- Part 1: The Gospel of Adam, Abel, Abraham and Jesus
- Part 2: The Forbidden Fruit, and the Gift of Sorrow
- Part 3: Two Brothers, Two Sacrifices, and The Strategic Lie
- Part 4: Abraham’s World, His Sacrifice, and the Passover Lamb
IX. Apostasy, Chastisement, and Repentance
Alas, this beautiful restored relationship between God and man was not to be. At least not yet. God’s people turned their backs on God, and sinned, pressuring Aaron to make an idol of a golden calf.[1] Both outwardly and inwardly, they had returned to the gods of Egypt.
Knowing that nothing was more deadly to His people than idolatry, God severely disciplined His people, compelling them to utterly destroy the golden calf they had made.
The sacrifice of a lamb and a bull had not been sufficient to teach His people the necessary lesson. To wean them from the gods of Egypt, drastic measures were needed. So God instituted an enormous number of additional blood sacrifices.[2] For the next several hundred years, God’s people—and especially the priests who descended from unfaithful Aaron—would be burdened with nonstop blood sacrifices, evening and morning, day after day, year after year, so that they might become utterly sick of it.[3] The neverending slaughter of sheep and bulls would be a constant reminder that there was to be no return to Egypt, and no return to Egypt’s gods.
God still treasured the love and gratitude He had received from Abel, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and His people were still welcome to bring Him free-will offerings of oil, flour[4], and garden produce.[5] They also could bring offerings from their flocks.
God had neither need nor desire for the shedding of blood. But for God’s people to worship Him faithfully, it was absolutely necessary for them to sacrifice their attachment to false religions. Thus, for the next several centuries, these blood sacrifices of lambs and bulls would be required.
Goats would also be sacrificed. One of the key sacrificial days for God’s people would be the Day of Atonement, when the High Priest would take the blood of a bull and goat into the Temple, into the Holy of Holies, to be sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.[6]
For nearly 1000 years, God’s people would shed the blood of countless animals to keep the Day of Atonement, and to observe the other sacrifices.
Alas, the Israelites remained stubbornly attached to idolatry, and refused to give it up. Because of God’s love for His people, He sent them many disciplinary judgments and warnings, but they would not listen. Throughout the years of the Judges, and throughout the years of the Kings, they kept worshiping idols, and could hardly be persuaded to abandon them.[7] Instead of showing gratitude to God who had given them their own kingdom, they kept turning their back on Him and worshiping carved idols of wood and stone.
The Israelites had grown so hard of heart, that only the severest measures would get their attention. So, finally, God allowed Babylon to conquer Israel, bringing their kingdom to an end, destroying their temple, and carrying their people off into captivity. God’s people were shocked, dismayed, and their souls were shaken to the core. Never did they expect that they would actually suffer such a judgment. For the next 70 years, they were humbled and broken, forced to raise their children and grandchildren in a distant pagan land, no longer having an ability to observe blood sacrifices at a temple in Jerusalem.
They no longer had the Ark of the Covenant. The prophet Jeremiah had sealed it away in a hidden, unknown location.[8] Other items used in temple worship were taken from them, carried off into Babylon.[9]
After many years in captivity, God mercifully, lovingly, and miraculously allowed them to return to their land. They rebuilt the temple.
Thanks to God and His loving discipline, His people finally learned their lesson. After nearly 1000 years of succumbing to pagan idolatry, the shock of a 70-year exile helped deliver them from this particular vice. They abandoned idolatry and polytheism.[10] For the next 500 years, until the birth of Christ their Messiah, they would not bow to the gods of the surrounding nations.[11]
God had cured them of idolatry. And thus these blood sacrifices had largely served their purpose. God takes no pleasure in the blood of bulls and goats. He cherishes the love and devotion of His people, and thus He gladly accepts free-will offerings from them. He accepts offerings that are motivated by a heart of love and worship, whether they be offerings of oil, flour, produce from the garden, or a lamb from the flock.
Since God’s people no longer embraced pagan idolatry, it was now necessary to wean them from blood sacrifice. Though they had successfully rejected the pagan gods, they mistakenly believed that their own God demanded blood. As one of the first steps in uprooting this idea, God made it impossible for them to properly keep the Day of Atonement. God had allowed them to return to their land, and to rebuild a temple. But God did not restore the Ark of the Covenant to them.
