Why God Demands a Blood Offering

From the very beginning, God has been telling the story of humanity’s only hope—Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary. From Adam and Eve’s covering to the Passover feast, all of human history hangs on the cross. Yet while our culture seeks to minimize sin and remove the cross from the public life, we must cling to it as the only hope for civilization, the only power for living, and the only means to salvation.

Read Genesis 3:1-21. After the fall, “The Lord God made garments of skins for both Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). God used the skin of an animal to cover Adam and Eve’s sin, shame and disobedience. God was showing that innocent blood must be shed to redeem sin. From the very beginning, God was painting a picture of the cross that was to come. 

After 400 years of slavery in Egypt, God had to remind His people of the necessity of a blood offering. So He established the Passover—an animal sacrifice for atonement. For nearly 1,400 years, God’s people celebrated the Passover feast with an animal sacrifice. “The innocent blood is a covering over your sin,” God was teaching and re-teaching year after year. 

Every time a person offered an animal sacrifice, every time God’s people celebrated Passover, it was a symbol, a foreshadowing, an arrow pointing to the cross. In each sacrifice, God was saying, “Sin is costly. Sin cannot be taken lightly. I am holy and righteous, and sin is a colossal offense to Me.” Every time an innocent animal’s blood was offered for a guilty soul, the shadow of the cross hung over the scene.

But then one day, on the cross at Calvary, the picture was eternally surpassed as the Lord Jesus Christ, the innocent, infinite one, shed His blood. But Jesus’ blood didn’t just cover over sin; it paid for it, removing our guilt and shame in His perfect forgiveness. Jesus’ willing sacrifice was not a temporary fix for sin; it was the permanent solution. 

Passover stopped. Animal sacrifice ceased. Because the fulfillment had appeared, pictures were no longer necessary. 

Take a moment to reflect on Christ’s forgiveness. Jesus, the spotless Lamb, shed His blood on the cross for you. He paid your ransom. It is a reality so incredible that God painted pictures of it for centuries. Have you accepted the grace and forgiveness Christ purchased for you on that cross?

Prayer: Jesus, thank You for the sacrifice You made on the cross for my forgiveness and the eternal life You purchased for me. Refocus my mind and my heart on You so that the cross is front and center in my life. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). {eoa}