In the Old Testament, when a person sinned, the recourse prescribed by the law called for that person to recognize their sin and to sacrifice an animal for the atonement of those sins. God’s law, which made high demands on humanity, provided a solution for people who would fail to meet God’s standards—as all of them certainly would. 

By means of an elaborate sacrificial system, those who broke God’s law had a remedy for restoring fellowship with God. Fellowship with God was conditioned only on faith in the Lord Himself and in what He had promised. If fellowship with God was broken by sin, it was rectified by God’s forgiveness on the basis of a ransom that was ordained by God. The principle was: “The life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar” (Leviticus 17:11). Hence the means of dealing with sin was provided by God Himself in the system of blood sacrifices.

Our Lord never treated sin lightly, for the life-blood of the sacrificial animal was needed as an atonement.

Not all of the sacrifices addressed the problem of the disruption of fellowship between God and man. Some, like the peace or fellowship offerings, were rich times of sharing with one another the gifts of God in His presence. But others, like the whole-burnt offering, sin offerings or guilt offering, were specifically provided to remedy the rupture caused by sin’s damaging effects.

Divine forgiveness was not and could not be cheap, just as human justice necessitates that someone pay, if the reality of forgiveness is ever to be more than a cliché. Such payment was wrapped up in the theology of atonement. A good way to think of atonement is that, by means of a sacrifice to pay the penalty for sin, we can become “at one” with God.

All sins, except for the unpardonable and sustained revolt against God, were capable of being atoned. But what part did the sacrifices play, and how efficacious were they?

The sacrifices were most effective in a way that we might call subjective. The sinner received complete relief. His or her sins were forgiven on the basis of the word of a faithful God and the God-approved substitute. And the person obtained relief from the penalty of his or her sins.

Of course, the efficacy also depended on the internal state of the sinner’s heart. The outward actions of bringing an animal to the priest to sacrifice would mean nothing if not combined with repentance and with faith in God and His promises.

But although sin was subjectively dealt with in the Old Testament blood sacrifices, sin was not objectively dealt with as yet. The blood of bulls and goats could never truly take away or remove sin (Hebrews 10:4).

These were substituted animals, not people; hence, they could only be symbols of a real sacrifice that was yet to come. Therefore, in the meantime, there was a “passing by” of the sins of the Old Testament on the basis of God’s declared word, until He would later provide His own final Substitute who was a true man, yet one who had not sinned.

These animal sacrifices merely pointed to the work of the Messiah, or Christ, who would come in the future. The sacrifice of animals pointed to the need for a vicarious substitute who would give up their life for the one who had sinned.

The problem with Old Testament sacrifices was that they had to be repeated over and over again, and the lives yielded up in death were the lives of animals and not that of a perfect man who was also God.

It was not as if the Israelites could not be forgiven of their sins when they brought their sacrifices in faith and repentance. But these sacrifices were only tokens and signs pointing away from the animals to something better. They were not efficacious in and of themselves.

But the Lord Jesus Christ, through His blood, obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12) of those transgressions. Christ was offered up in order to bear sin. Through the cleansing power of His sacrificial death, those who are cleansed may serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14).

Forgiveness is always a costly affair. God and mortals cannot be put “at-one” unless there is a deliverance by a substitute. Real and true forgiveness and pardon was given to every Old Testament person who confessed their sin to our Lord and received His pardon. However, the payment for that sin did not come objectively until our Lord Jesus shed His blood on the cross in Jerusalem. At that point Jesus sealed the whole transaction with these words: “It is finished.” ©2024 Walter C. Kaiser Jr.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version.

Walter C. Kaiser Jr. is distinguished professor emeritus of Old Testament and president emeritus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, an author, and former president of the Evangelical Theological Society.