Without the Ark of the Covenant, it was impossible to observe the Day of Atonement according to the commands of the Law. On that day, the High Priest had been required to take the blood of a bull and goat into the Temple, into the Holy of Holies, to be sprinkled on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.[12] But if God’s people had no Ark, then this commandment could not be followed.
Thus, for more than 500 years, though God’s people had their land, and a second Temple, not once did they ever properly observe the Day of Atonement. Indeed they could not, for God had made this impossible. The Ark of the Covenant had been taken away, just as eventually their entire Temple would be taken away.
God was teaching them, little by little, that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.[13] God desires mercy and not sacrifice.[14] Indeed, God has always been loving and forgiving towards man, and He has never needed blood sacrifices to render Him propitious and loving towards His people. He has always been more pleased with the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, than with the offering of sacrificial animals.
X. The Incarnation
And then God became man.
By joining divinity to humanity[15] in the person of Christ, He brought healing to every aspect of human nature.[16] Living in the womb, He brought healing to unborn infants. Growing into a child, He brought healing to the young. Becoming an adult, He brought healing to those in full maturity.[17] And tasting of death, He conquered death, bringing resurrection and healing to those in the graves.[18]
As the first Adam had been wounded in the side, giving his flesh and blood so that his precious bride—Eve—might partake of his life and awaken from nonexistence, the second Adam was wounded in the side, giving His flesh and blood for the life of the world, so that His precious bride—the Church—might partake of His life, awaken from death, and participate in the resurrection.[19]
As Abel had pleased the Lord, bringing a free-will offering of a lamb, giving the very best that he had with a motive of love and honor towards God, so Jesus pleased the Father, presenting a free-will offering of His own body, giving the very best that He had with a motive of love.[20] God demanded no sacrifice for the sake of payment or appeasement, and inflicted no injury upon His beloved Son. The Father was pleased that His Son sacrificed Himself willingly to the hatred of men, for the sake of rescuing man, thus restoring the image of God which had been damaged.
As righteous Abraham had sacrificed a ram,[21] and many righteous Israelites had sacrificed lambs[22] and bulls, symbolically executing judgment on the false gods of the surrounding nations, so the Son of God exposed, embarrassed, and publicly defeated all pagan gods, by His own perfect sacrifice, which He offered for the sake of selfless love, poured out for the healing of His beloved.
Jesus perfectly fulfilled all of the primal sacrifices that had truly pleased the Lord.
XI. The Serpent’s Revenge
If the Serpent and his minions had known what public humiliation they would face with the Resurrection of the Son of God, they never would have crucified Him.[23] But now it is too late. Since they cannot change history, they are desperately working to spread their lies, revising history to suit their propaganda, slandering the Creator and denigrating the Savior, always casting doubt on the goodness of God.
For thousands of years, the pagan gods had terrorized man, holding him in abject bondage, demanding death, demanding blood, demanding sacrifice not for the sake of love, but for the sake of fear.
Armed with millennia of bloody experience as spiritual terrorists, the Serpent and his lying spirits push their agenda, persuading men that the Father of Christ bears the same insatiable bloodlust as the ancient pagan gods.
Thus they peddle a series of half-truths and outright lies:
- “In wrath and anger, God condemned man to death as retribution for Adam’s sin.”
- “God demanded blood sacrifices from Cain and Abel.”
- “God demanded blood sacrifices from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all ancient sinners, for the sake of atonement and forgiveness of sins.”
- “God demanded His people to make a bloody sacrifice of the Passover lamb, to cover their sins and make atonement for their souls.”
- “When people sin, God demands payment in blood. That’s why He required the ancient Israelites to offer so many blood sacrifices for so many centuries.”
- “God cannot forgive sinners, unless He first tortures and kills the innocent, as a substitute for the guilty one He is going to forgive.”
- “God brutally tortured His Son on the cross, without mercy, as vengeance upon human sin.”
- “He demanded blood from Jesus as payment, to satisfy the bloodlust of His infinite wrath.”
- “In spite of all this, the majority of men will still be punished for eternity in hell for their sins. As a result of the cosmic vengeance poured out upon the cross, only a small portion of men will be pardoned and allowed into heaven.”
- “This is the Good News. This is the Gospel.”
The Serpent has no power to harm God directly, so he settles for this type of slander. By convincing men that God is a cruel, bloodthirsty tyrant, he blinds Christians from seeing the good heart of their loving Father. Meanwhile, countless nonchristians are so repulsed by this hateful caracature of God, that they turn away in disgust and avoid Him altogether.
