Read Leviticus 17:10-11. What function does God give to the blood?
Image © Steve Creitz from GoodSalt.com
In a passage where God instructs the Israelites not to eat any blood, He provides an interesting reason for this prohibition: blood stands for life, and God has made sacrificial blood a ransom for human life. One life, represented by the blood, ransoms another life. The principle of substitution, which became explicit on Mount Moriah when Abraham offered the blood of the ram in [...]
Key Thought : The sacrificial system was introduced to Adam and Eve, practiced by the patriarchs, and amplified in the law of Moses..
[Teaching plan for Sacrifices October 14, 2013]
1. Have a volunteer read Exodus 12:21-24.
a. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
b. Why were they supposed to dip hyssop in the blood?
c. Personal Application : How can we learn to surrender everything to God and do everything exactly [...]
Read Genesis 22:1–19. What did Abraham learn about sacrifice?
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
What was God’s purpose in this incredible challenge to Abraham’s faith? The patriarch’s life with God had always been accompanied by divine promises: the promise of land, of descendants, and of blessings; the promise of a son; and the promise that God would take care of Ishmael. Abraham sacrificed, but it was always in the light of some promise. However, in the situation described in Genesis 22, [...]
In Old Testament times, believers could bring offerings on different occasions and in different personal circumstances. Different objects they were allowed to “offer” included clean animals, grain, or drink, as well as other things. The animal sacrifice is the oldest element in the sanctuary service, and together with the priestly service, it belongs to the center of the Israelite service. Religious life without sacrifice was inconceivable.
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
Which kinds of offerings are described in the following [...]
Read Genesis 3:9–21. What was God’s response to Adam and Eve after they sinned?
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world, in a sanctuary-like garden, and God granted them face-to-face communion with their Creator. Their first sin opened a nearly insurmountable breach in their relationship to God. However, God had already planned how to counter such a breach of trust, and even before there came any judgment against them, He gave them the hope [...]
Read for This Week’s Study: Gen. 3:9–21; Exod. 12:21–27; Lev. 2:1–3; Gen. 22:1–19; Lev. 17:10-11; Phil. 4:18.
Memory Text: “I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship”(Romans 12:1, NASB).
Central to the entire gospel is the concept of sacrifice. In the biblical languages, the words for“sacrifice” often depict the idea of drawing near, and of bringing something to God. The basic [...]
Friday’s section of this week’s SS lesson asks the question, “Critics of Christianity will often argue that Jesus knew beforehand that, though He would die, He would be resurrected to life. Thus, they ask, what was the big deal about His death when He knew it would be only temporary?”
My mother knows that flying in an airplane is safer than traveling by car. She knows the sad statistics that people are killed every day on the highways, while a rare [...]
There is a song I remember singing a hundred years ago, when I was a teenager. It went something like this, “I owed a debt I could not pay. He paid a debt He did not owe.” Beautiful song, but not exactly theologically correct if you want to get technical. And no, I do not like to get technical and I guess it may be theologically correct in one way, but in another way, it’s not. You see, fact is, [...]
Sometimes we get confused about the sanctuary as described in Scripture. Is the earthly sanctuary of Old Testament times an exact replica of the heavenly sanctuary? If so, why? Do God and the angels need a visual representation of God’s holiness when they have the very presence of God Himself with them?
Certainly the items and the ritual of sacrifices in the temple courtyard do not exist in the heavenly sanctuary. The ultimate sacrifice, Christ’s death, has already happened, as prophesied. [...]
Several teachers at an African secondary school were visiting one afternoon when one of them picked a stone carving out of his pocket and handed it around.
“This is an idol,” he said. “My yard boy gave it to me. He thinks this piece of rock has a lot of power.”
The head missionary in charge of the school came to his feet. “Give it to me,” he said.
The teacher [...]