Big Picture Question: Why did God require a blood sacrifice? Because God is holy, His forgiveness
requires a payment for sin. Jesus made the ultimate payment for sin with His death on the cross.
Key Passage: Exodus 20:117
Unit Christ Connection: God instructed His covenant people how to live holy lives in an unholy world. This sustained their relationship with God until the perfect plan was revealed through Jesus Christ.
The tabernacle was complete. God now had a place where His glory could dwell without causing the
Israelites to fear death. God had given His people laws from the mountain, and He gave them more rules for living and worshiping Him when He dwelled in the tabernacle. These rules are recorded in the Book of Leviticus.
In Leviticus 17:11, God set apart the blood of a creature as the means for making atonement. This answers the question, “Why did Jesus have to die?” God’s requirement for the forgiveness of sins was the shedding of blood: “According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22).
It is important to note a New Testament revelation about the sin offering. Hebrews 10:4 says, “It is
impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Then why did God require people to make sacrifices? The institution of a sacrifice was to point to something greater—the ultimate sacrifice God would make by sending His own Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for the sins of the world once and for all. The Book of Leviticus contains many rules for the Israelite people, but we do not obey
all the rules in Leviticus today because we trust Jesus, who obeyed the law perfectly for us.
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