Such distortion of history and twisting of the Gospel proceeds from the forked tongue of the ancient Serpent. Men thus think of God in the same way that they thought of the ancient pagan gods—as bloodthirsty, angry, and unmerciful, to be feared, rather than loved.
Satan’s old lie had persuaded men to worship demons, thinking they were gods.
Satan’s new lie has persuaded men to worship God, thinking He is like the demons.
Cursing the serpent is of no use to us, for he loves cursing. What he cannot bear, is to be mocked, disdained, diminished, and dismissed. He cannot bear to be brushed to the side, as we come to the realization that his enemy—our God—is a good and loving Father who deeply cares for us, ever ready to forget our past and embrace us with the pure and radiant warmth of eternal love.
To see us fully restored to a good relationship with the Father—this is one thing which our ancient enemy simply cannot bear.
XII. Seeing the Father’s Unchanging Love
The Father loves us. The Father has always loved us.
The Father wounded the first Adam in the side, not for the sake of wrath, but for the sake of love. Adam’s flesh and blood were given, so that his beloved bride—Eve—could partake of his life and awaken from nonexistence.
The Father was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice, not because it was bloody, but because Abel made his offering in honor and sincerity, with a warm heart full of love for the Father.
The Father asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, and then stopped him from carrying it out, teaching him that God takes no pleasure in such sacrifices. The Father treasured Abraham’s trust and obedience, and had no need of receiving a blood offering.
The Father provided Abraham with a ram to sacrifice, symbolically slaying the ram-headed gods of the surrounding nations, Ur and Egypt. This ram was a gift from God, and was not taken from Abraham’s flocks, demonstrating that He is a God who gives His people good gifts, not a god who demands appeasement or payments from them.
The Father instructed His people to sacrifice the Passover lamb, not for the sake of atonement for sin, but for the sake of cutting ties with the ram-headed gods of Egypt. God had no need to receive animal sacrifices. But He knew His people needed to sacrifice their pagan gods, giving them up forever.
After His people sinned in the wilderness with the golden calf, returning to the gods of Egypt, the Father lovingly chastised His people, providing them with additional motivation to turn away from false gods. He instructed His people to perform many blood sacrifices. By slaying countless bulls and lambs, they would be committing sacrilege against the bull-headed and ram-headed gods of Egypt. They would also celebrate the Day of Atonement, offering the blood of sacrificial bulls and goats. Sadly, His people remained stubborn, continuously falling back into idolatry. Thus, for the sake of love, the Father took away the Ark of the Covenant, destroyed their temple, and allowed them to be carried off into Babylon for 70 years, far from their ancient home. Through these drastic measures, the Father finally succeeded in cleansing His people from idolatry.
With love, the Father welcomed His people back into their land. He allowed them to rebuild the temple, but He did not restore the Ark of the Covenant to them. Now that they had been weaned from idolatry, it was time to wean them from blood sacrifices altogether. Over the next 500 years as they waited for the birth of Messiah, never again could they properly observe the Day of Atonement. Just as the ark and “atonement” had been taken away, the day was coming when the temple and the entire system of blood sacrifices would be abolished.
Then God became man. The Father so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.[24]
By joining deity to humanity within Himself, Jesus healed the brokenness of humanity. By becoming an unborn child, He brought healing to infants. By becoming a youth, He brought healing to children. And by reaching maturity, He brought healing to adults.
By tasting of death, He conquered death, overpowering it and swallowing it up in the abundance of His everlasting Life.
As the first Adam had been wounded in the side, giving his flesh and blood for the life of Eve, the second Adam—Christ—was wounded in the side, giving his flesh and blood for the life of the world. As Adam’s primal sacrifice had called forth Eve from nonexistence, granting her life, so Christ’s perfect sacrifice called forth the Church from death, granting her Resurrection.
Thus, we are saved by the conception, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Son of God:
- His Incarnation brings us healing.
- His Life grants us life.
- His death conquers Death.
- His Resurrection provides us with resurrection.
- His Ascension blazes a trail to heaven, providing us with a path we can follow.
The Father has granted us all of this, for He loves us, and He is the Giver of good gifts. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all in perfect unity, and have always been in perfect unity. They love us. They have always loved us.
The only thing they require us to sacrifice is our idols.
