Cain and Abel brought thank offerings to God in Genesis 4:3 and 4:4. Noah also sacrificed burnt offerings to God coming out of the ark. From Abraham until the Israelites in Egypt, sacrificing animals was a thank offering or a way to seal a covenant. How did it become part of purifying themselves before worship and why was giving a sacrificial lamb a necessary ritual for Old Testament people? Why do modern Christians not kill animals before worship like the Old Testament once demanded? Let’s start with explaining why and when the thank offering became a purifying sacrifice.
Sacrificing as thank offerings
Before Jacob’s family went to Egypt, many things were used as thank offerings, like oil (Genesis 35:14). Wealth back then was based on flocks and herds so killing a young animal was saved for special occasions. Killing a young animal meant there would be no children from that animal so it was a form of forfeiting future wealth or showing confidence that they could afford to kill an animal, their herds were large enough, or trust that God would provide.
The Original Passover Lamb
Exodus 11 and 12 tell the story of the original Passover in Egypt, the event that would be celebrated the weekend Jesus was executed. God said find a lamb per household, or share a lamb if the household is small, so there are no left overs. Exodus 12:5 continues: “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you can take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs.” Exodus 12:14-27 continues to say that the Israelites were supposed to celebrate that event forever, every generation, as a thank offering for the Passover.
Israelites continually proved they needed to repent.
Exodus 15 ends the story of the Israelites in Egypt with Mariam singing a praise to God. Exodus 15:22-27 tells that the group started grumbling against God only days later. True, they hadn’t had water in days, but that group had lived through the plagues in Egypt and walked through the Red Sea on dry ground. God gave them fresh water that time and said that if they obeyed him, God wouldn’t show them his anger like he did the Egyptians. Less than two months later, the community leaders said to Moses and Aaron: “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” (Exodus 16:3) Less than two months and they didn’t trust that God would provide. That is the story of how God started providing mana (bread) in the morning and quail (meat) at night everyday but the Sabbath.
When God gave the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, he gave orders and said that was what they had to do to avoid his anger. Later, in Leviticus, he gave instructions on sacrificial lambs, rams, bulls, and other offerings for sin. The Old Testament is full of stories where the foolish Israelites disobeyed God, usually worshiping other gods, and once they repented God saved them from whatever invasion or plague was happening.
True repentance is recognizing the sin, realizing it was wrong, and feeling enough guilt over it that the person stopped doing that sin. A way to show guilt is through a ritual and sacrifice. God told his chosen people how to show their repentance. Some sins required liquid offerings, but many required burnt offerings. Once a man recognized his sin against God, he had to ritually kill a living animal in public. Back then, that living animal would’ve been from his own flock, an animal that his family had raised from birth and had probably named. Can you imagine killing your family dog because you did something wrong?
God wanted his holy nation to be focused on him and focused on heaven, not on earthly wealth. Everything they had was God’s and offering back some of it in thanks or repentance was not too much to ask. The Israelites lived by the rituals God made to keep them faithful. Things like a day every week that they shouldn’t even cook food (Sabbath day to focus on God), Passover celebrated every year (a reminder of God’s miracles), the Day of Atonement (national yearly reminder of sin), the tithe (an expectation for the people to provide for the temple and honor God), and rules about what they couldn’t eat or touch were all supposed to be reminders of God’s guidance in their everyday lives.
Repentance became ritual, then routine
Over the next thousand years, the rules that God created to be a reminder of himself everyday became ritual, then a part of everyday life for his holy nation. Jesus’ life shows numerous times that what should have been a special act of worship was meaningless. Jesus commented (in Mark 12:41-44) that a widow who gave pennies to the temple gave more than the other visitors who gave huge amounts. Giving money to the temple for most people was expected or a way of showing off how much money they had to everyone watching. That widow faithfully gave everything she had in trust that God would take care of her.
Luke 18:9-14 talks about the Pharisee and a tax collector. The proud Pharisee bragged about following God’s orders while the tax collector repented. The proud man did all the right things, but he used them to show his greatness, not God’s. Meanwhile the humble man looked to God for mercy. To many in Jesus’ time, actions that should have been done for God were done for themselves or meaningless cultural expectations. Sacrificial lambs were raised to be sold and people paid for burnt offerings as they walked into the temple. It had lost the idea of personal sacrifice that God intended for most followers.
God’s sacrificial lamb was sent at the perfect time.
By the time Jesus was born, the Israelites were ruled by the Roman empire. They had been captured and some of their rules were changed by their new rulers. Many were desperately waiting for God to deliver them like he had before. Many people were eager for the promised Son of God to restore their place as a top kingdom in the region. While not God’s plan, it probably helped spread the word of a new brilliant teacher. Could this guy be the one blessed by God to free them from Rome? His teachings of love and service were very different from the teachings of those who insisted that faithful obedience of the Levitical Law and religious tradition were what God wanted.
As much as the Israelites hated Roman rule, the Roman empire spread through the Middle East, Upper Africa, and most of Europe, bringing roads and a common language throughout the then-known world. It was time for Jesus to die as God’s Sacrificial Lamb, the pure Paschal Lamb.
Sacrificial Lamb Of God is the only blood sacrifice Christians need.
Jesus’ death completed the laws of the Old Testament. Jesus is the only sacrificial lamb anyone needs. His perfect blood is a price we can never pay for all our sins. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Romans goes into detail to show that the Old Testament laws were intended to focus people on God and the coming savior, but now that Jesus has come, the old laws are unnecessary and may actually harm people’s faith in Christ.
