. See Genesis chapter 3 for the account of Adam & Eve & also Ezekiel 18:4: "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Just as we have to pay the penalty for our wrongs before civil courts, so to the Just God requires that we pay the penalty for our lives of sin & disobedience to Him.

    But if God fulfilled His demands, none of us would be alive for long & we would be consigned to Hell for our sins. But this God of Justice is also a God of Love (just as a good parent meets out both love & discipline to the child), & God wanted to give mankind another way to be forgiven & acceptable to Him. So when God had called out a people especially to separate them from the world that was given over to idolatry & wickedness & to put His Name on them, He picked a people out of captivity in Egypt to be His very Own: blessed by Him, God dwelling with them, guiding them & protecting them. But they were still human & still did wrong before God. So God gave them His Laws to abide by & also a sacrificial system whereby whenever they sinned & broke His Laws, a system was in place that would temporarily cover those sins thereby averting God's Anger & Judgement against them. And this involved the sacrifice of various types of animals.

    Why the death of animals? Hebrews 9:22 says "without the shedding of blood there is no remission (of sins)". It had to be blood for blood. Rather than the sinner losing his life for his sin, God in love required that a pure, spotless animal would be sacrificed in the sinner's stead. When this was done by the High Priest, God accepted it as a substitutionary payment on behalf of man.



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