Israel, Sacrifices and True Isreal

By Ron Thomas     In our Bible class discussion on Wednesday night, I gave attention to forgiveness and the Law of Moses. Let me elaborate on that a little more. Forgiveness is always a matter of God's declaration; it is His gift to those who obey Him. Since it has always been the case that one is justified by faith, then those justified by the Lord receive the forgiveness of sins.     But, in the context of the Levitical setting, there is something much different. The Lord brought a nation (Israel) from out of another nation (Egypt). The new nation formed by the Lord was to be to all people God’s kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:6). The Lord brought them from Egypt and placed them in Canaan (Palestine) to be His shining light in a dark world. Before He led them to the land of promise, He gave Israel His covenant law, the foundation being the Ten Words (Commandments). As a nation they lived according to that, and all other laws were built upon that foundation.     From Hebrews 10:4, we learn the blood of animals can’t remove sins, but in Leviticus we learn the men (males) offered blood sacrifices, a sweet aroma to the Lord. Women did not do this. In fact, regarding women, when they offered sacrifices, this was in relation to childbirth and their menstrual cycles. Were the men only ones forgiven? Not hardly! If that were so, then in what way was there atonement (Lev. 1:5), or forgiveness (the word “forgive” is only used 10 times in the book of Leviticus (ASV), and it is always in relation to sacrifices)?     Since the blood of animals could not remove sin, but one was forgiven with the blood of animals in specific sacrifices, what gives? The forgiveness granted was not a personal application, but one that was "corporate”, or, in other words, forgiveness was granted to the individual family through the head of the house. With this being the case, sacrifices in the national context perpetuated the nation of God's people, meeting the principle of Exodus 19:6.     When the nation was loyal to the Lord, they were effective in their mission work. When they were not loyal to the Lord, the Lord warned them His protective barrier was going to come down. They refused to listen, and they paid the price for their disobedience. Finally, the Lord brought Israel to an end (Mt. 23:37-39; Rom. 15:8) and established a new Israel, the church of Christ (Rom. 9:6).

- Ron Thomas preaches for the Church of Christ at Rio Grande in Bidwell, OH. He may be contacted at etsop95@gmail.com. Visit the congregation’s website at: https://www.churchofchristatriogrande.com